Land of Talk

I still miss Jen Trynin. She's still with us and seems happy, if her site's up to date... She was an amazing female songwriter, with an incredible ability to make a song rock hard. But, she stopped recording.

So, I've missed a female-fronted band to get excited about for a while - I though Gemma Hayes was going to get there, but her record company seemed to mishandle her (or, her PR company suck... Actually, that is more likely to be true - all my dealings with them suggest that they do, indeed, suck.). Belly, Letters to Cleo, even the Cardigans (in their occasional highlight)...

That brings me to Land of Talk, whose Sea Foam on One Little Indian's sampler (from Applause Cheer Boo Hiss) was the standout track. I don't know much about them, except that they come from Montreal. This track, Speak To Me Bones, is also a great intro...

I hope to find out more.

Chris Bathgate

I listen to about 300 full albums every year and thousands of songs by new bands, so it is rare that one leaps out and commands the kind of attention that makes you immediately go find (and buy) the back catalogue. Chris Bathgate managed that with the opening track of his new album A Cork Tale Wake - Serpentine. I wish that was available as an mp3... It's not clever, it's not especially new, but it is one of the most haunting songs I've heard in an age.

As I can't offer Serpentine, I can only recommend that you go buy it.

Here's another outstanding Chris Bathgate track, however, buffalo girl, from his previous album, throatsleep.

Kevin McDermott

Kevin McDermott is a friend of mine. Let me start with that preface... I like the chap immensely, and like his music an awful lot... I hope that I'll be able to get an Adult Alternative video session with him soon... Because, well, after some long time away, he's released an excellent album of new stuff, which is really exciting.

Here's my review:

Kevin McDermott, Wise To The Fade

Kevin McDermott is, simply, Glasgow's finest singer-songwriter. Which, when you think about the competition from that fair city (Travis, Franz Ferdinand, Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol), Dogs Die In Hot Cars, and Teenage Fanclub to cite but a few), makes him something special - like Bob Dylan sung by Robbie Williams (but in a good way...), his songs seem at once like old eloquent storytelling friends and like the best new thing you've heard in a long time - anthemic, melodic songs that fit like your best mates after 2 pints in the local. Wise To The Fade is a return to the studio for the first time since 1997's For Those In Peril From The Sea, and a welcome return it is. This is Scotland's best singer-songwriter's best set of songs in a long while - as witty, articulate, and intensely melodic as ever, and with the unshackled feel of his second album - Bedazzled. If there's a criticism, it is perhaps that the McDermott humour dial is cranked up a touch too much. But when an album closes with songs as strong as September Songs (among his best ever – think Robbie Williams’ Angels, but cooler) and the quiet, elegiac Voices, that's a minor nitpick. If there's a precedent, it is to 1991's Bedazzled, McDermott's follow-up to his Island debut - Wise To The Fade opens the album like Hole In The Ground opens its predecessor, with a drum assault bang and a statement of intent, followed by songs that excite and affect at turns. Remarkably, Kevin McDermott's best work is done live, and this long-overdue return to the studio hopefully signals a revitalized touring schedule.

There is a BBC Radio session here. Or you could have a listen at his MySpace page. Or, you can head over to iTunes and buy it right now...

My 2007 Top 20

It is hard to remember a better year. Maybe there are fewer standout albums, but for strength in depth, 2007 has been a stunner. From over 150 albums reviewed, there was a strong case for about 50 making it to the Top 20... How to leave out Spoon and the Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire and MIA? In the end, these were my favourite ten albums of 2007, the ones I already go back to time and time again. 

1. Stephen Fretwell - Man On The Roof

    Britain's best singer-songwriter. This second album is a whole leap forward from his incredible debut, a remarkable achievement for anyone who started to doubt that this format could still sound fresh.

2. Delta Spirit - Ode To Sunshine

    An album that makes you care about music, so effortless and enthusiastic in its rock, its folk, its nods to other bands. Think Cold War Kids but with a Lennon-McCartney writing team.

3. Bruce Springsteen - Magic

    Not Springsteen's best, but for anyone who wanted a return to the rock sound, after the folk years, there is enough here to stun, please, and make you sing at the top of your voice.

4. Battles - Mirrored

    A band that divide opinion with a sharpened axe, Battles make the most addictive genre-bending music, built around a rock-solid live drummer, and endless loops, samples and tunes. Prog rock for the year 2008...

5. Radiohead - In Rainbows

    Radiohead's best album since OK Computer. Enough said.

6. Octoberman - Run From Safety

    Like some Beck/ Bright Eyes hybrid, there is something familiar and something wonderfully new about Octoberman's second album - melancholy, melody, compulsive rhythm.

