22 in '22 (part 4)

In a year when the UK has become an even bigger laughing stock around the world than ever before (thanks Tories, you've done it again!), the one thing that's kept many of us going is music. Quite frankly, what else do we have? Today, I present the last batch of my 22 favourite albums of 2022 and there's a real international flavour about it. USA, Germany, Sweden, Jamaica, England and, of course, Wales are all represented.

The final seven had to be carefully whittled down from about twice that number, but I think I've made the right decisions. They are not listed in any particular order.

WIDOWSPEAK - 'The Jacket' I was unfamiliar with Brooklyn duo Widowspeak before I heard Everything Is Simple this year, and surprised 'The Jacket' is their sixth album. More fool me. I've really been enjoying this record.	xPROPAGANDA - 'The Heart is Strange' Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag teamed up with original Propaganda producer Steve Lipson for the first time in 37 years and made a record that is far better than it had any right to be.
HORACE ANDY - 'Midnight Rocker' Now 71, Horace Andy shows no sign of slowing down, and his voice is as wonderful as ever. Recorded with Adrian Sherwood, 'Midnight Rocker' has been lauded as one of his best records this century.	FRANK TURNER - 'FTHC' After a few ropey overly-woke albums that verged on self-parody, Frank made a welcome return to his hardcore roots (hence the album title). He's certainly at his best when he's like this.
CATE LE BON - 'Pompeii' It took a bit of time to get into Cate's 6th album, mainly because of its pace, but repeated listens have been rewarding. This clip of her at Glastonbury is just brilliant. The chainmail really suits her!	FIRST AID KIT - 'Palomino' I had a feeling that the Söderberg sisters were treading water a bit after their last couple of albums, but 'Palomino' restored my faith. A really good set of songs with one or two new sounds creeping in.
EDITORS - 'EBM' Editors' output has been somewhat patchy in recent years, but 'EBM', featuring new member Benjamin Power (aka Blanck Mass), could be their best record in some time. It's certainly been worthy of a few plays here.	And a few notable extras I just couldn't ignore. In alphabetical order... BLOC PARTY - 'Alpha Games' (something of a return to form) BORIS - 'Heavy Rocks III' (the loudest and fastest of their THREE albums this year) FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE - 'Dance Fever' (what a phenomenal song this is!) HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT - 'The Voltarol Years' (ever reliable) SORRY - 'Anywhere But Here' (a very decent second effort) THE WOMBATS - 'Fix Yourself, Not The World' (for MrsRobster, who's a fan.)

I'm not one to throw a load more negativity into an already very negative world, but for the record, I just want to state how massively disappointed I was with the following records. I had high expectations for these, especially the first one which, considering how long it's been since their previous record, is particularly poor.

YEAH YEAH YEAHS - 'Cool It Down'
ARCADE FIRE - 'WE'
GWENNO - 'Tresor'
ARCTIC MONKEYS - 'The Car'
ALVVAYS - 'Blue Rev'

And that's it for another year folks. I'm going to let the blog lie dormant again for a bit as I'm not really feeling it right now. We'll see what happens. Ta-ta.

50 songs to take to my grave #28, #29 & #30

These three have already been written about here in one way or another. They're all more than worthy of being included in this series, so here's what I said about them (with a tweak or two to keep it relevant). Links to the original articles are included if you're interested.

#28: Emmylou - First Aid Kit
(adapted from 'Country Boy', 23 May 2014)
 

Sometimes, something comes totally from left-field and bowls you over. When I first heard First Aid Kit’s Emmylou, it was one of those moments the tears started welling up. (To be honest, I have one of those moments every time I hear it!) If you didn’t know better, you would think it’s a 70s country classic sung by one of the legendary Nashville-based female superstars of the era. So when you realise it’s actually two teenage sisters from Sweden in 2012 it adds another level of wonderment. I mean – those voices! Those harmonies!

Live they take it to another level - it's spine-tingling how good they make it sound. Emmylou is not only one of my fave tunes of the past few years, but my daughter's too. It shows how far country music has reached over the years and how many generations it continues to inspire.



