Album of the Day: Gospel Music

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SPOTIFY LINK: Gospel Music

You know what to expect from the title. Sam Cooke, The Staple Singers and Blind Boys of Alabama join in with a collection of gospel music for all sinners and saints.

Beck- Run Run Run (Velvet Underground & Nico)

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Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "Run Run Run" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Check out Beck's 'Record Club' he's supposedly gonna be putting his spin on a classic album each month or so this month he's doing Velvet Underground & Nico. He essentially just makes it sound like any other Beck tune, this is no bad thing

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "Venus In Furs" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Album of the Day: The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band- Vol. 2

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SPOTIFY LINK: The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band- Vol. 2

Describing what The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band sound like is made all the more easier by having a name that neatly wraps up their sound in 6 words.

If it was at all possible, the record sleeve for this 1967 album would’ve been printed on blotted acid dripped paper, obviously this could never be possible but the sound of this album is soaked in the stuff.

The band bring together everything great about psychedelic pop, the lyrics are naïve, loved up and at times pretty bleak. There’s the token anti-war tribal fuzz stomp of ‘Suppose They Give a War and No One Turns Up’, ‘Unfree Child’ is a rebellious garage call to kids to leave “squares”, it’s start-stop-phasing-crashing with a riff that could almost be glam rock. Bob Markley the son of a an oil tycoon, lyricist and singer is the personality of the band and his questionable fancy for young girls “when your older we’ll have a time/ when you’re older there’ll be a place for us” on ‘Queen Nymphet’ would be creepier if it weren’t for Danny Harris’s sweet guitar playing.

It’s a shame that the band never got bigger than their cult status, separated from its obvious LSD infused influences and hippy idealism is an interesting and immensely enjoyable west coast pop experimental album.

More Air-New Air

Tweet DOWNLOAD: Air- Do The Joy

More Air after last weeks live stuff. They have a new album in October, this is a new thing, a good thing, a familiar thing.

Album of the Day: Chess Psychedelic Jazz & Funky Grooves

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SPOTIFY LINK: Chess Psychedelic Jazz & Funky Grooves

More a compilation less an album. Some of Chess Records finest cuts of jazz and funk psych grooves (clues in the title really). Rotary Connection, Muddy Waters, Solomon Burke, Bo Diddley, Marlena Shaw and more, it gets feet-a-tapping and hair-a-shaking. Ripe for getting ready for the weekend.

Album of the Day: D'Angelo- Voodoo

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SPOTIFY LINK: D'Angelo- Voodoo

I hate this cover, it's rubbish, D'Angelo works out this can be seen, but I do not need to see the fruits of his labour in my record collection.
But not to be put off by the vain cover this album is a peach of a soul record, it has the right ingredients that I wish modern soul today had it's got some Sly, Jimmy Brown, Curtis Mayfield and a dash of Prince.
Take a slice of Devil's Pie.

Live Air. Phenomenal

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Live at Kesselhaus, Berlin October 29th 1998
DOWNLOAD: Kelly Watch the Stars
DOWNLOAD: Be a Bee > Tomorrow Never Knows > Sexy Boy
DOWNLOAD: Le Voyage de Penelope

It'd be wrong of me to take the credit for these uploads which I grabbed from the guys at artdecade- a fantastic blog which is regularly updated with gems.
This is Air live from Berlin in October and sweet baby Jehovah is this a gas! Kelly Watch the Stars is electro-funk-rock-stomp (in the best possible way), Be a Beed into Tomorrow Never Knows then onto Sexy Boy is a seamless journey and Le Voyage de Penelope is lush.

Album of the Day: The Explorers Club- Freedom Wind

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SPOTIFY LINK: The Explorers Club- Freedom Wind

I'll get this out of the way now, The Explorers Club sound so much like the Beach Boys it's close to pastiche. But the songs are far too well produced, the harmonies too tight, melodies so sunsoaked and infectious to simply dismiss.
And to sound like The Wilson's plus Mike Lowe is certainly not the worst direction for a band to make.
It's actually the softer songs on the second half of the album that reveals there is more to them obvious influences.

