Music Monday ~ 40: Visage – Fade to Grey

When I went into YouTube to find this video, the top comment said “I was born in the wrong time".  I so get that!  Music played a huge part in my life from a really young age but up until about 1979, all of the music that I knew had been my parent’s music.  I grew up listening to ELO, The Who, King Crimson, David Bowie and all sorts of music from the 60s and 70s.  New Wave music was the first time that chart music really appealed to me and it was the first time I actively began seeking out and wanting to collect music.  Of course, I say that, but I was 7 years old and it was some time before I was actually able to start my own collection.  Thankfully, I was able to live vicariously through my music-mad parents until I began getting pocket money!

I am not absolutely certain but it is possible that “Fade to Grey” is my favourite song of all time.  Of course, that accolade could easily go to last week’s “Safety Dance” or next week’s choice too.

Music review: Blonde Redhead – Penny Sparkle

Artist: Blonde Redhead Album: Penny Sparkle Label: 4AD  Release date: 13 September 2010 Genre: Indie Rock / Dream Pop  Rating:  n/a

I will never forget the first time I heard Blonde Redhead. It was their 1997 masterpiece Fake Can Be Just As Good. The low-key introduction to "Kazuality" gave no warning of the auditory assault that followed. A wall of wailing, discordant guitars, alternative tuning and a relentless, driving beat left me hooked.  It was noisy, loud and fabulous and it was easy to see why reviewers could not resist the temptation to compare New York trio Blonde Redhead to the kings of No Wave and disaffected rock, Sonic Youth.

I immediately bought their back catalogue and kept a close eye on Blonde Redhead over the course of the next thirteen years. Over the years, they maintained their edgy, guitar-driven sound although they seemed to mature somewhat when they moved to 4AD with their 2004 album Misery is a Butterfly.

Blonde Redhead return in 2010 with Penny Sparkle and I can scarcely recall a time when an album has left me so divided . It is certainly their most accessible album to date and the opening track "Here Sometimes" is melodic. But these are words I never thought I'd use to describe a Blonde Redhead album. When I first heard Blonde Redhead, I took to thrashing about my apartment listening to it and I recommended it to everybody I could possibly think of.  Penny Sparkle does not inspire those feelings in me.

Perhaps I should mention at this point that I never bought their last album 23 because it seemed like too much of a departure in style.  Blonde Redhead had adopted a decidedly dream pop sound and this is evident again on "Not Getting There", the second track on Penny Sparkle, which would fit perfectly on a Lush album. I'm a fan of dream pop but I like my noise to be be noise and my initial feeling on listening to this album was of disappointment.

The task remains then to separate this album from Blonde Redhead's previous works and to move on. The album still features the distinctive vocals of Kazu Makino and Amadeo Pace but the band seem to have ditched instruments entirely in favour of synthesisers and programming.  The band journeyed between Stockholm and New York whilst recording the album and this seemed to have resulted in a starker, cleaner sound.  The album does pick up somewhat towards the end with “Oslo” and “Black Guitar” and “Spain” was the only track on the album that I liked enough to play on repeat.

I have to conclude that Penny Sparkle is too different, too far removed from the mayhem and cacophony of Blonde Redhead’s former sound for it to take a comfortable position amongst my other Blonde Redhead discs.  I understand that the band has redefined their sound and settled on a new musical direction but as I mentioned previously, an album has rarely left me this divided.

I would recommend this album for fans of minimalist, alternative, electronic music.  Fans of The Knife or The xx may like Kazu and Amadeo's vocals and the synth sounds.  However, fans of Blonde Redhead’s earlier catalogue should proceed with caution and give the album a good listen before going ahead and purchasing it.  I’m going to refrain from giving the album a star-rating on this occasion as I intend to listen to it repeatedly until I grow to like it.  Such is my dedication to this band that was once one of my very favourites.

Buy Blonde Redhead's amazing back catalog on Amazon.co.uk ¦ Amazon.com ¦ iTunes

Article written by me and first published as Music Review: Blonde Redhead – Penny Sparkle on Blogcritics.  Affiliate links are used in this post.

Music Monday ~ 39: Men Without Hats – Safety Dance

“Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats has always been one of my favourite songs.  I remember loving it from the moment I first heard it back in 1983 and it is a love that my family and friends have never really been able to understand.  In fact, I recently threatened my husband with divorce* after it transpired that he in fact was not familiar with “Safety Dance”.  He claimed to have been 6 when the song came out but that is just a poor excuse.

