Last week I was mostly listening to…
September 26th, 2011
It’s Monday, which means that once again, it’s time to look back at what I was listening to last week. Aside from the obligatory R.E.M. inclusion, last week was mostly about new music. Or at least music new to me. I finally got my hands on the new Laura Marling album ‘A Creature I Don’t Know‘ and it’s every bit as good as I’m sure you’ve already read. Having said that, despite the excellent songwriting, maturity and musicianship, I do wonder whether it’s actually as enjoyable a record as ‘I Speak Because I Can‘. I guess only time will answer that one.
Filed Under Music | No Comments Add a Comment
A simple prop to occupy my time
September 25th, 2011
So I guess I can’t really let the news of R.E.M.‘s demise pass without a few words. They are after all my 3rd most listened to artist according to LastFM. Still, I’m not going to mourn their ending. While the seemingly out of the blue timing was a tad surprising, the announcement itself wasn’t too shocking. Besides which, they had a damn good run. I can’t think of many bands that last as long as them and produce so many great records. Seriously, if you look back at their back catalogue there’s only one real major blip and even that has a couple of decent moments. I’m not sure what the secret to their consistency was but they sure put it to good use. I read somewhere that it was suggested their end was more of a retirement than a breakup and I think that’s a pretty fair way to look at it. They seem to have just run their course and I guess they didn’t want to get to the point where they went stagnant and were simply regurgitating themselves. Some might say that they’d already become a tribute to themselves, that they should have called it quits a while ago, but I don’t think that’s fair.
Filed Under Music | No Comments Add a Comment
Last week I was mostly listening to…
September 19th, 2011
Without wanting to sound like a broken record, it’s been another busy week, hence no posts. Having said that, while no writing took place, as you can see I managed to fit in a fair amount of listening. Despite it having been out for a couple of weeks already, I’ve only just gotten round to listening to the new Beirut album, ‘The Rip Tide‘. Don’t however take my tardiness as any sign of it’s quality because it is shaping up to be one of my favourites of the year. Sadly I can’t say the same for the new dEUS record ‘Keep You Close‘, which, while not a bad record, is so interchangeable with the last three records they’ve released that I kind of wonder what the point is. Of course, continued listens may well reveal some hitherto hidden depths but I’m not going to hold my breath.
Elsewhere, Veronica Falls continue to hold me under their spell with their debut album, Girls have released a rather lovely record that will undoubtedly see them become a regular in these lists over the weeks, if not months to come. The rest of the list of pretty much made up of a few artists that I hadn’t listened to for a while yet were greeted by my ears like old friends. Only time will see if they crop up again next week. In the meantime, here’s a few tracks from some of last week’s most listened to artists.
Filed Under Music | No Comments Add a Comment
Last week I was mostly listening to…
September 12th, 2011
So that was my week in music. A week in which PJ Harvey deservedly became the first person to win the Mercury Music Prize twice. I’ll be honest though, I wasn’t expecting her to get it. My metaphorical money was on Adele purely because she seemed to tick both the popular and critically acclaimed boxes and it felt like a year when the judges might go for an obvious hit. Not that I’m exactly disappointed she didn’t get it. After all, in my humble opinion, ‘21‘ is hardly in the same league as ‘Let England Shake‘. Not that awards mean that much. Music is after all subjective and everyone hears something different even if they’re listening to the same thing. Not that I’m wanting to get too philosophical about it or anything. So let’s just stick to the basics and enjoy the simple thing that is that list of stuff I was listening to most last week.
Aside form the rather large Smiths binge went on last week , the Veronica Falls debut continues to give good listen, edging as it does just ahead of Polly Jean. In terms of new things, The Drums second album was as just-above-averagely enjoyable as their debut, while Grouplove‘s longer player left me a little non-plussed considering how excited I’d been by their earlier debut EP. While there’s a possibility it’ll grow on me, I can’t help feeling that my initial disappointment may well have clouded it for me. Only time will tell. In the mean time, as ever, if you make the jump you’ll find a few session tracks from some of the artists on the list.
Filed Under Music | No Comments Add a Comment
Last week I was mostly listening to…
September 5th, 2011
So that was my musical week. A good mix of old and new in there with classics from Patti Smith and The Kinks rubbing shoulders with new albums from Veronica Falls, Dum Dum Girls and Mister Heavenly. The first two of those new releases have jumped straight to the top of my highly recommended list, while the latter is definitely on the pile that deserves another few listens. As ever, not much more to say about the list than that really so if you want to make the jump now, you’ll find a few tracks from some of those most listened to bands. Enjoy!
Filed Under Music | No Comments Add a Comment