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Day: 12 December 2014

Feature: Top 10 Albums of the Year

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Music.

10. Morrissey – World Peace Is None Of Your Business
Morrissey’s tenth solo album saw the former Smiths man back on form in typically disgruntled fashion, taking aim at… well, basically everyone. World Peace is his most eclectic album to date, giving his signature indie rock a make-over on many of the tracks, with flamenco guitar and accordion on ‘The Bullfighter Dies’ and the showtune-esque title track. It’s a worthy addition to his canon – and after five years, it feels good to have him back. Dan Whiteley

9. St. Vincent – St. Vincent
Harnessing expression through the use of sound palettes, melodic composition and dramatisation, St Vincent has created an album which soars as much as it dances through intriguing digital and analogue soundscapes. It’s an album which shows emotional progression for the innovative musician, and further stretches her skills at song writing and producing. Samuel Ward

8. Todd Terje – It’s Album Time
With every passing year, electronic music gets more and more serious. Luckily, Todd Terje hath emerged from distant Viking lands to quell this trend. His debut album It’s Album Time, made dance music fun again by injecting some much needed humanity into the robotic electronic scene. Be it ‘Svensk Sås’s vocoded scat singing, the Bryan Ferry collaboration or the incessantly catchy ‘Inspector Norse’, this is the new and updated definition of ecstasy on the dance floor. Lowell Clarke

7. Aphex Twin – Syro
The cult of Aphex Twin was fortified with the monster hype campaign prior to the release of Syro, building the release up to mythical proportions. Pressing play for the first time however all this was forgotten, as the true brilliance of the music spoke for itself. The amount of layers present throughout the album is staggering, the sheer number of influences at play astounding. James has not created an entirely new sound or genre, but he has managed to weave sounds together in a way no other could. He’s human, but he’s like no other human. Patrick Hinton

6. The War On Drugs – Lost in the Dream
2014 has been quite a year for The War on Drugs. Their third studio album, Lost in the Dream was the catalyst that saw them reach new heights, and finally saw them step out of the shadow of former band member, Kurt Vile. The album explores an emotional time for lead singer Adam Granduciel: after breaking up with his long-term girlfriend, he became somewhat stagnated and isolated in life. The desperation in the lyrics paired with the dreamlike extended guitar solos on songs like ‘Ocean Between the Waves’ and ‘Under the Pressure’ wonderfully captures this mood, and easily makes this one of the best albums of the year. Ali Pearson 

5. Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire For No Witness
Burn Your Fire For No Witness may not seem like an obvious contender for one of our albums of the year, but Angel Olsen’s second album will certainly grow on you. Beautifully introspective songs such as ‘Lights Out’ and ‘White Fire’ demonstrate Olsen’s ability to produce irresistibly haunting vocals that almost sound like they have come out of a time warp from the 1950s. However Olsen expands from her traditionally folky sound with the garage fuzz of ‘Forgiven/Forgotten’ and the electric schmaltz of ‘Hi-Five’. Give Burn Your Fire… a listen, and you’re sure to be blown away. Matthew Staite

4. Mac DeMarco – Salad Days
Mac Demarco’s unique sound – to which he dubs ‘Jizz Jazz’ – is immediately recognisable in his latest album Salad Days. The offbeat style runs through every track, and Demarco sticks to guitar riffs that have become iconic in his music. The title track ‘Salad Days’ is typical of the style of the album: old style, laidback rock. Each song on Demarco’s new album embodies this retro-rock vibe; one that has arguably become less and less prevalent in today’s music scene. The album is easy-listening, but infused with innovation and bursting with musical substance. Natalie Proctor

