Part two of my round-up of the platters that matter, released in 2013.
Post-rock
Kveikur by Sigur Ross
Last year, I wrote a post arguing that their next release was a make-or-break affair. So, here it is, and its certainly darker and rockier that recent outings, it has a scary picture on the cover, and they lost one member in the process of recording. But, sitting here, I'm finding it difficult to form an opinion because the record failed to make an impression on me, and therein lies the problem.
Reissues
Lipslide by Sarah Cracknell
Cracknell's one and only solo outing gets the deluxe treatment, with a second CD of demos, remixes and outtakes. A mixed affair – some cracking tunes with top-notch production along with generic dance numbers, all with throw away lyrics. Charming in a summer afternoon kind of way and thoroughly British, which is nice. I was rushed £20 by HMV for my copy, which is outrageous when I come to think of it.
Ovalprocess by Oval
During the summer, Oval (aka Markus Popp - not his real name, one imagines) made several albums from his back catalogue available for free download via Bandcamp. This largesse has now been withdrawn, which is a shame as there were a couple of gems amongst them. Ovalprocess features Popp’s signature…well…process, of distressing CDs and then sampling the results. Here, he sculpts the resulting fizz, pops and clicks into surprisingly beautiful peaks and troughs of sound, spreading out across fifteen tracks and nearly an hour of music.
It’s still worth getting onto the Oval mailing list as he continues to chuck out the odd freebie, with SO – a collaboration with Eriko Toyoda - being the latest, on free download for a couple of days just before the end of last year.
Rock/Pop
MBV by My Bloody Valentine
Released after a 20-odd year break, MBV manages to avoid most of the bear-traps which reforming bands tend to fall into. The album starts exactly were Loveless left off and then moves things forwards by degrees, until you realise that what you have is a very different beast from the one you started with, which is not a million miles aware from, say, Battles.
Is it as good as Loveless? Well, I always preferred Isn't Anything, so who am I to say?
Soundtracks
Les Salauds by Tindersticks
This time last year, I predicted that we wouldn't see another Tindersticks album until 2014. In the event, 2013 saw the band release two long players, which just goes to show how poor my predictive powers are.
Tindersticks have collaborated on many occasions with French filmmaker Claire Denis, and I used to think of the resulting soundtrack albums as pleasant distractions from the main event of their studio albums. However, we seem to have got to the point where the soundtracks are the vehicle for Tindersticks most effecting and inventive music.
Les Salauds presents a sparse electronic soundscape, with occasional whispered vocals – not your typical Tindersticks product, by any means. How this relates to the film is beyond me as I'm never likely to see the movie, but it works as a standalone album.
The other release in 2013, Across Six Leap Years, is comprised of re-recorded tracks from ‘Sticks albums and Stuart Staples solo output, plus one very slight new track. We’re told this re-recording was conducted at Abbey Road, although how this benefits the listener is unclear – perhaps we’re supposed to be able to hear the difference from a ‘normal’ recording studio.
I'm also puzzled by the choice of tracks, and in fact the whole purpose of the enterprise is a bit of a mystery to me. On first listen, many of the tracks, like Marseilles Sunshine, don’t sound that different from the way they appeared the first time round.
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