The last week of December 2011 saw... well, absolutely nothing new worth getting. Not even digitally. I did find a hardcopy of Burial's 2011 release, so that was a bonus "new release" - a last hurrah of 2011. A few compilations this week as well.
New Releases:
Burial - Untrue
Label: Hyperdub Records / Cargo Records
Released: Spring 2011
Genre: Ambient
This piece of dark ambiance, with just the slightest hint of dubstep under it (Burial is usually known as a dubstep producer), is really interesting. It reminds me a lot of early to mid 90s era Future Sound Of London, not in a derivative way. But in that nostalgic kind of way that nearly makes you think you haven't quite left that time period yet. The albums rolls forward smoothly, the ambiance is not in light in nature. It's deep rolling bass, kind of like an impending twilight, not afraid to create dance style rhythms, without ever quite reaching that club-level sound. All mood and background. Easily one of the best albums of the year, and to my shame I didn't seek out a copy earlier. The cover is a grey-scale piece, which perfectly sets the mood for this - things are dim, but not bleak, deep without being heavy thumpers. Absolutely go find a copy (digitally or otherwise) and add it to your collection.
Adding To The Collection:
Pizzicato Five - Unzipped EP
Label: Matador Records / Atalantic
Released: 1995
Genre: Modern Jazz, Pop
Another EP off of Pizzicato Five's brief dalliance with American exposure. They didn't become huge, but they had enough clout to toss out several singles off their one major US record. This EP comes from their addition to a soundtrack for the movie 'Unzipped' - hence the EP title. It contains four tracks, Happy Sad (from the movie), and a remix of it, If I Were A Groupie, and a remix of CDJ. Overall, it's decent, light, happy sounding, and just a four track EP. Unless you run across it as a cheap album like I did, nothing particularly great is here. That said, nothing particularly bad is here either. Like I said, light and happy sounding, poppy jazz rhythms and beats.
Unwoman - Wildness & Artifice (2CD Edition)
Label: self-released
Released: 2005
Genre: Modern Classical, Dark Ambient
This is the second full release from Unwoman, it's full of dark ambient rhythms from sythns and drums, and her cello, piano and voice. Most of it is of a modern classical bent, with some overtures towards downtempo styles and beats. It's far from dark itself, at least in total. Unwoman's voice is smooth, halfway between rock and trip-hop a lot of the time. The 2CD Edition (technically I have the digital version) comes with a 7 track 'acoustic' disc. Honestly, I don't particularly like the acoustic versions. It's just her voice and one or two instruments for each version. They lack the depth and even clarity of the non-acoustic versions with the percussion and beats behind them. A good early album, you can hear Unwoman's sound shaping up, gaining confidence in being a solo artist here. Worth picking up if you're an Unwoman fan.
Rough Guide To Scottish Folk - 2CD Edition with Maggie MacInnes
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2010
Genre: Folk, Scottish Traditional
Rough Guides are, as I've pointed out, great ways to get into a particular genre or region. It's easy to get Irish and Celtic music, Scottish contributions aren't as readily available. This compilation is full of folk music from the upper portion of the British Isles. It really sounds lovely, not overwhelming with bagpipes (as that's what usually pops into mind when you here "Scottish Music" - I'd actually wager bagpipes feature in less than half these tracks. Plenty of fiddle, guitar, soaring vocals, and dance numbers. Though, it's very full of arias and ballads. Less jigs and reels than I would have liked, but not so few that they're missed. Also, like many Rough Guides, it's a little haphazard in composition. Good to put on with other music in the genre (or near it) and hitting random, not as cohesive if you just hit play and listen. And, many tracks are sung in Scottish accents (as expected), which makes them a wee bit hard to understand to this American. Not a bad thing, just makes it difficult to sing along if that's your thing.
The bonus album is the album Bhon Chridhe from Maggie MacInnes, definitely a good deal to get two albums in one. Her voice is soft, her music is light, cheerful. It's not loud, it's not all fiddle and reels. A good album, though nothing stands out as magnificent, still worth the price either by itself (also on World Music Network) or with the Rough Guide. Another stack of songs to put on a random rotation when you need something Scottish in the background.
Between the two, I actually recommend finding a disc of two of Irish Folk and liberally mixing the two up, the sounds are similar enough they compliment and different enough to keep it moving.
Arabian Travels
Label: Sex Degrees
Released: 2001
Genre: Modern Arabic
Six Degrees compilations are just as good as World Music for gathering together a very diverse group of artists from a region or style in one place. It makes the album as a whole a bit non-cohesive, but that's hardly a problem. It's less a genre-compilation and more a region-compilation where the more diversity the better. This one goes to the Arabian peninsula, and bleeds into Persia and India as well, to find some of the best modern artists from that region. This one covers the gambit from exactly what you think modernized traditional Arabic music should sound like to Banghra House beats. It's almost a little too all over the place. Also, it's really a lot of English DJs and Producers who are of various Indian and Arabic decent that bring traditional music heavily into the future. It could due with a little more artists from the region and a little less modern house elements. Still, definitely a good album to put on at a party you want to keep things upbeat without actually having a dance floor spontaneously form in your living room.
Onto 2012:
No bonuses or surprises this week. The future holds more of the same next week (Indian, House, more Modern Classical and some Rock). But Sundays will, starting this coming Sunday, focus on The Blues. I picked up a massive 52-CD blues compilation that spans literally the entire history of the genre and touches on every major aspect (from Delta to Chicago, R&B to Rock N Roll influences) and about a hundred different artists. I'll be going through it, two discs at a time, for the first half of this year. Vinyl Files will get snuck into weekly updates occasionally, and pick up again over the summer on Sundays unless I find any more giant box sets between then and now.
Listen Hard!
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