I like to think I have... Eclectic tastes. Out of the house of four (or usually five...) Choral Scholars, I'm possibly the least interested in Opera, and truthfully don't listen to much in the way of choral music from any tradition - the furthest I usually stretch is to my great hero Thomas Weelkes, having long left behind the playlist of Choral Greats that I set up a long time ago on Spotify. I've only just started to catch up on "names" in classical music, and I'm still proud to say I can't stand Beethoven. Brahms all the way. Instead, I feel that I belong to a wholly different tradition: while I certainly enjoy classical music while I'm performing (I do love my job, after all), I just don't really listen to it very often for pleasure. True, Brahms' Piano Quintet in F minor (opus 34) is the closest thing I have to a spirit animal - passion and power, coloured by the serenity of the second movement, the pathos of the opening phrases of the finale, with the beating phrygian heart of the scherzo add up to all I want in a Piano Quintet. But even then, I don't listen to it that often. I never listen to Countertenors on the whole, and if anything often actively avoid doing so. Msr. Jaroussky being particularly least favoured. As for Andreas Scholl, I can take him or leave him. As I do not have a particularly strong Baroque repertoire, I often don't even come into contact with the material they perform. It's not really an active dislike, just...they do something I don't.
What I do listen to, on the other hand, is something completely different. I've noticed that over the last half a decade, the type of music I listen to almost constantly has stayed more or less the same. Aren't I boring? Ha ha ha. There have been some notable artists straight out of the left field though, and one of those albums will be featuring in this very post! How exciting. Let's cut straight to the chase though, and get down to business. In no particular order, here are my five favourite albums... So far!
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (2013). Yep. Even more so than Discovery, how controversial! Daft Punk's first studio album in three years is a real winner, as far as I'm concerned. There was a lot of backlash over the leak that happened a few days before the official release, from what I fathom basically because it wasn't another Discovery. I flexed my Muso Journalist muscles and described the album as "an eloquent love letter to the golden age of Disco music", which even though it's terribly poncy, I still stand by. I rather wish I had my record deck so I could get it on Vinyl, even though the track banding is less effective than say, Justice's Justice, it hangs together musically as a whole much better than Discovery does. The production values are just insane, with the duo having complete control over everything, and some of the best session musicians available to play the tracks just makes it even better to listen to: the bass work on Giorgio is absolutely off the hook, and the 8 minute epic that is Touch covers so much ground without feeling like it's hanging around for even a second (not to mention the yearning written into the last chords). This has been welded into my CD player since Tuesday when it was released, and I listen to it in whole shifts, rather than odd tracks. This is the Daft Punk sound, all right. The sound that Daft Punk are making, and not one they've already done. They can do whatever the hell they want, remember? This is Daft Punk taking the magic back to what they do, and it's a really enjoyable listen. After all, as Monseigneur Bangalter says in the Pitchfork cover feature,
“Technology has made music accessible in a philosophically interesting way, which is great,” says Bangalter, talking about the proliferation of home recording and the laptop studio. “But on the other hand, when everybody has the ability to make magic, it's like there's no more magic—if the audience can just do it themselves, why are they going to bother?”
Fang Island - Fang Island (2010). This is the shocker really, where I discovered I loved guitar driven Indie Rock music. I discovered Fang Island last year, through the power of Last.fm, still my over all preferred streaming music service. Sure, you might not always get what you want, but that's life, right? (META) I can't even remember how I found these guys, but am I glad I ever did. Fang Island is just great, there's nothing I can really say against it! Even though I tracked the entirety of the album down through YouTube, I still got it for Christmas from a previous Girlfriend, and it lives on my phone permanently and I do sometimes still play the disc on my CD player. The opening crackles of fireworks sound like the popping of an old vinyl itself, the serenely anthemic vocals leading seamlessly into the second track. I've got to say, Daisy and Sideswiper are probably my favourite tracks, really exuberant and just totally joyful music, with riffs that get in your head and stay there. The calm of Davy Crockett eventually shattered after taking over two minutes to build up, and that carries on with its own momentum. It's all good stuff, music with no agenda but to make you smile and dance and remember the good things. Of course, I bought the follow-up, Major, which I love just as much as well. I almost bought it without listening to anything on it, but couldn't quite resist the temptation presented by Spotify...