#29: True Faith - New Order
(adapted from 'This Is Pop!', 28 February 2014)
 

It was when I was 16 and part way into becoming a fully-fledged ‘indie-kid’ that I somewhat belatedly got into New Order. I heard True Faith and became immediately hooked. It’s one of those tracks that moves me tremendously; there’s just something about it that gives me a pang in my stomach and makes my hairs stand up on end.

It also has one of my favourite ever sleeves. The golden leaf image on True Faith was the work of Peter Saville, Factory’s in-house designer and has been revived in numerous forms and colour schemes on New Order releases since. It struck me as a fine example of ‘the perfect package’ – the outside and the inside combining style and substance in harmony.



#30: The Winner Takes It All - Abba
(adapted from 'Abba, Antmusic and ‘Ashes To Ashes’', 12 February 2014)

I have absolutely no problem whatsoever admitting to liking Abba.  When I was between 8 and 11, they were my favourite band.  I claimed my mum’s copy of Greatest Hits Volume 2 as my own, and the 'Super Trouper' album accompanied my first proper record player for Christmas 1980. What lay at the heart of Abba for me back then – and to many to this very day – were the songs.  They were proper songs, written and performed by a proper group.  This wasn’t lost on me even as a young boy.

The Winner Takes It All still strikes me as being one of their highlights. Abba could do heartbreak songs really well and this one was the epitome of heartbreaking. It sent chills through me even at 9 years old. It sends shivers through me now at 43.

Memories of 2015's gigs 1-3

MrsRobster and I are trying to get out more now that the Sprogsters are old enough to be left alone for a few hours. Over the last two years we've been to more gigs than we'd been to over the previous 10 combined. So as an extension to my 'Memories of a thousand gigs' series, I thought I'd document our shows this year, for better or worse. So here's the first three of 2015. We have more lined up, but this isn't one of them...


#1: First Aid Kit
St. David's Hall, Cardiff - 15 January 2015
Support: Kimberly Anne

Last September, First Aid Kit took my breath away with their show in Bristol. This time around, as brilliantly wonderful as they were once again, the thrill was somewhat diluted. I guess seeing them play much the same set in a slightly inferior venue explains it a little. The audience seemed rather shy and subdued too for some reason. Not disappointing by any means, but I might wait a while before seeing them again.

I wrote a little piece about support act Kimberly Anne here.


Soundtrack:

• My Silver Lining [Stockholm session] by First Aid Kit (from 'America' EP)

#2: Future Of The Left
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff - 31 January 2015
Support: The St. Pierre Snake Invasion, WaLL

This was a special one-off hometown show to support Independent Venue Week. Bristolian friends The St. Pierre Snake Invasion were asked along for the ride and went down a storm, while WaLL opened the show to far fewer people and made somewhat less of an impression.

Maybe because of the occasion, Future Of The Left played a lot of old songs, with only a few from their most recent two albums. Kept by Bees opened the set, Arming Eritrea, Manchasm and The Lord Hates A Coward were aired too.  They even ran through a 'cover' of No Covers by mclusky, the band singer Andrew Falcous and drummer Jack Eggleston were previously members of.

But a Future Of The Left show in Cardiff isn't complete without some great banter between band and fans. Following Falco telling an audience member he looked like Jeffrey Archer he was somewhat predictably asked: "Who's Jeffrey Archer?" to whit: "He's like Nigel Farage but not as good a writer."

"Fuck Nigel Farage," came another shout.

"Yes," replied Falco as quick as you like. "Fuck Nigel Farage, but not to the point where he enjoys it!"

And so it continued. "Fuck the Stone Roses."

“I’m concerned by your obsession with sexual violence.  ‘Sexual violence rarely solves anything,’ my mother always said."

At the climax of a wonderfully loud, noisy and riotous set, it all got even more noisy and riotous as the ritual dismantling of the drum kit unfolded. Fans joined the band onstage to take part in hitting various percussive items while feedback squealed and guitars fuzzed for longer than most of the songs in the set. Some lucky punter even had bassist Julia on his shoulders as she noodled along to the cacophony. 'Twas one of the most fun shows I've attended in the last few years.


