first impressions 1-18-06

Since I haven't been making time to do full reviews, I'll fluff this page up a bit with quick notes on what I have heard recently. Maybe I'll make time to review it better; doubtful, but maybe.

Coil - The Ape of Naples: I haven't listened to a lot of Coil in my life; I would pick it up here and there to see what they were up to because I recognize Coil as one of those "important" bands. This album, essentially an epithat for the band, is moody and dark, yes, dirgelike, yes, but not really depressing. It reminds me slightly of Nick Cave's Murder Ballads in that respect. This will get repeat listens.

Ian Brown - The Greatest: Ex-Stone Roses frontman recently released this compilation of his solo work. As with any best of, it is cherry picked and ought to be good, and it is. Arranged chronologically, it is a worthy introduction to Brown's post Stone Roses career; I admit to not having followed his career post-Roses, so this is actually a useful catch-up tool for me. Whether long time fans would agree, I don't know, but I think it works. This will also be on my playlist for a while.

Ulysses - 010: I remember this album getting pretty solid reviews a while back when it came out; it's a side project of Apples in Stereo lead guy Robert Schneider. Didn't grab me too much initially; I'll give it a few listens though. His voice doesn't do much for me, and the melodies seem a bit recycled from song to song.

Bound Stems - My Kingdom for a Trundle Bed: Interesting. Don't know much about this band. They put out this ep; another boy-girl vocal group. A garage version of Stars? Raveonettes with better lyrics? Of the seven songs, a couple jumped out at me the first time around, which is a good sign; we'll see if it holds up.

v.o.r.t.e.x.01.06

A new year and a return to the timely creation of artistic works. How long will it last? How long does anything last, really? Yet we wonder sometimes about archaeologists two thousand years into the future (yeah, that's optimistic) digging through our piles of 20-21st century trash, marveling at the strata of shiny silicon discs that will soon be as accurate for historical dating as the rings of a tree. I have no answers, only questions and mood swings, sometimes at the same time.

Cat Power - The Greatest

"Once I wanted to be the greatest."
Chan Marshall seems to exist in a space just outside the normal world. Her own little safe place, where she creates a batch of songs and then gives them to the world, hoping that someone will find them, appreciate them, care for them.
There is something gentle and quiet about her latest offering. She dabbles in a hint of country rhythm, random horns, meditations on loss and love that never really sound sad. It is her voice; confident, dusky, occasionally playful, never letting sentimentalism creep into it to the point of sounding sugary or bland.
The album starts out strong with standout tracks "The Greatest" and "Could We". It slips into a few songs that don't seem fully realized or just don't work; "Islands" and "After It All" feel light and overpowered by the better tracks that precede them, things really don't pick up again until a few tracks later. "Willie" starts the latter third of the disc, leading up to the solid finale of "Hate" and "Love and Communication".
Overall, Marshall doesn't reach the heights of Moon Pix or You Are Free, but there's enough here to satisfy Cat Power fans.
Rating: straight.

!vOrTeX! 12.05

We look into the mirror, look into the past, the lines that creep up and the creeps that line up, waiting to take a shot at our conscious self, searching for the weakness to exploit. Nobody knows when a cold wind will come to take them, just that we trust the warm breeze too much and it cannot be helped; carry my soul to a place in the past, is it any stronger now than it was then? And thus we unveil the last submission for 2005, continuing a theme of looking ten years back, and what a surprise, most of our guests are still around. A little worse for wear, perhaps, but you get what you get.