Skip The Budgie

There has been a sudden glut of new albums in the last few weeks, from some pretty big names too. REM, Supergrass, Elbow, Goldfrapp, Portishead, Massive Attack - even Tricky have all thrown new wares out there and they are a mixed bag, to tell you the truth! This week:

REM: Accelerate

So the giants are back and this time they've turned the volume up a bit. Not as raw as Monster, more rocky than Automatic, but better than their other recent efforts. This album grows on you as a welcome return to form with the lush layered guitars and ethereal backing vocals and odd choruses.

For sure, I'm a little bit upset about the simplicity of some of the three-chord wonders, the single Supernatural Superserious is a clear example of this, and they still can't write choruses but there is energy and life in the music again.

Yes, this is an obviously calculated attempt to recapture the glory days, but I'm actually pleased about that, more so than I am about Portishead's new direction (see next week). It's just too damn short!

Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid

It's a perfect soundtrack to the horrendous rain that it drumming down my office window, Elbow are melancholy and beautiful and upbeat all in the same moment, in the same song. I love this album. Asleep in the Back was brilliant, an album of songs that I wish I had written, Cast of Thousands was very 50/50, the gorgeous songs interspersed with over-simplified terrace chants which peak with the album closer, Grace Under Pressure. Even if I AM singing on it along with five thousand other people.

This time the good songs - the atmospheric opener Starlings, the great bass line of Bones Of You the beautiful piano in Mirrorball, the comedy of Audience with the Pope - far outweigh the slightly annoying ones, like Grounds for Divorce with it's stupid terrace chant and irritating guitars. Overall though, this album is a masterpiece with a lot of variety and quirkiness, while still sounding intrinsically Elbow. One to sing along to in the shower.

While 'repairing' my mother's computer, I find some cool links to stuff on Youtube. So here we go, from the Bodhran Championships:

A crazy crazy manic week it has been! I have some exciting tales to tell, but not today. Today we shall talk about music. I have recently powered up my playroom at home with some proper speakers, so I can really let rip (when the GF isn't in, of course!) and have been enjoying all sorts of wonderful noises.

Lou Rhodes: Bloom

Lou Rhodes' first solo album, Beloved One, is a thing of beauty, certainly. It's one of those acoustic girly singer albums that just makes your spine tingle, helped in no small measure by Lou's gorgeous, deep husky voice. Where Beloved One is gentle however, Bloom is much more adventurous. It is still primarily acoustic, but many of the songs have a darker edge to them, there are some outright bizarre chord changes and the whole thing is more upbeat. Personally I prefer the other one, but there are some good tunes on here.

The Mars Volta: Bedlam in Goliath

I can't say that much about this one really, it is 70 minutes of unrelenting full on rock, prog jams and pure choas, although compared to their last effort Amputechture it is positively sedate and tuneful. The general impression here is that there is a (slighty) more coherent vision, as if the band have started to work out where they are heading at last, whereas I was worried they had lost it completely! Um... Easier to let them explain it really, this album is excellent!

The Mars Volta: Goliath:

I play chicken with a dark-faced man down Toronto Road. Sure, I'm on a bicycle and he's in a car, but who cares right? He'll have insurance, I have the moral high ground, he wouldn't actually run me over, would he?

Would he?

He CAN see me, can't he?

...

At the last minute I realise that yes, he actually would, in fact I think he's speeding up, perhaps veering a little towards me? Oh well, I'm committed now.

I don't really understand why someone in such a small car is driving in the middle of the road, there is at least a metre on the other side! As we pass each other, with millimetres to spare, I chance a glance at his face. He looks asleep! Resolutely avoiding looking at me, as if he doesn't know I'm even there.

But this is not what I wanted to write about. A friend of mine was talking to me about a kind of music called Crunk. Us mere mortals are used to calling it Hip Hop, or That sort of hip hop with rnb type choruses and stuff.

Crunk is a genre of hip-hop music. Unlike the East Coast and West Coast style of hip hop, crunk has a high-energy and club-oriented feel. While other hip hop styles might involve a more conversational vocal delivery, crunk usually involves hoarse chants and repetitive, simple refrains. Lyrics are based on a rhythmic bounce, which is very effective in a club environment. (Wikipedia)

So here are a couple of videos we watched to illustrate it, hope you enjoy 'em! First up, Chamillionaire and Ridin' Dirty:

And Weird Al Yankovic's version White and Nerdy:

Yeah so I miss one Friday due to work (which is where I normally write all my rantings) being a nightmare and this week hasn't been any different! Sorry about this, normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Anyway, as a result of all that I have been mainly listening to stories, we now have all of Terry Pratchett's books as MP3's and I recently discovered a download of some Roald Dahl stories from the Telegraph, of all places! They're pretty good too, the odd annoying song, but some of the favourites like Matilda and The BFG are there.

I am about halfway through Phillip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass, mentioned a few Fridays ago - which is my soundtrack to and from work.

As you can see below, we have finally built some CD shelves in the 'Play Room' in our new house and filled them up with our combined collections. We both put a LOT of CD's in the charity box and I am in the process of ripping another load - to be disposed of, once they are safe on a NAS (for the awesome Sonos system).

I install some tasty speakers (see pic, above) into our bedroom ceiling - the room will be almost completely wireless once our cupboards are built in and the bathroom also has a waterproof ceiling speaker connected to the bedroom system via a switch! Now we can pipe hideous noise into the bathroom while you're trying to have a quiet poo.

I try to sell a load of equipment too, like my tasty Line 6 Amp and my Yamaha SY77 Keyboard (it's a CLASSIC!) - but there are no takers as yet. I steel myself to attempt to sell them on Ebay, to get hideously abused and mentally destroyed by the awfulness of online bidding. Or something. Anyway, I'm writing all this in a rush before I finally escape this place for the weekend...

