The Music Lobby

Bibio, Ambivalence Avenue [Warp, 2009]

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:16:54 +0100

Just a few months after a fantastic album (folk/bibio-vignetting-the-compost-mush-2009.html) and EP (folk/bibio-ovals-and-emeralds-mush-2009.html) for Mush, Stephen Wilkinson releases his first album with Warp. Ambivalence Avenue, unlike previous Bibio releases, does not stick to the formula of acoustronic folk. Here Bibio mixes vocal folk with a lot of other styles of music. Those of you who have been following Mr. Wilkinson closely might have known he's had more up his sleeve, with his more experimental DJ sets and his instrumental hip-hop experiments as Duckular. It seems rather than devoting time to that alias he is attempting to weave that sound into Bibio, and thankfully, he does it with great success. When I first heard Bibio was going this direction with his debut for Warp, I worried the album might sound too disjointed, but somehow he's pulled it off, going from folk to funk to hip-hop to indie rock with ease. Jealous Of Roses for one example will immediately turn heads, with its 70s funk and vocals. It's completely out of left field for Bibio or even Warp, but it works. Bibio's first three albums had already confirmed to me that he was one of this decade's musical prodigies; Ambivalence Avenue just shows that he's no longer abiding by any self-imposed constraints. A fantastic signing and record for Warp.

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Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:11:41 +0100

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Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest [Warp, 2009]

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:59:51 +0100

Grizzly Bear's third album is another eclectic journey through the sound only Grizzly Bear can produce. Their folk rock from another room sort of style has always captivated me, and with Veckatimest they continue to push that aesthetic in different directions sonically. This album definitely has more of a pop bent at times to it compared to Yellow House, and because of that it's not quite as dark in places. The doo-wop they explored on Knife re-appears her in parts, but is further enfused into the sound, which probably creates much of that pop feel. But juxtaposed with that pop is some flat out rocking moments as well, the end of Fine For Now being a great example. In a way only Grizzly Bear can, these disparate sounds play off each other the entire record to create a unified album, and it may actually be a better record than Yellow House. I'm going to need more time with it to confidently state that opinion, but what's a play here is definitely a group of musicians continuing to grow together into one of the best bands of this decade.

Savath y Savalas, La Llama [Stones Throw, 2009]

Sun, 31 May 2009 23:10:52 +0100

I never thought we’d get to hear Eva Puyuelo Muns hauntingly beautiful voice again after leaving Savath Savalas. “La Llama” is a nice sequel to 2004’s “Apropa’t” that put Eva at center stage. In Apropa't's sequel, the much slept on “Golden Pollen,” GSH took the vocal reigns solely. Now in trio format GSH, Eva Puyuelo Muns and Roberto Carlos Lange join forces in creating an acid-folk record influenced by the 70s independent music scene of Recife, Brazil. Visionaries like Lula Cortes and Marconi Notaro are among important influences; even Spanish folk musicians such as Paco Ibanez come into play. That isn’t to say a host of other important musicians from other sectors of the world aren’t major influences. The freeness and openness found in Lula Cortes or Marconi Notaro’s work can be heard in its own way throughout the title track “La Llama” as it starts off on a gloomy note and ending in an uplifting march full of stuttering rhythm and guitar over a string based backing. “La Llama” is relaxing album much like the almost simultaneously released Diamond Watch Wrists project from GSH and Hella drummer Zach Hill. Nothing much has changed since Savath Savalas’ first vocal incarnation “Apropa’t” other than a continuation of the same ideas in a free and open setting.

The Field, Yesterday and Today [Kompakt, 2009]

Thu, 21 May 2009 17:37:48 +0100

So, okay, I was looking forward to the new Field album, but I certainly didn't expect Yesterday and Today to be the best album of 2009 so far (which it is!) - I'll be surprised if anything this year manages to surpass it. Axel Willner's first album as The Field had transcendent singles (which were, not coincidentally, drawn from the stellar 12 s that preceded the CD release) but then also, frankly, some pretty terrible tracks - when he picks the wrong vocal sample to loop for eight minutes, watch out! Yesterday and Today, on the other hand, is flawless - six extremely impressive tracks, two of which in particular are so mind-blowingly good that I've been playing them on continuous repeat, whenever I can pull myself away from listening to the album as a whole. The sound is both more organic and more expansive than his earlier work, which was often recorded on-the-fly (mixing the elements live on his laptop, and not bothering with re-edits); interestingly, Willner recorded this album with a full band, which he now tours with, and you can really tell the difference (the track Sequenced sounds more like a rock instrumental than anything else). The gauzy techno of Sublime has been subtly transformed into something more muscular and affecting; in short, Yesterday and Today is everything that's good about The Field's output, turned up to 11. Buy immediately!