3. Gesloten Cirkel – Submit X
Due to his reclusion from the public eye and anonymity you could classify Gesloten Cirkel as a reserved producer. However, the productions he creates are anything but. Submit X is 12 tracks of no-holds-barred electro-infused- techno. It’s dark and relentless, yet also multidimensional and nuanced. ‘Zombie Machine’ is a straight up club wrecker; ‘Arrested Development’ features a guitar solo reminiscent of classic arena rock; ‘Stakan’ is a dizzy, shoegazey number. Submit X compounds and confounds with these styles and influences, resulting in a deliriously exciting album. Patrick Hinton

2. Bombay Bicycle Club – So Long, See You Tomorrow
Rewind back to the heyday of noughties indie, when Bombay Bicycle Club hype train first entered the station. The excitement wasn’t just over their brilliant yet meek first album, but the potential the band had to become a major force in British music. So Long, See You Tomorrow is the album that stands up taller than the shadow they once casted, blending guitar sensibilities with the best of avant-garde pop. Just one play through reveals that BBC are still one of our most promising bands and that this album is their manifesto of the great things we still expect to come. Lowell Clarke

1. Flying Lotus – You’re Dead!
With Alice Coltrane for an aunt, it was inevitable that Flying Lotus, aka Steve Ellison, would attempt a jazz venture at some point, but the outcome, You’re Dead! is anything but inevitable. The exploration of death mutated from a jazz project into a collaboration of jazz, electronic, hip hop and even prog rock that is ambitious and unlikely but, crucially, extraordinary. Ellison is the master of carefully produced controlled chaos. You’re Dead! is 38 minutes, 19 tracks long and stuffed full of genres. Yet while the style veers manically across the musical spectrum from track to track, the album is somehow measured and fluid. The journey through death begins with the experimental confusion of jazz intro ‘Theme’ which continues through to ‘Tesla’, featuring piano courtesy of the legendary Herbie Hancock. Lamar, Ellison’s rap alter ego ‘Captain Murphy’ and Snoop Dogg rap as dead men in denial through to acceptance on ‘Never Catch Me’ and ‘Dead Man’s Tetris’. You’re Dead! then descends into a mishmash of otherworldliness suggestive of the afterlife. You’re Dead! is never melancholic, rather Ellison has managed to make death relevant for an audience of 20 somethings cocksure of their own immortality. And if that doesn’t make a great album I don’t know what does. Rachel Connolly 

Live: Mini Mansions

Written by Jacob Evans on . Posted in Music.

1st December

Gorilla

7/10

Opening for Canadian power-pop supergroup The New Pornographers, Mini Mansions take the audience by surprise. The side project of Queens of the Stone Age bassist Michael Schuman, the band defy all expectations – it’s clear from before the band even come on stage that the audience is in for something original as the venue fills with what sounds like funfair music. The band emerge, clad in brightly coloured suits, and immediately launch into what can only be described as demented circus music.

Schuman drums and splits vocals with keyboardist Tyler Parkford, who covers the sound in layers of camp organ and carnivalesque piano. However as the band launch into their latest single, ‘Death is a Girl,’ it’s bassist Zach Dawes who dominates. Wielding more pedals than the Tour de France, Dawes steals the show from his bandmates, switching between fuzzy, dextrous riffs, squalls of feedback and funk grooves constantly, rarely repeating himself, and providing a one man showcase for all the qualities of a frequently underused instrument.

The band work their way through a storming opening section, following ‘Death is a Girl’ with ‘Monk,’ ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and ‘Creeps,’ winning over the initially confused crowd with ease. However the set doesn’t quite keep up the momentum; the keyboards are largely inaudible, the songs slow and technical problems prevent Schuman’s attempt to move to the guitar. In addition, the set isn’t exactly varied. The tempo slows for much of the second half but beyond Dawes taking a more traditional (and far less interesting) role the songs sound exactly the same, Schuman even playing a seemingly identical beat for several. However just as the gig starts to drag, the band crank it back up a gear, accelerating as they deliver the most frantic, storming one-two of the night, bringing the show back to an exceptional close. So, whilst the middle section sags, and Mini Mansions only really do one thing, when that one thing is so accomplished, when the bass is this good, it doesn’t matter. For once we can all agree with Mehgan Trainor; it really is all about that bass.

