Memory Tapes - Grace/Confusion

We all have a band like this, love one and only one release and be practically indifferent to anything they've released besides that release, and this is mine I'd like to welcome you to 'Memory Tapes'. I loved 2009's 'Seek Magic' to the point of it my album of the year, it was bright and fun, it took you threw a journey of ideas without ever seeming cumbersome or lost. 2011 saw 'Player Piano' come out and I honestly couldn't tell you a thing about it, it was an album that failed to hold my attention, and I must've listened to it no more then 2 or 3 times... this coming off the back of an album I still listened to frequently at the time of 'Player Pianos' release. Now we end up at 'Grace/Confusion' an album which has some fantastic moments and ideas but it sure likes to take it's sweet time getting to them & whereas the more ambitious moments found in 'Seek Magic' were equally as long and as adventurous each song felt like it had a sense of purpose and it held your attention the whole way. 'Grace/Confusion' has a lot of moments which will make you really pay attention but more then half the time is spent transitioning from moment to moment and it fails to hold your attention whilst doing so. The are 2 songs on here that I cannot recommend enough though 'Neighbourhood Watch' is a beautiful song with moments of melodic sombre and frantic epic electronic infused noise, it was a build that I loved with results that paid off. The second song is the lead single 'Sheila' which really feels like it could have been one of the stronger moments from 'Seek Magic' and it has found the long lost groove found on that album, both these songs are excellent and would've made a fantastic single, in fact the is enough here for a great EP but as it stands at least half the material here is disposable and whilst it does make those bright moments shine that little bit brighter I'd be lying if I said the journey to get there wasn't a bit of a slog..

Patrick Wolf - Sundark and Riverlight

Patrick Wolf has already been with us for 10 years & that's quite a hard thing to get your head around. I got into him fairly late in 2004 when I first heard Lycanthropy pouring out of my friends stereo and immediately fell in love with his electronic folklore. Over the years Patrick Wolf has gone under a bit of a diva transformation, gained and lost fans on every passing release & is constantly evolving his sound. The heart is still there but where it was in an incredibly bleak place before it's now dancing on the beaches of San Fran with a huge smile on it's face & good on him. This song concentrates on stripping down some old favourites to their bare acoustic roots & whilst it is for the most part a collection that provides some memorable renditions it has to be said that given most these songs were made with a showy composure in mind some of these songs simply don't work. The are moments in songs like 'Paris', 'Bluebells' & 'The Magic Posistion' in particular where he goes into chanting and without the grand composure behind the lyrics the songs begin sounding a little bit on the comical side. Some songs translate surprisingly well such as 'Hard Times' & a lot of the material from 'The Bachelor' in particular come out far better then I thought it would with it's more sombre approach foregoing to schizophrenic production on that album. Patrick's vocals are also the strongest I have ever heard them, he's certainly not the shy 17 year old any-more  he sings his songs loud & proud and that really helps carry this album. As an artist that relies so heavily on electronic beats on his songs this is a surprisingly good experiment & works as your very own acoustic session of Patrick Wolfs greatest hits & whilst they rarely improve on the originals it's a very good way to cap off your 10 year anniversary  Even the most jaded Patrick Wolf fans should give it a shot even if it's to hear some reworkings of your favourites from yesteryear. 

Song Of The Day #11: Sparklehorse - Morning Hollow

It's Sunday so I think I may start sticking to a religious regiment of songs to feel 'sorry for yourself to' as that's quite frankly what most of us do on a Sunday. A shining example of this is the very  sombre 'Morning Hollow' the very apt title is about feeling Hollow in the Morning and feel this to be a fantastic song to listen to when you're nursing a hangover. It's 7 minutes long but it'll pass you by like a freight train as you close your eyes and pad your thoughts out with the emotion felt in this song. 

Hear the rest of the 'Song Of The Day' playlist here: Pitch&Key Song Of The Day

'Morning Hollow' is from the bands 2006 release 'Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain'

Song Of The Day #10: Ugly Casanova - Hotcha Girls

Side project of Modest Mouse front man Ugly Casanova really ushered the more wholesome and folky sound the band would adopt with 2004's 'Good News For People Who Love Bad News'. This song is a particular stand out from this body of work with 2 vocals interlayering over each other over an incredibly delicate and pretty acoustic backing track. The album 'Sharpen Your Teeth' is pretty damned good but I just wished it hit these highs more often.

