Album review: DINOSAUR JR. - I Bet On Sky

Highlights: Don’t Pretend You Didn’t Know, Watch The Corners, Almost Fare, What Was That

While this is certainly the prettiest grunge you are ever going to get all year, I can only see tried and true Dinosaur Jr. fans getting too excited about this one. I Bet On Sky is a very risk-free, very safe collection of melodic, tastefully noisy indie-rock that makes for a delightful little late-period album. A modest success, but it’s not like they were going for more.

The tunes are pretty (mostly courtesy of J. Mascis, though there are 2 worthy contributions from Lou Barlow) and the guitar tones are pretty (even when they go for something menacing, like they do on Barlow’s “Rode”), so there’s little you could possibly dislike about I Bet On Sky. Mascis’ weary vocals sound like a gruffer Jeff Tweedy (I would argue, though, that these melodies will beat anything on Wilco’s latest – not that it’s a legitimate comparison, of course) and the actual songs are like Teenage Fanclub for people suffering from manic depression. I think I could listen to the charming guitar groove that drives “Almost Fare” for hours on end.

All things considered, this stands well against Bug and You’re Living All Over Me, and further listens are rewarding. You don’t see new fans embracing them as the new heroes, but who would really blame them for sticking to their guns and doing what they know they can do so well?..

7/10

Album review: AIMEE MANN - Charmer

Highlights: Charmer, Labrador, Soon Enough, Red Flag Diver

Always good to have her back: this lady just isn’t capable of doing wrong, and ten seconds into the title track you feel you are exactly where you should be. It’s classy, it’s tasteful, it’s well-written. And Aimee Mann’s voice is just as charming and resonant as ever; nonchalant yet addictive.

And the songs, of course, are profoundly Good. Certainly not her sharpest set ever (that would have to be either Bachelor No.2 or my personal favourite, Lost In Space), but the genuine, melancholic power of these tunes has been growing on me ever since I first played the album. The aforementioned title-track is arguably the best song here, with an instantly memorable vocal melody and clever use of keyboards. The lovely, piano-based “Labrador” is another highlight, while the collaboration with James Mercer “Living A Lie” is without a doubt the best thing The Shins’ frontman has done in years.

I may have a few problems with side two (with a couple of rather middle-of-the-road songs hiding uninspired tunes behind immaculate taste), but still the album ends on a brilliant note: the lilting country-pop charmer called “Red Flag Driver” is as good a song as she has ever done.

Besides being an amazing little album in its own right, for me Charmer was also a much needed therapy after the murky excuse that is John Cale’s new album. Charmer (perfect title) is like a warm, pleasant winter evening in your favourite armchair: good vibes and a feeling of absolute contentment. 

8/10

SONG OF THE WEEK #76: Johnny Flynn - "Tickle Me Pink"

I've already hinted at it a number times on these here pages, but I'll be happy to say it again: Johnny Flynn's debut, A Larum (2008), is the one modern folk album to get. Surely puts acts like Laura Marling or Mumford & Sons to complete and utter shame. Great spirit and great songwriting run through "Tickle Me Pink", one of the album's numerous highlights. Too bad the follow-up album lacked most of that whimsical charisma that made him so great in the first place.

Album review: PETER HAMMILL - Consequences

Highlights: Eat My Words, Bite My Tongue, That Wasn’t What I Said, Constantly Overhead, New Pen-Pal, Close To Me

While I remain a firm Van Der Graaf Generator agnostic, Peter Hammill’s solo career has always seemed strangely appealing to me. Particularly his inexplicable glam-punk-theatre-whatever albums like Nadir’s Big Chance and The Future Now. Consequences may not offer that much bewildering, idiosyncratic brilliance, but it’s still an effective late-period album from a man who has retained it all: style, edge, vision.

Also, it certainly helps that the record’s first side is flawless. “Eat My Words, Bite My Tongue” starts like your typical Pеter Hammill number, cold, difficult and pretentious, but then the second part kicks in – and suddenly there’s a great groove, there’s an (almost!) articulate melody. And one song after another, one gruesome or pretty guitar line after another, right up to the chilling piano ballad “Closer To Me”, it all works, in a most scary, beautiful, mesmerizing way.

Sadly, the second side is more about artsiness than substance, and, some spontaneous flashes of greatness aside (come to think of it, Hammill’s greatest 70’s albums consisted of nothing but spontaneous flashes of greatness), it is somewhat meandering and not particularly engaging. You’d really have to be a die-hard admirer to get your teeth into such lengthy, abstract tracks like “All The Tiredness” or “Perfect Pose”. The style is there, granted, but only style.

Overall, though, I feel impressed. For all its second-half flaws, Consequences is prime Peter Hammill stuff, bizarre, grandiose and totally convincing.

7/10

Album review: JOHN MURRY - The Graceless Age

Highlights: Little Colored Balloons, ?No Te Da Ganas De Reir, Senor Malverde?, Southern Sky, If I’m To Blame

Listening to The Graceless Age (note the title) is an overwhelming experience. Right from the start you feel completely bogged down by lush, monstrous waves of sadness and depression. With The Graceless Age – you’re right in the thick of it; and while it’s not the nicest place to be, you have to consider the artistic, aesthetic merit of the whole thing. The album is absolutely fascinating in its raw, suppressed anger that smacks of relationships half-broken and suicides half-committed.

Those who know the beautiful, bruised sounds of John Murry’s World Without End from 2006 (with Bob Frank), will certainly recognize the dark, emotional devastation of The Graceless Age. And – no, I’m not being melodramatic: it really is that miserable.

Not that this stuff can’t be inviting and almost likeable: it’s depressing all right, but it’s depressing in a sort of warm, engaging way; the brooding, mellow melancholy of the catchy “Southern Sky” is case in point. Then there’s the nice, country-esque “Things We Lost In Fire” (has to be a perfectly justifiable nod to Low) and the perversely uplifting chorus of “Penny Nails” (‘this isn’t love but I need it just the same’). However, the edge is most certainly desperate, and when you hear a line like ‘so debonair, so fucking full of shit’ in the crude, gorgeous, suicidal “If I’m To Blame” – it becomes almost unbearable. The only solace being the handsome fingerpicking and the pretty piano lines carrying the tune.

The 10-minute “Little Colored Balloons” is another clear highlight, a thoughtful and brilliantly arranged epic that features, among other things, some inspired violin playing in the background. In fact, the only track I could live without is the somewhat murky and not too strong melodically “California”. Otherwise, I have few complaints about this grand, measured outburst of anger and frustration.   

P.S. Screw that bit about "California". It's brilliant.

8/10