Live: Augustines

Written by Will Ellis on . Posted in Music.

1st December

Manchester Cathedral

9/10

Watching the dry ice drift to the top of the high ceilings of Manchester Cathedral, illuminated by the bright white lights, you couldn’t help feeling a mystical sense had taken the building. This wasn’t a late night vidule though, the normal churchgoers have been replaced by a 6 music crowd. The amps are stacked up by the altar and the trestle tables are by the font selling beer and merchandise.

The building has been taken over for a night by Augustines, though the strict 10pm curfew prevents the evening for going ful rock and roll. The band perfectly suit the atmosphere that such a magnificent building provides, with the arena rock sound they produce beautifully capitalising on the acoustics of the room. A must for fans of Springsteen and U2, Augustines have made a name for themselves by taking these big sounds to intimate venues. Those days may be numbered now though with the band selling out their current tour of the UK.

This success will surely translate into a run of festivals next year and watching the band engage the crowd for singalongs you know they’ll be right at home. In fact the only criticism I could really level at the band would be their enthusiasm. Sometime the breakdowns and the commands to chant became a little bit much and the Monday night crowds responded with nothing more than a quiet singalong drowned out by chatting. The mid gig trumpet solo dragged a little long but the energy that the band provided to the crowd was more than enough to forgive them. Stopping the gig for the tradition of an encore left the band with an opportunity to unplug and perform without the aid of mics. In the Cathedral setting the silence of the crowd coupled with the strong voice of lead singer Billy McCarthy left everyone blown away. A great way to finish for a band that are surely not far from the arenas to suit their arena rock.

Live: Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott

Written by Dan Whiteley on . Posted in Music.

5th December

O2 Apollo

6/10

Over a decade after their last collaboration as part of the Beautiful South ended, Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott returned as a duo earlier this year, releasing the album What Have We Become? back in May. Featuring Heaton’s trademark witty, observational lyrics and Abbott’s soulful vocals, the record peaked at number 3 in the UK album chart – behind Coldplay and Michael Jackson, no less – despite the fact both parties had, until then, kept a relatively low profile since the split of their former band. In support of the newest release, Heaton and Abbott have been on a nationwide tour, which stopped off in Manchester on the 5th of December.

The show opened with ‘Moulding a Fool’ and ‘The Right in Me’ off What Have We Become?, though the album’s tracks were used sparingly throughout the rest of the show, buried in the mix of Beautiful South and Housemartins hits – ‘Rotterdam’, ‘Don’t Marry Her’, ‘Build’ and ‘Me and the Farmer’ being amongst the best received – that they clearly understood the crowd were first and foremost there to hear. Dressed casually in a parka and thick-rimmed glasses, Heaton’s demeanour on stage is completely devoid of pretension; despite his status as something of a cult national treasure, he remains exactly the regular northern bloke you’d expect him to be having heard his songs.

Taking a relaxed approach to the evening’s performance – singing the majority of their lyrics from behind music stands – he and Abbott chatted candidly between songs, delivering anecdotes (including, but not limited to, “that time I drank elephant’s piss”) and repeatedly thanking the crowd for sticking with them over the years. The stage backdrop featured a mock propaganda poster emblazoned with “PAUL AND JACQUI SAY BRITAIN NEEDS A PAYRISE”, as if Heaton’s famously left-wing views would ever slip his fans’ minds.

