It’s been a mayhemic few months and, as you may or may not have noticed, not a lot of blogging has happened here on Joe.Blog in that time… but I’ve been absorbing plenty of music nonetheless. Despite the lack of in-depth coverage, a lot of that music has been discussed on my Twitter feed.

For those of you who don’t get amongst the whole Twitter thang, I thought I’d give a broad summary of some of my musically related tweets, along with some additional thoughts. There are plenty of mp3s linked, so you’ve got a good amount of music to download, stick on your iPod and get amongst.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy this fly-by retrospective, for what it’s worth. And, of course, if you want to actually get this stuff as I’m blabbering about it, you can follow me on @flukazoid.

Why?

Oct 13, 2009: Finally have the new Why? album. To say I am excited is an understatement.

Oct 14, 2009: the new Why? album… didn’t think I’d like an album full of Yoni singing this much, but it’s hitting the spot for me

It’s not hard to see why (pun!) the new Why? album Eskimo Snow isn’t being given the same rapturous applause that Alopecia was getting, but this collection of song-songs (rather than hip-hop via songs) still has the capacity to get under your skin. The lyrics are frequently insecure musings on life and death, and as a result the tone is a good deal more sombre – but it’s still hard to work out what is delivered with a good dash of irony and what’s actually sincere. Who knows. At any rate I greatly enjoyed the album and if you liked previous Why? works then you should definitely give this some spins. Just make sure it gets multiples.

Download

• Eskimo Snow (mp3)

Justin Vernon gets wacky

Sept 18, 2009: surprised by Justin Vernon’s new band Volcano Choir. cutups, loops, abstract arrangements. potentially awesome, we’ll see. spectral folk?

Oct 23, 2009: Still getting my head around the Volcano Choir LP. Parts are phenomenal, other bits lose me a little. Certainly impressive, at least…

Let me just state: IF ANOTHER PERSON QUOTES THE DAMN JUSTIN-VERNON-IN-THE-WOODS STORY I WILL THROW HIS ALBUM OUT THE WINDOW.

Ahem. Maybe Justin was feeling the same way. Although Volcano Choir pre-existed Bon Iver, this album is certainly a huge departure from anything that will appeal to a good proportion of Bon Iver’s fanbase. The Americana/folk influences are there, but it’s been heavily tampered with a huge amount of editing and sampling, not to mention bucketloads of reverb. At it’s best, it’s powerful and compelling. At it’s worst it tries a little too hard, ends up as a wash up digital haze and leaves you appreciating the technique rather than the music. It’s interesting, but hasn’t rewarded replays for me yet.

Download

• Island, IS (mp3)

The Yeasayer single and album

Oct 31, 2009: Cranking this up as soon as I get home RT @pitchforkmedia: Listen to the new Yeasayer single, “Ambling Alp” http://bit.ly/4rIlN

Oct 31, 2009: nice work topspin… turned up for the free yeasayer mp3, ended up buying the limited 12″ and extra downloads. http://www.amblingalp.com/

Oct 31, 2009: whoa, new yeasayer sounds like some good fun. too much fun almost? hmmm. think I’m down with it…

Oct 31, 2009: after listen #2, the new yeasayer is AOK by me

Dec 16, 2009: kind of getting depressed about the initial reports I’m hearing about yeasayer’s new album. gotta stop reading spoilers and d/l it tonight

Dec 16, 2009: headphones retrieved. halfway through new Yeasayer. my brain is exploding. this is AWESOME.

It’s enough of a grower that it rewards plenty of listens, but catchy enough that it’ll ensure you actually get there too. The new Yeasayer album entitled Odd Blood (to be released on February 8, 2010) is incredible, so’s the single, and you need to make sure you get amongst it. It’s worlds different from the excellent All Hour Cymbals, but continues the freaky, multi-genre amalgamating, 80s referencing experimentation while staying on a firmly pop-savvy footing.

I guess what I am trying to say is IT IS COOL JUST BUY IT.

