15th May - Passion Pit's Manners

Artist – Album: Passion Pit - Manners

Released:  15^th May 2009

Sounds Like: We’re feeling higher and higher and higher, higher and higher and higher

Indie kids really have cheered up haven’t they? Back in the day (a.k.a. when I were a lad, a.k.a. in the good old days...), the title was synonymous with pasty white young adults, with torn jeans and greasy hair who obsessed over that obscure band they’d seen down the pub, and listened to music that people who didn’t get it labelled as depressing. The Smiths, the bands of the grunge era, and Radiohead all upheld a long tradition of iconic masters of indie melancholia. Somehow though, things have changed since the turn of the millennium. The hair is now gelled and immaculate. The kids look healthier and less like agoraphobics. The (skinny) jeans are still torn, but they are ripped on purpose.  And the music... well, the music now is positively happy. Think of Hot Chip or The Vaccines – two very different but equally exultant indie bands. Two of my favourites from the last five years or so have been Phoenix (apologies for not selecting It’s Never Been Like That for today) and Jens Lekman, both of whom continually alter between contented and euphoric. What happened indie? You used to be uncool.

For pure unbridled joy, there’s never been a better album than Passion Pit’s Manners. They have catchy, poppy melodies, pounding drums, highpitched vocals, funky synthesizers, and backing vocals from a chorus of children. Each song sounds like the group had a few too many blue Smarties. One of the album’s many highlights - ‘Little Secrets’ – contains the lyrics “Let this be our little secret, No one needs to know were feeling, Higher and higher and higher”, a sentiment you’d feel more confident they could conceal if it didn’t feel like they were shouting it from the rooftops. Even a song with the soporific title of ‘Sleepyhead’ is actually a hypnotic, indie-dance anthem, featuring otherworldly samples and electronic wig outs.

As can be expected from such a delirious record, it’s difficult to maintain the mood for the entire duration, and although it’s a cracking effort, it’s not quite perfect. But it’s still great. I’m a keen adherent of both the sombre ye olde indie and the dancier stuff of today, and I’m glad that the scene has existed long enough to produce an album as fun and exhilarating as this.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Make Light – 4:56

2.       Little Secrets – 3:59

3.       Moth’s Wings – 4:16

4.       The Reeling – 4:48

5.       Eyes as Candles – 4:03

6.       Swimming in the Flood – 4:59

7.       Folds in Your Hands – 3:39

8.       To Kingdom Come – 4:07

9.       Sleepyhead – 2:55

10.   Let Your Love Grow Tall – 3:32

11.   Seaweed Song – 4:25

Listen to ‘The Reeling’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U-Ul5qnLeQ

Also released on the 15^th May:

2006: Phoenix – It’s Never Been Like That

Also released on the 15^th May:

2007: They Might Be Giants – The Else

Also released on the 15^th May:

2012: Beach House - Bloom

27th April - Robyn's Robyn

Artist – Album: Robyn – Robyn

Released:  27^th April 2005

Sounds Like: Sweet swede hip-pop

Ah, I have to admit, I’ve made a bit of mistake on today’s blog. Robyn’s Robyn was released on the 27^th April 2005 but only in Sweden. It took nearly two years for it to come out over here, and in that time she shuffled the track listing and added a couple of great songs in the cover of The Teddybears’ ‘Cobrastyle’ and the absolutely phenomenal ‘With Every Heartbeat’. The latter in particular is so good that I was pretty disappointed when I realised I wouldn’t be listening to it, but, what luck, it turns out the whole record is chock full of hip hop/pop marvels regardless.

The back story is a belter – leaving her record label in the early years of the millennium as they tried to market her as the next Christina Aguilera, Robyn must have felt like her hopes of making it as a pop star were over. Instead, she accidently discovered acclaimed electro-gods The Knife (another Swedish group, there must be something in the water up there, Swedish music is amazing), and enamoured with their icy but gorgeous pop productions and independent releases, she founder her own record label Konichiwa Records and began recording songs for her fourth album.

The Knife were actually brought in to produce ‘Who’s That Girl’, one of many highlights. ‘Handle Me’ (containing the unbelievable put down “you're a selfish, narcissistic, psycho-freakin', boot-lickin' creep”) and ‘Be Mine!’ are also excellent pop gems. She raps with surprising lucidity and flow in her second language in ‘Konichiwa Blues’, and slows it down beautifully in the likes of ‘Eclipse’ and ‘Should Have Known’. That Robyn managed to produce (in both senses of the word) such a great record even without the glorious synth-pop of ‘With Every Heartbeat’ marks her out as one of 21^st century music’s true treasures.

