1960s bubblegum pop meets modern retro stylings with a New Zealand indie vibe. And if you understand that sentence then you’ll enjoy this album. I did.
Articles about music
Eternal Youth — Future Bible Heroes
Not as good as their first album Memories of Love, but still with those mordant lyrics and cheesy synthesizers.
Prismic — Yuki
I heard Yuki‘s song 66db, an odd, Bjork-ish ballad, in the J-Pop Cafe one night. Later, I bought her album to celebrate my new job, She’s melodious, in a rockin’ kind of way. One of the songs is called The End of Shite.
Storytelling — Belle & Sebastian
I just saw this in a shop and bought it on the spot. It turns out to be a soundtrack album. It has a handful of decent songs, a few instrumentals and a number of jarring dialogue snippets from what sounds like, but to be fair probably isn’t, an American teen movie. I was expecting a proper album, and I was disappointed, but taken on its own merits it’s all right.
The 6ths
The 6ths are really The Magnetic Fields with guest vocalists. Of course, they don’t approach the majesty of The Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs (the best album in the world… ever) but their albums are still essential, at least to me.
The two albums are Hyacinths and Thistles and Wasps’ Nests. Note how the band and album names are specifically chosen to be awkward to pronounce. Perverse? Yes. H & S has more brilliant, tuneful, hearfelt songs than most bands manage in a career. There’s also the fun final track, which slowly fades out over what seems like several hours.
Wasps’ Nests doesn’t quite have the sounds or the songs, but there are still many lovely moments. And bonus points for featuring Chris Knox, the Godfather of New Zealand alternative music.
Loss — Mull Historical Society
Picked this up in Scotland. Some really good singalong songs, especially Watching Xanadu.
Empyrean Islands — Herbie Hancock
I find it difficult to get into jazz because, well, there’s so much of it. So thanks to Justin for turning me on to this groovy piece of plastic. It’s slow, funky and really interesting to listen to and absorb. And completely different from my other Hancock albums, Head Hunters and Future Shock.
I’m Waking Up to Us — Belle & Sebastian
Another melodic pop gem from Belle & Sebastian. Not much more to say about it other than that it’s not as good as the previous one, Jonathan David, but it’s still stellar.
Inside the Dub Plates — Salmonella Dub
Great for dusting out those speakers. A really nice album, with soul, a bit of melody and a boatload o’ bass. I’ve never even heard the earlier album Killervision, but I think I should.
They Might Be Giants
Purveyors of clever, catchy, eclectic and thoughtful pop music. Listen, laugh and learn. (Disclaimer: I liked their old stuff better than their new stuff, etc.)