Album Review: Fionn Regan - The End of History

It seems that the singer/songwriter is a curious creature; they’re always incredibly depressed about something or other. Maybe they actually do have no other friends, and are forced to vent all of their sadness through the songs they write, maybe they’re just taking the old mantra “write about what you know” to another level. In any case, you’d be forgiven for expecting the newest singer/songwriter on the scene, hailing from Dublin, would release an album full of rainy days and broken hearts, the sort that seem to multiply any gloomy feelings you have while you listen.

Thankfully, Fionn has decided to buck the trend, and what we have is an astoundingly beautiful, while often-nonsensical, debut album that rewards the listener with every further play. And while there is some of that trademark despondence throughout, the overall tone of the album is lighter than that . Opener ‘Be Good or be Gone’, arguably the album’s stand-out track, has a chorus that is completely infectious, while the shuffling drums on ‘Hunters Map’ augment the mysteriousness of Fionn’s lyrics. On ‘Put a Penny in the Slot’, Fionn sings lyrics you can’t help but smile at: “I apologise/I seem to have arrived/home with items in my bag from your house”, and even manages to name-drop Paul Auster and Saul Bellow, all while we wonder what in the world he’s actually even singing about.

While some of the album (specifically the latter third) comes off as a tad bland, the album as a whole showcases Fionn’s potential. While The End of History is by no means perfect, there is definitely the possibility that in another album or two we could have someone to fill the still-now-empty void that Elliott Smith left years ago.

Instead of an album full of depressing self-pity, Fionn has released a debut of startling brilliance, with the kind of maturity that is most uncommon for a debut album.

New Shins; Bloc Party Albums

Two of the most eagerly anticipated albums of early '07 have been winding their way around that world internet network for quite a while now, so I thought I'd give some short thoughts on them based on first impressions.

The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

Simply put, this record sounds amazing. Most of the tracks manage to grab my attention, and the songwriting has come leaps and bounds. Hopefully this release will catapult the Shins' over and above simply being 'that band Zach Braff loves'.

Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City

On first listen it seems that Bloc Party's style has evolved, but I'm not sure if it's necessarily for the better: the hooks seem fewer and further between, and there's a lot more powerchords here. It almost sounds as if a group of 15-year-old schoolkids just made a band and really wanted to sound like Bloc Party. I'll wait and see what the final mix sounds like.

Review: Squarepusher - Hello Everything

With a discography spanning across almost a dozen albums, and numerous other EPs, Squarepusher, (the alias of Tom Jenkinson) is one of the more prolific artists signed to Warp Records, a label which, once purely focused on electronica, has lately become known for being home to an eclectic mix of sounds. Much like the career of Squarepusher.

On his newest release, Hello Everything, Squarepusher has created the best record to introduce someone to the world of Jenkinson's virtuosic-bass-playing, insane-drum-looping character. At 1.37 of 'Hello Meow', the album's opener, we're treated to what is vintage Squarepusher, sounding more like his earlier tracks from Big Loada, or Feed Me Weird Things, filled with erratic drum loops and jazz-influenced hooks. And while the middle third of the album feels somewhat out of place after the high-energy opening salvo, it allows listeners to appreciate all the aspects of Squarepusher's music.

Like label-mate Aphex Twin, Squarepusher's sound is one that is often difficult to define beyond the 'intelligent dance music' category that has been a catch-all term for just about any electronic artist on the Warp Label. But in Hello Everything, Squarepusher has created something that almost sounds like a 'best-of'. Recommended to new listeners and old fans alike.

Here's a live video of the lead track, 'Hello Meow', played at the London venue Koko:

...aaaand we're back.

Now that exams are a thing of the past (at least for the present), nobodymove! is back from its hiatus. Expect to see things here much more regularly. And what better way to link up the past and present than provide the excellent video for the Rapture track I featured in my last post? The answer: there is no better way. I am the master of continuity.

Now, since I don't know how to put high-quality versions of clips into this site directly, I'm going to be (where possible) including a crappy YouTube version on the page for everyone who can't be bothered waiting for a large(ish) file to download, and a link to the clip itself for those who like some sort of clarity in their music videos. Hope this works for everyone.

Get the high-quality version here

Indie scenesters take note: If you want to be cool, wear a cape.

The Hitlist

Well, things sure have been quiet the last couple of weeks; reviews are in the works, but for now, exam prep seems to have got the better of me.
For now, here are some new tracks that have managed to get my attention recently:

First up is a track from the MySpace sensation herself, Lily Allen. Sure, she sings about the hard-knock life and drugs which it seems she may have heard about through stories her nanny (sorry, servant) told her, but dammit if the chorus isn't the catchiest thing I've heard in ages. And just in time for summer, too.


Lily Allen: Everything's Just Wonderful

Off the just-released Pieces of the People We Love, The Rapture's new track has one of the coolest chants yet to grace an indie/dance track in some time:
"People don't dance no more / they just stand there like this / they cross their arms, and stare you down / and drink and moan and diss". Quality stuff.

