Friday 31 December 2010

10 from '10

This is most definitely not an albums-of-the-year thing, as no-one's asked and I'm not quite so self-important! Plus, given that it seems to be illegal not to rate The National's grandiose and shimmering High Violet top, there wouldn't be much point. Nevertheless here are ten records not reviewed on this blog that I'd suggest seeking out - if not before midnight then ASAP next year.

Chumbawamba - ABCDEFG (No Masters)
With trademark wit and harmonies, the mighty Chumbawamba's "meta-album" on the subject of music is another treasury of engrossing titbits and stories. Singing about George Melly, James Hetfield and Richard Wagner, the band (now on sabbatical until the summer) are unafraid to cast a wide net. ABCDEFG delivers catchy and captivating songs.

Beach House - Teen Dream (Bella Union)
Victoria Legrand's sultry vocals hold the interest over wintry, minimalist melodies, as the Baltimore dream-pop duo generate light-touch gravitas that is coldly sober and prettily heady. The nuanced Teen Dream has not been overhyped.

Ruarri Joseph - Shoulder to the Wheel (Pip Productions)
For someone so obviously influenced by Bob Dylan, Ruarri Joseph carries the tag with ease. Vocals, guitar and harmonica craft mature, thoughtful, maybe even commercial songs - and Shoulder to the Wheel contains just enough gems to be a thoroughly rewarding listen. One to watch, and support.

Band of Horses - Infinite Arms (Columbia)
Factory was an early shout for single of the year; and though unsurpassed by the remainder of the record, is by no means out of place on the Horses' slickest set yet. Balancing the anthemic with the intimate, delivering winning harmonies and hummable melodies this is inspired summer alt. rock.

Musée Mécanique - Hold This Ghost (Souterrain Transmissions)
Named for a penny arcade museum in San Fransisco, Musée Mécanique produce meditative music on their refined debut: sorrowful, otherworldly, delicate and introspective. It is also comforting and calming - gentle hope brightening the haze with flecks of cheer. Their lilting laments form an impressive and promising first album.

Laura Veirs - July Flame (Bella Union)
July Flame is a simple but glittering record, capable of exquisite beauty. Veirs is accumulating quite a catalogue of impressively consistent records - and this is as fine and worthy an introduction as anything before.

Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)
Rambling Man earned Marling a first Folk Award nomination and is the stand-out song from the Berkshire-based singer-songwriter's stronger second release. Spirited, literate and determined, this is a stoical, steely and very accomplished album.

Jenny & Johnny - I'm Having Fun Now (Warner Bros.)
I should declare that Rabbit Fur Coat was one of my albums of the last decade, so it is hardly unexpected that Jenny Lewis's latest venture, with boyfriend Johnathan Rice, so delights. Equally, there should be no surprise at her proficiency in making music with a partner, remembering Rilo Kiley. Whatever, this is a collaboration of rock n roll sensibility, indie tinge and pop delivery. Infectious, engaging, just lovely.

The Burns Unit - Side Show (Proper)
An eight-piece Scots-Canadian collaboration between luminaries including Karine Polwart, King Creosote and ex-Delgado Emma Pollock might have struggled to total anything approaching the sum of its parts. Fortunately and skilfully, despite disparate backgrounds and a diverse set of songs, the textures are so well woven that the album is surprisingly seamless. "Supergroup" billing is as unavoidable as it is unenviable but creditably, Burns Unit never threaten to disappoint - and Side Show should have been centre of attention.

Robert Plant & Band of Joy - Band of Joy (Decca)
Backed by a line-up including Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin, Plant's latest release means he has contributed to albums charting across six different decades - but what's more impressive is his enduring credibility through more phases than the moon. His Led Zep past is brilliantly irrelevant to Band of Joy, (in one sense because the original incarnation of the group formed before his collaboration with Page) but mainly because this album, like Grammy-guzzling Raising Sand before it, is bigger than albatrosses and pedestals. The Alison Krauss duets were exquisite and Band of Joy echoes the spirit and the sound - but Plant is master of dodging his own shadow. Band of Joy is a great album all in its own right.

