Elliott Smith - An Introduction to Elliott Smith

An Introduction to... Elliott Smith – 4.5/5

It really would be a shame if Elliott Smith became Jeff Buckley; his songs propping up the emotional moments on every below-par American drama series, embellishing utter banality with a twinge of true intensity. It’s a good job then that Smith’s songs are characterised with possibly a little too much sadness to ever fulfil this role.
Herein lies the crux of it: Smith’s songs really are extremely miserable. Fortunately, they also happen to be largely excellent. Any collection of his work would be a set of fantastic songs, but the trouble with any compilation of a great artist’s music is that songs can often lose their poignancy when considered outside of the context of their original albums. Happily, this retrospective of Smith’s work avoids that pitfall by drawing material largely from his time with Kill Rock Stars, when his songs ware consistently intimate, rarely featuring more than Elliott’s breathy voice and a couple of acoustic guitar tracks. This and some exemplary sequencing makes for a compilation that flows remarkably well, and whilst it does mean that some of Smith’s great songs (particularly those from the Dreamworks era) are missing, the title gives away that this record was never intended for completists.
Whilst every song is a highlight, the beautifully yearning Waltz #2 and uncharacteristically simple Needle in the Hay stand out particularly as evidence of Smith’s singular talent. This compilation adds little to his story, leaving fans longing for the discovery of some untapped vaults of gems, but what it does is provide an excellent first port of call for those uninitiated to the gorgeous melodies of Mr Elliott Smith.

On Liz Phair's Exile In Guyville

Since releasing the follow up to Exile in Guyville, Liz Phair’s musical output has steadily worsened, culminating in this year’s unlistenably terrible Funstyle. However, cut back to 1993 or 1994 and, due to this release, Liz Phair is one of the freshest and most acclaimed artists seeping into the public consciousness. At a time when rock music was an entirely macho scene, dominated by north-American arena-filling behemoths such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Phair’s appealing substitute for the loud-quiet-loud dynamic was the alternative that many were looking for. Whilst reading the tracklist might fool the listener into thinking they had bought a punk album (18 tracks fly by in just 55 minutes), Exile is unashamedly melodic, a none-too-distant relative of today’s twee indie scene; guitars chime and ring out basic but interesting lines and not a spot of distortion is to be found. Liz Phair had almost invented Belle & Sebastian three years in advance. 
Whilst the tunes might almost fall into the category of sunshine-pop, the lyrics do anything but; a scathing dialogue on feminism and modern sexual politics, Phair is one minute a doe-eyed picture of loveliness and the next a hardened cynic (“And whatever happened to a boyfriend, 
the kind of guy who makes love 'cause he's in it?” she sings on Fuck and Run). These 18 vignettes into the love and social life of a modern 20-something are as relevant today as they were 17 years ago. 
Phair’s thoroughly listenable, well written and well produced album has been the template for many conscious female artists since. It can only be hoped that one day, Phair moves away from the world of novelty albums and returns to excellent songwriting.

Girl Talk - All Day

Girl Talk – All Day (4/5)

If you’re not familiar with the work of former biomedical researcher Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk then the best way of describing what he produces is probably by comparing it to a 2ManyDJs mash-up produced by a toddler with ADHD. Into every three minute song, Gillis packs literally dozens of twenty second samples drawn from the widest spectrum of music possible. A Girl Talk release is probably the only place you could hear Lil Wayne rap over the top of Sinead O’Connor or, as on his latest release, Lady Gaga doing her thing accompanied by techno legend/nutter Aphex Twin. Don’t think that this bizarre mixture is done with a hipster sense of irony either; Gillis professes to genuinely love every single sample he uses.

The surprising thing about this album is that it actually works on much more than just a novelty level. Fugazi’s classic Waiting Room, for example, actually sounds better tempered by Rhianna’s strong-but-not-exceptional voice, rather than Ian Mackaye’s rabid snarl. Gillis has packed so much into this record that it’s almost impossible to listen to it without uncovering yet another standout moment. Whilst it could be said that he has been making exactly the same music since 2006’s Night Ripper, it can’t be denied that he is excellent at what he does. 

