4th December - Charlotte Gainsbourg's IRM

Artist – Album: Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM

Released: 4^th December 2009

Sounds Like: Death defying music

Charlotte Gainsbourg – daughter of the orgasming ‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’ couple Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin – is lucky to be alive, let alone recording fragile yet optimistic electropop with indie hero Beck. In September 2007, Gainsbourg was rushed to a Paris hospital where she underwent surgery for a cerebral haemorrhage, the result of a minor waterskiing accident several weeks earlier. IRM (named for the French acronym for a MRI scan) is the result, an examination of her experience of the near death experience, the subsequent fear that lead to her repeatedly requesting MRI scans even when given the all clear, but also a newfound love of life.

In a way, the story is better than the album itself. There are some clever tricks, such as utilising the sound of an MRI as an instrument on the title track, and when she’s in her element of breathy indie-folky-pop on ‘Heaven Can Wait’ (with Beck) and ‘Me and Jane Doe’ she really shines. However, it wasn’t Gainsbourg who wrote the songs but Beck, and with that in mind the album loses a little bit of its authenticity. Moreover, although the meaning behind the cathartic rock of ‘Greenwich Mean Time’ or the deathly soul of ‘Vanities’ isn’t hard to interpret, they do feel a little forced when Gainsbourg’s not being cast as the delicate but life-affirming chanteuse.

It is a good album and the fact that Gainsbourg is making an album at all is remarkable enough.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       Master’s Hands – 2:49

2.       IRM – 2:35

3.       Le Chat du Café des Artistes – 4:03

4.       In the End – 2:00

5.       Heaven Can Wait – 2:41

6.       Me and Jane Doe – 3:21

7.       Vanities – 3:38

8.       Time of the Assassins – 2:46

9.       Trick Pony – 2:53

10.   Greenwich Mean Time – 2:25

11.   Dandelion – 3:18

12.   Voyage – 4:05

13.   La Collectionneuse – 5:15

Listen to ‘Heaven Can Wait’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrWN0-MuK38

25th September - Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle

Artist – Album: Gary Numan – The Pleasure Principle

Released:  25^th September 1979

Sounds Like: [Vince holds up a cassette tape] This is the best of the sixties. [holds up another cassette] And this is the best of the seventies. [lifts a huge stack of cassettes] And this is Gary Numan.

Gary Numan enjoyed himself in the early Noughties, as groups as diverse as Sugababes and Basement Jaxx had hits sampling his tunes (the stonking smash ‘Where’s Your Head At’ was a masterful rip of ‘M.E.’), he guest appeared on Fear Factory’s cover of ‘Cars’ and glam-indie comedian Noel Fielding frequently extolled his virtues on The Mighty Boosh. It was the most popular he’d been for twenty years, when – first as the leader of the Tubeway Army and then as a solo artist – he had scored three consecutive UK no. 1 albums. The Pleasure Principle was the best of the lot, and it’s hardly surprising that it re-entered the public’s consciousness in the 21^st century: his technology obsession and glacial cool was made for this future where the geeks have inherited the world.

The album is consistently brilliant, from the instrumental opener ‘Airlane’ to the stilted, clinical new wave of ‘Observer’. The two charting singles are probably the pinnacles of his achievement, and both also display his aptitude for constructing varying moods from his simple formula of rocky synths with guitar-like effects: whereas ‘Complex’ is a chilled out piece similar to that of Boards of Canada, ‘Cars’ is an adrenaline fuelled behemoth that betrays the influence he had on the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.

There was a fascinating burst of skewed creativity in the post-punk era, and many of the artists from then – from the Talking Heads to XTC, the B-52’s to the Fall – have had a lasting influence on the music that has followed. Gary Numan deserves his place in this pantheon. …And he’s also got a pilot’s license! Imagine that!

