Under The Influence

Feel like I've heard Parentheses before - very catchy little melody. Cute lyric too "And when you're holding me, we make a pair of Parentheses". Lots of the rhythms are really broken - almost dub step in places. Kicks are supplemented with lots of finger clicks and hand claps. The synth sound is almost New (Old) Wave.

Last track on the album, True Affection, really caught my attention on the first listen, though it's not necessarily typical of the sound. Actually, nothing on here seems to be typical of the sound. Oow, I like Fists Up now.

In some ways it feels really immature - but it's just so darn cute that you can't help but like it.

This reminds me of a lot of different stuff - probably because it's all over the place in terms of style. Don't get me wrong, it's stronger for it - a cohesive work. I imagine that without paying attention it probably sounds like a bit of a jumble of noises - closer inspection reveals some really intricate bits of construction.

Almost feels like Rachels (Systems Layers in particular) done on a budget. It has more variation than that though, bits of post-rock Mogwai-ish elements in there too (see All Our Base Are Belong To Them).

Just listened to Getting The Job Done. I really don't know what to think of this anymore.... though I do know that I like it.

When I first purchased this I was put off listening to it because it sounded a bit too happy, I was worried that it would simply be a novelty. Imagine how very pleased I was when I finally did listen to it through and discovered that it's darker than I'd previously judged it to be.

Not only that but it features a few bits but one of my favourite French artists, Fred Avril. Not only do they use his wonderful Urban Serenade, he also does the production work on their new cover, Come On Eileen.

There are too many beautiful tracks on here to name... I just tried to pick a few but couldn't. Gah! It's all great.

Another strange little work. Very much a hippie album - all acoustic guitars, vocals and flutes of some description. The basis is quite traditional - reminds me of, and I'll show my ignorance here, Joan Baez. See, I really don't know very much about the style but it sounds almost medieval to me. Thing is, it's actually very dark and experimental in places.

Initially I downloaded the title track after reading a review but it's There Are Eyes Above that really jumps out at me when I listen to the album, it's a beautiful number. Hominy Grits too.

Her mad soprano vocals are all over the place which is going to make this rather inaccessible for most.

Personally I find it to be very pretty.

Great little collection of cool little ditties produced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop between 1958 and 1975. These are the guys that sat around toiling with synthesisers all day creating the sounds that would infect our child-hoods.

There are some real pearlers on here - The Panel Beaters and Geraldine are such kick ass pieces of cheesy TV theme music.

The whole sound from this era is really cool - got the Jean Jaques Perry sound going on. Damn I love those old synths.

Another top Norwegian score. I was introduced to this by someone from Norway... well actually, not quite this. He gave me copies of The National Bank and BigBang's live acoustic cd. Mind blowing stuff. I only had to hear about 2 seconds of Thomas Dybdahl before I clicked that he was the singer from National Bank - very distinctive voice.

The whole thing just feels so silky smooth. The final production is not unlike that on Rykestraße. My guess is that like Wellington there's a fairly incestuous pool of talent lurking behind a good chunk of the music. Dybdahl won the Spellemannsprisen when he released this one too.

It's a beautiful piece of work.

This is pretty off the wall. I downloaded a single track from a different album randomly the other day and was enthralled. Such an interesting sound.

Ryland Bouchard's vocal deliver reminds me of Sparklehorse - the music... well it's not like anything I've ever heard before. The whole thing has a WW2 era sound. I'm not sure if he's using old samples for it or if it's a whole new creation. Brilliant either way.

The lyrics are a extremely political commentary on the state of the world - but done in what feels like a tongue-in-cheek way. "Jesus and Hitler were in the back seat trying to make out, their tongues were twisted and tied around their mouths"

So an interesting work. Pure genius really.

Apparently if you're looking for the person responsible for the uprising of the Emo subculture you should start with this guy.

This album, and Screaming Infidelities in particular, just happened to be right there when the gossip scene decided to start whispering about Emo. I'm sure the term had been around for eons before then - as I've mentioned before the music and attitude certainly have.

The song-writing is really enjoyable and the performance seems fairly honest. It's all acoustic which I like too. Guess I should probably give Emo more of a chance.

I got this the day it came out and then only listened to it once. That's pretty stupid of me considering how much I liked her last album (and everything she's ever done). There was something about the fact that it's Timbaland produced that put me off. Not that I don't like his work, it's just that I know his sound and I just didn't want to hear Björk like that.

Declare Indepndence is the song that jumped out at me on this one. It crescendos into such a great rolling sea bound swell. I also predict that it's probably the track I'd get sick of first.

Flicking through the tracks again I can hear that it's good. This girl really knows how to turn out a great pop work.

So, I finally got around to listening to the Pixies. I've actually heard a number of the songs on here already over the years - Where Is My Mind? is particularly familiar. Great to finally hear the work as a whole though.

I think I've always feared that I needed to be there from the start to really appreciate The Pixies - that doesn't seem to be the case... but I can see it will take a few listens to fall properly in love with this.

Catchy pop tracks - really clever little melodies. Very original with the twists and turns the songs take - even when pitted against today's works it doesn't sound dated. Of course you get to enjoy Steve Albini's production wizardry too. You can tell straight away that he's responsible for the drum sound... it's just so solid.

Looking forward to working my way through the rest of their catalogue. Come On Pilgrim is next on the list.