Fever Ray and Niggalas Cage

Fever Ray

First off - Fever Ray. This is the self-titled debut LP from the new project of Karin Dreijer, one half of the Swedish brother-sister duo The Knife, who brought out the awesome album Silent Shout back in 2006 (shit, has it really been over two years?). This new project doesn't sound at all like a diminished version of The Knife - it has all the atmospheric synths, pitch-manipulated vocals and enigmatic lyrics ("we used to talk about dishwasher tablets") that we're familiar with. Perhaps the most prominent difference is a lack of uptempo tracks, perhaps the minimal techno loving Olof is the one responsible for those, and a slightly more monothematic, downbeat feel, occasionally reminiscent of later period Kate Bush. Not sure it quite matches Silent Shout in quality, certainly not as many stand-out tracks, but it feels like it may be a slow-burner. Comparisons with Silent Shout are bound to be unfavourable anyway, as that's one of my favourite albums of the last few years. In any case I can see Fever Ray in my top ten of 2009 and we're barely even off the starting blocks.

Niggalas Cage



The youtube embedded above is the track Be on you by Ne-Yo, featuring Niggalas Cage. I'm pointing out this tune, not because it's particularly good - Ne-Yo's Miss Independent from last year's album Year of the Gentleman is a much better example of his slicker than Jim Leighton's eyebrows brand of r'n'b - but because of two things. First-off the title and the refrain to the tune seem to be lifted from Ron Burgundy's terrible chat-up line in Anchorman, and secondly, the name of his guest vocalist, NIGGALAS CAGE, is either the apex or nadir of rapper names. If anyone can figure out how the media are going to censor that when this song is all over the Billboard Hot 100 send us your answer on the back of a postcard.

NEW BITS: Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk

In my free time trawling through other blogs and forums, a name that seems to keep cropping up is these dudes, Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk.
Their sound is glorious and melodic, swathed with great psychedelic waves of fuzz and echo-ey hushed shoegazing. If you can imagine Animal Collective doing a cover of Jesus and Mary Chain doing a cover of the Beach Boys, you're still a million miles off.
No amount of adjectives or comparisons can do it justice, so just listen by clicking HERE

2008 Top 10

Since I don't really have any inspiration to write something longer I'll post a top 10 to start things off. I didn't really keep up with new music in '08 as much as usual - the last few months I was mostly listening to 1960s jazz and Brazilian music - but still, like every year, there were new releases I really liked. Will try not to overlap with Jonny too much, because consensus and repetition are boring. I'll also add a short blurb/URL.

In no particular order:

1. Times New Viking - Rip it off (Matador). Extremely lo-fi indie-rock, sounds like Sebadoh recorded through a mic in a trashcan in a homeless guy's ass. Crusty aesthetic works for me, adds something to the great choruses and riffs, probably wouldn't be feeling it as much if it was cleanly recorded. I like the noise. Link.

2. Studio - Yearbook 2 (Information). A collection of remixes of other artists' songs done by this Swedish duo who had an awesome album called West Coast out last year. "Balaeric" which means it sounds like an 80s "dub remix" on the flip of a 12" by Fleetwood Mac; soft 4/4 kicks, synth washes, guitar licks and flourishes abound. There's a Kylie tune on it! Link.

3. D.Lissvik - 7 Trx + Intermission (Information). One half of Studio, mining a similar groove but maybe with a bit more of a krautrock and world music influence and without any vocal cuts. Link.

4. Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III (Universal). Greatest rapper alive! Well maybe not, but this album is fire.

5. The Bug - London Zoo (Ninja Tune). Two of the best tracks on this, "Poison dart" and "Skeng" came out as singles in '07 and there's a few snoozers on here, but still a great album. Kevin Martin's gloomy industrial take on dancehall works well with the vocalists he's picked here. Link.

6. Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna (The Social Registry). I was a lot more in to this release than anything Gang Gang Dance had brought out previously. There's some house influence in here, touch of dubstep/grime, tracks full of ideas, hooks, and rhythms. They even manage to pull of a Tinchy Stryder cameo without it sounding too contrived. Link.

7. Lindstrom - Where you go I go too (Smalltown Supersound). Jean-Michel Jarre meets Giorgio Moroder at an epic techno party on a beach. Link.

8. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino). Not released until January the 20th, 2009 but leaked all over the internet on Christmas day, albeit in a low quality version. This is a vast improvement over their last album, Strawberry Jam. They've added a more kinetic feel in places with big electronic kick drums. Hippy drum-circle techno. Link.

9. Ricardo Villalobos - Enfants (Sei es drum). Probably the best of 2008's releases from Chilean-German minimal techno superstar Villalobos. Essentially just a loop of a few notes of piano and a few bars of children chanting lifted from a song by Christian Vander, of frogprog outfit Magma, with a bit of percussion thrown over it. Still genius.

10. Headhunter - Nomad (Tempa). Bristol dubstep-producer making Berlin techno influenced dubstep. More interesting, to me, than a thousand wobbly bangers. Link.

Part 1 (Wilkommen!)

i guess a good way to kick start this thing is by laying out the general criteria for the blog which is basically..............
1. GOOD new music
2. GOOD old music
3. GOOD/BAD shows (mainly in Glasgow)
4. General musical musings.

...so to give any prospective readers an idea of what kind of stuff we might be writing about, i'll start by laying down my top 15 records of 2009.

and....POW!

Jonny's Top 15 of 2008
1. Deerhunter - Microcastle (Kranky/4AD)
2. Why? - Alopecia (Tomlab/Anticon)
3. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (Warp)
4. The Bug - London Zoo (Ninja Tune)
5 .Eero Johannes - Eero Johannes (Planet Mu)
6. Torche - Meanderthal (Hydra Head)
7. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III (Universal)
8. No Age - Nouns (Sub Pop)
9. Health - Health & Health Disco (Lovepump United)
10. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie (ATP)
11. Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior (Tempa)
12. Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams
13. Foals - Antidotes (Transgressive)
14. Headhunter - Nomad (Tempa)
15. Rolo Tomassi - Hysterics (Hassle)

more to follow....keep em peeled. J