HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR by HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR (2008, DFA)

Hercules & Love Affair is the musical project of New York based DJ Andy Butler. Intended as group that would use a rotating mixture of musicians and singers it's most notable inclusion is the highly distinctive vocalist Antony Hegarty from Antony & The Johnsons.

Its a re-imagining of decadent days of disco. Its musically rich and lush, heavily layered effects and instruments at times to the extent that it sounds like one of Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra albums -especially the ebullient Hercules Theme. The record it mixes house, disco, electro, 70s funk and Chicago house often with Latin rhythms. It's a very New York sounding record. 

But like Hot Chip an LCD Sound System Hercules mixes upbeat electronic music with melancholic lyrics and vocals which is where the inclusion of Hegarty comes into his own. Without a doubt the tracks that  feature his lyrics and tremulous vocals are the most distinctive and memorable; the betrayal song 'Free Will' and the euphoric club-classic 'Blind'. 

The first half is upbeat and fun but as you move into the second half of the album things do get a little darker and introspective. As if echoing the rise and fall of the NY disco scene the party euphoria turning into dance-floor psychosis. 

BLIND

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zW9R9sj894

YOU BELONG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4x9XrMRjgQ&feature=relmfu

HERCULES' THEME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lnt0DN2fBQ

THE COST by THE FRAMES (2006, ANTI-)

Musician, actor, songwriter, busker, Oscar-Winner. Glen Hansard has managed all of these things yet remains largely unknown outside his native Ireland. His band, The Frames, have been staples of the Irish rock scene since they formed in 1990. The band get their name from Hansard's other obsession which was fixing bike frames. His garden was apparently a graveyard for bikes and his neighbours used to refer to their home as "the house with the frames". Much to his mum's chagrin. 

Outside Ireland Hansard is perhaps best known for his role in low-budget but brilliant indie movie 'Once'. It's a naturalistic 'musical' based around a Brief Encounter between a Dublin street musician cum 'Hoover-fixer' (Hansard) and a Czech flower seller (Markéta Irglová). Sounds awful doesn't it? Yet it's sweetly romantic, witty and hugely affecting with great soundtrack written by Hansard and Irglová. Some of those songs are fleshed out here by the full band.

The Frames make frequent use of slow builds into big anthemic choruses, the trick used ad nauseum by Coldplay and Snow Patrol. Somehow it feels less crassly commercial and obvious here. Perhaps it's because Hansard is a superior wordsmith to either Chris Martin or Gary Lightbody whose lyrics frequently read like GCSE poetry. Perhaps it's because the record isn't overly produced and smothered with Brian Eno's effects, you can hear every instrument cleanly. Every high-hat, every chiming guitar note.  It's also because Hansard's voice has a natural, human quality. It's powerful when it needs to be as on the roaring chorus to 'When Your Mind's Made Up' but also fragile and delicate elsewhere.

The Oscar winning 'Falling Slowly' and 'When Your Mind's Made Up' are the songs re-worked from the Once soundtrack. Though they lose none of their emotional quality with a full band. Hansard gives a committed delivery of his confessional lyrics.

The album sags a little in the middle with the dreary title song 'The Cost'. It's also fair to say that 'True' is a little too close to Radiohead's 'Climbing The Walls' for comfort, although it's still a captivating song and performance. 

Hansard sings on the country-tinged 'Sad Songs' that "too many sad words make for sad, sad songs". He's right. But they also make for a bittersweet and enjoyable forty minutes.

SAD SONGS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=840_v_nS2ec

FALLING SLOWLY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPXkSQIba1Y&feature=relmfu

TRUE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWZjz9PJxiI&feature=relmfu

COOL STRUTTIN' by SONNY CLARK (1957, Blue Note)

Jazz pianist Sonny Clark never made it past his 31st birthday but this record  has gone on to be revered as one of the definitive, if not the definitive, Hard bop records.

Sonny died in 1963 of a heart attack but many think it was actually a drug overdose that killed him. Sonny was a heroine addict. As a musician he'd played with many of the best accompanying singers such as Dinah Washington and Billie Holliday, as a sidesman for the likes of Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane. He also recorded with Charles Mingus and Sonny Rollins.

COOL STRUTTIN was released within a year of Kind of Blue, the biggest selling Jazz record of all time. But while Kind of Blue focuses on modal forms, COOL STRUTTIN focuses squarely on the blues. At the time it see to have largely been forgotten and it wasn't till much later that it gained an appreciation amongst a new generation of fans. In the 1970s there was a thriving jazz scene in Japan where the patrons of jazz cafes (jazz kissa) would hunt out rare Hard Bop records. COOL STRUTTIN took on second life, prompting Blue Note Japan to re-release it and it's reputation and that of Clark, have only grown since.

The recoding also features Trumpet Player Art Farmer and Jackie McLeanon Alto Sax. Both had played together on other blues bands for many years and the chemistry between them is tangible, especially on their interplay during 'Sippin' at Bells'. It also includes two members of the Miles Davis quintet drummer Philly Joe Jones and bassist Paul Chambers who do a great job laying down a steady beat for the soloists, whilst also getting their own moments in the spotlight.

Not only is this record cool, but its also fresh and innocently exuberant. It's a clean jazz record, perfectly crisp and box fresh  smart. But it's swinging too, and zips along with buzz and a bounce.

BLUE MINOR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIiPyhQNSyg&feature=relmfu

COOL STRUTTIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkEqSgKzFZE

SIPPIN' AT BELLES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ydyapZ_-jA&feature=related

I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT by RICHARD & LINDA THOMPSON (1974, Island)

The second solo album by former Fairport Convention singer was largely ignored upon its release but has gone on to be revered as a cult classic even turning up in the hallowed pages of Rolling Stone among their greatest albums of all time lists - in like a rocket at No. 479!