Friday 24 December 2010

Festive Folk

This week's blog post was intended to carry details of the latest Magpie Lane Christmas gig in Oxford last weekend but, although the performance went ahead, roads were snowed on and buses snowed off. Tales of wassails will thus have to wait for another time but in lieu of a review I thought we could rely on the web to provide a little festive goodwill.

Anyone searching for a last minute present - or just relief from the standard Christmas soundtrack (turkeys and crackers alike) - could do much worse than picking up both For Folk's Sake it's Christmas (for £1+ here) and The Line of Best Fit's second Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada album (a double album in fact, available for free download here). Both are hoping to raise money for good causes - for more details click on the links.

A few artists are playing Santa this year, starting with former RaW Folk interviewee Tamara Schlesinger & her band 6 Day Riot who offer, gratis, a faithful interpretation of The Pretenders' 2000 Miles - download now from their website.
A wintry cover of The Coldest Night of the Year, originally recorded by 1960s duo Twice as Much with Vashti Bunyan, is available from Mary Epworth & Adapter Adapter via Epworth's Soundcloud page, while a reduced three-track version of KT Tunstall's 2007 Christmas covers EP is being offered on the house at the Amazon UK MP3 store. Baltimore's Beach House are also spreading seasonal cheer (sort of) - new song I Do Not Care for the Winter Sun can be downloaded free of charge here.

Karine Polwart's charmingly mellow and rather unlikely version of Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody, recorded for a BBC Radio 2 programme being broadcast tonight, meets with Noddy Holder's approval and is well worth a listen, although you do have to shell out 79p for this one. Humbug! Lastly, a word for Mark Lamarr's final God's Jukebox show, following the alternative carols on Radio 2: listen.

Merry Christmas - and check back soon for an arbitrary year-ending list. Hooray!

Sunday 12 December 2010

Review: Kate Rusby - Make the Light

It seems churlish, not to say a touch presumptuous, to criticise an artist for loitering in their comfort zone. Kate Rusby has made consistently lovely albums during a decade of personal ups and downs, establishing herself as a herald of folk tradition's transition back into national (sub)consciousness. She might be best known for covering the Kinks on an axed sitcom's titles - but who else has sung Elfin Knight on prime time BBC1?

This reservation notwithstanding, Make the Light is a little bit frustrating. For the first time, the album omits to include any traditional material, crediting Jam & Jerusalem scribe Jennifer Saunders for this 'good plan!' in the liner notes. So far, so fair enough, because Rusby adjusts to a full singer/songwriter role without breaking stride. Her albums have always contained original compositions so the shift itself is unremarkable and while adding charming material to a goodly repertoire, nothing new is achieved. Her flirtations with imitative faux-tradition are as pretty as hilltop follies - and perhaps as inessential as they are impressive.

However, chirpy first track The Wishing Wife - a case in point, and cousin to Awkward Annie's eponymous opener - is one of the highlights, alongside Walk the Road (a bucolic duet with spouse and strummer Damien O'Kane) and the cello-embellished Shout to the Devil, which leave lasting impressions. Unfortunately, there is something self-derivative about some of the songs that saps from Rusby's vocal purity and the proficiency of an all-new supporting cast. That this album is somehow less diverting than its predecessors means the desire for further variation is never sated.


What does differ is the tone of contentment overcoming the mournful - but this does little to shake things up, as a series of sedate songs ease unhurriedly to the album's close. Early on, Let Them Fly finds Rusby unusually political (or at least venting anger towards an anonymous politician) and her cutting gibes sting despite their unknown focus, if only for the ease of the target and her mildness elsewhere. Only Hope and Green Fields might be lullabies, intimate and
soothing, while Four Stars is an elegant love song. Yet despite a subtle tension between snug security and struggle, Make the Light is ultimately just a nice record, ingrained with both the amiability and slight triteness that implies. If Rusby has plateaued, at least she's picked a beauty spot.