Whilst the show’s down-to-earth feel is endearing, the small scale was at times its undoing; a lack of horn section, for example, meant the more Motown-influenced numbers such as ‘Good as Gold’ sounded flat in comparison to their rousing studio counterparts, despite flawless vocal performances from the two singers. ‘Perfect 10’, meanwhile, was lacking its infamous, infectious porn groove bassline and transformed into a chugging pseudo-Motley Crue rocker, effectively stripping the song of its charm. Maiming what is perhaps their best loved hit in this manner would have been unforgiveable, had it not been the show-closing a capella rendition of the Housemartins’ almost-Christmas Number 1 ‘Caravan of Love’, prompting a heart-warming sing along and ending the show on an emotional, festive high note, and reminding their fans that, however low key their return, it’s good to have them back.

Live: The Wytches

Written by Cordelia Milward on . Posted in Music.

1st December

The Ruby Lounge

6/10

Having sold out The Deaf Institute already this month, The Wytches’ ‘pop-up’ gig at Ruby Lounge was a gift for those dissatisfied, having missed out the week before. Hedging their bets that this evening’s crowd were either those unfortunate enough to have missed their official show, or those come back for round two, The Wytches made no effort to flirt with a room of strangers, but instead flung their familiar material at a bunch of old friends. Starting, as you would assume to go on, The Wytches are not self-conscious, albeit only of their faces, which are concealed behind a mass of hair for the entire set. Frontman Kristian Bell’s screeches increase with hysteria, as the coherent blend of psych-rock and garage-punk rile the previously tame moshers into a frenzy. Undeniably, the mass of sweat is palpable.

An intermission of extended guitar reverb between songs aids momentary forgetfulness, so as not to recognise that every song sounds the same. Either that, or to provide a short respite from the relentless headbanging. The three ecstatic girls who found their way onto the stage, would have been gone unnoticed, thrashing their long black hair in sync with the band, if only their blonde friend, clambering up after them, hadn’t ruined the continuity of the dark, faceless rocker.

It would be easy to accept Wytches for Bell’s hoarse, gutteral exertions and assume The Wytches are a contrived punk band with a ‘fuck this’ attitude. Yet, hard as it may be, when you strip away the heavy screams, a delicate melody is revealed. This is most evident on ‘Wide at Midnight’, with emphasis instead placed on the guitar, spidering around a melancholy web of haze. Just as The Horrors played with the same balance in 2007 on Strange House, The Wytches are successful as they hint at an upbeat surf-rock beneath their darkness, placing them on the digestible end of the grungy, garage rock spectrum.

Live: Little Comets

Written by Katie Burns on . Posted in Music.

22nd November

Victoria Warehouse

7/10

After the experience that was Vevo’s Halloween party, The Mancunion once again decided to send me to Victoria Warehouse. This time, though, the atmosphere was chilled, there was fancy soap in the bathrooms and each ticket came with three free whiskys. I was there to watch Little Comets at the first ever Whisky Sessions Festival. Due to going up against main stage headliners Gomez, the crowd ended up a lot smaller than they deserved. However, there were still a few devotees there to witness what turned out to be a great gig, despite the setbacks.

A wide range of songs led to an hour of variety, ranging from the emotionally charged ‘Violence out tonight’ to an upbeat, high energy ‘Joanna.’ The band have a lot to show off, blending styles and experimenting with their concoctions, and they’re not afraid to show off some of their newer stuff, among which there were a couple of fledgling stadium pleasers.

They have matured musically quite a bit over their time as a band, honing their talents, carving their path. Luckily though, they haven’t lost the freshness of a fledgling act or their gloriously DIY aesthetic. Sure, they might not do that thing with a bit of string anymore, but their set lists came written on paper plates, and their playing style exhibits the perfect amount of ramshackle abandon. With a new album due out early next year, I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Live: Chet Faker

Written by Will Ellis on . Posted in Music.