Downloads

• Ambling Alp (free mp3)
• O.N.E. (free mp3)

Two guys called Girls

Oct 23, 2009: hadn’t heard a thing from Girls (the band). just sat down and listened to Album (the album) from start to finish. I’m in. hooked. awesome.

Nov 6, 2009: Lunch + Girls (the band, or specifically Album) + Park Bench = one of my favourite lunches ever

The story behind Girls‘ debut album (called Album) and songwriter Christopher Owens’ living hell with the Children of God cult has been well documented (almost to as much over-repetition as the aforemention Bon Iver story). I won’t repeat it here, but somehow in his culturally isolated environment he managed to pick up a fine ear for melody and a penchant for creating great archetypal rock song structures. It works well, and combined with bandmate JR White’s production, it’s a woozy, psychedelic and overall sad collection of songs about, well, girls mostly. The hype has left it overrated, but it still deserves attention. It’ll be great to see what happens next providing drugs don’t kill the band first.

Downloads

• Hellhole Ratrace (mp3)

The Drones – Live at The Hi-Fi

Oct 24, 2009: the new Drones live album MELTS MY FACE

The Drones released a special live album entitled Live at the Hi-Fi. It was produced for a special 2CD edition of 2008’s brilliant Havilah album and exhibits the band blowing the roof off The Hi-Fi in Brisbane and is thoroughly enjoyable. Recommended.

Download

• Shark Fin Blues (live at the Hi-Fi AAC)

F*** Buttons make another insanely amazing album

Dec 5, 2009: Words can not begin to describe how awesome the new F*** Buttons album is for road trips

Nov 19, 2009: some seriously Vangelis moments on F$&# Buttons’ new track “Olympians”… I should be outside running. in slow motion. across a finish line

Dec 28, 2009: Roadtrip with two goons, F*** Buttons cranked to potentially dangerous levels and mayhem abounding. A sort of entertaining way to go insane

Only a year after their first album Street Horrrsing was released, F*** Buttons burst back on the scene with another development of their approach to beat driven noise-pop. It boasts Andy Weatherall on production duties (?!) and has a more streamlined, accessible sound. Put simply, it’s really cool and entirely addictive.

Download

• (sorry no mp3s, just buy it)

Other albums and tracks I really dug

Dec 15, 2009: Isis and I had a moment (or 10) on a late night drive… Wavering Radiant really is a great album.

And that’s basically all there is to say – Wavering Radiant by Isis is some phenomenal post-metal. Plenty of texture, intricacies and thoroughly enjoyable songcraft. Even if you’re not typically into this kind of thing, give it a go anyway.

Download

• 20 Minutes, 40 Years (mp3)

Dec 10, 2009: you’ve all gone and checked out Telefonica right? http://bit.ly/8QfYuC they deserve another mention. get their album immediately.

Jan 6, 2010: getting amongst the new Danimals tracks… it’s nice stuff, got a kinda FlyLo/Prefuse 73 meets BMSR thing happening. http://bit.ly/4CABGL

Oct 29, 2009: hey go check out this new tune on @poa by Sydney band Guineafowl http://bit.ly/e3GH0 … nice lo-fi upbeat pop, reminds me a little of TVotR

The above are just three of many examples of why Sydney’s indie music scene is so amazing at the moment.

Oct 24, 2009: My little bro bought me SDRE’s Diary on vinyl. Truly I have the best brother. (it sounds unreal)

SDRE = Sunny Day Real Estate, a proto-emo rock band from the early 90s. Their debut, Diary, was an underground hit in it’s day, inspired an entire new wave of bands of that ilk (for better or worse) and still has effects to this day. The band recently reformed for a tour and with that their Sub Pop albums were remastered and reissued. I’ll be seeing them on February 23rd at the UNSW Roundhouse.

Triple J Unearthed for iPhone actually rocks

Jan 14, 2010: kudos to @triplej for the new Unearthed iPhone app. great concept, stellar execution. hoping it will lead to lots of grassroots discovery!

