January 2009 :: Alex's Picks

The new year is barely more than a month old, but already there's been some real musical treats to liven up those harsh Glasgow winter days, so here are my personal picks from January 2009 to get you through those long dark nights and cold cold days...

Action Beat - The Noise Band From Bletchley (Truth Cult)

Pretty much a case of "does what it says on the tin", at least if you replace 'noise' with 'instrumental art rock', since this first album proper from Bletchley multi-piece rock ensemble is much more of a Sonic Youth-esque guitar workout than the 'noise' moniker may suggest. With a revolving cast of multiple drummers, guitarists, bassists and occasional saxophone, trumpet and violin augmentation, these guys have been gigging incessantly for the last couple of years, honing their improvised slabs of melodic riffage and high intensity rock action. There's a delight in the simple power of guitar-based rock here, heavily indebted to the discordant accessibility of early Sonic Youth and the massed instrumental rock orchestrations of Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham, all played with the assurance of a young band with some serious touring miles behind them.

http://www.myspace.com/actionbeat

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)

Animal Collective kick 2009 off in style with the biggest album of their career, both in terms of its expansive psychedelic sound and its place as the first hot property indie release of the year. With its huge rhythmic pulses powering behind layers of melodic noise and accessible psychedelic pop harmonies, it's like the Boredoms meets the Beach Boys, giving a massive, sensory overload of an album. The eye-bending op-art cover is the visual icing on the cake.

http://www.myspace.com/animalcollectivetheband

Burning Saviours - Burning Saviours (I Hate Records)

This newly reissued version of the 1995 debut album from now sadly defunct Swedish metallers Burning Saviours is an unashamedly retro-worshiping slice of 70's heavy rock revisited. The ever-present spectre of the original doom pioneers Black Sabbath looms mighty large (of course) alongside the ghosts of other heavy-hitters of the era such as Deep Purple, Pentagram and Led Zeppelin. Like fellow countrymen Witchcraft, Burning Saviours take the doom rock blueprints laid down all those 30+ years ago and build them with an impassioned sense of authenticity to the original sound, steadfastly sidestepping the excesses and developments orchestrated under the doom banner by many a Southern Lord associate, to worship at the altar of all things 70's with a melodic ear and a wonderful classic rock atmosphere.

http://www.myspace.com/burningsaviours1

The Locust - The Locust (Gold Standard Labs)

3 inches and just over 7 and a half minutes of sonic mayhem from everyone's favourite bodysuit-wearing, math/spazz/grind-core audio terrorists. 11 tracks batter their way past you before you even have a chance to notice what the hell's going on, all pummeling beats, frantic keyboard stabs, howling guitars and ravaged vocal yelps and screams. With barely a pause for breath over its deliciously short run-time, you're left at the sudden finish feeling somewhat dazed, like you've just been caught in the midst of a ferocious storm and then dumped unceremoniously on your freshly bruised behind. Glorious.
This 3'' mini-CD reissues The Locust's original self-titled 7'' debut from 1996 with 2 bonus tracks, giving an extra 1 minute 30 seconds of insanity for your listening pleasure.

http://www.myspace.com/thelocust

The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage (Chemikal Underground)

The Phantom Band are a somewhat mysterious Glasgow-based 6-piece, who after gigging under a variety of bewildering names and costumes have settled down enough to produce this wonderful debut album 'Checkmate Savage' for local indie-stalwart label Chemikal Underground. Their final chosen name is apt, in that it's difficult to describe quite what it is they do, at least while doing justice to how good this album is. Combining an infectious hook-laden synth rock sound with an off-kilter blues boogie stomp akin to Nick Cave at his most rocking Grinderman heights, all fleshed out with krautrock rhythms and flourishes, they touch on some of the same chords as respected indie-savants the Beta Band and Super Furry Animals, to produce a similarly refreshing and interesting take on a multitude of musical worlds.

http://www.myspace.com/thephantombandpage

Various Artists - Art Of Field Recording Volume II (Dust To Digital)

The label that created the truly sublime Goodbye Babylon box (a 6 disc collection of gospel music and sermons that gets my personal highest possible recommendation, however esoteric it may sound) kicks 2009 off in its usual impressive style with this 4 CD box set documenting over 50 years of traditional American music. The second volume in a series curated by musical and cultural archivist Art Rosenbaum, this set collects together an almost overwhelming glut of musical feats, for the most part recorded in situ by Art himself as he travelled the country meeting and documenting a myriad of artists and musicians in their homes and authentic field locations. With glorious there-in-the-room fidelity and accompanied by a suitably lavish 96-page over-sized book of photographs (taken by Art's wife and surveying companion, Margo Rosenbaum) and song-by-song commentaries, all housed in a beautiful 10''x10'' box, this collection covers over 100 tracks of blues, folk, country, religious music, unaccompanied song and a host of other undiscovered delights for all lovers of authentic heart-felt music of any style to revel in. A truly worthwhile investment.

http://dust-digital.com/

The Phantom Band : Checkmate Savage

Chemikal Underground have been putting out great records since day one, and with The Phantom Band's debut album "Checkmate Savage", they continue that trend. This one is getting daily play, and is flying off the shelves.

Here's what the press are saying:

“...an early bid for debut album of the year.” MOJO [4/5]

“fearlessly ambitious” THE TIMES [4/5]

“a dizzyingly abstract debut” OBSERVER MUSIC MONTHLY [4/5]

“a work of skewed genius, a leftfield car-crash of indie, folk, pop, blues, post-rock and some stuff that’s frankly uncategorisable” THE LIST [5/5]

“thrilling and accomplished...a brilliant debut.” NME [8/10]

“Fantastic.” SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY [4/5]

“Were they from Brooklyn rather than Glasgow, Checkmate Savage would already have been acclaimed as a benchmark album for 2009.” GUARDIAN [4/5]

“fascinating...has the spiky consistency of the Magic Band” THE INDEPENDENT [4/5]

“thrilling...a debut album to be proud of.” THE SUN [4.5/5]

“something new and distinctive.... everything coheres to create an assured, absorbing whole.” THE SCOTSMAN [4/5]

“...what Can getting glitchy with The Stooges at a barn dance might sound like” INDEPENDENT ON SATURDAY [4/5]

“exhilirating” THE SUNDAY TIMES [4/5]

“A hidden gem.” THE SUNDAY EXPRESS [4/5]

“smart and instinctive, macabre and poppy.” METRO [4/5]

“like a psych-folk-toned TV On The Radio with a Scottish Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy on vocals” TIME OUT [4/6]

“That they're so bold is merit enough. That it all works makes them essential.” TELETEXT [8/10]

“entrancing Caledonian majesty” Q

“a lurid triumph” THE WORD

“strangely and thrilllingly coherent” THE OBSERVER