Two More Things You Should Hear

Sigur Ros, "Takk". After the sleepy (= a bit boring) shoegaze of their debut and the so-called "boring" (= entrancing) sophomore effort comes "Takk", a cymbal-crashing tour-de-force that's as furious as Sigur Ros are likely to get (stretched out over an entire album, that is). What's more, the Disneyland-goes-Morr Music twinkling that filled the "Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do" EP is also here in abundance, which enhances the other-worldly feeling you get from so much of Sigur Ros' music. Now if only the tickets for their upcoming tour weren't so pricey ...

TATU, "What About Us" (single). The song strays almost comically close to "Show Me Love" from their last album. Its qualities as a fist-clenching anthem didn't click with me until I saw the video, that is, it all starts to make more sense once you watch the video. Following in the tradition of anti-classics like Michael Jackson's "Leave Me Alone", it's splattered with satirical tabloid headlines about Yulia and Lena's "relationship" -- just let them be, people, for the good of humanity! Let me get this straight ... their whole shtick is upholding a "THEY ARE LESBIAN LOVERS -- OR ARE THEY?" media image (along with releasing some utterly fantastic singles) , so they decide to release a video which, in part, attacks the media for perpetuating this circus? My brain hurts.

Regardless, the video features prostitution, guns, vodka shooters, and girls kicking ass in skimpy outfits in a manner that would have made Russ Meyer grin from ear to ear. Oh, did I mention how SMOKING HOT they (TATU) are in this video? Try to track down the uncensored version before MTV gets their hands on it (although it will be interesting to see if Much Music airs it as is).

Stretching Out That Point ...

Autechre -- EP7. This is where it started getting weird, although they could still lay claim to making caustic, clangy hip-hop. Because of the titling methodology, I think I was expecting a sequel to the previous year's "LP5". Of course, Autechre were drastically morphing their style with every release in those days, so I have no idea why I thought that logic was sound. It figures that they would follow up their most melodic album with an EP that foreshadowed its banishment from their music.

Jesu -- Jesu. Yep, it's time to form that four drums, bass, and five guitar band that pounds away on mammoth riffs all day. They'd be perfect for playing something like ...

Th Faith Healers -- Lido. Wait a minute, these guys invented Bardo Pond, didn't they?

The Delgados -- The Great Eastern. The litmus test. If things are getting too extravagant for you here, then it's best to retreat to "Peloton" or "Universal Audio". Otherwise, proceed to the overproduction nirvana of "Hate".

We've Reached That Point In the Year

I've come to realise that I'm sick of hearing all my early year faves. I've been taking a break from the New Order and Caribou albums, to name just two, because I'm rather bored with them right now. Or burned out on them. I'm on the verge of reneging on my "'Broadway' is the greatest Low song ever written" proclaimations from earlier in the year (where are all the harmonies I used to concocted and hum on the spot?) and the M83 album is not, at this instant, the greatest album since "In Sides" (I'm not sure what is, though)(don't ask me to pick something else). Tis the season for overlooked albums that slowly morph into favourites as a result of involuntary (read: addictive) repeat listens (like Beef Terminal's "The Isolationist" from last year). It's also a time to catch up on some music as a result of watching every CD I own slowly pass through my hands as part of my long-overdue CD spreadsheet project (500-odd down, damned if I know how many are to come), accompanied by the continuing saga of bigass CD-booklet filing. The last time I did this, I entertained myself with the musical version of the blind taste test, and here I am, back to my old tricks with:

Arovane, "Atol Scrap". What's more, it shared the carousel with Aphex Twin's "Drukqs" -- I'm picking on that album yet again! However, I'm gaining an appreciation for how it convincingly snuggles up next to so many different styles of music. RDJ pulls off melancholy moods better than nearly anybody else. Speaking of impersonations, this Arovane album is sounding less like a faithful Autechre rip-off these days. It meshes so well with the Aphex Twin record because they're both so gloomy, even when the breakbeats are rattling around your listening space. Autechre haven't been this gloomy since "Tri Repetae" ("Garbage" and "Amber", however, deserve their own separate strata of punishment via gloom and "what's that sound??!?!?!" isolationism).

A Silver Mt. Zion yadda yadda, "Horses In the Sky". Even before their recent gig, I became hopelessly addicted to this album, which would be their best in a world without "Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward". The guts of their last record consisted of epic, symphonic sweeps. The vocals were then stapled on top. With the new record, the vocals are the main focus, not only because the instrumentation is so sparse, but because every track climaxes with a massive, bursting vocal line. It's as if everything was originally written for harmonica and crackling campfire accompanient, and later on, somebody decided to add some violins and guitar to increase the dramatic effect.