Please support the artists if you want to download their music and purchase the albums using hard earned currency.
Owen is one of those artists I discovered quite by chance on a Polyvinyl Label Sampler I happened to play whilst building Ikea furniture in my garden (that sounds like it happens a lot, it doesn't). I was also happy to discover that he has quite an extensive back catalogue (most of which I purchased shortly after). I've heard three of his albums so far and my favourite has got to be 'No Good For No One Now', to be honest I've listened to all three of the albums relentlessly since I bought them but I had to choose a favourite. Stand out songs for me include 'The Ghost Of What Should've Been' and 'Good Deeds' both equally beautiful recordings and are soaked in melancholy delight. Owen's music is mostly a mix of 'real sounding' instruments but there are hints of synths and heavily processed sounds throughout the album giving it an interesting sonic quality. As well as being a beautifully produced record all the songs are full of sincerity and heart breaking instrumentation that accompany Owen's sparse yet thought provoking lyrics perfectly. I can't recommend this album enough.
A friend introduced 'Yuck' to me well over a year ago, I loved it straight away and I still love it today, the album hasn't left my ears for longer than a few days. I bought the deluxe edition on vinyl which features a lovely record of b-sides! I know little about 'Yuck' except for one of the singers also writes and records solo (as 'Oupa', also worth checking out!) but I haven't felt the need to delve too deep - their music is more than enough to keep me interested. My favourite song is probably 'Sooth Me' which is on the b-sides extra, but the album itself is fantastic, fairly lo-fi production wise but the tone of the guitars is so warm it's hard not to swoon over. I also heard that it was mixed entirely on Garageband which in itself is a great triumph! Incredibly catchy melodies and enough contrast between songs for hours of listening pleasure. They've taken a very simplistic approach to songwriting and arrangement but it works so well for them - buy it now and fall in love.
What can I say about 80s production in music? I guess if you've heard any of my own material you'll realise I do have a slight tendency to lean towards some rather 'retro' sounds (I use a fair few older synths in my studio) and I can't get enough of hearing that polished midi-sequenced sound. 'Poolside' is the debut album from a band called Nu Shooz, and it's not a new release by any means, in fact it was released in 1986 by Atlantic Records, but to me it still sounds fresh and exciting. I heard 'I Can't Wait' on Radio 2 this morning and I was hooked, what a great tune. It's followed on the album by 'Don't Let Me Be The One' which is uber-slick production wise and a lovely song at the same time. I won't talk about all the songs but I can say it's an album well worth your listening time and hard earned money (if you can find a copy) It's available to stream here and don't forget to take a look at their website - still going strong in 2012. Thanks to you both, John and Valerie for making such wonderful music.
Whether you have seen the original 1986 film (lets forget about the remake in 2007) or not the soundtrack really stands out. The film itself is fantastic but the soundtrack works equally as well on it's own, it doesn't need the film to make it a special recording. I've yet to hear any other music from Mark but it's on my list for this year... I wish more contemporary composers and artists would take heed of such wonderful scores as this, beautiful strings mix with brass, arpeggiated synth lines and great swells to form a little bit of a masterpiece. It's also one of those albums that loops perfectly... meaning you need never turn it off. Ever.
I really can't describe what this album is trying to achieve, if anything. But the artist has clearly spent some time creating a certain mystique within it's 70 minute listening time. I can't even remember how I found this release, it's had a sort of time-numbing effect on me but somehow when I put it on, it all makes sense. As soon as it's over I forget everything again. At any rate, it sounds completely unique to me in todays music market, and although it's more of a collection of already recorded songs it would be hard for me to discount it on my top-5, since I spent so much time in 2012 listening to it! 'Virtual Information Desk' also releases music under many other names, well worth checking out if you have time. You can find his Soundcloud page here which is another experience entirely...
I hope you've enjoyed reading this post (which was supposed to have been here a lot earlier than this) and as usual, Thanks! Pinemarten
No comments:
Post a Comment