The Weekly Froth #17
Track of the Week:
‘Go Do’ by Jonsi
Let me first confess I’m not the biggest Sigur Ros fan around, and I hardly took a sniff at the Jonsi/Alex Somers collaboration that came out last year. I haven’t seen the clip yet of this one, though I did read it had birds in it, and I immediately can imagine why when listening to this track. I do like the build up of this track, the first half it just continuously seems to gain steam, and the voice of Jonsi can actually get away with that, which is kind of impressive. Then it mellows out a bit, and the last quarter is propelled forward by added drums, and then it works up a bit to fade out with Jonsi’s voice slowly disappearing to a minimal accompaniment. Jonsi gets to strut his stuff here and does so admirably, and despite some patches in the song I generally like the construction and how it can really gain steam like a locomotive. Rather nice.
http://hypem.com/track/1036040/Jonsi+-+Go+Do
‘Undercover Martyn’ by Two Door Cinema Club
Old fashioned British guitar pop I would say. The vocals sound surprisingly like that fellow from GoodBooks, and I must honestly admit I actually liked that now defunct band better than Two Door Cinema Club. It is pretty good though, nothing too special, but it is fun and poppy and it is sung pretty well. I’m still waiting for that British band which can really play Britpop like a debut Suede or a Pulp or something, it all sounds a bit school band like, that is, young fellows having fun playing catchy pop tunes with guitars. And there is nothing wrong with that, but I’m still waiting for that band which really pushes the envelope both lyrically and instrumentally. This is a fine and fun song though, nothing wrong with that.
http://hypem.com/track/1032670/Two+Door+Cinema+Club+-+Undercover+Martyn
‘Keep the Dog Quiet’ by Owen Pallett (Simon Bookish remix)
I like Simon Bookish actually, that track ‘Portrait of the Artist as a Fountain’ I actually played reasonably often. I always like to see what people do when they remix songs such as this one from Owen Pallett, which is not even the most catchy song on the album, and the album is not really build around hooks and beats and stuff. But this is a lovely take on this Pallett song. He plays around a bit with the violins, but thank goodness he doesn’t get echoey on the voice or stuff, no such dance tricks here. And that’s a good think, that would’ve been ill-fitting I would’ve thought. He does some scratch trickery though it seems, but he always goes back to the core of the original song and to its softer nature. It is a nice take on a reasonable song, though the real innovation seems a bit absent. It to me basically sounds like Bookish just having a bit of fun with this track, and that’s all right.
http://hypem.com/track/1033216/Owen+Pallett+-+Keep+The+Dog+Quiet+Simon+Bookish+Remix+
‘Hope Child’ by Free Energy
DFA goes guitar with these James Murphy produced lads. I think though that I would rather listen to the rest of the label’s roster, this is a bit throwaway summer jam like I think. All quite simple, reasonably catchy, but all in all a road well travelled, or at least I’ve heard loads of similar sounding songs in the past years (and beyond!). And I don’t want to sound like a broken record and I don’t want to go on about the same subject, but again, I miss something that really sells me to this track. That really makes me go, hey, that’s great, that sets it apart from other tracks! Because this track doesn’t set itself apart, and unlike for example the Two Door Cinema Club one I also kind of miss the catchiness and fun in this one. The world won’t notice I would think.
http://hypem.com/track/1034576/Free+energy+-+hope+child
‘All Come Down’ by Steve Mason
Well, the former Beta Band man said this is more of a singer/songwriter affair this album, and that surely was no lie. The first part is actually quite lovely, and his voice is actually rather good and interesting. Sounds a bit like Guy Garvey actually. The song perhaps is too bare though, and not much happens really. Towards the end it gets slightly more interesting, and there is a certain atmosphere, but not enough for me to keep listening to this multiple times. Nice voice, at times nice atmosphere, but it is a bit boring really, to me at least.
http://hypem.com/track/977115/Steve+Mason+-+All+Come+Down
‘Paradise Circus’ by Massive Attack (Gui Boratto remix)
The main thing here is – and that unfortunately completely throws away any accomplishment done by any of the other people working on this track – that I don’t like Hope Sandoval’s voice here. I think it is fragile, which is not so bad per se, but it is the kind of powerless vocals that always make me a bit queasy. So you can be Massive Attack (a proper player in the musical landscape) and you can be Gui Boratto (a big kahuna in his own right), but as soon as the vocals kick in everything starts to itch with me. And even in this remix the vocals, although they come in a bit belated, play a big part, so if you don’t like the vocals, you are not going to like the song. Vocals are often the thing that you notice the most, so every song of which you do not like the singer’s voice you will probably not play very much. And I do reckon that some of the stuff done by the two other parties are nice indeed (though I do agree with whomever it was who wrote that perhaps Massive Attack was putting themselves too much on the background with this one), and some parts I actually thought, hmm, pretty good, and then the vocals come in and I tune it. Unfair, I know, but what are you going to do? It is a bit like that sweater that is affordably priced and will keep you so warm, but if every time you look in the mirror you think, goodness, I look hideous, you’re just not gonna wear it that much (or buy, for that matter).
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