Released: 27 April 1992 – 7th LP Charts: #29 in the UK / #41 in Australia
Rolling Stone said: At times Cave veers into melodrama, but his songs
of suffering and sin are still convincing. With the Bad Seeds serving as the
exorcists for Cave’s demons, Henry’s Dream stands as provocative – albeit
harrowing – music.” Score: 4.5
TUTV: One of my all-time favorite Bad Nick Cave Seed works
Released: 30 March 1992 – her debut LP Charts: #11 in the UK
Pitchfork wrote: “On her debut, Polly Jean Harvey matched
Patti Smith’s incandescence with Bessie Smith’s lasciviousness,
outplayed everyone on the British indie circuit, and became
an instant star.” Score: 4.5/5.
Released: 5 October 1992 – 8th LP Charts: #1 in the UK and New Zealand, #2 in the US
AllMusic: “A haunting, melancholy masterpiece… R.E.M. have
never been as emotionally direct as they are here, nor have they
ever created music quite as rich and timeless, and while the record
is not an easy listen, it is the most rewarding record in their oeuvre.”
Score: 5/5.
TUTV: They put a magnum opus
on the moon with this one.
Entertainment Weekly wrote: “Bone Machine finds Waits veering
along the midway barking his favorite themes — decadence and death,
purgatory and pain — but beneath his hellacious bellows and grotesque
arrangements lurks a caring, humanist heart.” Score: 5/5.
TUTV: I wonder if Waits still doesn’t want to grow up.
Released: 20 March 1992 – debut LP Charts: #27 in the UK
NME said: “There’s awesome, cool dignity here, a depth and
scope far beyond rock’s normal parameters, and an abiding
faith in the redemptive power of music which can embrace
both consoling murmurs and euphoric surges.” Score: 5/5.
TUTV: The start of a soul-searching
symphonic gospel adventure, still in motion.
Released: 21 May 1997 – their 3rd LP Score: No 1 in the UK, Scotland
and Belgium, #21 in the USA
Pitchfork said: “The record is brimming with genuine emotion,
beautiful and complex imagery and music, and lyrics that are
at once passive and fire-breathing. OK Computer is like tossing
David Bowie, old U2, Spacehog and lots of Pink Floyd into a
blender and pushing the ‘kill’ button.” Score: 5/5.
Released: 29 September 1997 – 3rd LP Score: #1 in the UK, Ireland, New-Zealand
and Ireland, #23 in the USA
NME wrote: “Its sheer magnificence and spirit is such that
the danger of it overwhelming anything that follows it is obvious.
This, after all, is the musical signature of the year.” Score: 4/5.
Released: 7 July 1997 Score: No 2 in the UK and Scotland
AllMusic said: “The group is still capable of creating exotic,
thoroughly entrancing sounds, which is what makes Vanishing
Point a remarkable comeback.” Score: 4.5/5.
Released: 16 June 1997 Album: Urban Hymns Score: No 2 in the UK, No 12 in the USA
“Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, that’s life
Tryna make ends meet, you’re a slave to money then you die
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah”
Released: 5 May 1997 Album: Vanishing Point Score: #2 in Scotland, #8 in the UK
“This radio station was named Kowalski
In honor of the last American hero to whom
Speed means freedom of the soul
The question is not when he’s gonna stop
But who is gonna stop him”
“Nancy is joining me because the message this evening is not my message, but ours
“Despite our best efforts, shortages of marijuana are now being reported. From the early
days of our administration, Nancy has been abusing marijuana on a daily basis and her
personal observations and efforts have given her such dramatic insights that I wanted
her to share them with you this evening.”
I discovered this brilliant post-punk turbo last month at an indoor festival in Amsterdam. The whole crowd went bananas. These motherrockers slash and trash with a burning vehemence and a flabbergasting fervency. Miami Lounge is the crackerjack opener of this year’s released 5-track EP Bad Time.
Now it’s your turn to discover this awesome London squad.
Earlier this month this dynamite hit team blew all punters away with their jaw-dropping gig in my hometown Ghent (Belgium). They razzled and dazzled with ebullient exertion, blistering British bluster, and a fuck Brexit fierceness. The roof went off.
Ded Würst, their newest single, is nothing less
than a nasty and filthy sledgehammer. Das super!
6. ‘His Ilk’ by BRONSON ARM (Kalamazoo, Michigan, US)
From Michigan here come 2 Pc Noisey Slacker Psychedelic Sludge Punks.
They joined Canada-based indie label Off White House Records
this year with a big bang.
Their newest outburst is a riffin’ rollercoaster that makes the hair in
your neck stand up with its metallic resonance and relentless bass
frenzy. Add nightmarish vocals and I’m sure Santa Claus will run
away in fear.
The alias of British singer-songwriter of Bobby Anderson.
Never Ready is a vicious droning blast. Wïlderman rankles,
rages, and has a bad taste in his mouth. Never ready for
her look and her voice. 133 seconds of sonic sex.
Hot groove, hot intensity, hot slam dunk. Fucktastic!
8. I Don’t’ Love You Anymore’ by CHATEAU CHATEAU (Tucson, Arizona, US)
Glam and glitter riot tattoo grrl Blue attracts all attention,
sonically as well as visually. She swirls and scintillates on this
new kick while cursing idiots who hate the LGBTQ+ community,
who hate tattoos, and who hate anybody who doesn’t live by
their ultra-conservative rules.
To hell with all these idiots.