The wonderful Wikipedia has some great information on the meaning of the song and this just makes me love it more:

“The writer/performer, Ivan Doroschuk, has explained that "The Safety Dance" is a protest against bouncers stopping dancers pogoing to 1980s New Wave music in clubs when Disco was dying and New Wave was up and coming. New Wave dancing, especially pogoing, was different from Disco dancing, because it was done individually instead of with partners and involved holding the torso rigid and thrashing about. To uninformed bystanders this could look dangerous, especially if pogoers accidentally bounced into one another (the more deliberately violent evolution of pogoing is slam dancing). The bouncers didn't like pogoing so they would tell pogoers to stop or be kicked out of the club. Thus, the song is a protest and a call for freedom of expression. It has been claimed that the meaning of the song can be found in similarities between "Safety Dance" and "Safe to dance". Other lyrics in the song include references to the way pogoing looked to bouncers, especially "And you can act real rude and totally removed/And I can act like an imbecile"." - Wikipedia

* Just kidding! Well, I did threaten him with divorce but neither of us believed I was serious.

Download: Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers – “Venus Shaves”

People might insist that MySpace is dead but it is the first place I go to when I am trying to get a “feel” for a new band.  In a glance, I can see what genre the band falls into and I can easily listen to one or two of their tracks without the headaches that other sites present.  Imagine my confusion then when I visited the MySpace of Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers and saw that they class themselves in the genre of ‘Chinese traditional / Comedy / Club’.  I decided to give them a chance, nevertheless and I’m happy I did.  I quickly learned that there is nothing comedic or Chinese about this band’s music and Shilpa Ray has an incredible voice.  Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers sound like a cross between Throwing Muses, Ida Maria and Florence and the Machine but there is a heavier, darker side to them that really appeals to me.  In fact, they sound a bit like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds but with a female lead and when asked what new band got him going, Nick Cave is said to have replied, “Have you heard of Shilpa Ray?”

Hailing from New Jersey but currently residing in Brooklyn, Shilpa Ray has teamed up with Andrew Bailey on guitar, Nick Hundley on bass and John Adamski on drums and percussion.  Shilpa Ray and her Happy Hookers will be releasing their second album Teenage and Torture on January 18, 2011 on Knitting Factory Records.  They are offering a free download of their single “Venus Shaver” to get old and new fans warmed up for the release next year. 

Venus Shaver (mp3)*

 

This is "Coward Cracked the Dawn" from their 2009 album A Fish Hook An Open Eye:

 

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers links:

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers @ MySpace

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers @ Facebook

Shilpa Ray's website

Buy Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers at Amazon.co.uk ¦ Amazon.com ¦ iTunes

* This is a legal download provided by the PR company for us to post and share. If there is any question of an infringement of copyright, please contact me at missus dot emm at gmail dot com and I will remove links immediately. Affiliate links are used in this post.

Article first published as Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers Offer Free Download on Blogcritics.

Music Review: Susan Boyle - The Gift

Artist: Susan Boyle Album: The Gift Label: Syco/Columbia  Release date: 8 November 2010 Genre: Christmas  Rating:  4.5/5

 

Susan Boyle is the talent show sensation that took the world by storm when she appeared on Britain's Got Talent in April 2009.  She was presented as yet another desperate but clueless hopeful, one of the unfortunate that are relentlessly ridiculed by both judges and the audience and the effect was completed by the use of slapstick music as she entered the stage.  There was much laughter and eye-rolling as Susan stated that she was trying to be a professional singer, one as successful as Elaine Page.  Susan Boyle had the last laugh.

Within a couple of weeks, videos of Susan Boyle’s audition had reached over 100 million views and although she did not win Britain’s Got Talent, she went on to release her debut album I Dreamed a Dream in 2009 to record breaking sales.

Susan Boyle returns in 2010 with her Christmas album The Gift.  The album opens up with a (dare I say) perfect rendition of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” followed by a searching and low-key version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”.  The next track isthe first Christmas song on the album “Do You Hear What I Hear?”  This song features Amber Stassi, the winner of the Susan’s Search competition which was a global search to find a guest to duet with Susan on her new album.  Susan wanted to impart some of the fortune she has found since appearing on Britain's Got Talent and chose the paramedic and mother from America as her winner.  It is not hard to hear why Amber won as she has a lovely, rich voice which really complements Susan’s voice.

