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Reviews

Review: Imperial Leisure – The Art of Saying Nothing

Music can very much be a mood thing. People have songs they listen to when they feel down or ones that remind them of a special time. Another common theme is the going out or getting ready tune, that song you listen to as you leave the drudgery of work behind and head into the weekend. Since first stumbling across them at 2000 Trees in 2009, one band has been the sound track to my descent into debauchery more than any other and that band is Imperial Leisure.

When I caught them at 2000 Trees, it was the middle of the afternoon, they sounded interesting from their description in the program and we settled down in the field to check them out. We weren’t sat down for long; the band’s ska punk offerings had us skanking almost immediately. The tunes were infectious, the lyrics so catchy that you found yourself singing along to choruses of songs you’d never heard before. It was such a lively, energetic and memorable performance that I went looking for their material as soon as I returned home. What I found was the band’s début album The Art Of Saying Nothing, which has recently been added to Spotify.

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Videos

Video: Tom Vek – A Chore

I think I speak for a fair few members of the Spotisfaction staff when I say: welcome back, Tom Vek, you have been sorely missed. Enjoy this, his video for ‘A Chore’. Many loves for this track.

 

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Features

Today at Spotisfaction

Here’s a look at some of the things we’ve been listening to today:

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Reviews

Review: PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Let-England-Shake/dp/B004KEOQJ8/ref=dm_cd_album_lnkI guess you guys already know PJ Harvey, but I only just listened to her for the first time with her most recent album, Let England Shake. I was browsing the earliest reviews of Radiohead”™s newest offering, a couple of weeks back, and one user comment on Metacritic said something like, “This is crap, like every other recent release by Radiohead, just electronic experimental bollocks. If you liked what they used to do when they were good, check out PJ Harvey”™s new album.” Although I disagreed that Radiohead has gone downhill since the days of OK Computer and The Bends, I thought I”™d listen to his suggestion anyway.

And I”™m glad I did. This is a great album with easy comparisons to Laura Marling, Cat Power or Taken By Trees. But I guess these women were probably, at least to an extent, influenced by her earlier work. I don”™t know though. As I said I”™d never listened to her before and I haven”™t yet delved into her back catalogue except in reading about her work with Thom Yorke and Nick Cave. So, I”™m looking forward to getting my teeth into some of that soon. For the moment though, I”™ll just enjoy listening to this with my naive ears, which is nice.

PJ Harvey – The Words That Maketh Murder

Also, if you like this, then maybe check this out: papercranes ”“ Let”™s Make Babies In The Woods. It”™s pretty good too.

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News

News: Mirah

Holy Bells, when did Spotify add the Mirah back catalogue to Spotify?

I fell in love with Mirah upon hearing Dogs of B.A., but her stuff has always been needlessly hard to come by. I just noticed today pretty much everything she’s released is now on Spotify. This is amazing news, because it probably just made your morning.

An American singer-songwriter who combines her incredible, fragile but husky voice with quirkier-than-quirk indie, she released her first album You Think It’s Like This But Really It’s Like This on K Records in 2000, and developed a noiser side to her sound on 2001’s Advisory Committee. In 2004 she released the superb C’mon Miracle, a record that mixed the scatterbrain weirdness of her previous effort with a subtlety that complimented her voice to heartbreaking effect. Just listen.

Mirah – We’re Both So Sorry

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Reviews

Review: Heinali & Matt Finney – Conjoined

Having reviewed Rumour Cubes latest EP last week and outlining my own troublesome reactions to post-rock, a new record came to my attention: Conjoined, the latest release from composer/spoken word-duo Heinali & Matt Finney.

Had I heard this record before, I may have understood my cognitive dissonance about post-rock a little better. For this dark, heavy, brooding monolith of doomgaze (not a term I coined, but utterly perfect and not a jot over-the-top) could not embody cognitive dissonance any more; paranoid, claustrophobic, and infinitely intriguing.

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News

News: Dreadzone

After seventeen years in the business, British dub legends Dreadzone are set to release ‘The Best of Dreadzone: The Good, The Bad and the Dread‘ on Dubwiser Records on 9 May 2011.

