2023: 23 Highlights (pt. 3)

Just in case you're even remotely interested, here's a few more of my fave albums of 2023.

We Are Scientists - 'Lobes'
Me and We Are Scientists go waaay back. I won't pretend I've been with them since the start, but when they broke through in the UK with their debut album in 2005 I took them in and have followed them ever since. They've been up and down in my affections ever since, but have now put out two successive records that I have loved for the first time in a while. 'Lobes' is a lot more synth-heavy than its immediate predecessor, but it's been done exceptionally well - those tunes really do sparkle.

The Keening - 'Little Bird'
The Keening is the new solo project of Rebecca Verson, former frontwoman of doom metal merchants SubRosa. She's very much keeping with the doomy feel, but it feels more expansive and broad than her previous band's work. Her label describes 'Little Bird' thus: "A web of lush orchestration, American Gothic sensibilities and wintry murder ballads set against a backdrop of dark, shimmering folk [...] flowing with flute, strings, harp, French horn, piano, organ and hammered dulcimer." It is as good as that sounds.

Teleman - 'Good Time/Hard Time'
I like this one as MrsRobster loves Teleman and if she's happy, I'm happy. The album's theme of facing challenges and overcoming them, as well as the way various aspects of nature intertwine in order to survive, grow and evolve, may have been inspired by the loss of founder member Jonny Sanders who left the band in 2020. It's their first record as a trio, but they appear to be doing OK, as Trees Grow High (MrsRobster's fave track) illustrates.

Amber Arcades - 'Barefoot On Diamond Road'
PJ Harvey - 'I Inside The Old Year Dying'
I've lumped these two together as I already mentioned them back in my summer trio of posts. Well, in the case of Polly Jean, I posted the first single and my thinly-veiled excitement for her first new proper record in seven years. It took a while to grow on me, but naturally it's brilliant with some wonderfully original flourishes and imbued with some old Dorset dialect in the lyrics. Annelotte de Graaf took five years to deliver her latest record as Amber Arcades, but it was worth the wait. Another grower with, as you would expect, some really good songs on it.

Final post next week.

Some songs (part 3)

The last one of these before I slither back into my dark little pit for a while. It's been pleasant enough rearing my head for a few days but the daylight gives me headaches...

To kick off this final little foray into 2023's greatest hits so far, I'm only heading up the road for a band I recently mentioned in a piece I wrote for the great SWC over at No Badger Required. The Bug Club never fail to put a smile on the faces of MrsRobster and I. Their quirky Velvet Underground-esque stylings have soundtracked many a car journey this year. Their latest single does not appear on their recent album and it's a bit longer than you'd normally expect from them, but it's teriffic nonetheless.

Talking of the Velvet Underground... listen to this track off the new Amber Arcades record and tell me it doesn't rip-off Lou Reed's Street Hassle. Go on, I dare you! I have to be honest though, I love this track. It's the highlight of Annelotte's new album which is actually a bit of a grower overall.

 

And finally, a bit of an odd one. The Last Dinner Party have appeared from seemingly nowhere. They've played some gigs in and around the London area but before releasing a single song they were added to a bill supporting the Rolling Stones and signed by a major label. They are at pains to deny they have insider connections, but you can tell from their accents they don't exactly hail from an inner city council estate, so there are plenty of suspicions surrounding their seemingly instant rise. All I'll say on the matter is that this, their debut single, is a dead good song. Not one to play in front of yer granny, and it will no doubt be aired on an episode of the excruciatingly awful toff-fest that is Made In Chelsea, but even so, it's a dead good song. And *ahem* nothing matters apart from that...

I'll get me coat... TTFN.

Best of 2018 #5

Yet another selection of my fave albums of 2018...


Amber Arcades - 'European Heartbreak'




Blackwater Holylight - 'Blackwater Holylight'




Spear Of Destiny 'Tontine'

Memories of 2017 gigs #3

Grandaddy
Colston Hall, Bristol - 31 March 2017
Support: Amber Arcades

It's 20 years since Grandaddy's debut album 'Under The Western Freeway' hit the shelves, and 25 years since their first recordings. So it's fitting that they've seen fit to release 'Last Place', their first album since their 2006 split, this year. It's a corker too, one of my faves of the year so far in fact. I never got the chance to see Grandaddy first time around, so was delighted when they included Bristol in their current tour. I love Grandaddy, see.

A pleasant surprise was the announcement of Amber Arcades as support act. I don't know a lot about her, but am taken by her current single It Changes so hoped she'd deliver. Sadly, I was rather underwhelmed. The songs were OK, but she seemed to let herself down vocally, her voice just didn't come across too well. At times it seemed to disappear behind the music completely. Even so, I'll be checking out her new EP and last year's debut album 'Fading Lines' because she does have some decent tunes. Incidentally, as well as being an up-and-coming musician, Amber also has a fascinating day-job which, even if you're not enamoured by her music, you cannot help feeling enormous respect for her because of it.

An amusing observation of the audience was their dress sense. Never before had I seen so many check-shirts and baseball caps. Grandaddy seem to have spawned their own fashion. I own neither a check-shirt, nor a baseball cap. Neither do I have a beard, of which Grandaddy are also fond. MrsRobster and I were able to play a little game in the interval though. A point for every shirt spotted, one for every cap and one for every beard. Special bonus points for a combo of all three, and spotting a woman sporting any of them. In fact, triple points for a woman with a beard. That last one eluded both of us, but MrsRobster is an excellent people-watcher and totally wiped the floor with me, even getting the full combo and the female shirt-wearer. Rather amusingly, we played this to a soundtrack of Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass which filled the hall during the interval. I'm guessing the DJ didn't turn up...

A slightly nervous Grandaddy took to the stage - nervous, according to Jason Lytle, as guitarist Jim Fairchild was forced to leave the tour owing to "an emergency", so their friend (and former guitarist for Elliot Smith) Shaun stepped in at very short notice. You'd never have guessed he had to learn the set in super-quick time -  he killed it. The set seemed to fly by, full, as it was, of crowd-pleasing material spanning the band's career. You could write the setlist yourself, in fact: AM 180, Hewlett's Daughter, The Crystal Lake, Now It's On, Summer Here Kids, and He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot all present and correct. The new stuff fitted right in with Way We Won't, Evermore, The Boat Is In The Barn and I Don't Wanna Live Here Anymore sounding like established favourites. No complaints about the material then (although the icing on the cake would have been A Lost Machine from 'Last Place' and Disconnecty from 'Just Like The Fambly Cat'). The sound was also superb, but I've come to expect that at the Colston Hall. Even the visuals get a thumbs up - projections of films depicting the American wilderness, rural life and industry. And trains. Lots of trains.

Difficult to find fault other than how long they played. Or so I thought. It turns out Grandaddy were onstage for about an hour and a half, yet it simply flew by which is some indication of how enjoyable it was. Had they played another hour I wouldn't have complained.

• It Changes [live] - Amber Arcades [recorded live in Haarlem, Netherlands 2017)
• I Don't Wanna Live Here Anymore [live] - Grandaddy [recorded live in Glasgow at the BBC 6 Music Festival, March 2017]
• He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot [live] - Grandaddy [recorded live in Glasgow at the BBC 6 Music Festival, March 2017]

And here's Evermore also from the 6 Music Festival: