So
we have buried one of this country’s most iconic leaders and from beyond the
grave she is still causing controversy, creating protest of real angst and
vitriol and even in death living up to her name. It’s far too easy for anyone
with liberal tendencies to jump on the bandwagon of hatred and as much as I like
to pour scorn on those who put themselves in a position to be judged I don’t think
it is forward thinking or progressive to have a pop at the actions of a
determined woman that changed the face of our country some 30 years after they
were protested against originally, lets concentrate on the here and now.
I can’t find it in my cold heart to attack
the actions of Margret Thatcher, I can laugh at the jokes and resent the bill
we will foot for her funeral but I can’t believe that she doesn’t deserve to be
recognised by our country for the effect she had upon it. Whatever you may
think about her actions you would be hard pushed to find a person since who has
strode so strong in the face of objection with the conviction of her beliefs
steadfast and resolute and if you were to find an equal I know it would not be
among the world of Politicians.
I don’t hope for a liberal agenda, I don’t
believe in equal opportunities for all and I don’t believe that a population
has the ability to know what is best for itself at any given time, I’m not
saying I’m a supporter of Thatcher but I am a supporter of strong leaders with
conviction who will do everything they can to execute the power of their
beliefs. Politicians now don’t have the backbone to effect real change, the
process has become more and more a whishy washy backstabbing popularity contest
with the grinning goons vying for our admiration in national debates or
televisual titbits telling us how much they love to eat pasties. There are no
inspirational rebels because there is no real arch-enemy to rile against,
nobody with enough conviction that it would take a true hero to topple.
Real and world altering change comes in
the fires of opposing forces clashing in the midst of passionate belief that leads
people to starve themselves, to rally thousands to risk their own wellbeing to
show their hearts feeling to give such a visceral show of belief that the
universe must take notice. In today’s England we have childish yobs who steal
trainers and flat-screen TV’s in protest that their free money has been taken
away. In the governing of countries there can be no coalition, no middle ground,
no half answers, no people pleasing policy that is engineered only to secure
points in the popularity contest we call democracy, we need strong minds and
determined hearts that will pit their wits against each other to fight for the
Greatness we aspire too.
The protest and debate took to the
airwaves and took the argument to the world of music, where another fine sign
of our times was displayed in a torridly boring chart battle and a ethical quandary
for dear auntie beeb. Of all the songs they could have picked, it had to be the
least offensive twee piece of out of context nonsense possible, directly aimed
to appeal (as usual) to the lowest common denominator numskulls and children
who had no knowledge or interest in the genuine idea of the protest but love
being against things because it means shouting and feeling cheated. Musical
protest can be a real tour de force of passion and annunciation of feeling that
swells the spirit of the believer and has the protagonist shaking in fear at
the masses yelling the poetry of rebellion, or it can be a crass dig with
little artistic merit that twitters in the face of disapproval – Pathetic. Our
nation has spurned some of the greatest poets and angry profligates the world
has ever seen and the fact that a trite piece of musical theatre is the best we
can offer as protest is a sad reflection of the state of play. Should the BBC
have played the song in its entirety, who gives a shit?
Meanwhile across the pond, more protest? Of
a much more explosive nature as life is lost and people injured as victims show
a great divide in our human spirit that while drone strikes and occupation kill
innocent people on a daily basis we must mourn in disgust an attack of much
smaller consequences because it took place on the side of the great and resplendent
nation of America. I don’t agree with the foreign policy of this worldwide aggressor
and although innocent life is lost it can only be inevitable in a country where
the term ‘collateral damage’ was coined. America attacks countries that have no
chance of legitimately defending their beliefs and have turned to whatever
means necessary to defend their ideals. On home soil the greatest danger to the
American people is not the foreign aggressor but the disaffected loner with
access to automatic weapons far beyond the Taliban’s wildest dreams. An aggressor
will be found and blame will surely be attributed but can it ever truly fall on
the right shoulders when the hypocrisy rules supreme.
Don’t
get hung up in rhetoric and don’t let the wool get pulled over your eyes and
remember that while we remember the passing of one……
Cunts Are Still
Running The World
A
third of the way through the year and we have some real heavy hitters in the
album stakes, I am forced to eat humble pie as some artists I once maligned
come good and we are all treated to some real great noise and welcome returns. In the constant quest to be modern and on the
date I can accidentally overlook some albums and not honour them so I would
just like to hail two late entries to last year’s top 50 albums I know that
would make it a Top 52 but I’m all about adding to the awesome not taking it
away, I’m not giving them a full review just pointing you in their direction.
L’Enfant Sauvage - Gojira
I haven’t
enjoyed Metal in quite some time but hearing ‘Born In Winter’ on BBC 6 had me
running straight to get this album and being stunned by it ever since.
Carry On – Willy Mason
I don’t know
how I missed this one because I had been awaiting its release eagerly, slippery
mind. Listen to ‘Restless Fugitive’ and remember why you love this bittersweet troubadour
– Would have been top 10 material.
And
now back to 2013
II – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
It takes
one record to do well in the realm of a particular genre to make the record
labels pay attention and start promoting and releasing from an output that may
have otherwise been sorely overlooked. Tame Impala’s success with their
brilliant work last year has proved the public once again has a thirst for that
fuzzy guitar logic of the psychadelia vibe all beautifully cushioned between
tight guitar lines and eloquently strummed out chords.
This
sound must be garnering the mantle of timeless because it draws so heavily on
the origin of the electric guitar exploration of the late 60’s but fits
perfectly into the music scene of today, perhaps the movement itself lives on a
cloud of dreamy nostalgia that seeps into the public conscious from time to
time.
