LOST ANIMAL : Ex-Tropical

 

 

Those that know me will tell you that I've been banging on about the Australian music scene for a couple of years now. Some of the best stuff I've heard recently has originated down-under, and one or two (Tame Impala immediately springs to mind) are starting to break through in the northern hemisphere.

 

 

This album was released in late 2011 and, shamefacedly, I admit to only recently discovering it. Very glad I did.  Lost Animal is the project of Australian musician Jarrod Quarrell, whose hypnotic songs sound utterly suspended in time and free of genre - an album that’s a strange mix of electronic pop and global influences reimagined on Quarrell’s keyboards

 

Each track is stuffed with ideas, the music itself sounding like something David Byrne, Brian Eno, and Beck might come up with, while Quarrell’s vocals sound like a cross between early-70s Lou Reed and Tom Petty speaking, rather than singing, enigmatic lyrics

 

 

By using almost exclusively keyboards, Quarrell could’ve easily dug himself into a musical hole, but he’s able to avoid most of the pitfalls of keyboard-heavy albums—at no point does this sound like a synth-pop album, or an under-produced set of demos. While the strange sounds and lyrics may initially turn off some potential listeners, the songs themselves are strongly structured, with the experimentation serving mostly as a way to keep things interesting rather than being the focus.

 

 

Ex Tropical is a unique album that combines a lot of sounds you wouldn’t think could work well together, making for a compelling, if sometimes challenging, listen. But stick with it, for suddenly you realise you are hooked!

 

You can get the album here

 

Say No To Thugs

 

 

 

 

Lose The Baby

 

 

 

 

Greylands (Live)

 

 

 

 

THE GO - Fiesta

Everyone appreciates a comeback, even one that perhaps wasn’t requested in the first place. Detroit’s The Go were among numerous also-rans of the fairly brief late-1990s garage-rock sweepstakes, which found bands such as The Strokes and The Hives eating expense-account sushi and bathing in the limelight, apparently all in the name of the true rock gospel or whatever.

 

The Go debuted in 1999 with the Sub Pop-released Watcha Doin’, and despite a Motor City pedigree, a seemingly firm grasp of all the "correct" influences, and even a little help from that era’s ultimate shooting star Jack White, The Go never seemed to capture the attention of its would-be fan base. Yes, it had plenty of fuzz guitars, and the boys certainly already had the look, but Watcha Doin’ seemed both too familiar and easily forgettable.

 

Undaunted, the band has hung together for close to two decades and prove that while time and perseverance don’t necessarily guarantee commercial success, they can certainly lead to commendable artistic breakthroughs.

 

Fiesta is a 20-track collection of snapshots from one band’s very large, fastidiously curated record collection. The ability to synthesize one’s influences - to honour them, have fun them with, but avoid unimaginatively cloning them — isn’t easy, but the band succeed in spades on this album

 

Beyond The Beyond

 

 

 

 

Inside A Hole

 

 

 

 

So Let's Pinch

 

 

 

I'm A Dot In Place

 

 

 

 

THE BESNARD LAKES - Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO

Have been a fan of this lot since their first album, but nothing they have done previously led me to expect this would be the masterpiece that it is!  The eight tracks, running anywhere from five-and-a-half to seven-minutes long, follow the Lakes’ well-established approach of shaping gigantic crests from a variety of sustainment effects, ranging from textbook shoegaze to synth drones that might as well be sampled from actual flying saucer engines. The hikes to the summits are long, but the views from the top are always worth it.

 

It’s rock music, folks, but not as we know it. So take your protein pills, put your helmet on, and join Canadian husband and wife duo Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek into interstellar overdrive

People Of The Sticks

 

 

And Her Eyes Were Painted Gold

 

 

 

 

The Spectre

 

 

 

JOHN GRANT - Pale Green Ghosts

 

When I first saw the cover to this album, I thought I'd bought the wrong one. Was this a country album? A folk album? The track that I'd heard - moody electronica with very wry lyrics - did not seem to fit with the album cover.

 

But, by all accounts, that is John grant down to a tee!  It has been said that is almost impossible to unpick John Grant's music from his personal life. He has suffered homophobic abuse, parental rejection, agoraphobia, depression, drug addiction and alcoholism, and was recently diagnosed HIV positive.