Though it was recorded in a matter of days it sat on a shelf waiting to be released for nearly eight-months while the record company decided what to do with it. Rumour has it this was partly to do with the early '70s oil shortages which put a premium on the cost of producing vinyl.

While Thompson's first album was a purely solo affair, this was the first to feature his then new wife, formerly Linda Peters, herself already well known on the UK folk scene. I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT runs the full gamut from rock through to twee English folk but is mostly dark and brooding in tone. The tracks are a mixture of duets, and solo pieces with either Thompson taking the vocals. 

Linda's sad vocals are mesmerising on the mellow 'Down Where the Drunkards Roll' and the 'Has He Got A Friend For Me', and especially haunting on acrobatically themed 'The Great Valerio' when set to Richard's sparse acoustic guitar picking. It makes a dramatic and stunning climax to the album. 

Other highlights are the singalong chorus of opening track 'When I Get To The Border' and the track 'I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight' where a brass section compliment Linda's vocals.

Sure, there are some tracks that haven't aged terribly well. 'We Sing Hallelujah' has a "hey nonny nonny" barn dance vibe to it. Reminds me of my compulsory country dancing lessons at my West Country primary school. Very 'ye olde English'.

Generally though it's an impressive album and among the very best of British folk rock.

WHEN I GET TO THE BORDER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEk-wjil1rA

THE GREAT VALERIO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXYi_jHYZZo

I WANT TO SEE THE BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57PENuNVapc

AMERICAN SLANG by THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM (2010, SideOneDummy Records)

Business as usual for The Gaslight Anthem. Springsteen-anthems with a punkier edge. The first album of theirs I heard was The '59 Sound which I loved. It starts brilliantly with a triple whammy of great tunes and the does pretty well to sustain the blue-collar euphoric rock the Springsteen is known for.

Two more albums along and I'm afraid it's all begging to wear a bit thin. The problem is there's a lack of new ideas. The music is good but there's zero progression from one album to the next. They all sound exactly like the last. I'm not expecting Bowie-like complete reinvention on ever album but they need to move things on a bit to avoid becoming stale. The problem is they are so in the thrawl of their inspiration and New Jersey favourite son that they're never going to brave enough to try something new and exciting. They're sounding increasingly old hat. 

I also saw The Gaslight Anthem at Brixton Academy last night and I was massively dissapointed. Very little stage presence and the songs really blurred from one into the next. The band looked for all their worth like a bar room band that had got lucky. Perhaps that's exactly what they are. To be fair the sound quality wasn't great especially on Brian Fallon's vocals which were quite distorted at times. The space between songs was filled with the noise of a talking audience so I can only assume I wasn't the only one bored. That said my company for the evening was excellent!

Fallon has a great voice that manages to sound both fragile and rough. He looks the part too, but he until he delivers a collection of more memorable songs I think The Gaslight Anthems will never be more than mediocre Springsteen copyists. 

As for this particular record I thought I'd give in another go in the cold light of day. I'm struggling to choose tracks of it.'American Slang' is good but after that it all begins to sound very derivative. If your interested give it a listen, but failing that go back and check out previous album THE '59 SOUND, especially the title track and 'Great Expectations'. If I'd done the same this morning I might be writing a more favourable blog.

AMERICAN SLANG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAqbnTKQBIY

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Leo9HSaGQ

THE '59 SOUND

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1lq40tR72Q

RED BOX SECRETS by PALE MAN MADE (2012, Odd Box Records)

It's been a good year for guitar jangle. We've had Allo Darling, Evans the Death and now another little identikit indie-schmindie band bursting with pop sensibilities. 

Newcastle's PALE MAN MADE are another C86 inspired band that make use of cheerily chiming guitars, the occasional bit o' fuzz and sweet vocals. They're a mixture of Pastels, Teenage Fanclub with a little Dinosaur Jr. tossed in too. Its proper indie like they use to make back in the good ol' days when guitar bands were true underachievers and hopeful that they might scrape the Top 40 ("And a new entry, in a No. 27...")

This all sounds rather disparaging, it's not meant to. But to suggest there's anything new or original about Pale Man Made would be a fib. They reference all those 80s and early 90s bands so accurately you'll think you were listening to an album that's over 20 years old. 

IN YOUR BED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze_rEgdUeJA

B-LINE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdndA9VYG3Q

THE IMPOSSIBLE SONG & OTHER SONGS by RODDY WOMBLE (2011, EMI)

Bored of the new Mumford album already? Give this a go. The former Idlewild singer's second solo album is a lovely little folk treasure. Like Frank Turner, Woomble turned his back on hard rockin for life of soft strums. He put down the electric guitar an picked up a banjo. Hurrah for that.

Womble's plaintive bit sincere semi spoken vocals remain but while for me he always sounded a little contrived against Idlewild's alt rock, their perfectly suited against these gentle folk melodies. 

He's backed to good effect by the gorgeous vocals of Jill O'Sullivan on particularly good effect on the Singalong 'Work Like You Can' and the beautiful 'Tangled Wires'. She makes a smooth foil for Womble. 

Standouts for me are 'Roll Along' that with the addition of a rolling brass section has more than a hint of Dexy's about it, 'Leaving Without Gold' which is the closest sounding to an Idlewild tracks and the sweetly gentle 'Make Something out of What its Worth'

THE IMPOSSIBLE SONG & OTHER SONGS warm and sincere, it's Celtic folk with plenty of dreamy soul. Twelve well crafted songs and delivered in unfussy fashion. 

LEAVING WITHOUT GOLD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3g4D43_yR0

ROLL ALONG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xQDjbugL3U&feature=plcp

WORK LIKE YOU CAN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2gsqFierf8