The Rapture: Whoo! Alright - Yeah...Uh Huh

So I don't know a whole lot about this guy, but Lupe Fiasco's the new Kanye-endorsed rapper. So he's GOTTA be good, right? And he pronounces "Liquor" phonetically. Not many rappers do that. Sarcasm aside, Fiasco's debut is one slick package. And you'd expect it to be, with Kanye himself behind the production steering wheel, along with other all star names of hip-hop both helping to produce and guest-starring. While some of the samples on the tracks have been horribly overdone before, the remainder of the album is fantastic, especially Kick, Push.

Lupe Fiasco: Kick, Push

Album Review: James Figurine - Mistake, Mistake, Mistake, Mistake

First things first: If you were looking forward to Jimmy Tamborello's new album because he was one-half of the Postal Service, and you COMPLETELY LOVED Give Up (in which he teamed up with Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie), then don't bother with this album.

Glad we cleared that up.

To the rest of you, who have also enjoyed Tamborello's other projects (or side projects? There are so many, I can't tell which ones are the main ones anymore) such as Dntel and Headphones, Mistake, Mistake, Mistake, Mistake is a mixed bag. From the press release, "James Figurine" (as he is now referring to himself) talks about how a few years ago he developed a love for minimalist techno whilst in Germany, primarily because he was stuck in a car with it on for an extended period of time. Oh dear. It seems Tamborello was taken hostage by minimalist (read - boring) techno, and experienced something akin to stockholm syndrome - but with music.

Essentially, the feeling you get when listening to the album, is that with Mistake... Tamborello simply tried to make an album in a genre which he 'kinda dug for a while'. The listener hears moments of brilliance among the mediocrity - such as the track "leftovers" - where we can hear Tamborello tyring to repress his Postal Service-style era and stay within this self-imposed ideal. What results is extended periods od glitchy electronica minus any hooks or harmonies that keep you coming back for more.

In the album's accompanying press release, Tamborello said that the album "was supposed to be an extra melodic, minimal techno record with some sparse vocals". Sparse is the keyword here, and this time without the help of indie wunderkind Gibbard, has instead drafted a list of singers including Jenny Lewis (Postal Service, Rilo Kiley), and the other indie white-boy, Erlend Øye (Kings of Convenience, part-time vocalist in Röyksopp).

Unfortunately, none of the vocalists (including Tamborello himself) are able to really add anything memorable to the songs, instead exuding the sound of an old sampler that is just too, too tired to do all of this again.

New Artist: Sunny Day Sets Fire

With an eclectic mix of backgrounds in their band (two guys from Italy, a girl from Hong Kong, and a guy from London), I was expecting something truly special from this, Sunny Day Sets Fire's second ever single, released earlier this June - and I wasn't disappointed. While there aren't any distinct Italian or Asian sounds really showing themselves in the track, withIn Wilderness, Sunny Day Sets Fire have managed to create a track of blissful, sunny (how appropriate) indie pop. And while I think most of this uplifting feeling is a direct result of the catchy-as-hell xylophone hook that permeates the track, the rest of the song ain't half-bad either.

A proper EP release should be coming out later in the year.

I'll try and upload the track for you all to enjoy but for now, you can listen to the track, and download a few of their earlier stuff at their myspace page.

Just found that there's an equally strange video-clip released for the track. Here you go:

The Grey Album: Danger Mouse's black and white cookie

The hip-hop outfit Gnarls Barkley which came to fame with the phenomenally successful single ‘Crazy’, looks like it might disappoint with their decidedly lacklustre second single and disappear into obscurity like, i dunno, (Australian Idol!) Casey Donovan. However, DJ Danger Mouse, the paler-skinned half of Gnarls Barkley already guaranteed himself a place in the pop music history books with his 2004 release, the notorious Grey Album. The album is an ingenious mash-up of hip-hop maestro Jay-Z’s ‘final’ recording, The Black Album and the Beatles 1968 double album The White Album.

While mash-ups had existed for decades before The Grey Album, what makes the album stand apart is the simplicity of the concept: Use the socially conscious rappings of Jay-Z and lay it over the music of the perennial poster boys of skinny white rock. The highlight on the album is track 5 where Jay-Z’s ‘99 Problems’ is mashed with the Beatles heavy metal ‘Helter Skelter’. Besides the fact that this track sounds like totally awesome and stuff, track 5 is especially fascinating for its link to American race relations. Jay-Z’s lyrics tell a narrative of the artist maligned as a successful rapper and being harassed by the law just because he is black. The Beatles backing track, instead of tackling social issues, originally contained fairly incongruous lyrics about a playground slide from Paul McCartney’s childhood. Helter Skelter became much more controversial in the seventies when Charles Manson thought that the Beatles were sending him messages through their music. The messages specifically predicted a race war between blacks and whites. He called this war Helter Skelter. When it became apparent that the war wouldn’t start, Manson decided to start it himself. For Manson, the White Album was the rock equivalent of Mein Kampf. Manson and the family then committed the murders for which he is infamous. The murderers also stole a wallet from the Polanski’s house and dropped it in a public toilet in a predominantly black neighbourhood. Manson thought that this would start the race war but all this really achieved was blocked pipes. However in Manson’s mind, the blacks were going to win the prophesised race war and kill off the white population during which Manson and the family would hide underground. Then, after a period of time the children of the Family would rise from their underground hidey hole, kill the black population and rule the world. (The world = America for all intents and purposes). With this in mind, it is much easier to see The Grey Album as Danger Mouse trying to musically reconcile two opposing political positions. If I may say so, Danger Mouse is the Martin Luther King of hip hop. Or the Professor Charles Xavier of hip hop. Or whatever. My point is that The Grey Album is attempting racial reconciliation in the same tradition as Jerry Seinfeld’s black and white cookie.

