Summer of Discovery, part one
Hello! I'm writing on the last day of what I consider to be, in my books, one of the most active beginnings to the summer I've ever had. No holidaying involved, either, no sir - compared to the rest of the globe in its current state, the bitter bluster of Britain is infinitely preferable - just the odd trip to the Curry Mile, outings with friends and a brief excursion to London, amongst other things, have kept me ticking over.
Some times in solitude have seen me succumb slightly to the inevitable summertime boredom that grows in its gaps. Thus, a pretty simple idea arose from it: out of an old 2016 issue of Q magazine, which outlined the writers' favourite albums released since its incarnation in 1986, I cut out some recommended records and, each day, picked one out at random to listen to and review after. (There were also a few that I threw in there on impulse - you can guess which ones!)
As you can see from the title, this is only 'part 1' of 'Summer of Discovery' and, before you accuse me of milking this spur-of-the-moment, music-obsessive's dream of a concept, I will say that I've genuinely enjoyed the process of indulging my ears in soundscapes I may never have experienced otherwise and offering (what I hope read like) insightful verdicts and interpretations regarding what I've heard.
Below are 10 albums of a variety of styles and times - though restricted by the magazine recommendations' focus on 1986 until 2016 - some of which may tickle your fancy! Have a gander and see (or listen) for yourself.
19/7 - A Bad Wind Blows In My Heart by Bill Ryder-Jones
Favourites: Hanging Song, Wild Swans, A Bad Wind Blows In My Heart
20/7 - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning by Bright Eyes
I first listened to this album during lockdown and, as had been the case with what I've come to consider one of my favourite albums, The Colour Of Spring, Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning went over my head completely upon first listen. That has now been rectified: from Connor Oberst's bursts of strained vocals - as heard in the opener At The Bottom Of Everything and closer Road to Joy - complimenting his softer tones across the record and the band's embracing of Midwestern America's musical hallmarks (slide guitar, hamonica, Emmylou Harris) to the stunningly acerbic wordplay of which there are too many examples t to highlight, I, in my return to it, am left enamoured with this album.
Favourites: Lua, Poison Oak, Land Locked Blues
21/7 - Rounds by Four Tet
I went into this record with only a minimal knowledge of Four Tet's work - basically, I'd heard Two Thousand and Twenty - and came to one solid conclusion: this guy sure can create a musical cocktail. What do I mean by that? Just listen to the songs And They All Look Broken Hearted and My Angel Rocks Back And Forth, both of which demonstrate such a stunning balance of industrial soundscapes and luscious acoustics that, upon the first plucks of sampled strings and hits of snares, you'll be quick to catch my drift. A cult classic certain to allure you with its myriad lulling melodies.
Favourites: She Moves She, Spirit Fingers, And They All Look Broken Hearted
22/7 - Music Complete by New Order
New Order really do give greater meaning to their name with each release, don’t they? By Bernard Sumner, the Morrises and co, we’re taken on a fantastic and futuristic exploration of sounds; the pulsating, clubbing kind, to be precise. This journey has a tangible trajectory, as the listener is first plunged into the band’s endlessly grooving world with such bangers as Singularity and Tutti Frutti, which set the tone of Music Complete, before they’re presented with splashes of acoustic guitar amidst the drum machines (Academic, Nothing But A Fool) and 90’s house throwbacks (Superheated). New Order’s 2015 offering does not cling to the past , though, and in this way is very much accessible to veterans of the Madchester scene and newcomers alike.
Favourites: Singularity, People On The High Lane, The Game
23/7 - Have You In My Wilderness by Julia Holter
'Julia Holter' - a new name to my brain. Which is, without sounding too up my own backside, pretty unusual (for someone who subjects his ears to an ungodly amount of noise every day, at least). In the wake of listening to her third album, Have You In My Wilderness, however, I'm sure she's to become someone with whose music I'll be well-acquainted in the near future. I knew from the get-go that this was an interesting artist - her idiosyncratic delivery on harpsichord-inclusive opener Feel You had me instantly allured - and, while maintaining this avant-pop eccentricity in both instrumentation and singing (As in the dizzying Betsy On The Roof and the jazzy Vasquez), Holter also brings a Weyes Blood-esque ethereality to the album: where jarring vocal gymnastics are swapped for enveloping croons (see Lucette Stranded on the Island, a narrative-driven tour de force, for a perfect demonstration). While some cuts on this record may end up slipping from your mind, the ones that stick leave a long-lasting imprint.
Favourites: Lucette Stranded on the Island, Betsy on the Roof, How Long?
