Doves - Some Cities

Say what you like about Doves, they know how to chime. I suspect that for me, they'll forever be an outfit under the shadow of their first, great album, Lost Souls, which happened to come out at the ideal time for me to get right into it; still, Some Cities has its moments...but I haven't taken it to heart.

Tift Merritt - Another Country

Several coatings glossier than Bramble Rose, Another Country is also several steps further down the 'pop' path - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, particularly when, as sometimes happens with this record, this involves echoes of Dusty Springfield along the way...

The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off

As usual with the Walkmen, a couple of killer songs (most notably album bookends "Louisiana" and "Another One Goes By") and a handful of other good ones, and the balance fairly indistinct. (Also, I never noticed before how much the singer sounds like Bob Dylan sometimes.) I like their sense of drama, and at their best they can be genuinely exciting, but somehow these guys have never really taken with me.

Laura Veirs - July Flame

July Flame is pretty good - probably the best thing that Veirs has done in a while (it's certainly caught my ear more than Saltbreakers or Year of Meteors). Though I haven't really been into her more recent stuff, I have a soft spot for Veirs that's about a mile wide, and if I've mostly had this one on as background music, I've been enjoying it nonetheless.

Enemy at the Gates

A war movie, and a reasonably involving one. Something's missing, though - as well mounted as the film is, it didn't really make me care.

The Hudsucker Proxy

A film that always pleases me, the Coen brothers drawing on all sorts of cinematic influences to produce an off the wall yet surprisingly cogent (on its own terms) melange, Robbins and Newman and JJL each making the screen their own every time they appear.

(last time)

Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter - Oh, My Girl

Heard a couple of songs by this outfit on last.fm a while back, and the name stuck in my head; the album's about what I'd expected, melancholy contemporary country, reminiscent at various times of Mazzy Star, Beth Orton and Kathleen Edwards. Pretty sweet, but lacking the extra ingredient that distinguishes the best artists in this territory.

Adventureland

In its low-key way, Adventureland feels heartfelt, something reflected in the relatively realistic (for the most part) way its characters are rendered; also in its favour, it plays the nostalgia card effectively on not one or even two but rather three levels (it's set in 1987 (one), but the soundtrack draws on both late 80s alternative and its 60s and 70s forerunners (two), and it's about a time of life which, playing the averages, will be in the past for most of its viewers, me included (three)). In the end, there's not much to this film, but it's pretty okay.

Mulholland Drive

It's been a while since I saw a David Lynch film; I'd forgotten what a beguiling experience it could be. I saw Mulholland Drive when it was first out in cinemas, and that first time, it felt exactly the way it was supposed to - like a shadowy, spirallingly dream-like descent into the unconscious, disorienting and oddly familiar in equal measures (ie, 'Unheimlich'). This time, knowing in advance how the pieces would fit together in terms of the film's structuring conceit, I was most struck by its formal perfection - the craft with which it sets up and then detonates the late-act identity/reality blur and shift while swathing the whole thing in that unmistakeable Lynch/Badalamenti mood.

Sugababes - Overloaded: The Singles Collection

Glossy, enjoyable girl-band pop with replay value that's only surprising if you've never had "Overload" or "Push The Button" stuck in your head.

The Be Good Tanyas - Blue Horse

Nicely put together bluegrass-tinted modern country with the bonus of Jolie Holland's appearance on a few tracks.

School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms

Like many things, I suppose, School of Seven Bells are at their best when at their most ecstatic - most notably, on the strategically-tracklisted (at tracks 2 and 3) "Face to Face on High Places" and "Half Asleep", a pair of gauzey, zoomy, ascendant dream-pop cuts somewhat surprisingly woven through with, respectively, an Eastern-sounding rhythm line (underpinned by thumping, tribal drums) and an IDM-at-its-most-friendly cum Delerium-esque dancefloor haze. There are a lot of ideas on this record, sometimes overwhelming the musical content of the songs, which can seem a bit thin despite (or perhaps because of) how much is going on sonically throughout (the abovementioned threads are various enough, but only scratch the surface); perhaps that's why the most straight-ahead songs on Alpinisms are its best.

Sally Seltmann - Heart That's Pounding

There's a lot to like about Heart That's Pounding - Seltmann's knack for sweet tunes and interesting arrangements, a song ("Dream About Changing") whose main, and totally catchy, hook is the refrain "I'm a little bit shy" (and repeat), an overall coherency which makes the differentiation as between individual songs all the more impressive...I could wish that it had more of the delicately nocturnal, music-box air of her New Buffalo recordings, but this is a very nice record on its own terms, more rousing and outward-looking than anything she's done before.

