Discover the Loaf: March 2010

Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Earth vids

Miami morning coming down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkaCfZRROsg
Live 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXsqzRuKem0

85. Earth - Hex: Or Printing In The Infernal Method (2005). Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull (2008)

Formed in Washington, Seattle at the start of the 90's, Earth began as a guitar/bass experiment, whereby Dylan Carlson stretched a Black Sabbath/Melvins riff over the course of an entire album, creating a doom/drone metal that sat deeply underneath the grunge mainstream of the period. Carlson then disappeared for 10 years, into heroin no-mans land. During this period Carlson was best known as close friend of Kurt Cobain and also the man who bought THAT gun for Kurt. However crucially during this period, a cult of bands (Boris, Sleep, OM, Sunn 0))) grew around Carlson's innovations spawning a movement of drone metal. Sunn 0))) even named themselves after Carlson's choice of amps.

Earth returned in 2005 with Hex, and instead of the solid drone pieces of yore, were replaced with equally expansive, jazz and country tinged melodies evoking vast sweeps of American landscape and sweetening the isolationist pill. What Earth had previously done for Sabbath they now did for Link Wray, Ry Cooder or Townes Van Sant, letting resonant notes ring out to their conclusion. Even better, in 2008 Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull added organ and a completeness to tracks that surpasses what other acts have brought to this genre.

Wednesday, 24 March 2010

P J Harvey vids

86. P J Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (2000)

This album is commonly read in two major ways, firstly as a coming out following a dark period. Major fame after Down by the Water, itself a fairly psychotic song. Then a retreat into the low key Is This Desire? Secondly it's seen as the result of a love affair with New York, with the city mentioned throughout the album. Cover and video images reference NY, not to mention the stylistic vocalisms.

Superficially all those things are present, but to me seems like PJ's worked too hard to find a concept to fit her songs, the NYisms are the least appealing aspect of the album, and may possibly be there as a mask to hide behind.

The great thing about SFTCSFTS is the love and lust which powers the music, either sensual ballads or dirty blues licks, with lyrics like 'I'm immortal when I'm with you', and 'I can't believe that the axis turns, on suffering while my head it burns', PJ even brings out Thom Yorke's inner Marvin Gaye for The Mess We're In. For an even better dirtier version of this PJ find the Dec 2000 Peel session, where she really let's rip.

Thursday, 11 March 2010

Yellow Swans Vids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9nTSc8NKag
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Yellow Swans split up in 2008.

87. Yellow Swans - At All Ends (2007)

Yellow Swans have amassed a vast catalogue of limited CD-Rs and lathe cut vinyl. However where many have spread themselves too thinly with one idea over an enormous quantity of wasted time, Yellow swans wisely seemed to use the obscure releases for experimentation, whilst saving their best work for the major releases on Narnack and Load records. Yellow Swans are the duo of Pete Swanson & Gabriel Mindel Sclanon from Portland, Oregon. Not quite fitting into pure noise or drone categories by including Krautesque rhythms and ecstatic white light guitar shredding, they sat above the many noise acts that proliferated in the early mid noughties. Where many underground acts supply a slate grey ambiguety or plain old depressed horror industrial attitudes, Yellow Swans induce upliftment, without the emotional manipulation you can sometimes feel with A Silver Mt Zion and their ilk. The closest comparison to Yellow Swans would be Flying Saucer Attack without the British Folk connotations.

Saturday, 6 March 2010

D'Angelo vids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVNOnPyvIU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygCeBoYD9ps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8nxyoG5Gc4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxILRfgQKoY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23cQwfMBYgs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0odJFE1Q74

88. D'Angelo - Voodoo (2000)

D'Angelo promised so much. Incredibly talented, with a produced, arranged, composed, performed billing on albums, he came from the neo-soul movement in the mid 90's (Lauren Hill, Erekah Badu, The Roots) and released Brown Sugar which updated soul for a hip-hop generation. Wanting to challenge the audience, his peers, and to produce better art, he came up with Voodoo. Voodoo stands comparison with the best of Marvin Gaye, in it's sensual but earthy vibe, connecting with African history through drums and voodoo ceremonies, not sparing sweat, blood and dirt (brings to mind A Guy Called Gerald in '92 looking within his sequencer wondering how his ancestors communicated with their hands). This album has no weak points, (although One Mo'Gin is basically a rewrite of Shit, Damn, Motherfucker), and should have probably been higher up the list, however points have been deducted for the lack of work since Voodoo.

Following Voodoo, D'Angelo completed a successful tour with the Soultronics put together with ?uestlove of The Roots, and Jay Dilla opening (an artist influenced by D'Angelo's production techniques). Then nothing! drug addiction, arrests but no interviews or music. However it would be foolish to write off a talent like D'Angelo, and I'll definitely be checking if any new material arises.

Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Hip House

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6jFu245EuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnkOvWzQGKw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgabwOzrGIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IBRbzf3Fws

UK rave

Phew
Funny how those acts had no idea what to do onstage, apart from pretend they were a traditional band, I guess it was pre DJ culture and the only way on to TV was with pretend guitarists.

Acid House and UK Rave

The Dizzee Rascal singles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibLntdLiJA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci40ae8BlcE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANE9A5osUes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1hf4B5pyjQ

89. Dizzee Rascal - Tongue N Cheek (2009)

Apart from his vocal flow, Dizzee stepped away from Grime styles on this album. Replacing the ice cold synths of old with the warmth and rave atmosphere of classic UK acid pop, euro trance, and two-tone attitudes. Dizzee sounded more confident than ever with punchlines and subject matter, there is even a rant against congestion charges, reminiscent of the anti poll tax rave pop of 88-90. This album contains three No.1's, including one of the best singles of '09 in Bonkers (the other one is Stillness Is The Move - Dirty Projectors). Which makes Dizzee largely responsible for the return of proper POP to the charts of late (but beware the Keans of this world are on the horizon waiting for their moment to attack).

Actually if Tongue N Cheek reminds me of anything it's the short lived Hip-House scene, when post Native Tongues Hip-Hop briefly accepted house music, before dismissing it as not 'for real', and going the gangster route. Dizzee imagines a world where hip house continued to develop it's own flow and was not seen as a dead end.

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