21st November

Manchester Ritz

8/10

With the prevailing trend in dance music it seems like every other week a new remix or rework creates hype around another emerging artist. Whilst most fall back into obscurity, Chet Faker has managed to capitalise upon the hype of his 2011 cover of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity”, three years on still filling out The Ritz. Having been helped along by regular collaborations from fellow Australian act Flume, most notably with the instantly recognisable hit “Drop The Game”, Faker has certainly forged his place within the scene. With a moniker derived from the legendary jazz artist Chet Baker, the sax and synth style that Faker infuses these influences into a post night electronica. Whilst such a style differentiates the sound from others in the same vein, some of the slower jazzier songs played for the Manchester crowd left the crowd lifeless and chatty. This was definitely made up with the audience perking up for the dancier tunes such as “This Song Is Not About A Girl”.

However, this one man orchestra was keen to set himself apart from other dance acts by telling the audience that he believes in a room for error in music. To showcase this Faker took time to fully improvise a mix on the spot, raving over his keyboard in a jazz-like trance . Such a divergence from convention was well received and for a track created on the spot was an absolute corker. Drawing mainly from his new album Built On Glass, Chet Faker put on a gig that left many fans eager to keep the night going. Though occasionally getting a bit slow for the attention of an audience made of dance fans, he held the crowd together well. This is certainly an achievement for a man playing keyboards whilst mixing and singing. One man bands don’t seem as bad anymore.

Live: Sinkane

Written by Cordelia Milward on . Posted in Music.

19th November

Deaf Institute

9/10

To try and collate everything great about Sinkane is a seemingly impossible challenge. However the band managed to compact the four corners of the world into an hour long set, so 300 words will have to suffice for me. In spite of the obligatory smurf-like beanie hats adorned by three-quarters of the band, everything about Sinkane is inconsistent. Whilst this sounds like an almighty criticism, it is their refusal to be confined to a single sound that is exactly what makes them so incongruous and fascinating.

Blasting out mainly tracks off the album Mean Love, dropped earlier this year, they don’t dawdle in getting the audience grooving. ‘New Name’ is super funky, with the magic coming out of front man Ahmed Gallab’s guitar similar to that of a sax. Having remained strangely silent throughout the opening number (perhaps in awe of Gallab’s wizardry), the co-guitarist leaps into the most self-indulgent guitar solo with his shoulder length hair flying. With no warning, Sinkane’s jazz seamlessly slides into psychedelia, and it’s entirely natural. Yet just as the audience adjusts their dancing to compliment this new sound, Sinkane have cast away another genre, creating their own space reggae with ‘Galley Boys’.

There are moments where Gallab’s falsetto is delicious, reaching inexplicable peaks, but never to the extent that it becomes at all overbearing. Ending with the single ‘How We Be’, Gallab somehow manages to lace electro synth pop with Led Zeppelin style shreds, and it actually works. Having collaborated with almost everyone under the sun (Caribou and Yeasayer to name a couple), Sinkane is an amalgamation of everything pleasant. He doesn’t defy genre, since each song can be clearly located within a single style, but its the very disparity between songs, that demonstrates Ahmed Gallab’s winning exploration.

Album: Charlie Sloth – Hood Heat, Vol. 1

Written by Dinesh Mattu on . Posted in Music.

Released 8th December

Naughty Boy/Virgin Records

6/10

After taking over Westwood’s pioneering Saturday night Radio 1 Rap Show, Charlie Sloth has become ‘Britain’s premier tastemaker’ of urban music. Towards the close of 2014 Sloth has compiled a mixtape of the year’s biggest hits from the UK and the US, with the intention of proving the UK’s worth alongside US Hip Hop.

The current quality of American Hip Hop/ Urban music is not quite the era that birthed Jay-Z, Nas and The Notorious B.I.G. especially when you think of the ‘biggest tracks of 2014,’ and the first songs that come to mind are ‘Loyal,’ ‘Hot N*gga,’ and ‘We Dem Boyz.’ However, what we get on Hood Heat Vol 1 is a carefully curated compilation of back to back UK and US hip hop, coherently mixed together by the Radio 1 DJ. The usual suspects including Drake, YG, Future and Rick Ross feature among others for the US, whilst Skepta, JME and Krept and Konan and co. hold it down for the UK.