Many of the remaining songs on the album are traditional Christmas songs and include versions of “The First Noel”, “”Away In A Manger” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” but Susan’s version of the Crowded House classic “Don’t Dream It’s Over” is a stand out track.  With a mixture of lesser known Christmas carols, a couple of popular songs and some Christmas favourites, The Gift is not a typical Christmas album.  For me, it relieved the rush of anxiety that one feels in the run up to Christmas as we scramble around to find gifts for our family and plan the perfect Christmas dinner.  This album reminds me of long evenings spent relaxing before a fire, cocoa or brandy in hand, reflecting on the year that has passed and the joy up ahead.  It is an understated album but most certainly one that has become one of my favourite Christmas albums to date.  My only complaint is that I am unlikely to listen to it for the rest of the year and so I give it four-and-a-half stars out of five.

Article first published as Music Review: Susan Boyle - The Gift on Blogcritics.

Book review: The Avenger by PC Cast

PC Cast is best known for the phenomenally successful young adult House of Night series that she co-writes with her daughter Kristin Cast.  The series is about a vampire finishing school and it has it all: vampires, magic, danger and excitement all against a backdrop of Cherokee and ancient Celtic mythology.  Before breaking into the world of young adult fiction, Cast was an accomplished fantasy romance writer and she has authored several successful series including the Goddess Summoning and Divine series.

PC Cast’s latest work sees her writing for the Mills & Boon ‘Nocturne’ imprint for the first time.  Nocturne is a sexy imprint full of adventure, mystery, crime and romance and is released by Silhouette publishers in North America.  PC Cast’s The Avenger is the third of four books in the Time Raiders series which is about military women going back in time to specific points in history to recover parts of a sacred medallion.  Each book in the series has been written by a different author and Lindsay McKenna, Cindy Dees and Merline Lovelace have written the other books in the series.

I would never have thought that a Mills & Boon novel combining historical fiction with time travel, magic and the supernatural could ever work but it does and I enjoyed every single page of this book.

The heroine of The Avenger is Alexandra Patton, a military secret agent who, much to her dismay, can see and communicate with the dead.  Despite her promises to never return to the military, Alex visits the top-secret Project Anasazi and somehow gets roped into travelling to 60 AD to ancient Britain.  It is the time of Queen Boudica and the Roman Empire, a time of great brutality and upheaval and also a time when there was still magic all around Britain.  Alex disguises herself as High Priestess Blonwen and adviser to Queen Boudica and she befriends druid Caradoc.  Without changing the course of history, Alex must somehow find the Queen’s torque that was stolen by the Roman Centurion and she must return to the future with the missing relic.

The story of Boudica is not a pretty one and PC Cast addresses the brutality that was delivered upon Boudica and her daughters in a foreword to the book.  The story of Boudica is shrouded in mystery and the unknown but on the whole, I found PC Cast’s story to be authentic and sensitive to the horrors that Boudica and her daughters experienced.  The book was really well written and I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of magical rituals, ancient life in Boudica’s camp and the historical battle scenes.  This is definitely a romance novel but I loved the romance between Caradoc and Alex and there were certainly no eye-rolling moments in the story. 

I really would have expected the author to falter at some point while trying to balance all of the various facets of the story but I honestly couldn’t fault it at all.  It was such an exciting and thrilling book and I will certainly be reading the other three books that have been released in the series.  I have no hesitation in giving this book five out of five stars.

Buy The Avenger at Amazon.co.uk ¦ Amazon.com

Article first published as Book Review: The Avenger by PC Cast on Blogcritics.  Affiliate links are used in this post.

Music Monday ~ 38: Stiltskin – Inside

“Inside” by Stiltskin has to be one of my favourite songs of all time.  It was a bit like “Low” by Cracker though because I only ever liked this song by the band and wasn’t about to go buy the whole album just for one song.  Sometimes I think the entire digital age was made just for me (or people like me) because I just love that you can buy one single track off Amazon.com these days.

I’ve yet to find anyone who can make any sense whatsoever of the lyrics but there is just one small part of the lyrics that did make sense and which really appealed to me:

and if you think that I've been losing my way
that's because I'm slightly blinded
if you think that i don't make to much sense,
that's because I'm broken minded

Download: Silver State – The Sleep-Ins

Hailing from Sydney, Australia, The Sleep-Ins are Chad Corley (guitar and vocals), Stefan Pope (bass and vocals), Josh Shuberth (drums) and Mike Johnson (guitar).  Chad met Stefan when he applied for a job at a Sydney guitar shop and they starting jamming together with Josh and later Mike, fellow employees.  As they defined their sound and began to gig together, they had to hide from their employers the fact that they were in a band together. 

Says Josh, "we had to be careful about the guitar shop owners not knowing four of their employees were in the same band...it gets quite suspicious when we all show up for work a bit dreary-eyed because we were out late gigging the night before; but we all knew what we wanted to do, so it's no surprise we got right to it."