24/7 - Hopes and Fears by Keane
25/7 - The Last Broadcast by Doves
Aboard the 192 bus, I stuck on an album whose creators are natives of the place to which I was bound: Manchester band Doves. Their debut, The Last Broadcast, was released in 2002, at the dawn of the 21st century; though, contrasting with the party atmosphere evoked by the post-Millennium era, the songs that comprise this record speak to a sense of deep melancholy. Intro's swelling synths and intensifying drums establish the spacious and nocturnal atmosphere that remains throughout The Last Broadcast, as heard in the intimate M62 Song and the desperate strings that shudder beneath Friday's Dust's echoing choruses. Don't be fooled by the select few tracks you deem to be lacking in this melancholy, oh no: while There Goes The Fear may present the most upbeat of melodies, profundity within such lines as 'you turn around and life's passed you by' lurks; in the raucous and glitchy and utterly beautiful N.Y. 'they're throwing rocks and paving stones/so let's go while we can'; and in thrumming album closer Caught By The River, the narrator insists that, despite the pain of life, 'you can't just leave it/'cause you're not in control' - speaking to the thoughts that lay heavy in many a person's conscience in life. A reflective journey best set to a night bus ride - for which I would not recommend the 192!
Favourites: Words, N.Y., Caught By The River
26/7 - Catalpa by Jolie Holland
His seventh release under the moniker of ‘Smog,’ Bill Callahan - cited by Bill Ryder-Jones as the main influence behind his second album, which featured earlier on in this list - shares through ‘Knock Knock’ 10 heart-breakingly beautiful compositions. With a chameleonic style that shifts from folk to blues and post-rock in tow, Callahan takes us on what feels like a night-time drive through his personal experiences: casting the headlights upon rejection, exemplified in the most minute yet telling line ‘let’s start a …/let’s have a …’ in Let’s Move To The Country - the prospect of a future with whom the narrator desires to be with apparently so unattainable that he can’t bring himself to even imply its possibility; careering past feelings of isolation in adolescence in Teenage Spaceship, within which metaphor Callahan ‘loomed so large on the horizon/people thought my windows were stars’; and parking temporarily to hear of the musician’s turbulent family history as it is depicted in Cold Blooded Old Times, where Callahan asks his mother, ‘how can I stand and laugh with the man/who redefined your body?’ Brimming with intricacies and idiosyncrasies, ‘Knock Knock’ is as charming a record as Callahan’s laidback and loveable drawl would suggest - and, for me at least, the entrance into the rabbit hole that is this revered singer-songwriter’s discography.
In selecting Tom Petty’s solo debut, Full Moon Fever, at random to listen to, I felt a sense of excitement and anticipation for what I was to hear; having known of the singer’s importance in the history of rock while having a minimal knowledge of his music. Whatever it was I had expected from this record, it was met with a slight sense of disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, there were some cuts that I enjoyed: the down-tempo A Face In The Crowd’s touching sentiment (‘before all of this ever went down/you were just a face in the crowd’), Yer So Bad’s lusciously layered guitar tracks and Alright For Now, whose lovely, fingerpicked introduction caught me off guard. Generally, though, the shimmering soft-rock that permeated Full Moon Fever just didn’t do it for me. In the instance that you're a fan of those types of tunes, however? I couldn’t recommend this album enough.
Favourites: A Face In The Crowd, Yer So Bad, Alright For Now
29/7 - Lion and the Cobra by Sinead O'Connor
I spent this morning’s 192 journey into town indulging in a triumphant debut record by Sinead O’Connor - whose death was announced earlier this week, the loss of such an icon shaking the UK and her native Ireland - entitled Lion and the Cobra. And, the Catholic Church be damned, there is so much to love! Firstly, this woman exercised such (seemingly) effortless control over her vocal cords; the tracks Jackie, Never Get Old and I Want Your (Hands On Me) showcasing O’Connor at her grittiest, wildest and most sensual respectively. What’s more, the messages conveyed through those vocals are equally as stunning. In ‘Just As U Said It Would B,’ for example, O’Connor can see ‘too many mouths open/too many eyes closed, ears closed,’ reflecting the masses’ apathy towards poverty and famine back to them; and how could I skim past Sinead’s seminal and Irish society-deconstructing snarl of ‘I don’t know no shame/I feel no pain’ in Mandinka? With orchestral sections, feet-stomping drums and the plucking of folky melodies swirling around her on this first full-length outing, Sinead O’Connor didn’t just pique but commanded the attention of a nation and beyond.
Favourites: Jackie, Never Get Old, Troy
