Greg, in fact I had been going to recc that Cookers disc for you in your jazz/blues thread on the eMu messboard, but didn't because I didn't see it on eMu. So I'm glad you found your way to it! As posted at the time, it was $5.99 at AMZ US a few weeks ago, less of a bargain now.
I'll get to that once I'm fully awake! For now it's
Lucy Ward is a 21-year-old singer, guitarist and concertina player from Derby who already has an impressive set of admirers; she is joined on her debut album by a band that includes two established folk duos, O'Hooley and Tidow and Megson, with Megson's Stu Hanna playing banjo, mandolin and guitar, and providing the inventive production work. She has also acquired the folk scene's fascination for songs about death, and this mature and varied set matches painful laments against the occasional humorous song. She may be surrounded by established musicians, but doesn't rely on them, as she proves with her unaccompanied treatment of A Stitch in Time, Mike Waterson's story of a wife's revenge against a drunken husband. Elsewhere, she provides a delicate solo vocal on The Fairy Boy, before being joined by Belinda O'Hooley's bravely sparse piano accompaniment, and demonstrates more gutsy singing on a rousing Maids When You're Young. But the best songs are the bleakest: Death is a thoughtful setting for verses supposedly written by Anne Boleyn before her execution, while Bricks and Love is a self-composed ballad of death and the folk scene, based on a true story. It's the most poignant new song I've heard this year.
Fifth time through, still loving it and it is still $3.99 at Amazon. Great album, if you like old timey tunes and frantic mando. On a side note, the album was recorded live in Jack White's Third Man studios over a four day period.
It's a Grateful morning here at the office. Started with Cosmic Charlie, then spinning the shuffle wheel for the rest of the day. "The wheel is turning and you can't slow down,"
"Matt Elliott's second solo CD, even more than his first, finds him moving further away from the feedback-and-beats trademarks of the Third Eye Foundation, though to be sure his path was already marked out by the concluding years of that incarnation. Living up to not only the title but the striking cover image -- a drawing of Elliott as a louche 19th century barfly, cigarette in hand -- Drinking Songs is not far removed from the kind of musical and psychic landscapes of early the Black Heart Procession or the Tindersticks at its most restrained. Guitars are either acoustic or, if anything, barely electric; instead piano and keyboards, for the most part, take the melodic fore, while drums as such aren't audible at all. But like Elliott's work in general the emphasis is not on lyrics for the most part -- what songs have them, like "The Guilty Party," feature them as distanced, very softly sung chorales, the type of drinking singalong when all at the bar are at their most reflective and melancholic. "What's Wrong" features slightly louder singing at points, but again compared to most they're barely there. If nothing else Elliott's gift for unusual but memorable song titles remains strong -- there's the closing "The Maid We Messed," a nod back to his first solo album (in a possibly related note, it's also the only song that sounds entirely like his previous work), but even better is "What the Fuck Am I Doing on This Battlefield?" Yet perhaps the most striking, heartbreaking song is "The Kursk," named after the Russian submarine that suffered a tragic accident, killing all onboard. The musique concrete rush of claustrophobic sound which starts the song -- grinding mechanisms, dank metallic noises -- serves as backdrop for guitar and strings, plus, as the song continues, an increasingly chilling, wordless mass chorus, portraits of souls going to an early grave."
- Allmusic/Ned Raggett
- Soundcloud.
Comments
- And a lovely photo too . . . . .
___
Note from Dr. Mutex: Changed link to the album page, was to direct download of 50MB file.
(url=>bandcamp)
Reminds me of Talib Kweli. Free.
(url=>amz)
Per the request of my 4 y/o. She is awesome.
I'll get to that once I'm fully awake! For now it's
I hear his autobiography is excellent. Need to get my hands on a copy.
Craig
(url=>amz)
Guardian 16.06.11
(url=>amz)
In a world of infinite Ella comps, this is a good 'un, drawn from 40s/50s Decca output.
It's energetic and all that, and fun as far as it goes, but to me this feels a bit more generic, less distinctive than some of their earlier ones.
Fifth time through, still loving it and it is still $3.99 at Amazon. Great album, if you like old timey tunes and frantic mando. On a side note, the album was recorded live in Jack White's Third Man studios over a four day period.
From Bandcamp. Excellent variety and with very few skip tracks for me anyway. Thanks Greg for the rec!
Put this on my birthday list a while back after all the recs on here. Time to find out what all the fuss is about. Sounds nice.
soundcloud (the four-tet remix).
Daniel Maze + Dave Zeal - Blueprints for insect architecture - [Testtube, tube234 - 2011]
I had that Indytracks comp playing last night as I fell asleep. I don't think that counts as a play as I nod off pretty fast.
Sparkling Wide Pressure - Red Riverbed Sequence
- Oh man ! ! !
It's a Grateful morning here at the office. Started with Cosmic Charlie, then spinning the shuffle wheel for the rest of the day. "The wheel is turning and you can't slow down,"
Great stuff.
Very cool project. Here's the visual version.
Monolake (aka. Robert Henke) - Silence - (Imbalance Computer Music 2009)
- Sounds just great !
(url=>amz)
"Matt Elliott's second solo CD, even more than his first, finds him moving further away from the feedback-and-beats trademarks of the Third Eye Foundation, though to be sure his path was already marked out by the concluding years of that incarnation. Living up to not only the title but the striking cover image -- a drawing of Elliott as a louche 19th century barfly, cigarette in hand -- Drinking Songs is not far removed from the kind of musical and psychic landscapes of early the Black Heart Procession or the Tindersticks at its most restrained. Guitars are either acoustic or, if anything, barely electric; instead piano and keyboards, for the most part, take the melodic fore, while drums as such aren't audible at all. But like Elliott's work in general the emphasis is not on lyrics for the most part -- what songs have them, like "The Guilty Party," feature them as distanced, very softly sung chorales, the type of drinking singalong when all at the bar are at their most reflective and melancholic. "What's Wrong" features slightly louder singing at points, but again compared to most they're barely there. If nothing else Elliott's gift for unusual but memorable song titles remains strong -- there's the closing "The Maid We Messed," a nod back to his first solo album (in a possibly related note, it's also the only song that sounds entirely like his previous work), but even better is "What the Fuck Am I Doing on This Battlefield?" Yet perhaps the most striking, heartbreaking song is "The Kursk," named after the Russian submarine that suffered a tragic accident, killing all onboard. The musique concrete rush of claustrophobic sound which starts the song -- grinding mechanisms, dank metallic noises -- serves as backdrop for guitar and strings, plus, as the song continues, an increasingly chilling, wordless mass chorus, portraits of souls going to an early grave."
- Allmusic/Ned Raggett
- Soundcloud.
- My 2 cents: Brilliant !
(url=>amz)