I could well be talking of the work of Endless
Boogie with their release Long Island or the closer to home
recent output of Clinic –Free Reign II but for me this trendy threesome just pip
them to the post for a section on my review headlights, though I highly
recommend you check out both those other releases as well you busy eared rock
stalwarts.
This is stylised rock that creates a real
space of atmosphere that cuts through the modern and sounds so distinct it is
quite consuming, I want to be listening to these sounds emitting from a vintage
radio while I frolic in a haze of poetic smoke while viewing the world through
my optimistic spectacles of liberated free thinking lovers not fighters. I love
this sense of revisiting that sound because I know there are so many people who
would head straight back there with access to a time machine and will be
soaking up this audio revival of those probing attitudes to what was possible
with a guitar and a free mind.
‘Swim & Sleep (Like A Shark)’ is a
real set up of the stall for this album, it rings out at the tips of every
strum and wallows in the appreciation of all the noises that are laid out, its
tight and pithy with an air of mystical dreaminess. Have I heard this riff
before? Or is it simply built on such a wealth of love for a sound that I want
it in my life – it’s a great song.
The album in a whole can obviously be
meandering and less subsinct in some parts but it is woven with solid riffs,
great production and glitchy beats that add real character to this vintage
piece of modern mastery. And as a bonus there is a glimpse of boobies on the
cover, can’t fault that genius idea.
On second thought I owe some space to
those other bands mentioned even if it just convinces you that bit more to have
a listen and validates me when I go and fall in love with them later.
Long
Island – Endless Boogie
It could be
one of the most appropriately named band names ever as they demonstrate a
boogie hear that yes does seem quite infinite and endless. If you are a guitar
fan then welcome and come bathe in the glorious waters of riff and solo, if you
are not then be prepared for an assault of 8 minutes songs retreating further
and further up their own backsides. This is a stubborn stalwart of guitar
worship that without being wanky is a real haven for the groove that rock is
capable of. This is a tour de force of stripped down groove and a natural
prowess that creates a laidback style that can’t be matched. Think Zappa
without the crazy on top, think all the great American road bands without the
need to cut it down into a radio edit or add any cheesy posturing to the core
of why it’s great to have long hair and drive with the window down.
m b v – My Bloody Valentine
So it’s been a
while and after rumour upon rumour the actual release comes all of a sudden and
has people online late into the night waiting for a soft release of possibly
one of the most long awaited follow up albums of all time.
As
if the anticipation wasn’t enough from the very first strum I am reaching for
the volume dial and seeing how much intensity I can take and wading through the
fuzz to that glorious recollection of all the good and bad times I have endured
through ‘Loveless’ and the happiness I have that this is back with me and is
unchanged by time. In my mind there is little wonder the gap has been so long between
releases because the final refrain of these chords will span on through
reverbing shoe gaze for another 22 years.
To
some it may not seem so, but when you envelop yourself in this wall of sound as
so many have and will, you notice the attention to detail that can and clearly
is so fanatical. For anybody who has ever recorded music may hint a guess
towards understanding the control of chaos the taming of such raw power in
noise is a herculean task that makes a work like this such an accomplishment.
This is daring stuff that doesn’t use the well-trodden paths of structure or
form, the songs are broken machines of war that are captured as they crunch
over all convention or sensible reasoning – every track could easily go on
forever if something or some baying mass of fans didn’t remind someone that the
beast needs to be caged and packaged and possibly even bought.
Maybe work like this or where it
could lead can help us not mourn so heavily the loss of the physical music
format, unrestrained from the concepts of output we could simply log in to a
world of noise where My Bloody Valentine were continuously ringing out in one
evermore dimension of fuzz. But who will point the new disciples to this church,
as anesthetised as many may feel the music retail world has become I know for a
fact that back in my day behind the till I would have risked the sack to play
this album out in full across the HMV till. Get this album into your life and don’t
just listen to it, bask in it turn it up as loud as you can go and let the
sound wash over you because it’s one of the few bands that can make me feel as
if I can walk through fire and eat bricks.
The 20/20 Experience – Justin Timberlake
That’s right you
cynical fuckers I’m reviewing the JT album in the same blog as m b v, could it
be fallacy or genuine eclecticism, I don’t really care but I quite genuinely
enjoyed this release without a hint of irony. Frank Ocean and the outstanding
‘Channel Orange’ opened mine and I’m sure many other ears to a new type of
appreciation of what can be achieved with the modernization of R&B and
Justin has always been there on the edge of the wave of what was being produced
and I’m sure his resurfacing is no coincidence, it’s well timed and doesn’t
require a massive change in his unflappable style to be right back in the
middle of the dance floor status quo.
This album has slabs of pop that evolve and
deliver in so many ways without ever dropping from being insatiably catchy and
drop dead sexy. The songs evolve around a central theme or hook adding and
taking away and exploring different rhythms and grooves that create large
pieces that glorify all that is pop. There are no throw away 3 minute songs
here, these are well crafted and thought out jams that keep us interested and
really shine of creativity and craft.
Timberlake is a natural star, all be it
a well-practiced and crafted one he oozes swag and style from every pour and
with the length of time he has been around we can believe his pedigree and love
of music. There are pretenders to a thrown but really we must have crowned our
modern King of pop. Back collaborating with Timberland we see him explore songs
in a musical way and use his celebrity and status in a welcoming way and his
modesty and charm shine through.
Above
all these songs are great fun, they stick in your head but not just for a
repeated 30 second loop, they are through composed and interesting that gives a
little way to let a miserable muso into wanting to smile and listen to popular
tunes. Michael Jackson always used to know which songs would become big by how
much they made him want to move and this album has me wanting to brave the fear
of looking old and frumpy to throw shapes on a busy dancefloor.
Lots
more in my ears at the moment, so I will be back soon to sing their praises.
Hope
you are all well and are loving life in the ?Springtime?