Given the current questionable state of US Hip Hop, his selection of UK music includes – in parts – a somewhat slightly more substantive content. The biggest UK urban hits of the year including ‘Rari Workout,’ ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ ‘That’s Not Me’ and ‘German Whip’ are put alongside songs from exciting upcoming British talent such as CASisDEAD, Dvs and Stormzy. Whilst Sloth affirms “our levels of production, our depth of content, flow and character in our rap artists is on par [with US Hip Hop], there is no more ‘UK Hip Hop’, just Hip Hop” it is difficult to believe, because Hip Hop is so intrinsically American.

Sloth’s own single ‘Look Like’ attempts to fuse the two together on a track that features the legendary New York native Jadakiss alongside upcoming UK artists JMC and Stormzy. What results is an outdated, cheap-sounding beat, with a poor hook and less substance than anticipated. You get the feeling across some of the mixtape that the UK are kind of ‘running out of ideas, […] doing covers of American beats’ as Skepta put in his song ‘Ace Hood Flow.’
With that being said, the compilation features a good amount of original UK music. Take Dvs’ ‘Black Waterfalls’; an inherently British take on rap – acoustic guitar, accentuated flows and reflective content, it is a track that doesn’t rely on ready-made DJ Mustard beats.

The point is that there is in fact such thing as UK Hip Hop or Grime or Urban; however, it doesn’t need to be in the shadow of its American counterpart. UK music in general has found its own lane in the past few years and at the moment is more ambitious than what’s on offer from across the pond.

Album: The Lion and The Wolf – Symptoms

Written by Matthew O'Brien on . Posted in Music.

Released 24th November

Courage and the Stone records

7/10

In a world where many take the easy route to establish themselves in the music industry, (yes X-Factor contestants, I’m aiming my scornful glare at you) Thomas George, a.k.a The Lion and the Wolf, establishes himself as an artist willing to suffer for his art. A lengthy stint of sleeping on floors and more gigs than you can shake a stick at make it difficult not to admire a man who quit his job to earn his stripes the old fashioned way, avec a rather impressive beard.

Through this toil we get Symptoms, George’s debut effort which throws away the dime-a-dozen dynamic of ‘man and an acoustic guitar’ for arrangements brimming with activity. There is no lacking in surprises on this album, most notably a sitar feature in the aptly named ‘The Lion and the Wolf’, showcasing George’s heavy armoury of influences.

Opener ‘Bandages’ quirky, indie-folk arrangement can be likened to the work of Glasgow outfit Belle and Sebastian with subtle harmonies that pay homage to Simon and Garfunkel. I would be hard pressed not to liken George’s soft and subdued vocals to the melancholic whispers of Elliott Smith. The follow up track ‘Colour’ could very easily have appeared on a Smith B-side.

The sustain of a haunting church-like organ sits atop of the rich, instrument heavy arrangement in dreamy ballad ‘Ghosts On Trinity’ showing that church hall’s can be an under-utilised setting. A powerful melancholy befalls this album, a perfect soundtrack for the wistful reflector. ‘The Hole That It Leaves’ maintains this mood to perfection, a slow burning tale about the death of George’s sibling’s friend, which builds to a fitting ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ ending, horns and all.

The closing track ‘Green’ is a life affirming, upbeat crescendo (it isn’t all doom and gloom) with a powerful backing of heavy kicks and crashes, piano and distorted guitar which has an air of Bon Iver’s self titled LP.

As a connoisseur of such melancholic themes, one could quite happily imagine listening to Symptoms on a rainy evening or a winter’s day, but it isn’t all smooth sailing. At 13 tracks in length, it seems as if some songs merely act as filler (‘Curtain Call’), and the pacing is somewhat unsure of itself.

Minor downfalls aside, if you need a fitting accompaniment to a reflective walk through the park on a winter’s day then look no further than Symptoms.