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Airlane – 3:18

2.       Metal – 3:32

3.       Complex – 3:12

4.       Films – 4:09

5.       M.E. – 5:37

6.       Tracks – 2:51

7.       Observer – 2:53

8.       Conversation – 7:36

9.       Cars – 3:58

10.   Engineers – 4:01

Listen to ‘M.E.’:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wea8ZQ0II4g

Also released on 25^th September:

1988: They Might Be Giants - Lincoln

Also released on 25^th September:

2001: Ryan Adams - Gold

25th May - Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Artist – Album: Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Released:  25^th May 2009

Sounds Like: Pristine Parisian power pop

By the time of their fourth full-length, Phoenix were getting the hang of things. Gone is the first album’s patchiness and the second attempt’s conformity. The Parisian four piece take the boisterous pop rock of their excellent third record It’s Never Been Like That, cut out any of those pesky rough edges and spit-polish furiously to create the glossy Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

There has never been a better introduction to their particular blend of indie rock and clean synthpop than on the opening one-two here. The hook-filled ‘Lisztomania’ bounces with a melody full of joie de vivre, despite the lyrics’s anxious dual personality. ‘1901’ is more direct and catchy, with its buzzing guitar breaks. The two are both rightfully considered amongst the best indie songs of the noughties,  and proudly display the terrific development of Phoenix since their inconsistent if promising beginnings.

Unsurprisingly, the rest of the album does get somewhat swallowed whole by the sheer brilliance of the first couple of songs. There’s still plenty to pique the interest – the twin parts of epic ‘Love Like a Sunset’, the restless ‘Lasso’ and the slinky ‘Armistice’- and in fairness, the seven tracks make for a strong half an album on their own. It’s hard, though, to not just keep returning to tracks 1 and 2.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       Lisztomania – 4:08

2.       1901 – 3:13

3.       Fences – 3:45

4.       Love Like a Sunset – 7:39

5.       Lasso – 2:48

6.       Rome – 4:38

7.       Countdown – 3:57

8.       Girlfriend – 3:24

9.       Armistice – 3:05

Listen to ‘Lisztomania’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BJDNw7o6so

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

17th Feb - The Knife's Silent Shout

Artist – Album: The Knife – Silent Shout

Released:  17^th February 2006    

Sounds Like: Eleven shards of ice

‘Silent Shout’, this album’s title track and curtain raiser, is a builder. At first the listener is treated simply to the thudding bass line, the menacing frozen heartbeat of the tune. At the end of four bars two snatches of the symbol, and the light brushes shuffle in. Another two bars and the bare bass drum is introduced. A short while later the wonderful syncopated synth lead assumes control, whirling about busily like snowflakes in a blizzard. The murky vocals aren’t introduced until more than a minute has elapsed, by which point you’re already hooked. It’s an otherworldly, restrained song, containing danceable beats and effects that you could never imagine being played at your nightclub due to its chilly atmosphere. And it’s the perfect set up for the rest of this frosty collection.

Although there are some more temperate moments – fourth single ‘We Share Our Mothers’ is too lively and busy to not melt some of the ice – these are far outnumbered by the glacial sounds of the likes of ‘The Captain’, ‘Marble House’ and ‘Still Light’. Karin Dreijer’s voice is so adjusted that it no longer sounds human, more like another instrument for the duo to play with to unsettle you.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear me say that the record is not at first easy to warm to. But there’s a reason that it was so highly acclaimed on its release, and was selected by most critics for their end of year (and even end of decade) lists. It might be cold, but it’s also sublimely cool.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Silent Shout – 4:53

2.       Neverland – 3:38

3.       The Captain – 6:08

4.       We Share Our Mothers’ Health – 4:11

5.       Na Na Na – 2:27

6.       Marble House – 5:18

7.       Like a Pen – 6:13

8.       From Off to On – 3:58

9.       Forest Families – 4:08

10.   One Hit – 4:27

11.   Still Light – 3:15

Listen to ‘Marble House’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=841r2p_dsJE

Also released on the 17^th February:

2004: Chromeo – She’s In Control

Also released on the 17^th February:

2009: Beirut – March of the Zapatec

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