The Sleep-Ins released their debut album Songs About Girls & Outer Space on October 19 and in the course of touring for the past year or so, they have written enough songs for a follow-up album too.  With tours across Australia and airplay on Australian and American radio stations, this is a band whose star is rapidly rising and they are proud to report that they no longer work in the guitar shop although they do visit from time to time!

To celebrate the release of their debut album, The Sleep-Ins are offering two of their singles for download:

Silver State (mp3)*

Angelina (mp3)*

You can listen to the songs below, too:

They really sound like Pixies!  I wonder if they don’t sound too much like them.  I definitely prefer “Silver State”.

The Sleep-Ins links:

Sleep-Ins @ My Space

Sleep-Ins @ Ingot Rock

Sleep-Ins @ Twitter

Buy The Sleep-Ins at Amazon.co.uk ¦ Amazon.com

Photo credit © Ben Price

* This is a legal download provided by the PR company for us to post and share. If there is any question of an infringement of copyright, please contact me at missus dot emm at gmail dot com and I will remove links immediately. Affiliate links are used in this post.

Article first published as The Sleep-Ins Offer Free Downloads on Blogcritics.

Book review: Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

I'm a little peculiar when it comes to books. I value them so highly that I barely crease the spines when I read a novel and books often retain their brand new look once I've finished with them. Perhaps that is a sign of how much I enjoyed Club Dead, of how I devoured it, that it has several deep creases up the spine. It is positively mangled compared to the other books in my collection and I don't really care, I simply enjoyed it that much.

Club Dead is the third novel in Charlaine Harris's phenomenally successful The Southern Vampire Mysteries series. Set just weeks after the events of Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead begins with Bill giving Sookie instructions on what to do should anything happen to him. He had been doing a lot of work on his computer lately, a device which this 163-year-old vampire is strangely more comfortable with than our 28-year-old heroine and it is what is on his computer that is of utmost concern should he go missing.

Shortly thereafter, Bill leaves for a business trip for 'Seattle' but our telepathic heroine doesn't need to read his mind to know that he is lying. At that, Bill departs from an active role in the story for the next 180 pages. What a relief! The next thing Sookie is attacked by a Werewolf and Pam is telling Sookie that Bill is missing and that Eric wants her to go to Jackson, Mississippi to look for him.

The story in Club Dead is quite simple really. Sookie departs for Jackson with a Werewolf named Alcide Herveaux and they spend just two nights there.  Most of the story is based on that very eventful 48 hours but it is so well written that I raced through it.

As with Living Dead in Dallas, there are loads of new characters and Alcide is certainly my favourite. His earnest, sincere affection for Sookie (interspersed with feelings of lust, naturally) was the first indication for me that I really wasn't missing Bill at all. There were other characters too include the King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington and his lover Talbot, Alcide's ex-girlfriend Debbie Pelt and his sister Janice.

There were also goblins, several stakings, vampires, Weres and shifters, a full moon and of course, Elvis.  Eric plays a much greater role in this story and as we discover what Bill was actually doing in Jackson in the first place and given what he does to Sookie at the end of the book, I finally understand why so many fans hate Bill and love Eric.  Personally, I have always rather fancied Sookie’s boos, Sam and I missed him in this book although Alcide was a more than worthy replacement.  The tension building between Sookie and Alcide was really well done and kept me turning pages until late into the night.

I’ve always quite liked both the books of the The Southern Vampire Mysteries and the television series True Blood but seem to have confused myself in the past by trying to consume the two simultaneously.  Having made the decision to press ahead with the books, I found this to be the best book yet and I can see that the series is really gaining momentum.  I lasted a full day before caving in and picking up the next book in the series, Dead to the World.  I can feel that I am at the point where I move from being a casual reader of a series to a full blown fan and I am happy to give Club Dead five out of five stars.

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Article first published by me as Book Review: Club Dead by Charlaine Harris on Blogcritics.

Music Monday ~ 37: Cracker – Low

I can remember the first time I heard this song. It was in May 1994 and we were driving to Wits University to do some late night revising for our exams.  I was blown away and this song immediately became one of my biggest obsessions of all time.

This was before the days of the World Wide Web of course and I had three choices: I could buy the full Cracker CD Kerosene Hat (but I really only liked the one song), I could pay a ridiculously high amount of money for an import CD single or I could buy a compilation CD with it on.  In the end, I waited until my next trip to London and bought the CD single. 

I was surprised to learn that David Lovering from Pixies was drummer for the band around the time this single was released.  I wonder if he played on it??  I was even more surprised to see hat Cracker have released 10 studio albums and have a loyal fan base as I thought they were a one hit wonder!