Tag: Alternative Rock

Playlist: New tunes from 2023, part four

Post author By jprobichaud
Post date December 29, 2023
5 Comments on Playlist: New tunes from 2023, part four

Getting down to the wire now, heh? Just two more days left of 2023 after today. I think we might just manage it.

I usually do this thing sharing the final part of my ongoing annual playlist on the morning of New Years Eve but I’ve decided to switch it up for 2023. My last post of the year, the last word as it were, will be dedicated instead to my favourite album that the year offered us. It feels fitting now but we’ll see how it feels when it’s all said and done.

And I know I just inferred that the finish line is a welcome sight but honestly, 2023’s been a pretty good year. A marked improvement on the last, which was a huge leap forward on the previous two combined. I can’t really say things are back to normal* but they feel more familiar, if not weirdly surreal. The COVID is still around and the numbers still seem higher than they should be for a pandemic that is ‘over’ but we seem weirdly dismissive of it. Nonetheless, I’ve experienced a lot of post-pandemic firsts this year, like the first time back in the office, first time meeting some of my colleagues in person, first indoor concert, first train ride, first road trip across the border, whew. All of it has been exciting but also saddening for all the experiences that we collectively missed out on.

I don’t really want to talk about everything else that’s been going on in the world because it’s more than just a little crazy, so many deaths and so much damage and so much loss. So I’m just going to get back to the music. These last twenty five songs is a blend of new ones released over the last three months and a few b-sides, songs that had been released earlier on but for some reason, I missed them the first time around or just couldn’t fit them.

If you haven’t already perused them, I invite you to go have a look-see at parts one, two, and three. If you’re already in the know, have a gander at the highlights:

- - Kicking things off right with “Real life” a new song from the raw and frenetic Canadian indie rock trio, The Rural Alberta Advantage
  - Emma Anderson‘s (ex of Lush and Sing-Sing) debut solo album “Pearlies” has lots of great moments that show she hasn’t lost her dream pop sensibilities and “The presence” might be the closest sounding to epic Lush of the bunch
- - As Trans-Canada Highwaymen, Canadian 90s alt-rock royalty, Steven Page, Chris Murphy, Moe Berg, and Craig Northey unleashed an album of 70s Can-rock covers, like this faithful take on The Guess Who’s “”Undun”
- - “Panopticom” is the first track on the first new album of new material by Peter Gabriel in 21 years and shows he’s still incredible at what he does
- - Toronto-based Breeze gifted us 90s alt rock aficionados with an early Christmas present with a new album that includes the wonderful “Ready for love”
  - The dreamy “Amnesia” by M83 is definitely unforgettable
  - “Cicciolina”, from Cumgirl8‘s debut release on 4AD show that raw inventiveness that brought the legendary indie label to sign them

Here is the entire playlist as I’ve created it:

1. “Real life” The Rural Alberta Advantage (from the album The rise & the fall)

2. “Will anybody ever love me?” Sufjan Stevens (from the album Javelin)

3. “Nothing is perfect” Metric (from the album Formentera II)

4. “I want it all” The Drums (from the album Jonny)

5. “Full time job” Squirrel Flower (from the album Tomorrow’s fire)

6. “Is this love” Pip Blom feat. Alex Kapranos (from the album Bobbie)

7. “The presence” Emma Anderson (from the album Pearlies)

8. “Laff it off” Pony Girl (from the album Laff it off)

9. “Undun” Trans-Canada Highwaymen (from the album Explosive hits, vol. 1)

10. “Baby blue” Sundara Karma (from the album Better luck next time)

11. “So many plans” Beirut (from the album Hadsel)

12. “Give me everything” The Polyphonic Spree (from the album Salvage enterprise)

13. “Another life” Spector (from the album Here come the early nights)

14. “Panopticom (Dark-side mix)” Peter Gabriel (from the album I/O)

15. “Ready for love” Breeze (from the album Sour grapes)

16. “Don’t say it’s over” Gaz Coombes (from the album Turn the car around)

17. “Amnesia” M83 (from the album Fantasy)

18. “XIII” Dark Horses (from the album While we were sleeping)

19. “Pontius Pilate’s home movies” The New Pornographers (from the album Continue as a guest)

20. “Pick” Fenne Lily (from the album Big picture)

21. “Everything is sweet” Sophie Ellis-Bextor (from the album Hana)

22. “Now that’s what I call obscene” The Boo Radleys (from the album Eight)

23. “I inside the old year dying” PJ Harvey (from the album I inside the old year dying)

24. “Cicciolina” Cumgirl8 (from the EP Phantasea Pharm)

25. “Coming home” Echo Ladies (from the album Lilies)

Apple initiates can click here to sample the above tracks as a whole playlist.

And as always, wherever you are in the world, I hope you continue to be well. Above all, enjoy the tunes.

If you’re interested in checking out any of the other playlists I’ve created and shared on these pages, you can peruse them here.

Albums

Best albums of 2023: #2 Blur “The ballad of Darren”

Post author By jprobichaud
Post date December 26, 2023
3 Comments on Best albums of 2023: #2 Blur “The ballad of Darren”

I trust you’ve all had a restful and joyous Christmas holiday, those who celebrate it anyway. Mine was spent with my wife and family, eating lots of good eats. My itinerary for Boxing Day today is to head out to support some independent record stores (avoiding the big shopping malls) and seeing if I can score some records at deal prices. But before I do, I thought I’d drop this little post here on my second favourite album of the year.

Ah yes, Blur.

The London-based quartet has seen a lot of mentions on these pages, appearing in a good number of my Best tunes lists, at least one Best albums list so far, and a special post highlighting my top five favourite tunes by the group. In every single post, I’ve mention that I’ve been a big fan of the group for years, inferring that I know their discography intimately. I saw them a couple of times in the early 90s, both on two separate legs of tours supporting 1994’s “Parklife”, and have often thought it would be great to see them again. So, yeah, I was quite excited when news broke late last year of plans for more live shows, an excitement that grew when a new studio album was also announced this spring, but as of yet, none of their shows have come close enough to my neck of the woods to be financially viable to procure tickets*.

I picked up a copy of Blur’s 9th album on vinyl the first chance I got, having only heard the first single, “The narcissist”. I figured that even if it wasn’t as good as their previous work that I would want it on my record shelves next to the rest of their albums. Luckily for me, “The ballad of Darren” is very good indeed, surprisingly so, and there’s no fear that it will become a dust collector. I’ve already put it through the paces a number of times on my turntable.

Written for the most part by frontman Damon Albarn while he was on tour with Gorillaz in 2022, it is considered by the group to be the most like their earlier work because it was recorded very much collaboratively as they did in their early days. For me, it is like a return to their Britpop haunts but viewed through the dusty and musty time machine windows. It is by far their shortest ever record but this doesn’t mean we feel short-changed. This is very much Blur but not a Blur we’ve heard before. They’ve reverted back from the art rock that has informed much of their last three and yet it hasn’t completely left the room. Indeed, “The ballad of Darren” feels like the culmination of everything Blur. It is a band playing music together and for themselves, loose and free from expectations and in so doing, exceeding them all.

This 9th album doesn’t feel like a climax, or like a swansong, and yet, if this does turn out to be the last Blur record, I don’t think we’d have any cause at all to complain. If you haven’t yet given it a chance, there’s ten great tracks here worth you time. If you’re still unsure, these three picks for you are a great representation of what you would find within.

“Goodbye Albert“: Track seven continues the trend that strings throughout, taking its cue from the album title, a mellower tone that didn’t frighten me at all. I’ve always loved Blur’s ballads and this one is typically Blur and so unlike a traditional ballad. The drumming is understated but complex, Dave Rowntree restraining himself but still putting on his stamp, while Alex James is doing the same with his heavy bass backbone. Graham Coxon plays guitar hero here yet again, dancing around the arpeggios one moment and flailing out grunge feedback the next. And Damon Albarn is seemingly realizing his pivotal moment, saying goodbye to what once was but hesitating with all the finality. “We crossed the world, we disappeared, and no one looks to see if we are coming back soon. I was not ready yet… Let it go.”

“Barbaric”: “I have lost the feeling that I thought I’d never lose. Now where am I going? At what cost, the feeling that I thought I’d never lose? It is barbaric.” If you thought it was all going to be mellow and low-key, this one proves it wrong. It’s peppy and catchy and quite jubilant despite obviously being about a surprise breakup at an inopportune time. James feels like the star with a bass line that bounces around and carries a lively presence and our wonderful drummer Coxon keeps pace with a nod of the head, a wink, and a jaunty smile. This one feels like a fan favourite in the making. Classic Blur and if it weren’t so late in the game, high hopes for future Blur.

“The narcissist”: As mentioned above, this is the one we all heard first and the one that convinced us all that “The ballad of Darren” would be an album worth our collective times. “I’ma shine a light in your eyes (in your eyes). You’ll probably shine it back on me, but I won’t fall this time. With Godspeed, I’ll heed the signs.” Though it sounds quite different, “The narcissist” reminds me a lot of their surprise single from 2012, “Under the westway“. It’s wistful and mature, looking back at what made Blur great but doing so with years of experience and the same amount of time to reflect on everything. It effortlessly fits alongside some of the band’s best work, getting deep into your bones and stuck in your head, and making you think about worth and existence and what’s waiting around the next corner. So, so, so, so good.

*And recent comments by Albarn suggesting it might be time wind up the group again make me think seeing them this time around is becoming increasingly unlikely.

We’ll be back in a handful of days with album #1. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. Bodywash “I held the shape while I could”
9. Boygenius “The record”
8. Depeche Mode “Memento mori”
7. The Clientele “I am not there anymore”
6. Eyelids “A colossal waste of light”
5. Pale Blue Eyes “This house”
4. The Reds, Pinks and Purples “The town that cursed your name”
3. The Veils “…And out of the void came love”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

Tags 2020s, 2023, Alex James, Alternative, Alternative Rock, Best albums, Best of 2023, Blur, British rock, Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree, End of year, Graham Coxon, Indie, Indie rock, Reunion

Albums

Best albums of 2023: #3 The Veils “…And out of the void came love”

Post author By jprobichaud
Post date December 21, 2023
4 Comments on Best albums of 2023: #3 The Veils “…And out of the void came love”

When I sat down to write this post, I was not a little bit flabbergasted to realize that this would make only the second time* that The Veils have appeared on these pages. Of course, it made more sense once I reasoned that it had been more than seven years since their last album, which was one year before I started My Life in Music Lists.

The Veils got their start way back in 2001 when a teenaged Finn Andrews was signed to Rough Trade Records and relocated back to his birthplace of London, England after growing up for the most part in New Zealand. He has been the group’s driving force and only static member, though they did have a pretty stable five-piece lineup for a decade or so between the mid-2000s and up to the release and tour cycle of their fifth album, 2016’s “Total depravity”. I had been a pretty rabid fan of the group, right after hearing their debut, espousing their virtues to all my friends and acquaintances, and featuring them regularly on my old blog, Music Insanity**.

I would go on about how Finn Andrews’ theatrical vocals and emotional songwriting and delivery really set The Veils apart from any other band, comparing his voice to that of a Rufus Wainwright or a young Lou Reed (before his voice went to seed) and his soul to that of Tom Waits or Nick Cave, or even an older Lou Reed. And all of these superlatives grew in stature when I saw them in 2007 for their tour supporting their 2006 album, “Nux Vomica”, and was blown away by the passion of Andrews and how he throws himself completely into the performance of his music.

To that point, Andrews broke his wrist while touring a solo album he had released in 2019 and he made it worse by deciding to finish out the tour. This meant for a much longer recovery in which he couldn’t tour or perform live. Instead, he spent the time resting and writing and recording by himself. Of course, the worldwide pandemic complicated things and extended their absence, but when The Veils finally resurfaced, now in 2023, it was with this magnificent double album and a whole new lineup of players backing the welcome return of an incredible songwriter and singular vocalist.

“…And out of the void came love” is an album of two thematic parts, meant to be listened to as such. It is recognizable as The Veils and their gothic and romantic take on folk and rock, still evoking Waits and Cave, but here there is more hope, a hint of a sunrise after a long dark night. I highly recommend you take the time give this one its due but my three picks for you can give a taste of what this return has to offer.

“Epoch“: The second song on the second side of part/disc one, aka track number six, is an urgent and visceral explosion. Andrews holds court like a crazed ringmaster during the verses, shouting rather than singing them, rattling them off through an an invisible megaphone, tipping his hat, and dancing a jig and all the while drums clatter, the bass punishes, and guitars dance through feedback and threaten to fall out of tune. And when it comes to the chorus, all Andrews needs to do is repeat the same line, “I’ve seen it coming”, multiple times, but they’re just words, the meaning and emotion is different every time they escape his lips. It’s a vocal achievement and a trick of magic and you’re held rapt the whole time.

“Time”: This whole beast starts off with this nearly six minute piano-driven dirge that was released as a single on New Years Day 2023. It was written during the first lockdowns in New Zealand and reflects what I am sure a lot of us were feeling in the early days of the pandemic. The piano rolls interminably like the incessant ticking of a clock as it keeps you up in the early hours of the morning. It has the feeling of walking the tightrope of insanity. “Тіmе іѕ а dеvіl. Тіmе іѕ а rосk. Тіmе іѕ а rіddlе, nоnе оf uѕ саn unlосk.” It is Andrews playing in a realm of poetic lyricism, dragging us along with him through his range of emotions, and it is here, along with a number of other places on the album, that we can hear with almost perfectly clarify where all those comparisons to Nick Cave come from.

“No limits of stars”: The track that follows the last one then turns us all on our heads. If we think we’re getting and we think we want an album full of murder ballads like “Time”, we realize within the first few seconds of “No limit of stars” that we were dead wrong. “Well, it’s true the universe cares not how we all live and die. But there’s an element missing in that arrangement somehow, and I wondered why, in any way, we don’t live long, beneath no limit of stars.” It’s a rousing piece of existentialism, an exploration of our smallness in the face of infinity and expansion. And Andrews and his merry band of musicians punish us lovingly with a tune without quit. The drum beat doesn’t break and the haunting guitars and lonely keys match it breath for breath, heartache for heartache. It exists in a frozen place and time, as the second hand hesitates between notches just after midnight and the rest of the house is quiet, save for its settling creaks and groans. It is intense but perfectly so.