Albumaday... rating:  7/10

1.       Curriculum Vitae – 1:53

2.       Who’s That Girl – 3:47

3.       Handle Me – 3:47

4.       Robotboy – 3:31

5.       Be Mine! – 3:27

6.       Bionic Woman – 0:16

7.       Crash and Burn Girl – 3:35

8.       Tomteverkstan – 0:17

9.       Konichiwa Blues – 2:37

10.   Bum Like You – 3:42

11.   Eclipse – 3:29

12.   Should Have Known – 3:59

13.   Anytime You Like – 3:52

Listen to ‘Be Mine!’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PDNRTCuPyQ

Also released on the 27^th April:

1987: R.E.M - Dead Letter Office

Also released on the 27^th April:

1992: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Henry’s Dream

22nd March - Cut Copy's In Ghost Colours

Artist – Album: Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours

Released:  22^nd March 2008

Sounds Like:  The perfect indie dance album

It’s Friday! Happy weekend one and all. It’s also time to listen to Australian indietronica group Cut Copy’s glorious 2008 album. This is the sort of record that was made for the beginning of the weekend; it’s the perfect cocktail to celebrate the end of the last full working week for the best part of a month, thanks to the crucifixion and subsequent Stone Roses style resurrection of Jesus Christ, superstar. Thanks guy!

What makes this such a good Friday night (that’s good Friday night, Good Friday is next week), getting-ready-to-go-out album is its unpretentious exuberance. Although born of the same movement that brought us LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip, Cut Copy feel like there’s just a whole lot less baggage to them, that they’re happy being happy and they want you to be too. In that sense, they bring to mind more Discovery-era Daft Punk, which is no bad thing.

The best tracks here are unforgettable – the opening salvo of ‘Feel the Love’, ‘Out there on the Ice’ and ‘Lights & Music’ has hardly ever been bettered, even by the most decorated records around. ‘So Haunted’, ‘Hearts on Fire’ and ‘Far Away’ complete a thrilling half a dozen tracks. Elsewhere, admittedly, the album occasionally fails to hit the heights. At (rare) times the music can feel clunky and forced, and fifty minutes of relentless energy can be pretty difficult for anyone to maintain or digest.

I recommend you give it a spin and get your weekend started in the right way. But I’m not going to hold it against you if you don’t, it’s Friday!

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Feel the Love – 4:28

2.       Out There on the Ice – 4:58

3.       Lights & Music – 4:37

4.       We Fight for Diamonds – 1:02

5.       Unforgettable Season – 3:13

6.       Midnight Runner – 2:33

7.       So Haunted – 4:27

8.       Voices in Quartz – 1:21

9.       Hearts on Fire – 4:53

10.   Far Away – 4:56

11.   Silver Thoughts – 0:29

12.   Strangers in the Wind – 4:44

13.   Visions – 1:10

14.   Nobody Lost, Nobody Found – 4:39

15.   Eternity One Night Only – 3:06

 Listen to ‘Far Away’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_GPmF6iD6U

Also released on the 22^nd March:

1963: The Beatles – Please Please Me

Also released on the 22^nd March:

2005: The Decemberists – Picaresque

Also released on the 22^nd March:

2005: Gogol Bordello – East Infection

28th Jan - Hot Chip's One Life Stand

Artist – Album: Hot Chip – One Life Stand

Released: 28^th January 2010

Sounds Like: One ripe band

In the two years between 2008’s bouncy Made in the Dark and this album, Hot Chip seemed to have matured a bit and lost their way to the dancefloor. Whereas the previous album had indietronica belters such as ‘Ready for the Floor’ and ‘One Pure Thought’ and 2006’s The Warning was loaded with dance floor fillers, this album contains nothing so unapologetically boogie-able.

To be fair, for the most part this is more of the same from the London lads; their trademark delicate fusion of disco synthpop and bittersweet vulnerable vocals remains in full force. The first half of the album contains the stronger tracks: ‘Hand Me Down Your Love’ could still get you shaking your booty, and ‘I Feel Better’ and ‘One Life Stand’ both successfully blend robotic verses with rousing choruses. That said, even the concept of the title track – a more permanent version of a one night stand – hints to the fact that they’re now happily settling down.

Unfortunately, these highlights aren’t backed up by a good enough rest of the album. ‘Brothers’ is schmaltzy and ‘Slush’ is slushy. ‘Alley Cats’ is good, but I can’t even recall what the last three tracks sound like, despite listening to them repeatedly today whilst playing FIFA.

Hot Chip are growing up and it makes sense that they can’t be getting on down like they used to. I like to think of this as more of a transitional album. It’s pretty good but the boys aren’t done yet.

Albumaday... rating:   6/10

1.       Thieves in the Night – 6:09

2.       Hand Me Down Your Love – 4:33

3.       I Feel Better – 4:41

4.       One Life Stand – 5:23

5.       Brothers – 4:21

6.       Slush – 6:29

7.       Alley Cats – 5:21

8.       We Have Love – 4:28

9.       Keep Quiet – 4:02

10.   Take It In – 4:10

Listen to ‘Hand Me Down Your Love’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9c9gHA1gqQ