The Weblog Of Leonard’s Lair

I’m sure some of you may be aware of this already but I just thought I’d let everyone know about some new releases coming your way from Make Mine Music.

Make Mine Music was set up in 2002 as a record label managed by the musicians themselves. I’ve collected pretty much everything released on this label as they’ve been a consistently great source of music. I would recommend people to check them out especially if ambient/electronic music is your thing.

The latest releases are as follows:

Out Now: 

All Sides - Dedalus : I was impressed with Nina Kernicke’s earlier EP on MMM which veered between the chilling to the serene.

All Sides MySpace

Library Tapes - Sketches EP : Classical and experimental electronica was the order of the day on David Wenngren’s first offering.

Library Tapes MySpace

Out Soon:

Planivaar - The Green Boat : Mark Lippet’s first album on Split Femur Recordings was a rather unassuming listen which showed a lot of promise.

Planivaar’s MySpace

Avrocar - Against The Dying Of The Light : I remember first listening to Avrocar’s ‘Screen’ single almost ten years ago now, when it was played by John Peel. The track still sounds very haunting even now. It’s been eight years since their first album so let’s hope the follow-up has been worth waiting for.

Avrocar’s MySpace

Yellow6 - Merry6mas2007 - Jon Attwood’s dark instrumentals bear comparison with post-rock luminaries such as Labradford and Bark Psychosis and his annual “festive” comps don’t usually disappoint.

Yellow6 Official Site
Yellow6 MySpace

July Skies - The Weather Clock : Much like labelmates Epic45, July Skies’ Anthony Harding is intent on capturing beautifully nostalgic moments with his dreamlike music.

July Skies Official Site

July Skies MySpace

MMM’s website is the place to get this fine music: Make Mine Music Site

Needless to say, I have written reviews in the past for all these artists on the old Leonard’s Lair site - http://www.leonardslair.co.uk/

After a highly promising first EP, Cork’s Painting By Numbers set their stall out as a more robust take on the Irish indie pop/rock scene. ‘Circuits’ should consolidate that position with four more songs showcasing Ronan McCann’s yearning vocals and some glistening guitar work.

‘Breaking Mirrors’ has to be the pick of a decent bunch of songs. The guitars are at full throttle whilst McCann’s throaty vocal helps to keep up the intensity. The relatively bland ‘Raise The Alarms’ fails to live up to its title but the considerably more urgent-sounding ‘Old News’ and the warmth of the title track make up for it. Painting By Numbers aren’t quite up to the high standard of Whipping Boy yet but they’re gradually getting there.

Web Site: 
Painting By Numbers Myspace

Further reading:

Review of the first EP by Painting By Numbers
Review of Whipping Boy’s self-titled second album

I first noticed the name Arrison Kirby in 2005 when he was named as producer for a delightful album by the equally delightfully-named Skippy And The Bellbottoms. Containing a number of brilliant piano-led alt-pop gems, it was the perfect marriage between the talents of a maverick singer/songwriter and a skilled arranger. Kirby is an artist in his own right though and has been around the Knoxville, Tennessee music scene for a decade now. ‘Part 3′ is inspired by an “ill fated” journey across Japan and the results embrace kitsch pop, indie, punk, art-rock and a number of instrumental interludes.

Needless to say, this isn’t the most cohesive album of the year. ‘Jim On The Plane’ is part music hall, part maverick art pop but ‘Zenkouji Exit’ sounds more like the background music for a frenetic cartoon. It’s only when Kirby avoids novelty items that he comes in to his own. ‘New Feeling’ is an instrumental but it’s a very moving and melodic composition involving ukulele, chimes and orchestral effects. Also the sweetly sung ‘Nagano Return’ and ‘Sad Divide’, in particular, resemble a scruffier version of The Silent League. So despite the varying quality and genre-hopping, Arrison Kirby is worth checking out by lovers of experimental pop.

Also Recommended:

Review Of Skippy And The Bellbottoms’ ‘What Happened To Turn Signals?’
Review Of The Silent League’s ‘The Orchestra, Sadly, Has Refused’

Web Sites:

Eldeth Record Label Website

Arrison Kirby’s Home Page

As well as receiving plaudits for their dreamlike take on post-rock, Danish act Efterklang also run their own label Rumraket. It’s a label which has already produced records by the talented Swedish twins Taxi Taxi! as well as quirky Japanese acts like Kama Aina and Cacoy. Add to that list Canon Blue, or American Daniel James as he’s known amongst family and friends. James is a member of the very en vogue folktronica scene but his beats tend to be heavier than most.

A case in point is ‘Pilguin Pop’; a colourful and highly melodic track that is part big (well, at least medium) beat  but with a distinctive tune. ‘Odds And Ends’ is simpler and sweet like the Icelandic musician Eberg. Most of the songs here have a sleepy demeanour but for ‘Pale Horse’ James’ voice shifts between tender balladeer and mouthpiece for gut-wrenching emotion. ‘Battle Hymn’ is the first track which doesn’t really work; the beats are heavier than normal, James offers shouted raps and there’s no hook. Then just when you think the album is front-loaded a sweeping string-laden ballad named ‘Mouth To Mouth’ appears, some melancholic piano adding to this very fine track. The end result is a record typical of the output from Rumraket - not quite the complete package but imaginative and charming all the same.

