Kasabian called their latest album ’48:13’? Who are they trying to fool
with this ‘arty’ stance? Tom and Serge disappointed me a little bit with their
most recent album, ‘Velociraptor’, which seemed a tad uninspired after the
slightly-bonkers quasi-psychedelicia of the excellent ‘West Ryder Pauper
Lunatic Asylum’. The new album veers back away from trad-rock, with mixed
results, but when they get their blend of the anthemic and the trance-like
right, as they do on ‘Stevie’, it is Kasabian at their very best. The boys from
Leicester also hit the mark on ‘Clouds’ and single ‘Eez-eh’, less so on ‘Treat’
(‘everybody knows I work it, work it like a treat’ – repeat ad nauseum).
2.
Cruel World – Lana Del Rey
Probably nothing else Lana Del Rey does in her career will hold the
same excitement for me that I felt when I first saw the clip for ‘Video
Games’ on YouTube – I must have watched it seven times within 24 hours of
first seeing it. Her album ‘Born To Die’ was, for me, a
bit of a let-down, mostly filled with middling ballads. From my first
couple of listens new album ‘Ultraviolence’ seems to me an improvement; there
are a few more hooks and surprises in the tunes, and Lana actually has more
than one tone in her voice. Opening track ‘Cruel World’ is a good example of
this more adventurous stance, clocking in at over six-and-a-half minutes and
never really knowing when to end, it is in my view the track on this album that
comes closest to matching ‘Video Games’ for atmospherics.
3.
The Fragile Army (album) – The Polyphonic Spree
I never listened much to the Polyphonic Spree after their first album,
and by God, now do I regret it. I regret even more not seeing them perform in
the late-2000s, which would be just after ‘The Fragile Army’ album was
released. No longer a novelty pseudo-cult in white robes, the Polyphonic Spree
had turned into an excellent indie-pop group, using their 20-something
vocalists to create some joyous and sublime harmonies for their catchy tunes. Single
‘We Crawl’ – probably the reason I did not pay much attention to this album
when it first came out – is actually for me one of the weaker tracks. Better
are tracks three through five – ‘Get Up And Go’, ‘The Fragile Army’, and
‘Younger Yesterday’, along with ‘Light To Follow’, ‘Watch Us Explode
(Justify)’, and closer ‘The Championship’.
Anyone who has listened to the Horrors’ two most recent albums, ‘Primary
Colours’ and ‘Skying’ will know pretty much what to expect from their new one ‘Luminous’.
Like much of the Horrors’ output, this is a brooding track that sounds like it
was recorded in a tunnel, but this one stands out for its infectious chorus,
pleasant synth, and rowdy guitars, that will have you singing along even as you
lurk alone moodily in an alleyway.
5.
Love Goes To Buildings On Fire – Will Hermes
Wait,
isn’t that a song by the Talking Heads? Yes it is, but it is also the title
that Will Hermes has taken for his new book about the New York music scene of
the mid-1970s. Most people who are interested in picking up this book will
already know a bit about Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, the New York Dolls, Blondie,
Television, the Ramones, and Talking Heads themselves. The stories that may be
less well-known are those of Grandmaster Flash and the beginnings of hip-hop,
and the main jazz and salsa figures of that period. The book even follows
composer Philip Glass through the triumphs and tribulations of his four-part
opera’ Einstein On The Beach’. Looking behind the scenes of the punk icons was
naturally of the most interest to me, but it is good that Hermes chose to take
a more expansive view of the city and its music, often through personal
recollections. CBGB sounds like it was a real dive.