(Leaves)

Oh dear, this is going to be so lame. I've been really busy at work, shouty shouty blah blah - (juicy details to follow) and pretty busy at home - well, we have new carpets and built some shelves. So. This week, I've been putting things on shuffle, haven't really had the time to concentrate on any one album or anything, so here's a rushed list of some stuff that's been caressing my aural membranes lately:

The Complete Glenn Miller

Louis Armstrong - Gold Collection

Arch Enemy - Rise of the Tyrant

Bad Company (drum and bass NOT dadrock!) - Digital Nation

Underworld - Second Toughest in the Infants

Terry Pratchett - Soul Music (read by Nigel Planer)

Logistics - Now More Than Ever

Shapeshifter - Soulstice

Manowar - Gods of War

Chopin - Nocturnes

This morning, the sun rose:

Well it's been a bit of a quiet week as far as music appreciation goes, there's been a lot of painting and stuff, but usually we have stories instead of music. I have however managed to work my way through the other three Coheed and Cambria albums, here are my impressions:

In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3

Very similar to The Second Stage Turbine Blade, more disjointed prog, addictive melodies and the story continues... this is my second favourite after the first album now.

Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume I: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness

A bit different, has an air of It Bites about it, but without the catchy choruses. Less of the abstract guitar melodies weaving around each other and a lot more damped guitar/bass syncopating around the drums in funny time signatures. Not As Good, as this is the motif of the album and it gets a bit wearing.

Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow

There is still the element of the third album's tight syncopation here, but we also have a lot more classic rock/metal chugging and guitar solos! The intelligence of the first two albums is diluted somewhat, but this is a lot more accessible. Now all I need to do is try and work out what the hell the story is...

Well it's all back to normal, sorta. I have to pack away my puter as we go decorating mad, so this'll be brief - writing at work! Wait, what am I on about? I'm writing at work! This week, after the continuing His Dark Materials trilogy, I've been mainly listening to pop albums. I know! Pop! Me! Don't worry, I'll get on to the prog again soon enough...

Gravenhurst: The Western Lands

First up is a local band, who I only really know from my lurking around on the Choke forum. Gravenhurst are one of those pop bands who play whimsical songs infused with occasional darkness and the odd unexpected melody. I don't like this album as much as their previous one Fires in Distant Buildings, which was a bit darker and less blatantly poptastic, but it's still got some great tunes on it and I love the breathy vocals and slightly folky guitars and melodies.

Roisin Murphy: Overpowered

This is weird. I mean, Moloko were weird to start with, before they decided to stop writing music and start writing club hits that is. They were great. Roisin Murphy's second album throws me into confusion. It is either incredibly forward-thinking (if it was released in 1988), or incredibly annoyingly retro (if is was released in 2007). I know it was the latter, but put your mind back to 1987/88 and this would stand up as one of the great electro pop albums, along with Kylie, Madonna and Michael Jackson. But it isn't. Not really. The electro-disco starts off great, but soon becomes annoying. I haven't got to the end of the CD yet.

The Magic Numbers: Those the Brokes

I got this because I'd seen them performing This is a Song acoustically on telly a while ago. The big problem with the album is that they play it first and it is their best song. All the others sound like they're trying to achieve the same mastery with different tunes and they always come up short, although there are some other nice moments and frilly pop prancery. Is that a word? I doubt it.

Christmas is all over, the beef is all finished and here we are with this year's first music 'review' on Skip The Budgie! Of course I have also spent the time decorating, a little bit of socialising, a lot of Life On Mars and far too much time has been spent messing around with Mediamonkey, organising my music collection...

Various Artists - Music of the World: Nomad Christmas: A World Music Celebration

I remembered that I had this just in the nick of time, feeling the need for seasonal music, but demanding taste and decorum... There are some great versions of popular carols played on a variety of ethnic instruments, and some terrible horrors - Silent Night just doesn't ever work outside of a cathedral guys, really. Just stop.

Mokobe: Mon Afrique

This album is great, it's French/African hip hop and should be cliched and boring because of the common obsession with feeling your cultural roots in Africa even though you haven't lived there ever - and full of stars of African music, like Salif Keita, Youssou N'dour, Seun Kuti (Fela's 'other' son). Still in this case it all fits together really well and is a new favourite.

Philip Pullman: His Dark Materials

It's not really music, but while painting and such I have been listening to the BBC's versions of His Dark Materials, am currently on the second book, The Subtle Knife and it's a really good version, a bit unusual in that they have a full cast for the characters and Philip Pullman himself reading all the bits in-between. It's pretty addictive, the story is exciting, scientifically interesting, controversial and confusing - all good traits for this sort of book - and will probably get in the way of my music listening - for a few days at least!

So Radio 1 don't like this song any more, they don't like the number one of the top 100 Christmas songs ever? Ah well, I suppose faggots are pretty disgusting anyway, give me a good stew any day!

Other seasonal treats I have discovered recently include the epic funk storytelling that is Bootsy Collins' Christmas is 4 Ever (mentioned in a previous post). It is a strange mixture of the usual psychedelic funk and sleigh bells. You can't help but get into it though, some of it is hilarious!

But it's not all seasonal joy in my jukebox, oh no sir! The freezing mornings are seriously jeopardising my ability to cycle to work, so I need some serious motivation to get going in the mornings. Normally I would listen to Drum and Bass, but it is SO cold I've been turning to Heavy Metal instead.

So this week I've been playing Rise of the Tyrant by Arch Enemy, an album of awesome guitar solos, anthemic melodies, chugging riffs and grandiose faux-classical interludes. It is utterly brilliant, and helps fight the cold.

Have a good Holiday, I don't think I'll be back until next year (with music stories anyway)!