Album of the Day: Silversun Picks- Swoon

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SPOTIFY LINK: Silversun Pickups- Swoon

I keep letting this happen to me, I keep missing essential gigs- Silversun Pickups played and went. I should've been there really, Carnavas was great and the follow up Swoon is just as good if not better. They make a hairdrying noise in the best possible ways, sonically awesome, loud and epic, it's rude not to experience it live.
I've already said "album of the year" a few times this year, so I'm gonna now refrain from doing so and admit that 2009 is a pretty good year. This is a highlight and for once I'm delving into the current on my "Album of the Day" picks.

Another Spotify List: Just a small taste of what I'm listening to.

Tweet SPOTIFY LINK: Nothing Else To Report

Man these posts are all over the place. Bit like my current status of being no fixed abode, it makes familiarity and adjustability a little outta step. Been buying plenty of discs lately, put some of the flavours on a harmless little spotify playlist.
There's some Traffic, John Williams, The Bees, Everly Brothers, Scratch Perry & The Upsetters and Vetiver amongst others.

Enjoy.

Album of the Day: Midlake- The Trials of Van Occupanther

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SPOTIFY LINK: Midlake- The Trials of Van Occupanther

Ocassionally I remind myself how good this album is, today is one of those days. I genuinely believe it to be a standout album of the decade, some say it sounds 70s with some Fleetwood Mac in their, some Crosby, Stills & Nash. I'd prefer to call it "timeless", an album that would sound great whenever it's released.

Tight harmonies, addictive hooks and they're all pretty-pretty-pretty good musicians.

Yes this is album will do, it'll do nicely.

Introducing: Race Horses

Tweet DOWNLOAD: Race Horses- Cake
DOWNLOAD: Race Horses- Cacen Magnu
LINK: Race Horses Myspace
BUY THE SINGLE: RACE HORSESCAKE

It is essential one does their research before writing about a band. The lazy man (me) goes on wikipedia, or just check out their myspace and you may be rewarded with some personality. The fact that one of their blog post topics reads "Lily Allen is Shit" would make me warm to them without hearing them, that the blog then reads "Fuck me Lily Allen needs shooting" and I'm on google maps looking for the nearest Cash Converters to get me the best bulk deal on engagement rings. Truth is with my ears and their songs we already had a beautiful relationship.
They're dangerously Welsh, it's lazy and unavoidable not to mention Super Furry Animals but when they make much such wonderful psychedelic irreverent sunshine pop nuggets such as 'Cake' it's hard to ignore. And just like SFA they still like to give their mother tongue a good licking dipping out of English and consonant hungry Welsh, 'Cacen Magmu' jumps around with an oom-pah-pah pomp, before falling into ditty laden harmonies and schizophrenically back again. It's time the British oddball psych-folk-pop of Kevin Ayers, Syd Barrett and Dr. Strangely Strange got a good dusting off...

NOTE: I was gonna finish on a Race Horse, Horse, betting, Frankie Dettori joke. I stopped myself and you're spared as your sides would be spilling guts and discharge from the splitting.

Album of the Day: Soft Machine- Third

Tweet SPOTIFY LINK: Soft Machine- Third

Sorry haven't blogged in a while. Starting a new job, looking for a new house and without casual use of the internet (I'm doing this at work shhhh) has meant I haven't really been able to. That hasn't stopped me posting regular "Album of the day" links on facebook from spotify.
God I love spotify more each day, you can guilt free share great albums and it's little commitment to your hard-drive, the only problem is you have to deal with sickening ads for Cricket (if you watch a sport that lasts an entire day I'm extremely worried about you).

Today I thought I'd start putting these choices up on the blog and to be honest you've already missed some great album of the day choices.
But let's start this chapter with the incredible Soft Machine, the type of band it's simply not cool to be and are rare beasts (apart from Diagonal who are amazing) in this day and age. It seems to be "uncool" to have some kind of devotion to perfection and tightness in a band, to have a little self indulgence and good old guitar noodle. Personally I blame punk. This is as you'd guessed the Third Soft Machine album, it's a little Jazz Fusion, it's a little psychedelic with tape loops and hypnotic keyboards, some precision fuzz and nice bits of floating air designed for the narcotics of the days.

It's not indulgent, it's well formulated yet unpredictable, no real hooks to hang your coat on but a series of glorious moments perfectly interwoven. Hmmmmm nice.

Further listening: Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Mahavishnu Orchestra