Albums I Heard In April

LCD Soundsystem-This Is Happening

The third and allegedly final album from the DFA's James Murphy is a fine addition to his oeuvre and a worthy bow out...even if it isn't quite as good as his debut or the 2007 masterpiece 'Sound of Silver'. Like 'Sound of Silver', Murphy has put a lot more attention to his lyrics, especially on the stream of consciousness epic 'Pow Pow', the mournful 'I Can Change' and especially on the superb closer 'Home'. Tune wise, its pretty much business as usual and all the better for it. Opening track 'Dance Yrself Clean' starts out slow before exploding into Technicolor, single 'Drunk Girls' is a fun little ditty, somewhat wrong footing as the albums lead single. The Strokes esque 'All I Want' is brilliant though, as is the aforementioned 'Pow Pow'. My only complaint is that some of the tracks seem to aspire to past glories, 'You Wanted a Hit' is very good, but it's no 'Us vs Them' which it’s clearly descended from. I'm judging it a little too hard perhaps, LCD Soundsystems other two albums were among the best of the last ten years and for any other artist this would be a major breakthrough. Nevertheless, this is still an excellent record which you should definately check out.



Dum Drum Girls-I Will Be
Debut album from new girl fronted band from legendary indie label Sub Pop is a worthy addition to its roster. Sonically, sounding somewhere between the Jesus & Mary Chain and Bananarama it’s less than half an hour long and breezes away nicely. Mainly a vehicle for lead singer Dee Dee, the tunes are pretty simple indie-pop fair with simple sing along choruses. Standouts include the bouncy 'Jail La La', the blissfully gorgeous 'Rest of our Lives' and the swaggering 'Bhang Bhang Burnout'. The record is a little bit samey, and it isn't at all original or unique but at less than half an hour it doesn't outstay its welcome and is pleasing enough.



I Speak Because I Can-Laura Marling
Despite its at times MOR tendencies, Laura Marling's debut album 'Alas, I Cannot Swim' was a promising enough record and with 'I Speak Because I Can' she has made a big step forward thanks to contributions from Mumford & Sons and production from King of Leon producer Ethan Johns. The record sounds more mature than Marling's years (she turned 20 in February) and her voice has a depth suggesting heartbreak and world weariness. There are times where you may think of this album as the response to last years 'First Days of Spring' by Noah & The Whale, an album which documented the breakup between her and singer Charlie Fink. But nevertheless the songs stand out well, and take on their own meaning particularly on 'Devil's Spoke' and 'Rambling Man' showcasing Marling's ability to soar and sigh in equal measures. A decent, solid, grown-up singer/songwriter album.




Music Go Music-Expressions
The last decades' penchant for looking back to various artists and movements, here, with Music Go Music, we have what can be best described as 'neo-ABBA'. Still, although this album has had lukewarm reviews and seems set to sink without a trace, despite my conviction it would be a success, I think 'Expressions' is great, if ultra-camp fun. The opening song 'I Walk Alone' is an absolute belter, 'Reach Out' is great as is the near ten minute epic 'Warm in the Shadows' and the urgent fun and single 'Light of Love' sounds like a lost chart topper straight from 1978. It's not very original, but if you consider ABBA as one of your guilty pleasures then it’s worth a look.




The Magnetic Fields-Realism
The latest album from Steven Merritt, architect of the brilliant modern classic epic '69 Love Songs' is a comparatively slight album (at 33 minutes a sixth of that albums length!) that is a decent enough showcase for his off kilter songs of love and heartbreak. The first track 'You Must Be Out Of Your Mind' gets things off to a good start, and overall it’s a pretty consistent album, even if it doesn't beat the opener. Not a revelatory listen, but good enough all the same.



The Morning Benders-Big Echo
Wow, here is yet another feedback, lo-fi sounding sunny indie band who once again sound pleasant and enjoyable. There have been so many now I'm starting to get totally confused as to which songs are actually on the Antlers, Atlas Sound, Yeasayer, Beach House, Fang Island and Surfer Blood albums. To the credit of Morning Benders, this is their second album and is once again a perfectly fine listen. The opening track 'Gorgeous' is...well, gorgeous and probably the best thing on here, though 'Mason Jar' comes close, but overall it again feels samey. Still, there are some lovely melodies here, and the production from Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor is suitably lush and it’s nice to hear something like this while the weather is getting nicer, as opposed to in the middle of winter.




Older Music: As you can see, I’ve been a little slack this month on reviewing new releases. The fact is, there wasn’t a great deal out this month that particularly appealed to me. Plus, this month my listening habits have mainly focusing on the large discographies of Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, and the Parliament/Funkadelic empire of George Clinton.


Beefheart has eluded me for many years, and he’s definitely one of the harder artists to get into. His snarling voice can put many off, and often his music sounds like an out of time cacophony. I made the mistake early on of listening to his highly regarded 28-track album ‘Trout Mask Replica’, his most acclaimed but most difficult album. Guitar and drum parts seem to be taped together totally at random, though in actual fact Beefheart (real name: Don Van Vleit) rehearsed the band in a Mason sequel commune for nearly a year before recording the lengthy album in just six hours. I haven’t quite ‘got’ the album yet, but I probably will soon a few of the tracks have revealed their brilliance to me, especially the crazy, urgent ‘Ella Guru’ and ‘Moonlight on Vermont’, the bluesy ‘China Pig’, ‘When Big Joan Sets Up’ and the bizarre ‘The Blimp’. Needless to say this album is very weird but if its avant garde/maverick type stuff you’re after than ‘Trout Mask Replica’ is probably an essential listen.


