If I had the time and inclination, I’d probably review every song that Bertine Zetlitz has written, but that might come across as a little obsessive or weird. And we can’t have that, can we? But given that on this song Bertine states “You know, you’re here just to adore me,” perhaps it would be okay. Adore Me was released as a single, which means we have a video:
At the other end of the single-minded songwriting spectrum comes Kevin Barnes’ of Montreal. The impressive autobiographical album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? works its way inside of me in the same way that Ultra Vivid Scene’s debut did, this time due to the dizzying array of musical styles thrown together, often within the same song.
Much of the album manically balances euphoric tunes with lyrical depression, but The Past Is a Grotesque Animal – the album’s centerpiece – breaks that pattern through a twelve minute droning spiral that matches anything that came out of Nine Inch Nails’ Pretty Hate Machine. Squealing synthesizers and other detritous hide in its corners to echo the mess that Kevin vocalises: a rampaging collection of torments.
Rasputina is often referred to as a ‘genre-busting’ band, that phrase inevitably combined with words such as ‘steampunk’ and ‘chamber rock’. The truth is a little more complex: breaking cellos out of their expected place in musical society by allowing them to behave as contemporary instruments – mainly guitars – whilst retaining their unique sound and inherent limitations extends the scope of Melora Creager’s songwriting. Rasputina’s latest album, the dazzling Oh Perilous World, uses historical fragments as the basis for literary and ‘dark folk’ storytelling only recently bettered by Joanna Newsom. But this isn’t an album which refers backwards to classical composition, rather it bridges and borrows the stylistic invention of the 60s and 70s rock music.
In Old Yellowcake’s contemporary punk nuances (particularly helped by Jonathon TeBeest’s drumming) make it the most immediate song on the album, combining sweet and sour melodies with Melora’s renown vocal note-hopping. That it alludes to the ruin of Fallujah, makes it even more powerful than mere imagery or ironic title can do together.
Live:
Ellen Allien continues to tiptoe around Greatness on her fourth solo album, the just-released Sool. In this album, all obvious melodies and humanity have distanced themselves, or become buried in amongst the percussion, reverb and techno space of Chiaroscuro minimalism. If you wish: Plastikman without those wavering Devil Fish 303s. Or Robert Hood without those evolving melodies born from overlapping micro-sequences.
Caress uses its vocalised titles both as a percussive element and as a nod towards that missing warmth. But as the track evolves, additional rhythmic elements – tuned to contrast each other – fill that gap, eventually revealed to be merely subservient to a noisy omnipresent pad which finally sparkles in this darkness.
Ellen Allien: Sool – iTunes UK
Ellen Allien – Official Website
According to Ask Billboard (via Undented):
As with many of her contemporaries Tori is devising new and exciting ways of getting her music to the masses without the boundaries and limitations of the major music companies
I was surprised that given the way Tori Amos was treated during her time at Atlantic Records she chose another major label, Epic Records, once her contract with Atlantic was finished. In reflection it’s possible that Tori intended this direction all along, but used Epic as a fill-in. Now it’s time for her to go wild, no doubt!
BTW, that makes my current top 5 Last.fm artists free from others’ interference: Hannah Fury, Jo Gabriel, Emm Gryner, Kristin Hersh and now Tori Amos. That’s not a coincidence.
Cinerama:
So do you think you've made
The right decision this time?
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