Soundtrack:

• Manchasm by Future of The Left (from 'Curses')
• Call The Coroner by The St. Pierre Snake Invasion (from 'Everyone's entitled To My Opinion' EP)

#3: Royal Blood
Newport Centre - 3 March 2015
Support: Mini Mansions

The future of British rock: Royal Blood sold out their last tour in two minutes. This tour was bigger - more dates, larger venues - and sold out within an hour. It seems everyone wants a piece of Royal Blood, and why not? Loud, noisy guitar music is always welcome in my neck of the woods, so when a band like Royal Blood comes to Newport, it's a no brainer really.

MrsRobster perfectly summed up support band Mini Mansions - a trio from LA - with just two choice phrases. Of their look: "They look like they're all in different bands;"[1] and on their sound: "They remind me of old dirty dishwater." Enough said.

Once we'd moved away from the really annoying woman in front of us who seemed to want to film the entire night on her mobile phone in 2-minute sequences, I tried to enjoy Royal Blood. I really did try. But they just weren't doing it for me. Don't get me wrong, they were tight, they played well and they sounded great. But that's the problem for me - they just sounded too good. It was all a little predictable, it sounded pretty much exactly like the CD. I could have listened to it at home and got as much out of it.

It also felt they were padding the set out somewhat. If a band has just one album to their name, there will always be limitations, but you can't fill things out with long pauses between songs and a pretty pointless cover of 20th Century Boy. The loud noisy jam at the very end of the set was the best part of the show for me, but otherwise I and MrsRobster came away pretty unmoved. Maybe part of it was the venue - maybe a little too big for them.

Alas, I fear the time to catch Royal Blood live has passed. Put them in a small space and they'd undoubtedly lift the roof off. Sadly, the future of British rock seem to have gotten too big too fast.


Soundtrack:

• Ten Tonne Skeleton [Steve Lamacq 6Music session] by Royal Blood (unreleased)

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[1] The bassist was like a half-arsed Nicky Wire of the Manics with a tiny fraction of the charisma; the keyboard player could have been in any hipster electropop band like, say, Alt-J or Metronomy; and the stand-up drummer looked like he was in a bad Spandau Ballet tribute band playing tunes from their shite years!

TheRobster's Top 10 albums of 2014 (part one)

Fair to say 2014 wasn't a classic year for great music, but even so there were some gems that floated to the top of my pile. Today and tomorrow I present my top 10 albums of the year. They're not in any particular order, though there is one amongst them that I rate most highly of all.

'Eagulls' - Eagulls
I can't quite put my finger on why I like this record so much. It's not exactly varied in its approach, a little samey you might say. But I've probably played this album more than any other this year and haven't (yet) grown tired of it. They were good live when we saw them back in October, too.

Soundtrack:

• Tough Luck - Eagulls (from 'Eagulls')

'Futurology' - Manic Street Preachers
How do they do it? All the talk has been about their recently-announced tour playing the 'Holy Bible', but the Manics' latest offering is one of the best of their career. Its 80s Europop/Krautrock sound may be considered an ambitious venture, but 'Futurology' sounds like a record they were always destined to make.

Soundtrack:

• Europa Geht Durch Micht - Manic Street Preachers ft. Nina Hoss (from 'Futurology')

'Stay Gold' - First Aid Kit
Another wonderful example of why First Aid Kit deserve the elevated status they've been granted over the last few years. 'Stay Gold' is beauty defined and only a cold-hearted old grouch with no appreciation of such things would disagree.

Soundtrack:

• Cedar Lane - First Aid Kit (from 'Stay Gold')

'IX' - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
Back on form and as epic as ever. Trail Of Dead have rescued themselves from their mid-career slump and have now delivered two really good albums on the bounce. This one brings pianos and strings into the mix and a batch of songs that maintain an energetic momentum throughout. Even the instrumental tracks are superb.

Soundtrack:

• Sound Of The Silk - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (from 'IX')

'Dude Incredible' - Shellac
Steve Albini will long be remembered more for his production credits than as a musician, which is a shame as the latest Shellac record demonstrates. The riffs are plentiful, the recording minimal; the sound is tense yet welcomingly familiar; and the songs are in turns brutal and hilarious. 'Dude Incredible' is Shellac's first album in seven years. While on this form, let's hope they don't leave the next one as long.

Soundtrack:

• All The Surveyors - Shellac (from 'Dude Incredible')

Another five picks tomorrow...