Goldfrapp - Head First

Heavily 80s-tinged electro-pop with an eye for big choruses - Head First represents a direction that, now they've gone in it, isn't hugely surprising given Goldfrapp's previous output, as full of interesting shifts and wends as that back catalogue has been. Unfortunately, it's the first real interruption to their brilliant run - Felt Mountain, Black Cherry, Supernature, Seventh Tree (with a bit of an asterisk for that last, which isn't as unimpeachable as the other three, but is still really damn good) - for Head First feels oddly lacklustre, as if some essential spark is missing...it's pleasant enough, but nothing special.

Margot at the Wedding

Not everyone likes Nicole Kidman, but I reckon she's a good actor, verging on great on her day (also, I like her hauteur); Jennifer Jason Leigh, of course, is consistently dependable and usually brilliant. Margot at the Wedding is really about the interplay between the sisters those two play, Margot and Pauline (their names an odd, and almost certainly unintentional, echo of the Neko Case song "Margaret vs Pauline") - and, to the extent that the distinction's meaningful, more about their interactions rather than their relationship. I like the kind of spiky, cutting, distancingly cool dialogue (the description could apply equally to the film as a while) with which the characters lacerate each other; I'm not sure why. Anyway, I went along with this film easily, but probably wouldn't watch it again; it was something like Rachel Getting Married crossed with Closer, but more oblique and without the punch of either.

Optical Illusions

A pleasant mix of social drama and social comedy, and of the deadpan and the whimsical; has its moments, though the pacing is perhaps a bit uneven.

(@ La Mirada film festival, w/ Meribah, Ruth and a couple of Meribah's friends)

Ian C Esslemont - Night of Knives

More confined in scope than any of Erikson's Malazan books (or, for that matter, Esslemont's own Return of the Crimson Guard), but still enjoyable.

"Elizabeth" (Malthouse)

Pleasingly profane and frequently grotesque, Dario Fo's "Elizabeth" comes to life in a typically Kantor staging, where what matters is as much the style and theatricality of the play as its reimagining of the private and interior late life of the virgin queen. Though it's never less than diverting, overall I felt the play was a mite shallow, its irreverences, anachronisms and throwaway lines and devices (fourth wall-breaking and otherwise) often coming off as a free-floating postmodernism-lite lacking any genuine artistic purpose; that said, there were moments in its second half which felt like real theatre, which is another way of saying that they felt real, which in the end, and coupled with with a fantastic set and strong performances (Julie Forsyth in the lead role, so that pretty much goes without saying) left me feeling that this was well worthwhile.

(w/ Wei)

The Last of the Mohicans

This really is very good - a stirring historical adventure in which all of the elements work, from the vivid action sequences which punctuate it to the sweeping love story that runs through its middle, set against a spectacular natural backdrop and relayed with just enough historical context to satisfy without slowing the pace of events down. I think it's the combination of the fluency of the story-telling and characterisation, strong performances from the lead actors, and evocative score that gives the film's most dramatic moments (of which there are many) their force; given what it is, it's hard to imagine how the film could have been any better.

(Also, I'm pretty sure that my first watching of the film, way back when (mid-teens), was one of the first times that an actor registered with me as being particularly attractive - namely, Madeleine Stowe's fetching turn as Cora...M scoffed at this, but I was quite pleased by this evidence that my 'type' has remained so consistent after all this time.)

(Last time - which, incidentally, wasn't the aforementioned first watching...)

Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison & At San Quentin

Surprising to realise that I've never listened to these all the way through before - anyway, both are just grand, full of familiar and familiar-sounding songs, completely inimitable...there's just something about Johnny Cash.

The Moffs - The Collection

Two cds of epic, mostly guitar-based progressive/psychedelic rock tunes from this 80s Australian outfit; "Another Day in the Sun" still great, the rest of it less memorable but then I haven't really properly absorbed it.

"Stereogum Presents... OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer"

I downloaded this a while ago, having come across it while trying to find out more about My Brightest Diamond after hearing their "Feeling Good" on the Dark Was the Night record, but only got round to listening to it this evening, inspired by the previous extemporanea entry. It's a freely downloadable compilation put together by Stereogum as a 10th anniversary tribute to OK Computer, made up of the entire tracklist in original running order, each song covered by a different artist, plus (in the zip file I got) a b-side, "Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)", and makes for an interesting listening experience, these very familiar songs in their equally familiar sequence, each easily recognisable but markedly different from their original forms.