Also recommended:

Review Of Cacoy’s ‘Human Is Music’
Review Of Kama Aina’s ‘Club Kama Aina’

Web Sites:

http://www.myspace.com/canonblue

Rather surprisingly, the members of A. Rex are all claimed to be called Andrew although only two of them are credited on the album sleeve. One of the Andrews is Andrew Espinola; the songwriter and vocalist for the band whilst Andrew Jones provides drums and percussion. This first album does a fine job of emulating the scuzzy folk-pop made popular by Eels in recent years.

Needless to say, it’s a very melodic affair, which is primarily aimed at producing aching slowies and mid-paced efforts like the excellent title track and ‘Lower Than Low’. Deviations arrive via the Grandaddy-esque ‘I’m Not The Only One’ and the appropriately titled ‘Rock n Roll’ which has more than a share of Tom Petty about it. Espinola is in fine husky form throughout, essentially sounding like a younger version of Eels’ own Mark ‘E’ Everett. ‘Moving Backwards’ won’t be the most original album heard this year and a few songs on the album are very similar-sounding but it’s the first recording from the young Espinola and his ear for a tune is never in question.

References:

Review Of Eels’ ‘Blinking Lights And Other Revelations’
Review Of Grandaddy’s ‘The Broken Down Comforter Collection’ 

Web Sites:
A. Rex Official Site
A. Rex CD Baby Page

Although it’s unclear what it actually means, the Mercury Prize nominations included a real gem of an album with the debut record by Maps. Here is an album which sounds minty fresh as soon as the first track begins. Although it’s possible to hear shades of Danish “dream rockers” Mew or even The Secret Machines, ‘We Can Create’ is a delightfully unique record which is often quite beautiful in parts.

Remarkably given the multi-layered sound he has produced, Maps is the work of one person: James Chapman. One of his masterstrokes is the ghostly vocal effects he produces, another is the elaborate synth washes, the third and most important is the cracking songs. The denouement to third track ‘Elouise’ is the sugar rush in full effect but in truth the first three tracks are pretty flawless. Slightly disappointingly there’s a lull at the middle of the record as the attempt to sound glacial and blissful ends up sounding too much like Sigur Ros. Chapman actually works best when he produces strange and wonderful pop music like on ‘Lost My Soul’ or ‘Don’t Hear’. Infact if everything was as good as the first three and the last three tracks this would be a contender for album of the year. Nevertheless it’s still a great record.

Web sites:
Official Maps Site
Maps Myspace Site

Reference Points:

Review Of Mew’s ‘And The Glass Handed Kites’

Review Of Secret Machines’ ‘Now Here Is Nowhere’

Click here to enjoy a full stream of the S.E.L.F. album.

There is a school of thought which suggests hip-hop has stagnated since the early 1990s. Complete nonsense of course but on a commercial basis it is frequently tired, unimaginative and full of sexism, homophobia and self-aggrandisement. S.E.L.F. (a project developed by members of Texan unit Lotus Tribe, it stands for Self Expression Is Living Free) are unlikely to be troubling the Billboard Top 75 any time soon but they have crafted an album of substance, intelligence and tangible sadness, which is aimed to offer a glimmer of hope in a world full of war, disease and dubious politics.

The line of misery is drawn from the outset as a mournful score underpins ‘Closure’. It’s neatly followed by the quickfire raps on ‘Primitive Feedback’, which is itself bolstered by dark piano keys. Comparisons can be drawn between the mid-1990s group Earthling whose choice of sinister filmic samples and on-the-money rapping still excites today. The choice of backing here is similarly imaginative and involving; soulful easy listening for ‘Change’, obscure film dialogue for ‘War Child’, sinister strings for just about everything else, arguably reaching a peak on the woozily hypnotic ‘Lost’ and the tearful ‘Sky High’. The only criticism is that the S.E.L.F. worldview is bereft of the light which it was aiming to achieve but as a listening experience it’s so involving it’s hard not to be drawn in to their malaise.

Myspace site: Lotus Tribe’s Myspace Site

Back in 2000, Day One released a real gem of a record with ‘Ordinary Man’. It was a mixture of stories of modern life set against a backdrop of hip-hop, folk and pop textures. Thanks to vocalist Phelim Byrne’s Americanised vocals and the often odd instrumentation (including a strange fondness flutes) provided by Matthew Hardwidge, not many bands have sounded like this since. All the more reason therefore for Day One to finally release a second record. Sensibly it doesn’t differ much from the original formula.

The flavour throughout is colourful, ‘Cosmopolita’ uses an appropriately global arrangement. The album drifts by in very amiable fashion but tracks like ‘Feet Firmly On The Ground’ and ‘The Little Things’ with their flute-assisted melodies don’t really catch fire. The album steps up a gear later on for ‘Now I’m A Little Older’, an introspective number and the first to send a shiver down the spine, ‘Money’ with its tagline of “Money gets in the way of life” may paint broad strokes in terms of subject matter but it’s a memorable hook-filled song whilst ‘Who Owns The Rain?’ revels in string-laden melancholia. So although the killer moments are a bit thin on the ground, it’s good to have them back.

Samples can be heard on The Day One Myspace Site

References:

Review of Day One’s ‘Ordinary Man’

In his comments, weblog reader Marko mentioned Destroyalldreamers. By happy coincidence they have a new album out too which you can find out more about on http://www.thisquietarmy.com/records/distro.html#wam023. Samples and an option to buy are available from the site.

Readers of Leonard’s Lair may remember I posted a positive review of their last album on http://www.leonardslair.co.uk/destroyall.htm. It was certainly a fine example of shoegazer/post-rock. Let’s hope the new album offers similar virtues.