7. Southeast Engine - A Wheel Within A Wheel

    If Wilco's your thing, but they can be a bit samey these days, throw in some Southeast Engine, a band from Athens, Ohio, which is almost willfully anti-fashion, but right on the moment. This album makes you feel good for having listened.

8. Will Stratton - What The Night Said

    Iron and Wine disappointed this year. Will Stratton didn't - a simply gorgeous debut disc that any Snow Patrol, Jose Gonzalez or Sufjan Stevens fan would love from start to finish. Sensitive singer-songwriters keep getting better.

9. Jacob Golden - Revenge Songs

    Like an on-form Jeff Buckley, Golden's voice can soar, whisper and haunt, while the songs are honed by living room shows, endless tours and wonderful observation. No album will make you ache the way this one will.

10. Dinosaur Jr - Beyond 

    Some way off to the left of Nirvana when Cobain was doing his thing, who could have hoped that Dinosaur Jr would make a listenable album in 2007. That they could make an album sound as though they'd never been away, despite a ten-year lay-off, was astonishing. Grunge never sounded better.

11. Akron / Family - Love Is Simple

12. Bishop Allen - The Broken String

13. White Stripes - Icky Thump

14. Beasts of Bourbon - Little Animals

15. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup

16. Annuals - Be He Me

17. Caribou - Andorra

18. Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

19. Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation

20. The Boggs - Forts

Adult Alternative Sessions - Will Johnson

In what I hope is the first of many such sessions, Will Johnson, of Centro-matic, South San Gabriel and solo fame, performed an acoustic set at the Chapel to an invited audience, and to video. (Jacob Golden played an amazing set a couple of months ago, but that unfortunately went un-videotaped!)

Videos here:

I See Through You

Nothing But Godzilla

Just To Know What You've Been Dreaming

Delta Spirit, Daytrotter

One of my albums of the year, here's a snippet from the review:

"...the album you'll wish The Cold War Kids had made - it's CWK meet the Beatles, and the Kinks, and the best folk music. It is joyful, melodic, anthemic and rootsy. The San Diego band make music that makes you wish you could listen to nothing else for a few weeks - and they sound as if they care deeply about what they're doing. Ten songs seems ten too few. When the electric guitars kick in, they mean it; when the choruses kick in, they sing with the evangelism of a Baptist preacher. Delta Spirit sound as though they could have existed any time since the '60s - the lead vocal sounds suitably sun-ripened - but it is so modern in its approach as well - a mixture of styles and genres, blended as perfectly as an Innocent smoothie. There is not a weak moment, not a filler song, not a thrown away note. There is no preaching, no overreaching, no preening. It has spirit, soul and boundless energy. You should own this record; you should head without waiting to deltaspirit.net with your $10 held tightly (or iTunes...) and buy it."

Daytrotter is a phenomenon. A virtual concert venue that ropes in the best US indie artists for an in-studio session, and then makes the songs available for free. Click here to hear and download the Delta Spirit session.

Josh Ritter

One of the great ones... Ritter, along with Stephen Fretwell, Will Johnson and Sam Beam are the new Dylan, Van Morrison and Springsteen.

His new album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, is possibly his best.

Here's the opening track: To The Dogs Or Whoever

Akron / Family

There is no single band that sounds like Akron / Family - there are several that come to mind when listening, including III-era Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Creedence Clearwater Revival, but that would ignore the euphoric harmonies and Annuals-like symphonic build and sweep. Love Is Simple is based on a lovely psych rock that doesn't ignore its Beach Boys pop - acoustic guitars drive a lovely hypnotic vibe. 

Here are two mp3s from Love Is Simple:

Phenomena

Ed Is A Portal

Octoberman

My album of the week this week: Run From Safety by Octoberman. Excellent stuff. Here's the title track, Run From Safety. And By The Wayside...

Beirut

The site Blogotheque is an interesting 'virtual concert' site - performers film sessions for the site, and they put them up for viewing, or download (so, free iPod videos, if you're so inclined). Takeaway shows...

Here is the Beirut session, with two new songs.

You probably should download this new session at KEXP too...

Blitzen Trapper

I am a huge fan of the acoustic Rolling Stones bootleg featuring an amazing take of Honky Tonk Women (Unplugged 1968-1973). I am also a big fan of the new group Blitzen Trapper. Well, they've just produced a fantastic session for the music blog site Daytrotter, with four acoustic tracks for free download. Go here for the session.

Iron & Wine

One of the best songwriters around today, Boy With A Coin is from the album released end of September...