I've only listened to it once, but my sense is that none of the covers manage to escape the long shadow of the original tracks (Vampire Weekend's take on "Exit Music (For A Film)" ends up sounding more like the original Radiohead version than like anything done by Vampire Weekend) - they tend to be fairly muted, sombre interpretations built on low-key vocals and a mixture of programmed and more organic instrumentation and tones. That said, there are no abominations here, and a few of the takes are quite interesting: an outfit called Mobius Band (thumbs up to the name) do a perked-up "Subterranean Homesick Alien", the Cold War Kids are a natural fit for "Electioneering", Marissa Nadler (feat. Black Hole Infinity) brings her hauntedly pretty style to "No Surprises", and My Brightest Diamond turn in a suitably dramatic take on "Lucky" which, for the most part, hews closely to the original but is thereby striking in its departures.

100 favourite albums: # 3-1: Loveless - My Bloody Valentine; OK Computer - Radiohead; Bachelor No 2 - Aimee Mann

A while ago, I started writing about my favourite albums, but that project ran out of steam for a number of reason, not least among them being that, in the time that it took me to get through all the mini-writeups, I changed my mind about two or three of them in ways that made the existing list annoyingly incomplete (case in point: as of right now, what would most likely have been number two on that list isn't even my favourite album by that artist, let alone my second favourite amongst all comers); being a purist, I naturally took that as my cue to stop altogether. In the interests of finishing what I started, though, here, briefly, are what would have been the top 3:

# 3: Loveless - My Bloody Valentine

... an album that for me stands alone as the finest exercise in sheer, bloody-minded brilliance ever committed to record. With its impeccably-produced, layered, hallucinogenic swathes of sound, blissed-out melodies and dreamily mumbled vocals, Loveless not only defined shoegazer and dream-pop, but also established a new standard for all guitar music which came after it. This really is the one, listened to loud or soft (but preferably loud), happy or sad, by day or by night, in company or, of course, alone. It is sheerest genius ... - 5/8/03



# 2: OK Computer - Radiohead

... the single album that most captured the spirit of the pre-millennial Zeitgeist – self-aware, cynical, almost resigned, and yet spine-chillingly grandiose and oh-so-faintly hopeful (ifeelmyluckcouldchange); spacey, melodic, progressive, and undeniably great, it struck a chord with depressed, tired_nhappy indie kids everywhere and remains popular guitar music’s closest approach to perfection yet ... - 5/8/03



# 1: Bachelor No 2, or The Last Remains of the Dodo - Aimee Mann

Wreathed in the forms and moves of classic singer-songwriter pop but with a distinctly modern voice, this album speaks directly to me, engaging my intellect, emotions and imagination all at once. It's simply the sharpest, clearest, truest record I've ever heard.



Anyway, that means that the full list (subject to the above qualifications) would have gone like this:

1. Bachelor No 2, or The Last Remains of the Dodo - Aimee Mann
2. OK Computer - Radiohead
3. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
4. The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground & Nico
5. New Adventures In Hi-Fi - R.E.M.
6. Homogenic - Bjork
7. Moon Pix - Cat Power
8. Summerteeth - Wilco
9. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
10. If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle and Sebastian
11. Blacklisted - Neko Case
12. Low - David Bowie
13. Isn't Anything - My Bloody Valentine
14. The Bends - Radiohead
15. Closer - Joy Division
16. Boxer - The National
17. Blue Bell Knoll - Cocteau Twins
18. Treasure - Cocteau Twins
19. On The Beach - Neil Young
20. The Boy With The Arab Strap - Belle and Sebastian
21. Reading, Writing & Arithmetic - The Sundays
22. Kid A - Radiohead
23. Tigermilk - Belle and Sebastian
24. Psychocandy - The Jesus and Mary Chain
25. On Fire - Galaxie 500
26. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
27. Doolittle - Pixies
28. Car Wheels On A Gravel Road - Lucinda Williams
29. Post - Bjork
30. Marquee Moon - Television
31. Funeral - Arcade Fire
32. Essence - Lucinda Williams
33. The Execution Of All Things - Rilo Kiley
34. Hail To The Thief - Radiohead
35. So Tonight That I Might See - Mazzy Star
36. Radio City - Big Star
37. Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk - Jeff Buckley
38. The Real Ramona - Throwing Muses
39. Reckoning - R.E.M.
40. GP - Gram Parsons
41. Pearl - Janis Joplin
42. The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths
43. Turn On The Bright Lights - Interpol
44. Deserter's Songs - Mercury Rev
45. Time (The Revelator) - Gillian Welch
46. 69 Love Songs - The Magnetic Fields
47. Humming By The Flowered Vine - Laura Cantrell
48. Endtroducing...... - DJ Shadow
49. A Ghost Is Born - Wilco
50. Fox Confessor Brings The Flood - Neko Case
51. The Forgotten Arm - Aimee Mann [*]
52. Born Sandy Devotional - The Triffids
53. So Tough - Saint Etienne
54. f#a#∞ - Godspeed You Black Emperor!
55. Murmur - R.E.M.
56. Not The Tremblin' Kind - Laura Cantrell
57. Children Running Through - Patty Griffin
58. to venus and back - Tori Amos [studio disc only]
59. Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea - PJ Harvey
60. After The Gold Rush - Neil Young
61. Soul Journey - Gillian Welch
62. Five Leaves Left - Nick Drake
63. The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips
64. Troubled By The Fire - Laura Veirs
65. King - Belly
66. Star - Belly
67. The Meadowlands - The Wrens
68. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon
69. I'm With Stupid - Aimee Mann
70. Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
71. Third - Portishead
72. You Are Free - Cat Power
73. Amnesiac - Radiohead
74. Pretty Little Head - Nellie McKay [*]
75. Automatic For The People - R.E.M.
76. The New Romance - Pretty Girls Make Graves
77. Good Humor - Saint Etienne [*] [**]
78. Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
79. Heaven Or Las Vegas - Cocteau Twins
80. Kill The Moonlight - Spoon
81. Transformer - Lou Reed
82. Miss America - Mary Margaret O'Hara
83. Central Reservation - Beth Orton
84. She Hangs Brightly - Mazzy Star
85. Dummy - Portishead
86. Being There - Wilco
87. The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
88. Remain In Light - Talking Heads
89. Vespertine - Bjork
90. Our Time In Eden - 10,000 Maniacs
91. #1 Record - Big Star
92. Tiger Bay - Saint Etienne
93. Everything Must Go - Manic Street Preachers
94. Disintegration - The Cure
95. The Last Beautiful Day - New Buffalo
96. In Rainbows - Radiohead
97. Alligator - The National
98. Mezzanine - Massive Attack
99. Pod - The Breeders
100. Make Me Hard - Tujiko Noriko

