5.Midnight’s Mirror – Mystery Jets
This was one of those tunes
where ten seconds in I felt like I had heard it before. More than that, I felt
like it was a forgotten favourite. And then the chorus came in, and I’m a
sucker for a high voice done right. I didn’t even know the Mystery Jets had a
high voice in them. What I’m saying in this song was a comfy, pleasant
surprise.
4.Leave Me Alone: album –
Hinds
Back when the Spanish
quartet Hinds was the duo Deers I
loved ‘Bamboo’. God
I loved ‘Bamboo’! Nothing else on their first album quite matches up to that,
but it’s still pretty good. ‘Garden’ and ‘Castigadas En El Granero’ are
probably the best of the rest for me at this stage. And now I can own ‘Bamboo’
on CD if I so wish.
3.Adore – Savages
‘Is it human to adore life?’
is not exactly the sentiment you expect to hear from a dark, goth-like band
that calls itself Savages and plays moody, distorted guitar. In the chorus to
this track singer Jehnny Beth sort of recalls the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde.
It’s notable as a variation on Savages’ usual sound, and from what we were led
to expect for the upcoming album based on the two tracks (‘The
Answer’ and ‘T.I.W.Y.G’)
that preceded it.
2.Crying In Public – Chairlift
From the
lyrics in the first verse I wasn’t sure if this song’s narrator
was someone who never cries (‘take all my defenses’), or was perhaps trying to
make their partner cry (‘what kind of monster have I been today?’). Reading the
lyrics again, I think both of those things could be intended. Then the second
verse seemed to veer off on unrelated topics (‘from the birds at my feet / to
the breakdancing boys / and their boomboxes’ beat, beat, beat’). It’s quite
nice though, and the chorus will stay with you. We all know someone who’s been
there, if not our selves.
1.Blackstar: album – David
Bowie
I don’t have too much to say
directly about David Bowie’s latest, and – as it sadly turns out – final album,
as whatever meaning it has, not much of it has been revealed to me at this
point. (It seems I’m not alone here – see this recent New Yorker
article about Bowie’s ‘beautiful meaningless’). I do want to share
these thoughts about it though.
With the release of
‘Blackstar’ and ‘The Next Day’ a couple of years ago, it seemed as if Bowie had
put semi-retirement behind him, and was embarking on the next phase of his
career. A bit of what I read about the album prior to listening to it talked
about the new directions that it suggested. As the big new release I was
listening to it for the third time, and was about halfway through the first,
title track when the news popped up on the website I was reading: David Bowie
had died. How weird! There is a good chance I’ll never have a moment like that
again …
Who knew, hey? Bowie’s new
album didn’t exactly sound like his ‘last will and testament’. I suppose now I
can see some signs, in that the album has only seven tracks and four of those
had already been released, potentially indicating that the album was shorter
than it would have been if Bowie had been in full health. Then again, maybe it
wouldn’t … maybe Bowie intended it to be only that long …
Now I think about it though,
it seems somewhat appropriate that Bowie’s final album felt like it was looking
forward to the next stage. His music often felt like and referred to what was
coming next. Also, life doesn’t always end neatly so much as it is interrupted,
like the people
walking through the market square in ‘Five Years’
catching the news that the end has come.
David Bowie will be most
remembered by me for his incredible run of albums in the 1970s: The Man Who Sold The World, Hunky Dory,
Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Young Americans, Station to Station, Low,
‘Heroes’, Lodger, and Scary Monsters.
Those were ten great albums, and contained many
great songs.
But his past two albums were pretty good as well. It’s a shame that we also
won’t have more albums like them.
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