Meanwhile, enjoy this jangly earworm that sticks as
first-class glue and reaches an aural orgasm every
time the chorus pops up.
With Absent Transient they show their masterly skills of writing ear-and-mind
pleasing pop tunes charged-up with rotating riffs and dreamy vocal harmonies.
When an old skool DJ teams up with Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker you
get a sizzling acid house corker to start and end all upcoming New Year’s Eve parties with.
13. ‘What You Keep Telling Yourself’ by DOWN WITH SPACE (Montreal, Canada)
The motorik and magnetic rhythm of this electronic exploit makes your head
turn 360°. The catching combination of near whispering vocals, scintillating David
Gilmour guitar vibrance and cybernated elegance create an overall ear-ecstatic
vibe culminating in a dynamic finale.
Expect flashy echoes of the 80s British New Romantics movement with
this instant catching pop spark, fueled with glimmering guitar/play,
impassioned vocals, and a non-stop drum beat.
This sugary pop bliss feels good at first, better the second time,
and the best with all other spins. Great pop-ular music is about
lifting up the listener’s mood to a euphoric level for about
3/4 minutes. Easier said than done, but not here.
Still is a glorious harmonious touchy-feely gem that appeals from
the kick-off with Gardiner‘s tantalising voice and Kuras‘ vitalizing
guitar ravishment. Add a delirious chorus and you have yourself
a 24-Carat top thrill.
This Italian singer-songwriter, born Patrizio Ottavianiiter,
produces a blend of psychedelic rock and Arabic harmonies.
Knight Of Cups is the latest single in a series of monthly releases this year.
Electric dream-pop at its tempting best. Sparkling, spirited, and seductive.
Nell Smith is a 13-year old fan of Oklahoma’s eccentric stargazers Flaming Lips
(one of my all-time fav bands). Frontman Wayne Coyne spotted her at one point
as she attended several gigs with her father. They got in touch and after Coyne
found out that she’s a singer he proposed her to work with the band on a Nick
Cave tribute album he already had in mind for some time.
They got all in the studio and the result is a 9-song Nick Cave
covers album baptized Where The Viaduct Looms with
the nightingale voice of Nell as the heroine in the middle.
You can stream the brand new record on Spotify
One of the standouts is her version of
the heart and soul ballad The Ship Song.
19. ‘Always Together With You’ by SPIRITUALIZED (Rugby, UK)
Jason Pierce and his orchestra have a new LP,
called Everything Was Beautiful coming on
25 February 2022
With this spellbinding symphony, he does what he does so splendidly for so long. This
first new piece is another soulful spiritual growing slowly into a gospel-like trance. Epic!
Last June mega-star-crooner Cave and his bad seed friend Warren Ellis
signed for one of the best LPs of 2021 with their astonishing Carnage opus.
And they’re not done yet. The duo releases the soundtrack they wrote for the French nature documentary Panthère Des Neiges (The Snow Leopard)on 17 December.
Here’s the magnificent taster We Are Not Alone.
A characteristic Cave humdinger. Tender and gripping.
Watch the magic, hear the magic…
See/hear you next month with the best 20 knockouts of 2021…
Jason Pierce: “I felt like I’d been in training for this my whole life.
It’s a buzzy, psych-tinged affair spanning just under seven minutes,
carried by reverberant guitars and ultra-bright vocal harmonies.”
Pierce does what he does so greatly for so long now. This new piece
is another soulful spiritual growing into a gospel-like epic symphony.
Jason Pierce about late legendDr. John playing on closing track ‘Cop Shoot Cop‘:
“I just wrote a letter, sent the track and his response was immediate. He said “absolutely, absolutely, love it”. It was where he wanted to be. I was completely in awe of him and his
playing and everything he put to it. I could hardly speak, to be honest. Not that I needed
to speak much. It didn’t add anything little or less to the proceedings. It was an amazing
session, amazing to do.”
Pitchfork about the album: “That’s what ranks ‘Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating
in Space’ alongside the best art: Jason Pierce and a big band that included his ex-girlfriend
and a whole slew of people that soon became his ex-bandmates faithfully render the cycle
of loving anything– the innocent exuberance, the bitter rejection, the episodic denial, in 70 perfect minutes.” Full review here. Score: 10/10.
Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…
7 September 2018
Band: SPIRITUALIZED
Album: AMAZING GRACE – fifth longplayer
Released: 8 September 2003
ALL MUSIC wrote: “After the arduous process of making 2001’s hyper-orchestrated ‘Let It
Come Down’ and hearing the fierce, back-to-basics rock of bands like ‘The White Stripes’ and ‘Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’, Jason Pierce vowed that the next ‘Spiritualized’ album would be
a departure from the excesses of his previous efforts. In some aspects, Amazing Grace makes good on his word: right down to its cover art, a photo of a naked arm, free of any ornament
(or track marks), the album makes a show of its simplicity…” – Score 3.5/5 – Full review here.
TURN UP THE VOLUME! says: Although the critics weren’t really excited by this LP
I think it’s one of Jason Pierce‘s most fervent performances. Several of his spiritual
space blues symphonies on ‘Amazing Grace‘ still make a firm impact on my ears
and mind today. Most of all: This Little Life Of Mine / She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit) /
Hold On / Never Goin’ Back / Lord Let It Rain On Me and Cheapster
ALBUM in full…
.
From yesterday to today
Brand new album out now…
here’s AND NOTHING HURT
