Wednesday 21 December 2011

The wonkey donkey's top 5 albums of 2011

In keeping with the xmas season being upon us and the end of 2011 draws near I've decided a good post would be my top 5 albums of the year.

So here we go:

1. Bjork - Biophilia
http://bjork.com/

Anyone who knows me well, knows I'm a big bjork fan and have been for a long time. Her latest album is available as an LP but also as an iOS app.

The iOS app allows you to restructure the music through a manner of different mechanisms, and I feel brings a truly interactive experience to the sound. The LP as you'd imagine is just a straightforward album.

The album itself reminds me of a previous album by her entitled homogenic. It makes ever present her interest in music technology and pushing what can be done in a variety of different ways.

Standout tracks for me have to be crystalline, a beautiful plinky track, breaking into a breakcore esque finish, and virus, another fantastic plinky track.


2. Gil Scot Heron and Jamie XX - We're new here
http://www.myspace.com/revolutionwillnotbetelevised

Gil Scott Heron had come back with a fantastic album in the last couple of years, but unfortunately his passing this year will mean we will hear no more from this fantastic, free thinking spoken word artist.

However his last installment "I'm new here" was beautifully re-jigged by Jamie XX into a spacious and uplifting album.

Stand out songs for me have to be  'running' which uses Gil's fantastic vocals alongside a Jamie XX backing track to invoke a true gut feeling from the song, and 'Ill take care of u' again blending the vocals with a fantastically chilled beat and a spine tingling guitar sample.

3. You love her coz she's dead - you love her coz she's dead
http://youlovehercozshesdead.com/

I've actually already written a review of this album, which you can read here

4. the Junk - Problem.Reaction.Solution
http://www.myspace.com/thejunkpunk

Hailing from Brighton, these guys have got a talent for ska punk that shouldn't be ignored. I was introduced to the junk at Boomtown festival in 2010, and download their EP. I've been eagerly awaiting an album and wasn't dissapointed, with only one song being repeated on both EP and first album.

the Junk come with hard hitting lyrics, and balance out all the sounds in the calamity of noise beautifully, easily one of my most sing alongable albums in the car (not that I ever sing in the car obviously).

Stand out songs for me are rise and shine, which balance a bit of scream with some classic ska punk sound and scream your dreams with shows some real anger and makes some good points in the lyrics. This band have a real brit grit feel to them, reminding me a little of citizen fish, a highly recomended album.

5. Machine head - enter the locust
http://machinehead1.com/

Having had some fantastic albums, and some slightly shit albums in the past, over the last 2 albums machine head have had a return to form over the last couple, in addition to this I fucking love machine head. End of.

What you'd expect, teenage turning to middle age angst, shouty lyrics, grinding riffs, a couple of solos, long tracks, a fuck you attitude and a curious inclusion of a childrens choir, which would be my main downfall for this album..... Overall however, pretty fucking awesome. If you dont like machine head you probably wont like this, if you like machine head but haven't heard this then listen to it, if you like machine and have heard this, you'll know what I'm talking about.


Other releases that didnt quite make it into my top 5
Raging Fyah - Judgement day  - Some great new roots reggae from Kingston Jamaica
Ruby my dear - The Gingko EP - French breakcore mentality taking his name from a thelonious monk apparently
The correspondents - What happened to soho? - Another installment from london based kings of electro swing and festival favourites. Really hoping for an album soon!

Tuesday 13 December 2011

My first ever album review - You love her coz she's dead

So once again, here's me trying to make some use of my blog for once. I've decided I'm a massive music fan so its a shame for me not to do reviews etc, so I though I'd give it a bash.

The last album I bought is called 'You love her coz she's dead' by You love her coz she's dead. Imaginative. (for reference Ill be calling them ylhcsd from now on in, and that also suffices in a google search).

So you may cry, who is this obscure band who goes by the acronym of a strange sentence? Well a couple of years ago I came across a band called the crystal castles (infact it may be nearly 4 years ago now), and over time developed a taste for their angry bit sound, its certainly no atari teenage riot digital hardcore type stuff, but certainly got some beautiful written sounds juxtaposed against some angry fucking noises. Introducing their second album to my freinds the crystal castles became know as '8am ear chocolate' because their second album felt a little bit more finished but certainly not as upbeat and pissed off.

Never satisfied with my taste in music I tried to investigate a few more bit pop bands, there were some hits (anamanaguchi, slagmalsklubben) and some misses. However that year I saw a band purely by chance called Kap bambino at glastonbury, they were amazing live and I wanted to hear some more music like them. After furiously searching the internet I came across the obscure ylhcsd, who had had track on some Kitsune Maison compilation albums, and had just released an EP called inner city angst.

Inner city angst was interesting, it was clearly made by a band who had a talent, but as with most bands the tracks weren't quite finished enough to be album worthy. However they were exciting, used noise that I like, and I could imagine them live.

So fast forward a couple of years, here's me scouring the internet to see what album releases I'd missed this year and completely by chance I come across this album. I had a listen to the itunes preview, bought it and was certainly not dissappointed for my £7.99 I paid for it.

From the start if you like this kind of music, its an exciting listen, and there's quite a few noteworthy tracks. I will say that its not the longest of albums, and the tempo is pretty standard throughout the album (as is per usual with crossover/bit bands), but its more than made up by the warps, booms and glitches throughout.

As far as noteworthy tracks go I'll mentioned my favourite 3:
Mud (feat sucker twin) - Well I'm not sure whether the 140 bpm dubstep feel is from sucker twin (who ive not managed to find any information about online), or ylhcsd having a bash at something a bit more bass driven, but I must say I love this track. Its got a pretty nasty, but still smooth bassline, with some nice stutters on the vocals and a very playful little tune over the top. I would certainly try and drop this into the right type of dubstep set, although I'm not convinced how well it would go past your traditional dubstepper (not well at all I'd imagine). Overall definately my favourite tune on the album, and certainly one that I could imagine drawing a few more listeners in.


Pull out the nails - An odd tune, but another standout one for me, a more traditional tempo for 'bit' but with a very playful overtone one what I'd call the 'screamer' sounds, and then with a drop to smash you in the chops a little bit, this would certainly be a good one live.



Leap of desire II - This is a track of many motions, what I think is meant to be a reprise of the first song of the album. We start off with an intro that feels a bit like a moment out of 90's trance euphoria, whilst some might hate it, ive got not problem with that, it then flows along nicely like I'd expect until 1.45 ish, then it takes a twist for the nastier (the way it should be), the kicks get a bit harder and everything else a bit more dischordant, personally I think its a true skill when you can do that in music, but still keep it balanced, but there'll always be some that cant see past a slightly irregular beat.



So in summary for this album, probably not to everyones taste, but I'm giving it a big thumbs up for a debut album, a bit like the crystal castles, but not as pretentious, a bit like kap bambino, but with added oomph and a bit more of a kick in the head. I've been left craving to see ylhcsd live, and wanting to blast it out on the biggest soundsystem I can find. So I'll be giving this one an 8/10.