Having released 6 albums in their career, including last years highly successful Eye On the Horizon in April, the band have a hefty back catalogue to draw on. Classics like Zion Youth, Little Britain (a rarer vocal version is included here) and American Dread are all set to feature across the 16 tracks.

In support of the tour they’ve announced a handful of UK gigs in May, as well as being confirmed for Glade Festival 2011 in June.

Having caught them at Scala back in December, you won’t be disappointed if you pick up the album and catch the tour.

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Playlists

153 Spotisfaction Friday – 25th March 2011 – Mike Sheldrick

Morning kids. What an awesome week we’re having, no? Some daft bugger has closed all the blinds in the office today, so I’m taking far more coffee breaks than is strictly necessary to try and wrest back some sunshine.

I went airsofting last night with some friends (think paintball, but indoors and with BBs instead of paint) and tripped whilst heroicly pegging it away from the other team… consequently I’ve completely knackered my shoulder. I’m sat here, high on ibuprofen, trying not to move. My poor wife (who is 8-months pregnant and can barely move, too) had to help dress me this morning. Oh how the mighty have fallen, eh! So, if you see me around this weekend, be gentle otherwise I might cry at you.

Anyway!

Today’s playlist is courtesy of Mighty Mike Sheldrick and is entitled Barefaced Optimism. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect here, but this whole playlist works really well. Nothing like a sunny day and some undeniably classic tunes to cheer you up! Make sure to hit the read more link to see what Mike has to say about this mix – worth reading.

Bring on the weekend.

Dave

Categories
Reviews

Review: Tesseract – One

Newsflash! Djent is going mainstream – and people are pissed. You’re probably asking ‘Why are people pissed?‘ or, more likely, ‘What is Djent?‘. Our story starts almost a decade ago.

Firstly, Meshuggah did something very important indeed when they nailed the ever-increasing technical element of their brutal thrash metal on 2002’s Nothing – a record whose ‘poly-rhythmic’ chops, synonymous with more out-and-out ‘prog’ groups like The Mars Volta, became something infinitely heavier: you put it over straight drum patterns people can follow, and groove metal is born. Suddenly those ‘pretentious’ and off-kilter rhythms are just a means to discover syncopation, to hang guitar lines over steady beats and draw out the very essence of groove. THAT is heavy.

About the same sort of time, home recording technology took off, allowing a new generation of guitarists, influenced by Meshuggah, to start really playing around with these new grooves, rearranging drums parts and guitar lines endlessly, and to swap them with the growing online community at a rate of knots.

But why ‘djent’? Well, to make sure the whole thing doesn’t get sludgy and unlistenable, guitarists found they really needed to choke their guitar sounds. A consequence of this was that your usual metal power chord ends up sounding, quite literally, as a ‘DJENT, DJENT, DJENT!’. Nowadays, Djent stands for that genre of music that keeps the guitars tight, is heavily syncopated, and was probably heard online about 7 years ago.

And there, too, is the reason why people are pissed. Periphery managed to really make the big time with last years self-titled album (all the material of which was available online for donkeys years), and at a similar time, Animals As Leaders released their self-titled album seemingly out of nowhere. People are now expecting Djent to move on, but what they’re getting is a number of bands releasing that first lot of material they heard back in ’04.

Tesseract release their debut album One with opinion really split. Those that love the sound are right behind it, but you’ll find a number of people out there complaining that the material is old (not helped by vocalist changes and problems getting a label to release on). Well, no more! Let it be said right here – Tesseract are fully entitled to release the material on this album, because not only is it an exceptional body of work, nobody gets close to pulling off the atmospherics found on One.

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Reviews

Review: Rumour Cubes – We Have Sound Houses Also

 

There’s something about Post-rock. I don’t know what it is. Somehow, I both love it and hate it. It’s both one of my favourite genres, and one I find most easy to deride. For instance (and post-rock purists are really going to hate me now), I can rarely tell my Mogwai from my Explosions In The Sky. It’s all just reverb guitars, rolling structure and no vocals (it really is though). Yet, and perhaps because of these limitations, when it works, it has the potential to be life-affirming – Godspeed You! Black Emperor‘s Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada is a seminal release. Mogwai’s recent Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, and in particular tracks like White Noise, show why the genre works, why it continues to intrigue, and why it doesn’t get boring.