There’s a lot of hate for Triple J in the blogosphere, but I’ve really got to hand it to them for this impressive work. This is commitment to getting unsigned music into the hands of as many people as people. Bored? Sick of what’s on your music player? This is encouraging people to discover their New Favourite Band in their idlest moments. I have nothing but praise for the initiative.

Download

• Unearthed for iPhone (app)

I kind of never got around to posting about this album because, I dunno, it seemed to do pretty well on radio and I kind of figured it didn’t need “help” (like that’s what blogging is all about – ha!)

Then, just out of curiousity I searched my Google Reader archive for posts about Whitest Boy Alive’s latest album “Rules” and was somewhat surprised to find that, beyond a vague reference on PbroA there seems to have been very little coverage about the album. More than anything, I’m kind of curious – did this album not strike a chord with anyone else?

See, I dig this album – a lot, actually. If anything, it’s the pairing of an old funk aesthetic with a new electro-inspired sound. It’s the space that sits between the sparseness of four instruments and nothing else. It’s the realness of four guys in a room (tracked live with no overdubs, if you believe the PR). It’s also the damn good, simple and to-the-point songwriting that does the job with minimal fuss and maximum effect.

This is definitely a people’s album – it’s not a chin-stroker. “Rules” contains simple songs of love and life, sung simply (almost naively at times) by guitarist/singer Erlend Øye, and brought to life by band playing simple music to twitch your bum to, in amidst all that simplicity lies the key to the album’s excellence – it’s a masterful demonstration of restraint of the highest order. There’s so much they could have done but didn’t – and they’ve saved the album in the process. The space that you hear in the reverb after each drum hit could have been drowned out by countless elements of overdubbed studio trickery and a bombastic mix, but WBA have held to the KISS principle. It works wonderfully.

What did you think of the album? Did I miss something, or did I get lured in by the schmaltz? Have you heard it all before? Did it just not float your boat?

“Rules” is out now (aaaages ago) and comes highly recommended!

Listen

• Island (mp3)

For whatever reason, I don’t seem to pay particular attention to what’s appearing in Pitchfork’s “Best New Music” category all that often, but as luck might have it I made note of their enthusiastic review of the new album by a group called The Week That Was and decided to explore their music.

The group apparently comprises members of the now-defunct Field Music (plus some). For what it’s worth, I know nothing about Field Music and have heard nothing of their material – so I can’t comment on how this compares to that band’s work.

What The Week That Was do offer is concise, smart, distinctive pop music with an atmosphere that sounds heavily influenced by 80s new wave and prog: new wave in its precise yet sensitive approaches and lush melodic arrangements, prog in its fascination with time signature changes, Baroque-esque counterpoint and its eccentric approaches to modulation and moving between segments. Some moments I find remiscent of Echo & The Bunnymen, while others had me thinking of Japan if they were presented in a warmer, more organic context.

“Wait right there Joe – did you just say prog? Forget about it!”

Sure, so prog is a four letter word to a lot of people. While I won’t deny enjoying my share of Yes and King Crimson, I recognise there’s a lot about prog rock that leaves people cold. This, to me, highlights all the more just how remarkable it is that band leader Peter Brewis manages to bring his somewhat intricate approach to writing and arranging together in such an unconvoluted and unpretensious manner. To me, the songs always have a sense of genuine personality to them, and the pieces never seem gratiutious or self-indulgent. If anything, a number of the songs feel like more could be made of them, but the band seem to have decided to go down the cautious route: the album’s 8 tracks clock in at around 33 minutes.

My first listen of the album saw me feeling pretty neutral about the first two tunes. I felt like the music was pretty remiscent of other bands of British invasions gone by (The Futureheads, Kaiser Chiefs, etc), but by the time I had ventured further it was pretty clear that these guys are in a completely different league. By the time I’d got to “The Airport Line” I was in the bag. Having played it many times over now, I’m pretty convinced this is a great album by a great group, and I highly recommend you check it out.

