Music Music Music!
Only a few days later than planned due to my monitor going “poof!” (so I named it Barrowman and replaced it)…
I done bought some records:
Wild Beasts: Two Dancers
In a rare trip into Indie territory for me these days, the Wild Beasts album is pretty stunning and gradually creeped into my head via top notch tracks like Hooting & Howling (one of 2009′s highlights) and All The King’s Men. They have interesting song structures which build up and avoid the usual verse-chorus-etc format, sung by a man with a bit of a range which reminds me in places of Antony Hegarty and Alison Moyet. Yes really. One of the other members of the band does a bit of singing too, in a more Elbow-y style which is also very good indeed. If you like a bit of something different with your guitars then Wild Beasts will not disappoint. It’s the opposite of bloody Oasis.
Paloma Faith: Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful?
Paloma Faith is all big slightly jazzy in places epic noisy funky soulful pop, and if I was lazy I would call her the non-poxy Winehouse. With big old tunes like the single Stone Cold Sober doing that retro thing rather well and quieter moments like the Radio 2 playlisted New York hitting their targets it’s good stuff. The title track is great too and co-written by the not as famous as he should be Ed Harcourt and other highlights include Stargazer which sounds like a slightly corny film soundtrack in a good way.
Zero 7: Yeah Ghost
No Sia this time (shame) but this gives them a chance to refresh their sound with some different styles, a lot of which are far less ‘chillout’ than before. New singer Eska evokes Carleen Anderson on songs like Medicine Man and another new name Binki Shapiro (oddly not credited in the vocals list) brings a more indie folky feel to Swing which goes nicely with its steel drums and Golden Brownesque keyboard riff. Once you get used to the new style this album turns out to be a bloody good solid chunk of modern dance/sit down music.
Records not bought because not good enough: The Big Pink (great single, not so great album), Bananarama (see Big Pink) , Basement Jaxx (some good stuff but not consistent throughout). All of which begin with B for some spooky reason.
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