New Music 2015 - Part 33 - Lau - The Bell That Never Rang

This release is much awaited and not least by me. It is the latest LP from Lau, a three-piece band that I saw live at End Of The Road 2014 and that I mentioned here.

The LP is 'The Bell That Never Rang', released (in the UK) 4 May 2015.

It is also an example of something else, which might be of interest and not only to thrifty neophiles...
It is free to stream, legally and in full although not necessarily of the highest bit-rate, before its release and possibly only for a limited time. You can find this example at... 
No, that's not fun at all. I'll let you find it yourself. An added twist is that production duties on 'The Bell That Never Rang' were helmed by Joan Wasser. There are only six tracks on it and the title track is seventeen minutes long.
If you are interested in music from at least of now little known artists (and they all have to start somewhere) then the world is your oyster. There are also ways to get music in advance that might cost no more than buying the product when and if it happens - PledgeMusic, Kickstarter are example of this crowd-funding approach and there are many others. I have several LPs that are yet to see public release this way and the bonus is that they are signed copies.

The point may sound Holmesian but is that you have to keep eyes and ears wide open at all times and discretely carry a pocket notebook* so you don't forget things. It is amazing what you can learn at live events, especially festivals, even if it is merely overheard chatter. [Alcohol loosens tongues but certainly doesn't help with remembering what you saw or heard/were told the previous day.]
Beyond that it is up to you and your ingenuity to find out what, if anything, that which you heard or saw means in the great scheme of things. The most important insights are the subtle ones.

*a notebook and a soft black pencil:
It is a passé concept I know. Here's why it is important. You can write in the dark and the damp and your notes will almost certainly survive in a legible form even when the paper dries out. It doesn't have batteries that might go flat or a lit screen that attracts attention to what you are doing (inevitably so in the dark).

New Music 2014 - Part 18 - Table Scraps

Whilst pursuing my New Year Resolution to listen to more new (at least to me) music - my target was 8 hours/week and I'm doing well almost six months in - I was listening to Simon Raymonde's show on Amazing Radio yesterday evening when something came on which, although quite new wasn't as simple as that.
It was 'At The Bottom of Our Stairs' by Birmingham duo Table Scraps.

It immediately struck a chord as there was something about the female vocals that was distinctly familiar but from a long while back. I'd decided that it wasn't one or two possibilities when it was announced that the band was Scott Vincent Abbott and Poppy Twist. It could have been a coincidence, just possibly, but it certainly wasn't. This post could just as easily have been titled 'Whatever happened to Poppy Twist?'
The last time I heard of her was the 2007 release of the six-track  mini-LP 'Follow Me Down' as the lead singer of female four-piece Poppy & The Jezebels. Here is that record, Reveal Records REVEAL 19LP.

To say that this had influences beyond their years is not the half of it - many an artist would kill to write the song 'Gracelin'. The passage of time has, if anything at all, only made it slightly easier to classify. It certainly hasn't detracted from its worth.

Table Scraps keep the angular, feral sound. I like this.

One album, two possibilities - and it fails on both counts.

I doubt that I would have bothered to try to drive through the snow in order to get to work today were it not that this album was in the CD autochanger. If it had been indoors I would have just stayed at home instead (like, as it turned out, almost everybody else). It took me so long to get to work that I was actually able to listen to it once-and-a-half-times and, at over 43 minutes, it is not short. It is my first received album release of 2009 and so it is obviously my favourite, but I think it likely to remain one and if the rest come up to this standard then it is going to be a year to remember.

An album with such ambitious intent could quite easily have become arch and pretentious or, on the other hand, just another formulaic indie-pop-rock cross-over. I think it does neither hence the title of the post - the music and lyrics are both very strong throughout but, ultimately, it is the singer that makes the song and sometimes so much more than that which is merely written.

Nina Persson demonstrates that facility in spades.

It is very different to the music she made with 'The Cardigans' or indeed her duet with Sir Tom Jones - a cover of 'The White Stripes' Burning Down The House. She also duets on Your Love Alone Is Not Enough with the 'Manic Street Preachers' and that appeared on the Manic Street Preachers' album Send Away The Tigers (2007).

I've listened to Colonia twice more at home this evening. The best general description I can muster is that it is equally comforting and disturbing and I'm certainly not getting bored of it. As for my favourite tracks that is truly no easier to say than after the first time I listened to it. That is the sign of a really good album - if you want three then try these:

• The Crowning
• Love Has Left The Room
• My America

The achievement no less remarkable is this: it is never obvious just what an incredible tightrope this album actually treads. It involves both Nathan Larson, her husband who is better known for film music and it shows to great effect, and fellow Swede Niklas Fisk. Joan Wasser (Antony and the Johnsons and, perhaps more importantly, Joan As Policewoman) also provides violin and viola.

Just buy it!

In Europe, except Scandinavia, it is released on CD by Reveal Records (REVEAL 50), the inlay booklet contains all the lyrics and this album will also be available on vinyl. In the US it currently only available on import, handled by 101 Distribution, but available from amazon.com at a price.