The cherry atop the cake is that Gillis has released this as a free legal (at least from your point of view) download. So go on, get clicking and invite all your mates round for a massive party with the ultimate pre-lash album.

On Future Sound of London's Lifeforms

The year is 1994. It has been two years since a youthful Aphex Twin released his debut Selected Ambeint Works 85-92. Elsewhere in electronic music, the appeal of rave is waning as the police put the frighteners on the organisers of illegal parties, but jungle is just beginning to increase in popularity and is evolving into the drum & bass behemoth that we know today. 
Going against the grain entirely, it is in this year that Future Sounds of London release their sophomore effort Lifeforms. A double disc set of pounding bass drums and organic-sounding synths, Lifeforms was both entirely uncompromising in its vision but also ambient and easily listenable, without at any point becoming mere background music. The album took cues from Aphex Twin but also a more eclectic range of influences, including Grangemouth’s Cocteau Twins (whose singer Liz Fraser provides sparse vocals on a few track here) and minimalist composer such as Steve Reich. The Manchester duo of Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain were also known for producing rock under the moniker Amorphous Androgynous, but it was on this synthetic release that they really shone. 
Whilst it has always been Aphex Twin’s ambient work series that has garnered praise in this area of the music world, listening around shows a more tangible influence of the work of Future Sound of London. Whilst many ambient and techno artists wold claim to have been influenced by Twin, it is more often the sounds of Lifeforms to which their albums display a more obvious likeness. Hopefully in the future, this will be an album which receives the canonical status which it deserves

James Blake - Klavierwerke

James Blake – Klavierwerke (4/5)
As the title might suggest to those who know a bit of German, James Blake’s latest EP is a collection of primarily piano based music, though anyone who has followed his career over the past year or so would guess that this would be nothing like any piano music you’ve ever heard. In fact, this probably isn’t like any music you’ve ever heard, piano or otherwise
Released a month ago, but only now beginning to find popularity on the blogosphere, Blake’s latest creation bears only a slight resemblance to his previous material. Sure, it’s still primarily based on samples, but these are of his own creation, rather than the stuff nicked from trashy 90s r&b singles that littered his earlier releases. Perhaps he didn’t want to run the risk of being sued anymore.
Still, the most important thing about this EP is not what has been put in, but what has been left out; the sounds he uses are given plenty of space to breathe, serving to increase the impact of each individual note or tone. The vocal samples are mere snippets, short cries with a tinge of yearning, similar in feel to those of Mount Kimbie or Burial.
Whilst Blake may draw these comparisons, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone else making tunes quite like this at the moment. Let us hope that he continues producing more beautifully eerie music; if his excellent new cover of Feist’s “Limit to Your Love” (the first single from his forthcoming album) is anything to go by, he certainly will.

Wire - Red Barked Tree

Wire – Red Barked Tree 2.5/5

I think it was Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols that displayed such sentiments many years before him, but lead singer Colin Newman once said of Wire that their aim was “to destroy rock & roll, by removing the roll from it”. Now, over thirty years on from their landmark first three records, Wire, where once they eschewed their mainstream contemporaries, stand hand in hand with them. Most of these tracks don’t fall too far from FM radio fodder, though that’s not necessarily in itself a bad thing. Where this album does fail is in producing anything more than merely average. It was probably asking too much to expect a classic record from Wire at this point (for that see 1977’s Pink Flag or 1978’s Chairs Missing), but it would have been nice to get something that wasn’t quite so forgettable, or even something without such bloody awful lyrics (sample: “A dirty cartoon duck covers the village in shit, possibly signalling the end of western civilisation").

Of the eleven tracks on Wire’s twelfth studio album, “Two Minutes” comes closest to emulating their formative sound, but it is on the chiming sheen of the title track and the spiralling, punky “A Flat Tent” and “Smash” that Wire sound their closest to interesting. This is surprising, as their best work of late came on the far more abrasive “Read and Burn” series of EPs from a few years ago. Perhaps Wire are finding that there comes a point when angry young men can’t be angry or young any more.

Download: Smash