Random Music Talk CXXI: Not this time, Crappy

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Here's something I reckon some of you will like: Kiwi songwriter Nadia Reid. I never expected to dig her music myself but her new album Preservation has some great songs on it.

This one is her most prominent, because it's been nominated for the Silver Scroll, which is awarded in a couple of nights (other nominees this year include Lorde's "Green Light" and Aldous Harding's "Horizon"):



I can't find my favourite from Preservation, "Right on Time", on YouTube except for a shitty live version, so go Spotify it or whatever. But this is my second-favourite. I generally prefer the songs that aren't too sparse, but damn the guitar sounds gorgeous here:

 
Have been listening to that Nadia Reid album for a couple of months now.
Probably a top 10 album of the year.
 
Blur's Great Escape album is a mess but there are a handful of their best songs ever on there. Like I just can't over how amazing The Universal is. Who doesn't like that song? If that person exists, fuck you. It's perfect.

I also really like Yuko and Hiro. I always forget about that song, but it's one of the saddest things Albarn ever wrote. For an album about the dangers of upper class ennui and working yourself to death for nothing, it's really interesting (and appropriate, considering the social structure there) that he jumped to a different continent and reflected these themes in the lives of two Japanese co-workers slowly destroying themselves for what they perceive to be a greater cause.

This is my workplace, and these are the people I work with
Yuko and Hiro, we work together
We work for the company that looks to the future
We work hard to please them, they will protect us

I never see you
We're never together
I'll love you forever

I drink in the evenings, it helps with relaxing
I can't sleep without drinking, we drink together
From Monday to Saturday, I go to my workplace
But on Sunday we're together, Yuko and Hiro

I never see you
We're never together
I'll love you forever

God, that's bleak. That's in No Surprises territory. The album is full of scathing material like that but I dunno, a lot of it sounds musically redundant and not as melodically potent as Parklife. It was good that they switched directions for the next album, but I do go back to Great Escape because it's so lavishly depressing.
 
Good observations. I'll say a couple things here: it's easy to compare this to Be Here Now (despite the fact that Morning Glory is the album that came out at the same time as Blur's), because it's the follow-up to a huge commercial and critical hit and one could throw the accusations of bloat at both. But while Be Here Now is inflated with the hot air of self-importance and empty grandstanding, The Great Escape is I think more ironic in the way it's over the top, and as you said Albarn's writing doesn't sound like a comfortable guy cashing in.

If you haven't read this I think it's a great analysis of what the album does well:

https://www.stereogum.com/1830132/the-great-escape-turns-20/franchises/the-anniversary/

Yes, it could use some trimming by a couple tracks, but you could say that about most of their LPs (and it's something Pulp is guilty of as well). Personally, I'll take this over 13, which is less detached and more autobiographically emotional, but it's a bit of a slog and I don't find the instrumentation and arrangements to be as interesting. I didn't mind them wading into more dissonant waters, but I think they achieved so much on the self-titled and didn't really get much further with the follow-up.
 
When I ran through Blur's discography earlier this year, The Great Escape was the one that stuck with me least (the s/t struck me the most). Perhaps I should give it another go.
 
Tommy Stinson of the Replacements resurrected his early 90s band Bash & Pop earlier this year, odd in that they had only put out one album back in 1993 (Friday Night Is Killing Me, which is surprisingly fantastic), and none of the other original members were part of this reunion. For some reason I was asleep at the wheel and finally bought the download last night.

Anyway, boy does it deliver, with more than a handful of catch melodies and clever lyrics. Nothing new sonically, but if you're in the mood for the Faces/Rolling Stones vibe that the Replacements were so good at exploring, this will be right up your alley, or gutter as it were. Tommy's vocal delivery is pretty close to Paul's, so it often feels like the missing link between All Shook Down and the rougher, basement-quality sound of Paul's later solo work.

Between this and Paul's collaboration with Juliana Hatfield from last year, these guys are making a big comeback quality-wise, if not a big splash in media coverage.


Funny take on lyric videos:



Dig that Ronnie Lane Faces vibe:

 
Always love a bit of random Blur talk, great link Laz. Interesting comparison to Be Here Now with regards to the bloat and excess following a career defining success. I'd only add that The Great Escape still had the surface sheen of Britpop of the time, whereas Be Here Now was a definitive end to the era.

I favour both the S/T and 13, but my first thought of Blur will always be the Parklife / Country House years. It's a testament to them that they could produce their best work after their commercial peak, whilst Oasis just trudged on interminably. (I say that as s big fan of their first two albums.)
 
Birds In The Womb Sing Hung Empty.

Seriously though, the new Torres record is fantastic. Don't some folks here like her? Come tell me I'm right. I need this.
 
Gonna check it out this weekend. The title track is definitely interesting, I'll say that.
 
A whole bunch of cool albums came out this Friday but I've been too busy with the AFL grand final. YELLOW AND BLACK!

Just getting around to the Wolf Alice album. It's pleasing me more than I expected after Yuk Foo and especially Beautifully Unconventional.
 
I just wanna do the most obvious shout-out I can imagine. To live music.

Thanks.
 
I like this Protomyrter album. it's def post punk sound that's closer to the roots and if you're a fan of the genre i'd definitely recommend.

what if they open for U2? i mean, U2 used to be categorized as the flower of the post punk, I'm sure they can do it
 
Imperor said:
Seriously though, the new Torres record is fantastic. Don't some folks here like her? Come tell me I'm right. I need this.
Click to expand...

Her best album by far. I really liked Sprinter but felt a couple of songs meandered and didn't go anywhere. Three Futures works brilliantly though. I love how it can sound mechanical and remote, but also emotional at the same time. She's really starting to remind me of St. Vincent, not as much in sound but in how she approaches making music.

The title track, "Skim," "Helen In The Woods," "Concrete Ganesha" and "To Be Given A Body" are all brilliant. I've only listened to it a couple of times, but it feels the the type of record that will get better the deeper you dive into it.
 
That's a definite yes on the Protomartyr album. It's their best yet. Wolf Alice was really good too.

Still a bunch of stuff I haven't heard, like Chelsea Wolfe, Torres, Godspeed and Four Tet.
 
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