Hear the rest of the 'Song Of The Day' playlist here: Ugly Casanova – Hotcha Girls

Hotcha Girls can be heard on the bands 2002 releases 'Sharpen Your Teeth' 

Love and Regret - Cold Showers

Cold Showers is the debut album LA band 'Love & Regret' who formed around about 2 years ago & they combine pop music with traditional angular guitar riffs and shoegaze to create a sound that's heavy in atmosphere and heavy in hooks. On first listen it may seem that 'Cold Showers' and it's 8 songs sound a bit nondescript & for the most part this is kind of true, I could imagine any number of shoegaze influenced bands putting out this record & this would be a problem if some of the songs weren't so damn catchy. This album does one thing particularly well and that's throwing you some incredibly catchy and simple guitar riffs that feel immediate and garners your interest pretty quickly 'In Terms Of Pleasure' is a favourite of mine with it's bass line and indie pop guitar tone  and female/male vocal harmonies making up a very simple yet very strong chorus, & 'Seminary' is a pretty strong closer offering an increase in tempo and overall presence which works really well for this band. The one thing that can be laid against this album that whilst for the most part songs are very enjoyable the is nothing really to them that allows them to truly stand out from the crowd, whilst all the songs have their quirks which make them unique within the context of the album, they really do not stand out in an oversubscribed genre. I guess the best way to sum up this album would be 'good but unspectacular' & I don't mean that in a horrible way either. The just isn't enough in this album to make me get overly excited about it,  is a fairly accomplished debut with some very strongly crafted pop influenced shoegaze treats.  

Song Of The Day #9: Thievery Corporation - The Forgotten Peopl

With the feeling of 'Lawrence of Arabia' to it, this song is incredibly hypnotic and groovy and catches the ear with some very clever sampling, sinister bass line and lively percussion which jumps out at you in a way you just don't hear in a lot of electronic music. This beat just has so much going for it that I find myself listening to it again & again & again, a great marriage of sampled melodies and live percussion.  

Get the rest of the 'Song Of The Day' playlist here: Pitch&Key Song Of The Day

'The Forgotten People' can be found on Thievery Corporations 2008 release 'Radio Retaliation' 

Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man (6.7/10)

I have been quite a huge fan of Bat For Lashes for quite some time now, the first time I heard 'What's A Girl To Do' I knew I found the quirky female musician for me. Fast forward to 2012 and we see Natasha grace us once again with her third album 'The Haunted Man' and where the kookiness has left Bat For Lashes ambition has never been greater... unfortunately this leaves a distinctive lack of charm and identity. Bat For Lashes has never released a killer album, I found Two Suns to be a bit top heavy, but for me it's always been about those great moments Bat For Lashes produces on quite a consistent basis. This year it's all about the likes of 'Laura' which is an incredible conventional ballad with some real power behind it with an incredibly strong vocal performance, 'The Haunted Man' is quite an epic  , 'Rest Your Head' has a really nice dream scope underlying the driven momentum & 'Winter Fields' hits you in the face with an incredibly haunting yet driven sound. However this album falters, where the low points of previous efforts where mealy disappointing, the lulls in this album often feel soulless and lifeless & this can mostly be blamed on incredibly limp production.  The synths and drums on this album sound particularly pathetic as you hear snare hits quietly whimper in the background & with synths that leave no impression at all, I honestly couldn't pin point a single tone or sound a synth produced on this entire album despite their heavy presence.  'Oh Yeah', 'Horses Of The Sun' & 'Deep Sea Diver' are three clear examples of an idea not quite coming together  they all sound like songs with killer ideas in them but they never feel like cohesive and engaging songs threw and threw. This album is a collection of some incredibly ambitious ideas & to her credit she does have more then her fair share of moments where the album all comes together to produce something fantastic but unfortunately about half the duration of the album left me incredibly frustrated, underwhelmed and bored. I think these songs will for the most part translate really well live but I cannot stress how truly awful the production is at times & this hindrance really shows up some of the flaws of the song writing.

+ 'Laura', 'Marilyn' & a few others are really strong songs; some of her best to date
+ Shows a lot of ambition
+ Should translate well live with a lot of big moments which will sound much better without lifeless drums

- A lot of songs don't quite come together as well as I would have liked
- The production is awful, the drums & synths have no presence and it's often way too bassy
- This album lacks true identity, relies a bit heavily on sounding 80's & conventional