Good Stuff

The April issue is almost out of the way and do you know what has made deadline period all the better? The total abundance of fantastic albums out at the moment. Just as the beautiful weather has kicked in, every day it seems a new jewel appears on my desk to soundtrack those little bits of the day where you realise you’ve spelt Academy wrong in the listings or to help you get over conflicts over the word ‘embryonic’. Grizzly Bear, Swimming, Post War Years, Golden Silvers, Doves, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Apes And Androids, hell even the Horrors have made some pretty special songs. Spring has sprung and whilst all the little lambs are slopping out of their mother’s womb, lots of lovely music is being released from the doors of gloomy recording studios and into my ears.

Grizzly Bear have returned with an album that’s taken me about 7 listens to fully wrap my brain around. Initially I was concerned they’d never create anything as spectacular as ‘Yellow House’ but all of a sudden the jigsaw fell into place and blimey there are some magical explosions. Swimming are newish band from Nottingham whose debut album sounds like a mix between …Trail Of Dead, Mansun and Echo And The Bunnymen. I know Mansun might have made a few of you nervous there but I don’t believe anyone can deny the power of ‘Wide Open Space’. Post War Years tickle my fancy no end as you may have read in my blog previously, their album is a joyous math-pop map of interesting beats and electronic fusions. Doves are Doves and I can’t really stop listening to ‘Kingdom Of Rust’, especially the throbbing, hacienda haze of ‘Compulsion’. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson’s debut is a grizzly lo-fi collection of irresistible songs, at times like a sensitive Times New Viking and at other times a rougher Bon Iver (sort of I think, ask JJ it’s more his beardy field than mine (I can’t really make that dig after bigging up Doves can I?)). Golden Silvers have surpassed my expectations and created a delectable body of nostalgic, romantic modern day love songs, taking on board the last 50 years of music and regurgitating a strange fusion sounds. Apes And Androids have also made a really weird sounding record, their album sampler is a dark, New York savvy record with pop, hip hop and just generally weird sounding futuristic melodies…and I’m running out of words to describe eclectic sounding sounds at the moment….and finally The Horrors album is just as sinister and interesting as you’d imagine an album produced by Chris Cunningham would be.

Call me a luddite, but after months of listening to music on the internet I finally want to spend all my time sat listening to an artist from start to finish on a CD - it’s very satisfying and I don’t get fucking “Hi, I’m Roberta” interrupting me to tell me how much she’s enjoying Spotify every 20 minutes.