Memories of a thousand* gigs #32

(* probably not actually that many, but who’s counting?)

#32: First Aid Kit
Colston Hall, Bristol - 19 September 2014
Support: Jo Rose
Also in attendance: MrsRobster & TheMadster

Expectation can often lead to disappointment; you know, when you want something so much, you get it and it's a bit of a let down. In recent times, I don't think I've wanted to see a band more than I've wanted to see First Aid Kit. Then, on Friday night, it finally happened...

That anticipation was tempered a little by the fact that I knew little about the venue, Bristol's Colston Hall. I'd never been there before, but knew we were in a seated area in the balcony - not my thing at all, I like to be in amongst the audience looking up at the band. However, the Colston Hall is a wonderful place. Small and well laid out, in spite of our position the view of the stage was generally pretty good (when I put my glasses on, anyway). And most spectacular of all were the acoustics (more of that later...)

Support act Jo Rose, former frontman of Fear Of Music, played songs from his debut solo record accompanied only by acoustic guitar. While the Colston Hall's sound allowed this sparseness to ring out, his songs were sadly lacking; I'd pretty much forgotten each one before he'd even finished playing it.

I'd prepared myself for a little disappointment. The anticipation of seeing Johanna and Klara Söderberg was so high, I tried to reign myself in a little. I needn't have done so. They were phenomenal. From the opener Stay Gold, those harmonies - oh those harmonies! - soared majestically through the hall and for the first time that evening I almost lost it. While some shows I've been to have had a profound effect on me, none of them have brought me to the verge of tears like this did. Three of four times that night I was actually welling up. I muttered "wow!" to myself as I did what I always do and fight back any emotion so as to not let anyone see how I really felt.

First Aid Kit at Colston Hall, Bristol 19/9/2014

You see, there is just something special about First Aid Kit. From the first time I heard one of their songs played on 6Music, I thought 'Hello, here's something I could really love!'. That happens all too rarely. I can't really put my finger on it exactly, but while First Aid Kit clearly have the songs, the sound and the look, they definitely have something else that transcends them from being a mere pop duo. It might well be those harmonies - oh those harmonies! - they were absolutely spot on. On record, First Aid Kit are delightful; live they are truly breathtaking. About halfway through the set, they stepped away from the mics and performed Ghost Town[1] completely unplugged. It was spine-tingling, it really was, and this is where the Colston Hall's acoustics could really be appreciated. Even from where we were, every single note, every whisper, every breath could be heard.

The majority of the set was made up of songs from First Aid Kit's two most recent albums, the exceptions being the aforementioned Ghost Town and a cover of Jack White's Love Interruption. Needless to say, TheMadster was made up by this inclusion! For the most part Klara played acoustic guitar, Johanna played keyboards and their 'band' consisted of a Swedish drummer and an English multi-instrumentalist who mainly played pedal-steel or electric guitar. They don't believe in overdoing it - they don't need to.

First Aid Kit rates as one of my all-time top 5 live shows without a shadow of doubt. I reckon if there is such a place as Heaven and there are such things as angels, when you get there you'll hear First Aid Kit. Ending their encore with a beautiful and stirring rendition of Emmylou made the evening complete. Those tears rose to the surface again and I just about succeeded in fighting them back. Must have been those harmonies - oh those harmonies!

Soundtrack:

• Ghost Town [live] - First Aid Kit (from KCRW ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic’ session 2010)
• Emmylou [live] - First Aid Kit (from the iTunes session, 2012)
• Cedar Lane [live] - First Aid Kit (from the Lauren Laverne BBC 6Music session, 2014)
• Love Interruption [live] - First Aid Kit (video recorded in the studio for Australia's Triple J ‘Like A Version’ session. It's preceded by a bit of an impromptu Tenacious D cover...)

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[1] No, not the Specials classic, but a single from their first full-length album, 2010's 'The Big Black And The Blue'.

Country boy

“So what kind of music do you usually have here?”
“Oh we got both kinds – country and western.”
~ from ‘The Blues Brothers’

One of my dad's fave records

My dad was a big country and western fan. Even as a child the music of Jim Reeves, Billie Jo Spears and Tammy Wynette were more than familiar to me. Billie’s ’57 Chevrolet and Tammy’s D-I-V-O-R-C-E were particular faves, and let’s be honest here, both ladies were among the finest female voices of their genre. Various family parties and gatherings would ensure all the old classics got an airing: Blanket On The Ground, Crystal Chandeliers, Wichita Lineman (and what a song that is!) – yep, it’s fair to say I received a fair old grounding in country standards of the 60s and 70s. Yet it remained, for many years, a genre I explored no further.

It’s probably fair to say country and western music has never been cool. It’s probably also fair to say that it wasn’t a particularly groundbreaking genre either. I mean, the Grand Ol’ Opry was hardly a haven for hipsters, innovators or experimentalists, was it? For me, it had very little to interest or excite me, so my knowledge of country music beyond the aforementioned classics, was to say the least limited.

Cash! 'Nuff said.

But then I saw Johnny Cash at Glastonbury in 1994[1]. It was a turning point. Thing is, although I hadn’t experienced much of Johnny Cash’s music as a child (other than his novelty hit A Boy Named Sue), I had, as a music fan, purchased a second-hand copy of the ‘Live At San Quentin’ LP a couple years before that legendary Glastonbury appearance. But what I saw that afternoon made me not only an instant Johnny Cash fan, but also slightly curious about country music in general. I had, of course, come across various rock artists dabbling in country music over the years – R.E.M., the Byrds, Neil Young - but had otherwise all-but ignored the genre.

OK, so it’s not so easy to label Johnny Cash as purely a country singer. There is a strong argument to say he was way more rock than country. He started out with a musical style more reminiscent of rockabilly, evident in the ‘boom-chicka-boom’ rhythm he pioneered in the 50s. He was, of course, a quarter of the so-called ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ – along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and some bloke called Elvis something… - which formed Sun Records’ early roster. And how many Cash recordings contain the dreaded pedal-steel guitar? Er, very few as it happens.

Blanche

Slowly, over the years (thanks in part to the White Stripes) I’ve explored country music more and more. I’ve waded through Cash’s extraordinarily vast back catalogue; encountered the likes of the Carter Family, Hank Williams and Emmylou Harris; and found myself drawn to many old and new bluegrass acts such as Allison Krauss, Bill Monroe, Blanche, etc. By the way, what happened to Blanche? Two excellent albums then nothing since 2007. Shame.

Sometimes, something comes totally from left-field and bowls you over. When I first heard First Aid Kit’s Emmylou, it was one of those moments the tears started welling up. (To be honest, I have one of those moments every time I hear it!) If you didn’t know better, you would think it’s a 70s country classic sung by one of the legendary Nashville-based female superstars of the era. So when you realise it’s actually two teenage sisters from Sweden in 2012 it adds another level of wonderment. I mean – those voices! Those harmonies! These girls understand American folk and country music and right now are one of my absolute favourite acts, and Emmylou is not only one of my fave tunes of the past few years, but my daughter's too. It shows how far country music has reached over the years and how many generations it continues to inspire.

First Aid Kit

I have to say I can’t stand the modern stars of so-called country music who just sound like corporate American rock/pop stars and look like they’ve just walked off the set of American Idol (which of course, some of them have). I mean, who decided Taylor Swift was ‘country’, for goodness sake? Even Kings of Leon are more country than any of that awful lot.

While I in no way consider myself to be even remotely knowledgeable about country music, I do like to think I am a part-time student in the field. I find myself gradually understanding it, making the links to the blues, rhythm and blues and traditional American folk music. The fact I’ve managed to write an article of this length on the subject is something of an achievement, but aficionados would no doubt sneer at my lack of obsession and in-depth comprehension of ‘their’ music.

But for the record, it goes without saying that Dolly Parton is an absolute bonafide genius through and through. Man, that woman can play.


Soundtrack:

• ’57 Chevrolet – Billie Jo Spears (from ‘Lonely Hearts Club’)
• D-I-V-O-R-C-E – Tammy Wynette (from ‘D-I-V-O-R-C-E’)
• I'm Sure Of It – Blanche (from ‘Little Amber Bottles’)
• Emmylou [live at Glstonbury] – First Aid Kit (wonderful version performed backstage for the BBC at the Glastonbury Festival 2013)

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[1] A story to be told in a future post.