Far more pleasing to me though are ‘Clear Spot’ and his debut ‘Safe as Milk’. ‘Clear Spot’ is often touted as the perfect Beefheart entry point and its difficult to disagree, all of the songs have a tight, bar room feel about them, and although there are examples of his trademark weirdness (particularly on ‘Circumstances’) the album contains several off-beat ballads and is filled with dirty, bluesy riffs. ‘Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles’ is a great ballad as is ‘Too Much Time’, reminiscent of Otis Redding. The centrepiece though is definitely ‘Big Eyed Beans From Venus’, the most Beefheart like track on the album, sounding utterly monstrous and riff heavy, its one of his best songs, and a fitting near climax to a great album. For me though, ‘Safe as Milk’ is a true masterpiece and one of the best old albums I’ve heard in a while. Relatively straightforward, it’s probably best described as psychedelic blues, and sounds very 1960’s. ‘Yellow Brick Road’ for instance sounds very much of its time but it’s the nastier tracks punctuated by a young Ry Cooder on guitar that really bite. ‘Dropout Boogie’ is a superb stomper, ‘Abba Zaba’ has a psychedelic craziness to it and best of all is the monumental ‘Electricity’ which points ahead to the rest of his discography and really amazes you it was made in 1967. The band sound ridiculously tight on the record and at the centre Beefheart snarls his way through the whole damn thing. Definitely the best Beefheart song I have yet heard, it is the centrepiece of a true masterpiece of an album.


Other Beefheart albums I’ve heard this month are ‘Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)’ and ‘Doc at the Radar Station’. The former is another fairly accessible listen, often regarded as a return to form after an unlucky period at attempting commercial success. Although I don’t think it’s as popular with his fans, as it doesn’t have the bite of ‘Clear Spot’ nor is it as experimental as his other work, it does have some great songs on. ‘Tropical Hot Dog Night’ is surprisingly Caribbean sounding and ‘Bat Chain Puller’ has a leery menace to it. ‘Doc at the Radar Station’ is definitely an LP of two halves, the first side sounding a bit like ‘Clear Spot’ the second more like ‘Trout Mask Replica’. I definitely prefer the first half, the opening track ‘Hothead’ is brilliant as is ‘Sue Egypt’ and ‘Ashtray Heart’, the second half does have the messy ‘Best Batch Yet’, but overall I find this admittedly highly regarded album a little inconsistent. I have a few more Beefheart albums to hear in the next month so more to come from him.


Parliament/Funkadelic have a discography that’s arguably as intimidating as The Fall’s. They released a mind blowing twenty albums during the 1970’s alone under the two monikers (though they’re basically the same band). I’ve been dipping in here and there to various albums, chiefly Funkadelics’ over Parliaments and have discovered some true gems. Fronted by George Clinton, and featuring a revolving line-up with some amazing musicians like Bootsy Collins (bass), Bernie Worrell (keyboards) and Eddie Hazel (guitar) they are well worth your attention. A good staring point for anyone would probably be Parliament’s ‘Mothership Connection’ one of the best regarded funk albums ever, and probably the most accessibly P-Funk album I’ve heard. It contains the classics ‘P Funk’, ‘Mothership Connection’ and ‘Give up the Funk’ all of which have been sampled to death not least on Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’. The singles do stand out, the whole record is hugely enjoyable and all the other tracks are pretty fun. After that, you might want to give Funkadelic’s ‘One Nation Under A Groove’ a try, the album title alone says its all, it combines funk, disco and rock with superb ease. It does have some craziness in it, particularly the scatological ‘Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad’ but the immortal title track and the even better ‘Who Says A Funk Band Can’t Play Rock?’ makes for pretty definitive mission statements.


They have so many albums so I’ll be brief. Funkadelic’s self titled debut is also a fine release if not as innovative; it’s far more rooted in the 1960’s but does have the great opening track ‘Mommy, What’s A Funkadelic?’. The second album ‘Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow’ was recorded in one day while the band was on LCD, and it certainly shows, not least with the feedback driven title track and the outstanding ‘Friday Night August 14th’. ‘Uncle Jam Wants You’ is a bit more disco oriented, and although its fairly good it is dominated by the 15-minute ‘Not Just Knee Deep’, memorably sampled by De La Soul for ‘Me Myself and I’. ‘Standing on the Verge of Getting It On’ is one I’ve only listened to twice so far, but it’s definitely one of the best P-Funk albums I’ve heard yet. It’s a lot more guitary, and ‘rocks’ more than any of the others I’ve heard and is brilliantly consistent. The title track is outstanding as is the laid back ‘I’ll Stay’. The double album ‘America Eats It’s Young’ is very inconsistent and is one of the weaker listens I’ve heard. It does have some worthwhile tracks though, particularly ‘You Hit the Nail on the Head’ and the filthy ‘Loose Booty’. But dodgy attempts and ballads like ‘We Hurt Too’ fall flat on their face.


Best of all though is probably the seminal ‘Maggot Brain’. Opening with the ten-minute title track consisting mainly of a mind exploding guitar solo from Eddie Hazel (instructed to play “like his mother just died”) it’s a quietly brilliant introduction and the album dips between the poppy ‘Can You Get To That’ to the freak-out OD nightmare ‘Super Stupid’ while ‘Wars of Armageddon’ ends things in a glorious rave up fashion. The discography of this outfit is very intimidating, but as I have discovered this month, to delve in is to find some real treasures indeed.


Album of the Month: LCD Soundsystem-This Is Happening