 

A collaboration with Birgir Thórarinsson of ace Icelandic electronic experimentalists Gus Gus, it's undoubtedly a dark and, at least initially, harsh-sounding album but it gets right under your skin after a few plays.  I find I am playing it more and more often. 

 

 

Pale Green Ghosts

 

 

 

Vietnam

 

 

 

 

Glacier

 

 

 

GMF

 

 

NATURAL CHILD - Hard In Heaven

 

 

 

Natural Child is the latest in a line of Nashville-based garage rock acts that includes JEFF the Brotherhood and PUJOL, but Natural Child has the distinction of being the sleaziest of the bunch. Their sleaze is an earnest sleaze— blues-rock in the vein of Beggars Banquet-era Rolling Stones, played with the sloppy grit of garage outfits such as the Oblivians. Hard in Heaven is Natural Child’s third LP (their second of 2012) and their most entertaining selection of songs to date.

 

 

So ... if you miss the sounds of the early 70s ... or the US punk scene of the mid-70s .... then this album is most definitely for you

 

 

Laid, Paid and Strange

 

 

 

 

Rock Bottom

 

 

 

 

B$g P$mp$n

 

 

 

 

Hard In Heaven

 

 

 

 

THE GREEN PAJAMAS - Death By Misadventure

 

At the outset, I am quite prepared to accept that this band is an acquired taste, but it is a taste I came to love fairly quickly.  When sorting this into my collection (for, as a true geek, I categorise all of my albums), I decided after much thought to file it in the section marked "The Decemberists meet The Flaming Lips in a Rumanian tavern" - a little-used category, it has to be said .... indeed, this is the only album in it so far!

 

 

This, in itself, is a surprise, as this is the THIRTIETH (yep!) album by the band under this and other guises. Hailing from Seatlle, Washington, Death By Misadventure, is built around the epic song cycle, starting with The Fall of the Queen Bee. This peculiar assortment of songs  takes place in her colony and includes the ultimate death of The Queen and her court by decadent misadventure. This is, of course, a fictional work, and any resemblance to real people living, dead or otherwise, is completely intentional.

 

 

As I said, an album you have to live with a while, but one that pays real dividends with repeated listens

 

 

The Spell

 

 

 

 

The Queen's Last Tango

 

 

 

 

The Queen Bee Is Dead

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BALTHAZAR - Rats

 

To think that I almost gave up on this album after one listen!  Balthazar are from Belgium and released a rather jolly, jaunty, indie-punk-pop album back in 2010 called "Applause"; an album I spent a lot of time listening to and enjoying.

 

 

I was thus rather excited when this was released but, during the first playing, was convinced that this must be another band with the same name. However, I checked, and it was the very same band. The jolly, danceable, songs of their debut and had been replaced by what I initially thought was a rather dour, somewhat po-faced, collection of songs.

 

 

Over the next few weeks, when I had the iPod on random, the odd track would come on which would have me reaching to see who the band was because the track sounded great. Every time, I was surprised to see it was this lot. 

 

 

So I listened again, and again, and again, and with each play the album opened up for me. In fact, to such an extent that their debut started to sound a little ... shallow.

 

 

I strongly urge you to give these tracks a couple of listens because this album is the very definition of a "grower" ... an album that gives you more and more with each successive playing. I now rather regret not including it in my top 10 albums of last year

 

 

You can download the album here

 

 

The Oldest Of Sisters

 

 

 

 

Sinking Ship

 

 

 

 

and this is simply stunning ....

 

 

The Man Who Owns The Place

 

 

 

I WAS A KING : You Love It Here

Proving that the English and Americans do not have all the good tunes, I present for your delectation the wonderful Norwegian band I Was A King. Now, let me say at the outset, you'll never guess at their Scandinavian origins by listening to any of the tracks on this wonderful CD.  You are much more likely to guess they come from the sunny west coast of America ... probably more San Francisco than LA .... because this is perfect west coast pop music

 

Don't take my word for it, though .... grab a listen!

 

The album is available to download here 

 

Leave

 

 

Frozen Disease

 

 

Fire (Toast To Life)