Clash of the Titans

More or less exactly as I'd expected, but somehow I was still a touch disappointed. I'll think twice next time.

(w/ M)

Micmacs

A pleasant little bagatelle, but probably my least favourite of Jeunet's proper films (ie, those which he both directed and wrote or co-wrote the screenplay for, which excludes Alien: Resurrection); of those others, it's most like Amelie (a touchstone for me, of course) in the way that it pretty much gets by on whimsy alone, but it has neither the true feel-good factor of the other, nor its emotional heft. Still, its cast of eccentrics is enjoyable and the visuals are characteristically Jeunet (if somewhat more muted than the early genius of Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children, both of which still haunt me) - but I can't help but watch it through the prism of the significance which each of his other films holds for me.

(w/ M)

Love Is All - Nine Times That Same Song

A slightly unexpectedly awesome album, Nine Times That Same Song (actually ten songs long) strikes a delicious balance between shouty, jagged, blaring indie-pop/rock and vivid, pulsating melodic swirl, I don't know, like the (debut lp-era) Concretes meeting Pretty Girls Make Graves or Life Without Buildings and then having a party about it. Exciting, fun, catchy, RAD.

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

I must admit that I was a Fleet Foxes sceptic. Everyone told me they were great, the reviews were uniformly good to excellent, and what I heard about them made me think it could be the sort of stuff that I could get into - but I just wasn't excited about listening to them...the way their music was described, it sounded as if I'd heard it all before (the vibe I got was basically of a folkier, more harmonies-focused version of My Morning Jacket or Band of Horses). Anyway, I finally got around to listening to the album, and while it is pretty much exactly what I'd expected, it's also actually very good. I mean, I have heard this stuff before, but on Fleet Foxes, it's all packaged up so nicely and with such skill that I'm very glad to have made the record's acquaintance anyway.

Be Kind Rewind

Diverting, good-natured, extremely minor; Mos Def is oddly subdued, Jack Black is himself.

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

Whatever else you may say about it, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is a very stylish film. Its palette - both visually and thematically - is highly distinctive; its 'feel' equally so. As a matter of fact, I thought that it was really good, oddly fable-like ('a fairytale with fangs', as a grab on the dvd box puts it), and it makes an impression that lingers. I certainly found watching it to be a more enjoyable experience than was the case with Oldboy, and equally charged in the way that the other was.

The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic

Not as fully formed as their Electric Version-onwards stuff, but Mass Romantic shows plenty of signs of the minor greatness that was to come, most notably on the still great after all these years title track, stomping and clattering its way to shouty power-pop heaven.

She & Him - Volume Two

Another set of charmingly retro tunes from Zooey and M. The songs aren't terribly memorable, but it's a nice record nonetheless.