Danger Mouse sampled from Jay-Z and the Beatles without authorisation. Normally this is done and no one really cares but the enormous buzz created by the album caused EMI to order Danger Mouse and retailers carrying the album to cease distribution. In response, the activist group Downhill Battle led a massive Internet-based protest dubbed Grey Tuesday to express the opinion that sampling is fair use and that a statutory license should be provided in the same manner as if a given song had been covered. Since The Grey Album, mash ups have become increasingly popular, though none have been as successful as Danger Mouse’s moment of conceptual genius. Notable efforts include the Kleptones’ mashup of the Flaming Lips’ album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots with various hip hop artists entitled Yoshimi Battles the Hip Hop Robots. The one-off mash up single has become more likely. The intrepid internet user will be able to track down Destiny’s Child vs. Nirvana in ‘Smells like Booty’ or Christina Aguilera vs. the Strokes in ‘A Stroke of Genie-us’. The lesson to be learned here is that a mash-up is only as good as the wittiness of its title. How about Guns N’ Roses vs. Michael Jackson in ‘Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Sweet Child of Mine’? Or Guy Sebastian vs. Nelly Furtado in ‘Angels Brought me Promiscuous Girls’?

But back to The Grey Album. Unfortunately I will never know for sure whether Danger Mouse intended for it to be the anthem of racial tolerance that I have read it as. One cannot overlook the undeniable pleasure of skinny white kids in tight jeans and Converse sneakers trying to navigate the rhythm of Jay-Z’s rhymes on the dance floor. Meanwhile, Charles Manson will be eligible for parole in 2007. If he is released, what will he think of The Grey Album? Will the murder mastermind be outraged at the recording as Beatles sacrilege? Will he be moved by Jay-Z’s political lyrics resulting in a more empathetic, loving and tolerant Manson. My guess: he won’t even get to hear it. Wouldn't want his parole officer to catch him downloading illegal MP3s.

Film Review: Breakfast on Pluto

Breakfast on Pluto is the latest film from Neil Jordan, director of The Crying Game and Interview with the Vampire. The film tracks the life of Patrick Braden (Cillian Murphy) who is abandoned as a baby in his small Irish hometown and from a young age decides that he prefers life as a transvestite. The small town becomes too conservative for the grown up Patrick who sets off for London in search of his birth mother. Along his journey, Patrick encounters many colourful characters such as the mysterious Father Bernard (Liam Neeson), a rock singer Billy Rock (Gavin Friday), a cheap suit magician (Stephen Rea) and best friend Charlie (Ruth Negga), who is pregnant to her boyfriend who is involved with the IRA.

Breakfast on Pluto is set in Ireland and the UK during the ‘60s and ‘70s and the intense political climate of that era comes to impact on Patty, culminating in a violent nightclub bombing in London. Despite the harsh world that Patty finds himself in, he never loses his sense of optimism. Director Neil Jordan intended the film to be a lesson in how to survive in a deeply aggressive world. Unfortunately, the film comes off more like a lesson in apathy. Patrick is never really affected by the terrible things surrounding him and as a result he appears as an unreal character with no real emotions. He falls in and out of love with no real joy or sadness and at one point in the movie, surrounded by wounded bomb victims, Patrick’s main concern is the state of his stockings.

Patrick is consistently annoyed by people telling him to take things seriously but I found that instead of siding with the main character I was agreeing with the others. Surely we should be encouraging people to take political issues and current events seriously instead of ignoring that these things exist and becoming distracted by materialism.

Cillian Murphy may look convincing as a transvestite but his one-note performance is consistently irritating though this may have as much to do with the script as with the performance. The vacuousness of the main character makes it hard for the audience to root for him and the whimsical style with which the story is told is strained. Despite strong performances from the supporting actors and a fun soundtrack, Breakfast on Pluto quickly wears out its welcome.

Sufjan's Talking Heads.

Recently, at a Bookeaters benefit concert in New York, fans of the two acts performing that night - Sufjan Stevens and David Byrne - were there, and obviously there in plague proportions; or at least enough to cough up the $5,000 mark set by Bookeaters that would guarantee an combined encore of the two stars. In fact they went way beyond that measly sum - punters raised over $15,000 on the night! So now that they paid the money, you too can share in their rewards in all their full-colour handycam glory: