Random Top 10 Redux

[Rit]

the Delgados are sweet action. I saw them live for the Hate tour. which was a rather shy but endearing affaire de coeur.

[Ryosuke]

God I hope they come to Japan this time. But then again, I'm about 85% positive that work commitments will prevent me from seeing them. They should ban concerts on weekdays.

[ueb]

pattentank22 said:

Ueb-Pixies are sold out both nights in Atlanta(sorry,I'll be there)

Thanks for the info Patten. I must admit that I'm not surprised. I hope you enjoy the show.

[Mary]

Ooooh wow that was a really entertaining conversation back there about all these new hyped-up british bands....

Truthfully, I can't really say anything too specific about any of these bands - razorlight, libertines, franz ferdinand, etc etc - because my exposure to them is limited. I've listened to some of their stuff at record store listening stations and my roommate plays the franz ferdinand album quite a bit, but that hardly gives me enough exposure to give a fair review! All the same, I really just can't muster any interest in any of them. And I wanted to give some kind of reasonable explanation for why I'm honestly not interested, one which isn't just pure and utter snobbery.

The problem is money. The problem's always money, innit? CDs are fuckin well expensive. $15 new, $10 used. I could see a movie, have a nice dinner, go to a show at the Bottom of the Hill for that price. I make almost no money at all and it's a rare treat for me to be able to buy a CD these days. It's not like we have unlimited funds to buy CDs whenever we want, and we're just mindlessly refusing to buy Franz Ferdinand because we don't want to be like everyone else. At this point I can afford maybe 3 used CDs a month.

So then, what's gonna be worth it? First - not something where the novelty is gonna wear off in a few weeks and I'm never gonna listen to it again. As much as I like gazing narcissistically at all the nice pretty spines in my CD collection, it ain't worth getting ripped off for. Second - not something that's already represented like 200 times in my collection anyway. I've got loads of Cure, Banshees, Smiths, New Order, Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, OMD, etc etc - and I love it all, and I have no problem with bands today being inspired by it. But if I'm gonna spend my very limited funds on music, I'd like it to be something that isn't a pure nostalgia trip, cause I think of all the great music out there that I've never even really heard yet - from brazilian tropicalia to whiskey-soaked old blues records to crazy noise experiments to the entire vast world of classical music - and I just wonder, why am I fuckin wasting my money on stuff that I can basically already predict exaclty what it will sound like, when I could be discovering something that's really new to me? It's not about derivative vs. original in some absolute sense - it's about exposing myself to new and different kinds of aesthetic expression given a situation of severely limited funds. Obivously there are exceptions, I'll give stuff a try occasinally just to make sure I'm not really missing something, but more often than not I listen to these new bands and I just feel kinda... meh. They're OK, but they're just not adding anything to my collection that isn't already there, 100 times over. I just feel like an album that exposes me to a whole new area of music that I never experienced before is gonna be worth a lot more to me in 5 or 10 years than another punk/new-wave inspired band - even if they're really fuckin good!

Of course the obvious answer for this dilemma is that if you want me to buy the Razorlights album, or whoever, you should just send me $15 cash I promise to buy anything anyone on here suggests so long as they fund it

Cheers,
M

[Mary]

NEW NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS ALBUM

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are currently working on a new studio album due for release on Mute in September 2004.

Titled Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus, the double album will be Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' thirteenth studio album and the follow up to 2003's "Nocturama".

Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus was recorded by Nick Launay at Studio Ferber in Paris in Spring 2004 by The Bad Seeds line up of Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Thomas Wydler, Martyn Casey, Conway Savage, Jim Sclavunos, Warren Ellis and James Johnston.

The new album is produced by Nick Launay and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and is being mixed at Astoria in London.

****

Track listing:

Abattoir Blues

1. Get Ready For Love
2. Cannibal's Hymn
3. Hiding All Away
4. Messiah Ward
5. There She Goes, My Beautiful World
6 . Nature Boy
7 . Abattoir Blues
8 . Let The Bells Ring
9 . Fable Of The Brown Ape

The Lyre of Orpheus

1. The Lyre Of Orpheus
2. Breathless
3. Babe, You Turn Me On
4. Easy Money
5. Supernaturally
6. Spell
7. Carry Me
8. O Children

****

Ummm, shit. I have a baaaaad feeling about this. A double album?? Only like a year and a half after the frankly quite bad Nocturama? With a ludicrously pretentious name like Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus?? Nick Nick Nick - you used to be in a band called Birthday Party. You guys released great albums with names like Prayers on Fire. "Mutiny in Heaven" - now that's a fucking brilliant name for a song. "O Children"?? What's that, the soundtrack for a fuckin Susan Struthers whatever-her-name-was Save the Children/Heal the Children/Feed the Children/Eat the Children telethon? I'm worried. I'm very worried. I can't cope if Nick fucks up again. He's reaching that point where if he doesn't release something amazing now, he never will and he's officially over the fuckin hill.

Please noooooooo! I can't deal with a world without an artistically inspired Nick Cave in it...

Cheers,
M

[Mary]

Jesus H. Christ, what is up with Nick Cave's latest lyrical trend of singing the names of multisyllabic flowers and plants?? It sounded silly and pretentious on Nocturama, and now, again:

The wintergreen, the juniper
The cornflower and the chicory
All the words you said to me
Still vibrating in the air
The elm, the ash and the linden tree
The dark and deep, enchanted sea

No juniper. No cornflower and chicory, whatever that is. No enchanted seas. I want big jesus trash cans and six inch gold blades and mercy seats and fags in whalebone corsets and babies being born without brains and "if bad was a boot, i'd fit it"........ has the psychotic nick cave departed forever??

i am blaming ritalin for this, still. my birthday party addiction has made it harder and harder to swallow nick the romantic crooning troubadour...

[Mary]

wait a minute wait a minute i may have spoken too soon:

"Packaged together, Abattoir Blues and The Lyre Of Orpheus are two separate albums with very different moods. The first is the rougher of the two, with a primitive drum punch from Jim Sclavunos and backing vocals from the London Community Gospel Choir that sound strangely impure against some pretty brutal songs. On 'Hiding All Away' Cave growls about famous chefs shoving women into ovens while the choir's harmonies glide over the Bad Seeds' monolithic blues."

Famous chefs shoving women into ovens?! Now that sounds like the Nick Cave I know and love.

[Ryosuke]

Ryosuke said:

all those new Brit bands that I (not as euphemistically as I hoped, apparently) expressed my distaste for

Of course, I did say that they're shit. Nothing euphemistic about that...

Just thought I would point that out myself before someone else does

At this point I can afford maybe 3 used CDs a month.

Wow, that's pretty harsh. I make enough money now to buy more CDs than I have time to listen to (which actually says more about the amount of free time I get than the amount of money I make!), so I can't say I feel your pain. But I was somewhat like that in college - and I would often skip meals because I was so fucking addicted to music shopping that I couldn't stop, even if it meant going hungry. I could never do that now though! Oh, and one piece of advice: no matter how hungry you are, do not eat tissue paper. Not a good idea.

As for spending money on a CD that you know will wear thin in a few weeks, I dunno, I'm of the mindset that 2,000 - 2,500 yen (about the price of one import CD here) isn't too much money to spend on something that'll provide several weeks of enjoyment, even if you never go back to it again. Of course, there's too much music out there that won't even provide you that.

[Dr. Drum]

Mary said:

Ummm, shit. I have a baaaaad feeling about this. A double album?? Only like a year and a half after the frankly quite bad Nocturama? With a ludicrously pretentious name like Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus??

Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this, too, Mary, similar to the one I had before Nocturama. An artist like Nick can all too easily fall into self-caricature either way - lovestruck crooner or psycho singing about chefs stuffing women into ovens. Guess we'll see shortly but Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus - has that feel about it to me.

[Reservoir]

what seems to be coming out here, which is strange, is the lumping together in one catagory of all the "new british bands", because even though a lot of the bands we're talking about are libs/strokes influenced, they can be divided into several genres amongst themselves.

on the one hand you've got the mainly east london based new punk thing figureheaded by the libertines (especially doherty) including the others, selfish cunt, the rakes, the rocks, thee unstrung etc.. the others, for example, have spearheaded a resurgence of guerilla gigging, storming the BBC HQ, a tube train, a tree in regents park etc etc. most of these bands dont have albums yet.

then you've got your more MOR - coldplay, keane, ash, snow patrol (the pick of that particular litter IMHO) etc.

psychobilly with 80s matchbox b-line distaster, influenced by the stooges, cramps, birthday party with a singer sounds like jim morrison.

then you've got your cleanish garage rock with the futureheads, bloc party, art brut, franz ferdinand, razorlight etc

on top of that theres the streets, goldie lookin chain (like a welsh blazing squad on drugs), the delays (dreamy synthy guitar-pop fuelled by more exctacy that i can imagine), kasabian who are probably going to lead an oasis/roses revival and hundreds of bands that i havent and probably will never hear of.

i guess my point is that a huge mistake for someone looking at the british "scene" from outside would be to throw all the uk bands into the same catagoryl, and that if you dont like clash inspired libertines wannabes there will probably be something for you in the mix somewhere. also, i couldnt make reference to "current american bands" without being contradicted, and lets not forget which country invented pop idol. sorry about that, by the way.

that said, if i was to recommend one album which would give you a decent overview of the british musical climate it would have to be the libs "up the bracket". since the music industry is eating itself at the moment and most of the bands ive mentioned wont get past their first album, up the bracket shines as an album that will still be played in 20 years time, even if the bands implodes in the near future.

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

Res is being a lot more reasonable and knowledgeable than me on this one. Which is kind of annoying.

Mary, I take your point on the dosh - I'd be happy to send you a mix CD. But go on, let your hair down and try something contemporary with an open mind. Do you think I'd waste your time recommending UK bands that were nothing more than simple retreads of what's already in your collection? If so I'd be urging you to check out Bush and Travis. Well, maybe not, but you get the idea.

Bands like Libs and Razorlight (and Interpol for that matter) may have some clear roots in the past, but they all bring something fresh and unique to the party. They all have their own unique sound (well, maybe Razorlight don't, but don't trouble me with details) and their own identity. You haven't got Up The Bracket just 'cos you've got London Calling. Likewise, Antics isn't superfluous if you own Closer. This is a puzzling argument to me. Why bother listening to many of your favourite bands when you could just own an NY Dolls album?

[Reservoir]

you know, i know people who still think travis are a top quality band. its fucking weird. i dont hate them like i hate coldplay or ash, but still - they really do suck.

[Reservoir]

and dont call me annoying, mr keane fan, im on your side!

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

Yeah, I used to work with a guy who loved Travis. He was an accountant with special needs and a large stamp collection.

I like one Keane song. ONE, I tell you.

Well okay, maybe two...

[Ryosuke]

Would I be subjected to ridicule if I confessed that I kind of like the Delays?