Listen

• The Week That Was – The Airport Line (mp3)

This one kind of snuck up on me. I wasn’t necessarily expecting much – just another band in the low-key folk genre, perhaps?

But initial impressions or assumptions don’t always prove themselves. I’ve listened to The Woods Themselves’ new album (c’mon) do the beach thing many times now, and something about its ramshackle presentation and home-grown character has won me over.

Apparently recorded in various places such as the Kangaroo Valley down below the Southern Highlands and in studios in Sydney, this album seems to manage to straddle the gap between giving the production of the record all the attention and polish that it needs while retaining an organic, down-to-earth atmosphere. It sounds like a real band in a room (with minor studio interference) and has all the cohesion of a continuous set of music, yet if you listen closer it sounds the songs have seen meticulous arrangement applied.

Take the opener “Buy Some Time”, for example: an acoustic guitar hesitantly makes its entrance, before the band enters led by an organ motif. A trumpet responds, fading out as an electric offers its counterpoint. Considering the number of times perfect little moments like this appear, it’s amazing the record doesn’t sound more forced – and even more that it sounds like it could have just happened off the cuff.

The album is one of a slow-burning nature, usually relaxed in pace but occasionally interspersed by more energetic cuts (“Comforted & Questioned”, “Virgin Domestic”) that help give the album some momentum. The tone and texture of the album comes largely from fairly standard components (guitars, bass, piano/organ, scattered horns, percussion) yet it always manages to maintain a unique identity. A few samples, programs or tape manipulations appear from time to time,  but never in a way that seem at odds with the rugged, earthy sound that the band establishes.

In short, this is a band that knows its sound and what they’re trying to do: the sound and atmosphere is fully realised and the songs sound personal and sincere. Just like an album by a low-key folk band should be – and then some.

Listen

• Comforted & Questioned (mp3)
• Groove Wind (mp3)
• Virgin Domestic (mp3)

For some reason the band only offer their more uptempo songs for download, which is a shame as they don’t stand out to me as their greatest moments. But give these a spin anyway, keeping in mind that in my opinion the other 9 tracks on the album are where the real goodness is to be found…

I’ve been meaning to write about this album for some time – I’ve been enjoying it for the better part of a year, and it seems like the magical buzz tornado has simply passed this wonderful band by.

Megafaun are a roots/folk/Americana/whateveryouwanttoaddtothislist band. Once upon a time these members were in a band called Deyarmond Edsion with a chap called Justin Vernon, who is now better known as Bon Iver. “Ooh!” I hear the crowd remark.

Apparently that band became defunct and created a little wreckage in the process, but the process did what it did and here we are talking about Megafaun.

These guys aren’t looking to capture the indie folk/rock market with 4 minute strum sessions, this is to be sure. Their album Bury The Square only has 6 tracks yet it clocks in at nearly 39 minutes – the song structures are open ended, the sounds are organic and upfront while having a real sense of inventiveness and experimentalism.

At its core, these guys specialise in a very honest brand of Americana. You’ll hear banjos, fiddles, the twang of a southern electric and epic three-part harmonies – but then you’ll hear some experiments with tape manipulations and some absolutely gorgeous mix trickery. All of it sounds like they’re simply doing what interests them, but it always seems to work and do the right thing by the songs.

The album starts with “Find Your Mark” (mp3 below) – it starts off as an accapella, moves onto a low key nylon string picking pattern with some vocals and gradually builds up into an honest-to-goodness rocker. The attention to detail is immaculate throughout. Elsewhere there’s an old time singalong run through a blender (“Tired And Troubled”) and a song that could be an old spiritual (“His Robe”). There are two gorgeous ballads (“Where You Belong” and “Drains”), and the somewhat snide, rootsy rocker “Lazy Suicide”.

I recommend this album highly – it’s been a pleasure to listen to all year, and I think you may well love it too.

Listen:

• Find Your Mark (mp3)
• Lazy Suicide (mp3)

(thanks Stereogum!)