Rancid - Indestructible (2003). Ahhhhh... Rancid. I've got the whole album ...And Out Come the Wolves too, but I've had Indestructible for longer, and I prefer it. This is pure Punk rock, almost destructive by comparison to Fang Island, and shamelessly so. I was introduced to Rancid years ago with the tracks Cocktails and Hooligans which belong to Life Won't Wait. Of all the times that I listen to this, it's usually when I'm upset or feeling pretty low... I think it's completely great. Sometimes heavy with dread power (Indestructible, Travis Bickle), sometimes harkening back to the Ska-Punk of previous albums (Red Hot Moon, Ghost Band), sometimes just straight up excellent (Fall Back Down)... Well, I think the whole thing's just excellent or I wouldn't be writing about it, obviously. Rancid aren't the only Punk outfit I pump through the speakers either, and NOFX's EP Never Trust a Hippy is another favourite of mine. It's not often that I go on a Punk binge, but I love it all the same. Indestructible always reminds me of University, specifically First Year. It's another album that will always be on my phone, no matter what sort of reshuffle I go through. It's unforgiving and direct, the brutality of the title track sets up for success. It's nasty, it's pretty heavy, but it's got some great tracks that are just completely enjoyable, not to mention the super cool Arrested in Shanghai.
Streetlight Manifesto - Oh, uh... I can't decide. Shit. Basically, there are two choices here out of the four currently on general release, and it's between Keasby Nights (2006) and Somewhere In The Between (2007). Shit. Are you gonna make me decide? Hell, can you make me do anything? Ha ha. They're so close in the running I can't choose. Keasby is great. Did I say great? It's fucking amazing. Keasby was introduced to me via the title track, probably not long after it was released. I characterise this sound as 'fourth wave' Ska, after the 2-Tone generation that began with The Toasters and blossomed in the late 70's to 80's in England that was 'second wave', the appearance of American bands in the 90's like Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, Catch 22 was the 'third wave', which Streetlight came from too. Keasby Nights sounds pretty fresh, from the smooth as can be Bass intro to Walking Away to the brilliant appearance of Pachelbel's Canon in On & On &On, and how Supernothing restates its opening but at three times the pace. The Horn lines are just top stuff, standing in equal space with the vocals. Somewhere In The Between is a slightly different animal however. it's much grander in execution than Keasby and their first album, Everything Goes Numb. Tracks like One Foot On The Gas, One Foot In The Grave and The Blonde Lead The Blind are 5 minute epics, with amazingly tight horn playing that belies the fact that these guys are a full time touring Ska band. Remember, I saw these guys live and I can account for how much more intense and just so God damn THRILLING this stuff is when applied directly to your person. Down, Down, Down To Mephisto's Cafe follows the same incipit style that Supernothing has, but is so much more... kinetic. The whole thing is pure dancing fodder, and I'm heartbroken to know that I've missed them live, again, in Bristol.
What's the final stop? Any guesses? Anybody want to hazard it?
Stemage - Strati (2006). This one took a bit of thought, actually, but actually it became obvious. I discovered the work of Grant Henry in...maybe...2004, I think? He was (and still is) making metal arrangements of the Metroid game series soundtrack, which celebrates its tenth anniversary. Working under the name of Stemage, he records mainly by himself, with his magical Carvin Guitar (that just sounds crazy good), recording software (like I even know what I'm talking about) as a one-man operation. His first solo album of original material, Strati, is very entertaining. It's kind of like... post rock instrumental, in a mid-90's feel. The first track to involve the non-sequitur vocals is Calling the Kettle, is another soundtrack to my University life, and I remember using it as a working soundtrack. The faux death metal of Fabulous Fabulist balances the wandering instrumental tones of Strati Pt. 1 and Strati Pt. 2, while Duo and All of Australia remain my favourite tracks to this very day. It's a low-fi feeling from a hi-fi album really, which works well with his subsequent material, Zero over Zero (a concept album inspired by 1978's Dawn of the Dead) and Where Good Marbles Go to Die (an EP of covers of Marble Madness background music with guest artists that is available on Cassette).
That's my favourite albums... for the time being. As much as I'm a huge fan of Historically Informed Performance in classical music (you know, old instruments, hooky temperaments and different pitch standards), I'm not enough of a fan to get albums more often than not. I bought the recordings of the Couperin organ masses played at Poitiers, and it is a fabulous purchase! Even though I'm glad I have it... It just isn't a favourite. I don't know what it is about classical music that I do really like of course, but it just doesn't rate as highly. It's about the beat, I guess. Unrelenting. Enjoyable. And essentially, at the very heart of things, is what I really love about my favourite albums.
That's all. For now.
No comments:
Post a Comment