Nice hat
Pop loves the female voice and so do I. Yet so many modern ladies of pop, even at its outer fringes, are just so dull, dull, dull. Powerful pipes but no feeling.
I tend to binge on female vocalists (not like that, ahem) and my latest addiction is Phildel and her debut The Disappearance of the Girl.
Yes, there are clear nods to Kate Bush (Beside You, whose gorgeous piano lines evoke Yann Tiersen) and Bat for Lashes at her most spectral (Union Stone).
Now it’s time for medication, stallions on the eiderdown
Some of us love metal for the darkness and mystery: cloaks, pseudonyms, smoke and ritualistic paraphernalia.
Baroness offered none of that. Just four guys and their instruments squeezed together on a low stage in a tiny upstairs room at a London bar that was packed out with adoring fans.
This was no-frills rock and roll. Band and audience giving it their all.
Naked ladies, swans about to get it, death and decay. Nothing to see here, move along now.
Fucking hell. The hairs on my neck are standing on end. I am listening to the opening bars of Baroness Yellow & Green on NPR. I can’t believe it, Christmas has come early!
Check out the full album stream here or better yet here.
Right can’t stop, have a double-album of pure awesome to listen to for the first time!
Update: I love Baroness but two thirds through the Yellow side I am not being immediately blown away. I liked the advance singles but I’m a bit dubious. Will persevere.
Update #2: Green seems the stronger of the two sides (I’m a third in) but I’m still on the fence about whether I like this. I hope we get plenty of old stuff at Thursday’s gig!
Update #3: I really miss the roar and riff. Stop singing man and bellow! After a full (single) listen, I have very mixed feelings. Let’s hope it’s a grower.
Spot the hilarious joke….
Don’t be fooled, while there’s not much metal on this list, I’m not going soft. I’ve been hammering MDG favourites Book of Black Earth and Balaclava this past week.
*Masculinity assured, he stops swinging it around and slips back where it belongs*
Yet there’s been plenty of time for non d-beat at MDG Towers. I know. Shit’s craycray, huh?
I have also created a Spotify playlist so you bastards can have a listen. Not that you’ll bother, you James Blunts (that’s cockney rhyming slang my beloved American readers… you work it out).
It’s no secret that I love a bit of the quiet to soothe ears battered by the filthy and the furious. A palate cleanser, if you will.
Sporting perhaps a band name so inappropriate they feel forced to describe themselves as “Not an AC/DC covers band”, the Bon Scotts are the antithesis of their compatriot namesake.
Quiet and introspective, these Australians weave understated, emotional songs as much from found sounds and subtle glitches as traditional instrumentation.
They managed a single four-track EP in 2005 – the best song the sublime New Rain on Summer Roads above – before going into hiatus until 2010.
Unfortunately, the two albums released since then are more upbeat and obviously quirky, losing the uncertain, wistful edge that made their debut EP so charming.
Anyway, Kylesa tomorrow night so no more cardigan music for me for a while…
Monkey Defies Gravity 