Life is too short for boring stuff......: June 2011

28 June 2011

Sonic Youth – Simon Werner A Disparu

My Rating: 3.8/5
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Sometimes you have to give a salute to people with attitude, talent and determination for so many years…...so, in that sense, a salute should go to Sonic Youth. Even now, they still keep creating something fresh, something cool, something young-at-heart music after their formation for 30 years since 1981…….they are still NOWADAYS band that you will still expect something new, cool and contemporary from them (ok, please think about what you will expect from those same-age 80s dinosaur bands!! ‘Best of’ album??!)….

‘Simon Werner A Disparu’ is their new stuff since ‘Eternal’ of 2009 and is a soundtrack for a french high-school background thriller film released under their own SYR label. As a SYR release, it will be easy to think it’s an experimental, free improvisation or extreme guitar noise album with zero-commercial-consideration that we are familiar with their SYR releases previously since the label was formed in 1996…….after putting on the vinyl record on turntable and expecting something going extreme from speakers, but the music come out is something like their big label release with pop and easy accessible nature…..still their cool guitar rock music and this time is all instrumental and to be even more soft, atmospheric and explorative mood like some avant-garde free-jazz stuff…..maybe to match the film’s mood or their future’s music direction, who knows?!! ……..All in all, it is still a cool and enjoyable album though a bit loose and lack of focus (maybe too explorative to get lost!!)

27 June 2011

Panda Bear - Tomboy

My Rating: 3.8/5

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Panda Bear is a one-man-band of Noah Benjamin Lennox and he is also a core member of the wonderful Animal Collective. I like his last solo album ‘Person Pitch’ back to 2007 so much. His solo works are though more or less the similar stuff of Animal Collective, but his solo music somehow comes up to be more humanly-warm compared to the bizarre cosmic jungle exploration-alike Animal Collective’s works.

‘Tomboy’ is the 4^th album from Panda Bear. Don’t know why, I don’t have too much expectation on his new solo works. Maybe I begin having feeling that Animal Collective’s music is beginning to be stuck into somewhere recently (due to probably their past works are just too ground breaking and you can’t be ground breaking for too long time!!), somewhere in transition that you feel lost or worrying. Due to that, I expect Panda Bear will be also at low point.

Fortunately, ‘Tomboy’ is surprisingly a bright, refreshing and outstanding album……still lot of sunshine warm echo, humming and false voice, lot of refreshing sampling and looping, lot of energetic jungle jumping rhythm…….most importantly, you can feel that he’s been positively creative mind, naturally exploring things and happily performed his music……maybe his move and recording this album in full-of-sunshine Lisbon is the reason!!!

24 June 2011

Radiohead – The King of Limbs

My Rating: 3.5/5

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At last, my vinyl LP record of Radiohead’s latest release ‘The King of Limbs’ has come after a long wait since April……..I put on the vinyl record on my turntable with lot of enthusiasm and expectation (especially after their own independent release of their music means they can do whatever they would like to) and after a listen, my feeling is “That’s it? Such brief?’…….after repeat listening, the feeling is quite the same. It’s not a bad record, but not as good as their previous ones…….besides that, I’m also surprised the relaxing and laid back atmosphere the record provides as you will surely know how the cautionary(警世), intellectual(知性) and seriousness (嚴肅) of their past works (especially for OK computer, Kid A, etc),…..musically, it’s quite like a sum-up of their music ingredients of past 10 years since ‘Kid A’ with the early cold isolated end-of-the-world-like drone synth sound in ‘Kid A’, Amnesiac, etc. and the later stage of those afrobeat and jazz, blue & glitch electronica influence in ‘In Rainbow’.....so, no new things this time!!

Disappointed? A bit…. At bad side, yes, it’s a very averaged album at Radiohead’s always-highest standard, but at good side, I have a feeling that it’s a transition album for them to steer to another music approach in next album or in future that might like the same case from ‘OK Computer’ steering to ‘Kid A’ to surprise everyone as I have a gut feeling that they still have a lot (idea, ambition, etc.) in bag!!…….nevertheless, taking 4 years (since their last ‘In Rainbow’ in 2007) to make a transition album seems a bit too long, right?! Hope their next release will be coming soon…..

23 June 2011

Melodium - Coloribus

My Rating: 3/5

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Melodium, aka Laurent Girard from Angers of France, had been creating some impressive bedroom folktronica music in last decade since his 1^st release “Quiet Noise Area” in 2001 with simple catchy easy-listening-but-memorable melodies, interesting toy music instruments, refreshing and innocent acoustic guitar and synthesizer plays that is something simple but unique on his own way in the indie music scene and you will be pleasantly in love with his music especially during the 1^st listening…….nevertheless, after running down for years, he seems a bit running out of stock in last couple of albums with no exception in this new album.....this new release is still his trademark simple catchy folktronica music style, but comes out to be lifeless, no theme, directionless, repeating himself without too much try or fine-tuning for new things/ideas…a disappointing album!!

21 June 2011

Explosions In The Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

My Rating: 4/5
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Time passes by so quickly…... it is the 6^th album from this leading post rock band from Texas and is also already 4 long years since EITS’ last too-fxxking-magnificent album “All of Sudden I Miss Everyone” which is still placed next to my CD player played frequently……one thing to mention, their label Temporary Residence seems put a lot of effort in sleeve design and this LP version’s sleeve pack is just too wonderful (you can build a house on turf with different moods of inside and outside) and the wait of this LP for few more weeks is all worthy…..

Every time ETIS keep playing their one-and-the-only-one quiet-loud-quiet-loud epic post rock music in their new albums, but every time I just had same feeling that their new works are hugely refreshing and exciting……looking into more details of their past works, EITS’ post rock music journey in fact has kept evolving little-by-little and layer-by-layer since their 1^st album ‘How Strange, Innocence’ 11 years ago in 2000 which their early stuff tends to be more dark, cold, isolated, melancholic and subtle…….. everything changes since the wonderful “All of Sudden I Miss Everyone” that EITS just completely released their energy and emotion into epic post rock guitar riff blasts throughout the whole album which is much more bright and bold compared to previous albums and virtually made them becoming a wonderful indie stadium rock band and new king of post rock genre that you will agree when you see them playing live of how wonderful and exciting they are!!

So, coming to this new album 'Take Care, Take Care, Take Care', EITS seems going to do the micro-adjustment to get a balance of their past works that come out to be a bit more subtle, atmospheric, calm, less blasted, less energetic, still bright and bold approach compared to the last 2007 album…….I think I like the 2007 album more, but I still feel good on this one the feeling that to expecting and experiencing something exciting and bold, grand, great, blasts of subtlety, etc….that’s the special feeling of me from Explosions In The Sky!!!

17 June 2011

Damon & Naomi - False Beats & True Hearts

My Rating: 3.5/5
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False Beats & True Hearts is a brand new release since the 2007 sad-mood album, Within These Walls, from this US dream pop/folk rock duo Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang formed since 1991 after the legendary Galaxie 500. This time, they are also in collaboration with the guitarist of Ghost, Michio Kurihara and release the album under their own 20/20/20 label.

Sentimentally, this album turns out to be more mid-tempo, upbeat and calm compared to their last classic album of more deep emotion and expression of their despair of nowadays world……nevertheless, musically, they play their signature dream alike folk rock music with lounge, chamber and jazz influence which has not been changed in their 20 years together……a mature, melancholic and peaceful album from a band like your long time friend that you will never expect having too much change and of course would be more than happy to see each other periodically, such nostalgic feeling!!

Submarine 愛情潛水

My Rating: 3.7/5
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Submarine is a comedy film about a love and family story of a 15 years old secondary school kid, Oliver Tate, with two objectives - to lose his virginity before his next birthday and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.

This is a debut film directed by Richard Ayoade and you can feel the movie is full of british sense of humor in an old fashioned england seaside town with 80s/90s background (like they still play tapes for music, etc) but filmed and edited in a very contemporary sense….though not a ground breaking classic movie, but is a very good independent movie that make you feel good in a sunday afternoon……

16 June 2011

The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck

My Rating: 3.5/5
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The Mountain Goats still keep playing their simple folk rock music with off-beat rough singing vocal and causal acoustic guitar chord flicking in this new album (always reminds me Decemberists) ……seems familiar and unsurprising in 1^st listen, but every time is you can feel the sophistication, poetry, imagination in their unique pushy-rhythm emotional folk songs after repeated listens……. darker story telling of decaying world this time, but still an impressive, consistent and good album!!

Epic 45 – Weathering

My Rating: 3.5/5
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Epic 45 has revisited again the subject of the decline and vanish of old british village in this album which is quite the same vibe as their previous albums like ‘Drakelow’ and ‘May Your Heart Be The Map’……..Old people died and young people gone makes old village being ghostly silent and lost even in the summer afternoon in the mind of Ben Holton…..still his shoegaze folk vibe produced in a mature and solid way, but full of low key escapism, isolation, despair mood in the album……a bit as slowcore as Yellow 6, I think I like his previous work ‘Slides” back in 2005 more……

14 June 2011

Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona, 26th - 28th May 2011

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Having taken a break to Barcelona to see this festival, it's quite a memorable experience. It's my first time to participate Primavera and everyday is full of sunshine, spanish food, Guadi, etc...... The festival is like a fun fair and everybody gathers from dusk around 6pm and sees concerts till dawn at 4am to 5am, and then goes back hotel to sleep and comes back again for such pattern for 3 days. I think I like the traditional way of music festivals that everybody stays in a same site for 3 days rather than like that.....just a bit lack of that relaxing festival atmosphere that everybody just hangs around in a site doing childish, stupid or funny behaviour, etc..... nevertheless, Primavera has got a strong line-up every year, so it still deserves to be there!! Something different kind of festival experience than UK festivals....Explosions in the sky, Mogwai, Pulp, Einsturzende Neubauten, Calibou are just too amazing.........

One regret of the festival is that the show time of many big bands are clashed and I missed many good stuffs that might be not able to see them again like Interpol, Suicide, Sufjan Stevens, Deerhunter, Low, Swans, Mercury Rev, Kode 9, Burial, etc... What a waste!!!!