Albums: May

May has been a bit sparse- although I have just managed one a week- but I have made up for it by listening to everything a few times and writing a few rambling reviews. It’s a bit of a niche selection this month…

42)              Hank Green ‘Ellen Hardcastle’ (2011) (Sian)

·         Sian hadn’t recommended a specific album, so I picked this one at random. This is a really rather enjoyable album of clever songs and maybe erring on musical comedy, and on my first listen I had to give up at 'My Phone' because it is NOT work music! Listening again of an evening I enjoyed it just as much. The first two songs on the album are an education about quarks (“up down strange charm top bottom...”) followed by a song about the failure of other young adult fiction to match Harry Potter, which contains one of the best song lines I have ever heard which ends in 'better than anything in Breaking Dawn'.  This guy is well worth a listen (and has a new album out recently entitled ‘Incongruent’, which I’ve yet to listen to.)

43)              Caravan Palace ‘Panic’ (2012) (Chris)

·         I think I have had Caravan Palace recommended to me before, and I see why. It feels as though dancing is required; I'd probably have to describe the genre as 'gypsy swing' or something. The third track very much suited the album name of 'Panic'.

44)              Skunk Anansie ‘Stoosh’ (1996) (Meg)

·         I can't say I'm very inspired by this; on the first couple of listens I found it musically and lyrically repetitive. It is also angry and a bit dark, which isn't a problem in and of itself but it means I have higher demands of the lyrics and music to make me appreciate the whole package, which this didn't do. Having listened to this album more however, there are aspects of it that have grown on me; the intros on the first few are quite interesting, although I just don’t like the songs in their entirety and I find bits of it a bit shouty; but the middle three tracks (‘Infidelity’ through ‘Twisted’) I have got quite into, and Skin’s vocals on the softer tracks are stunning.

Interestingly, I thought I knew some stuff by Skunk Anansie, but the only song I knew was ‘Weak’, which is actually off their first album, ‘Paranoid and Sunburnt’; and I actually prefer that to anything on ‘Stoosh’. It might just be familiarity, of course.

45)              Mazzy Star ‘So Tonight That I might see’ (1993) (Ana)

·         This band were completely new to me, and nothing about the music particularly grabbed me, but that said I found it really good calming background-work-music, and they are nice songs. My year four teacher would lynch me for use of the word nice.

46)              Saint Raymond ‘Ghosts’ (2014) (Jess)

·         Whenever someone is described as a 'new singer-songwriter', I don't have high expectations because there are lots of singer-songwriters around that I just don't like (for example, James Blunt is the classic case of a singer-songwriter that the world raves about and who leaves me cold if not downright angry). However, although Saint Raymond is breaking out onto the big-time (he's done Radio One's live lounge and is supporting Ed Sheeran), this came as a recommendation several months before said Ed Sheeran/Radio One stuff so I thought I'd give it a shot. Moreover, when I pre-ordered the EP (I have never done this before, how exciting) I was given one track 'Brighter Days' as a pre-release, and on a first listen it seemed a bit quirky, I liked the texture and the rhythm, it was upbeat and summery, and his voice didn't annoy me (this is a good start!) However. The other tracks on the EP, while each having their own distinctive sound and pulling me in to start with, were a bit repetitive within themselves and really didn't hold my interest. I’d have to rank him as better than many in the singer-songwriter camp, and I can see why he’s getting big, but still not totally my cup of tea (although ‘Brighter Days’ might make it onto a summertime playlist).

47)              Joseph Curiale  ‘Awakening’ (1997) (Matt and JB, I think)

·         This was completely new to me and since I obviously wasn’t paying attention when I scribbled it down in my phone, I had no idea what it was, other than that the Royal Philharmonic were involved somehow. It turns out, its a modern symphonic composition (oooooh). The first movement opens with that big joyous sound that I associate with Jupiter (from Holst’s The Planets), and the second with the folksong feel that I associate with Vaughn Williams, and throughout there is the kind of evocative story-telling feel that goes with blockbuster movie soundtracks, a feeling reinforced by the names of the movements. All in all, good stuff.