So new post-rock outfits sort of have it tough in trying to win me over – it has to triumph over its uniquely chastened stylings and be something quite startling indeed. With the three songs on Rumour Cubes self-produced EP We Have Sound Houses Also, triumph they have.

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News

News: RightClickSaveAs – Hoxton Bar & Kitchen

I previewed RCSA back in October, and since then the boy has gone from strength to strength, working with some great producers, and getting his band together. He’s now due to play his debut headline gig at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on 30 March – I’ve had a couple of sneak previews of the new band show, and it’s sounding absolutely superb, so I recommend getting to the show, tickets here.

In the middle of the last decade, bands like Interpol and The Killers integrated influences from the 80s – the formative decade for many artists today. Combined with the flourishing electro scene under Justice, Erol Alkan, Simian Mobile Disco and others, indie’s final integration with dance music was completed with Hot Chip’s The Warning in 2006, and the Klaxons’ Myths of The Near Future in January 2007. Since then, electro has been king, with artists like Friendly Fires finding their electronic side the more fruitful of their parent influences. So, ever wondered what glitchy electro-pop would sound like if it was done by just one man and his guitar? The answer is RightClickSaveAs.

Categories
Playlists

152 Spotisfaction Monday – 14th March 2011 – Jo Hawling

Morning kids. I trust everyone had a fantabulous weekend? Mine was pretty good – I did very little except for shopping, watching rugby and chilling out. Awesome.

Today’s playlist is by one of my two joint-favourite Hawlings, Jo, and is quite the eclectic mix of strong tracks. This playlist has completely evaporated my Monday morning blues – very impressive stuff indeed.

Remember remember that your playlists are the life-blood of this place. If today’s playlist has inspired you to create your own (as well it bloody well should!), chuck it our way. Laters!

Also, if you like what Spotisfaction is all about, please get in touch and we’ll have a chat about how you can help. HAVE A GREAT MONDAY AND STUFF, YEAH?

Dave

Categories
Playlists

151 Spotisfaction Wednesday – 8th March 2011 – Dave Christensen

Good morning folks. I’m going to be an honest bunny and put my hands up – I’ve been slacking horrendously with Spotisfaction. I won’t bore you with the excuses, but I will tell you that I’m going to try and find time to update a little more often. I got a little burnt out with running the site over Christmas, but I’m re-energised and ready to share some more Spotify playlists with you all. On that note, of course, if you have one you’re working on, send it our way ;)

I’ve spent this evening going through our backlog (wow, you guys have been busy! I’ll work through them over the next couple of weeks, I promise <3), so here’s one out of my “I’ve been listening to this playlist quite a lot, I should probably give it the post it deserves!” list! It comes from my favourite Dave, Dave Christensen, and is entitled “Fleeting Love”.

Enjoy.

Dave

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News Videos

Video: Radiohead – Lotus Flower

So, Radiohead have moved the release of new album The King Of Limbs forward a day! You can now download the album for six of your English pounds from their website, http://www.thekingoflimbs.com/. Happy days! I’ll give you my first impressions when I’ve had a chance to listen to it after work today.

In the meantime, here’s the first video from the album for single ‘Lotus Flower’. Enjoy.

EDIT:

News just in – the new Radiohead turns out to be a total rip off! (Thanks James and Ben):

Categories
Reviews

Review: The Streets – Computers and Blues

Mike Skinner is back with his fifth and final hurrah under his moniker The Streets, with Computers And Blues, and the premise of being a more ”˜Ravey”™ reflective and evaluation of life at “Street Level”.

From the offset, Skinner positively demonstrates his intent to stretch the boundaries of musicality with the strangely syncopated and electrified introduction to opening number Outside Inside, combined with the ever-familiar, casually poetic style flowing tamely alongside the sporadic melody. Going Through Hell features a catchy ear-worm chorus and an almost obnoxious and leary driven thumping backing track.

Sadly though, the better tunes look to have already passed and the rest of the album seems to lose its way, with the next tracks failing to deliver or cover any significant new ground in its material content, sometimes seeming to have to resort to repetition to get the across the themes in the subject matter. Skinner has opted to stretch his poetic abilities with the use of more abstract metaphors which, often overused, actually hinder empathy with the lyrical content.