Sounds and Zounds

The Clientele has always had a great talent of creating pop music that sounds as if it came from another time period. I have made comparisons to the songs on there latest CD “God Save the Clientele” as something that sounds like a lost Monkeys / Davy Jones and the Zombies.

I have to say that I have not enjoyed this recording as much as I enjoyed there 2005 recording “Strange Geometry”. That being said it still makes good background music in the kitchen that will not horrify the kids or guests.

But some sap on the floor might be expected.

I blame NPR. This is dance / house music and for the most part I don’t like this type of music, but the NPR reviewer made similarities to Talking Head, Bowie and the Pixes and I had to find out more.
First off, there are a few songs that are so repetitive I just can not stand them and the title track is so poor that it is just frustrating to listen to. Thought there are a few enjoyable tracks that stick out, Us V Them, Someone Great, Watch The Tapes and North American Scum, they stretch between of retro 80’s synth music to a more raw a scream.
This is music that you really have to be in the right mood for and sometimes I wish there was just radio versions of the songs.

There are times that you buy a CD with no knowledge or understanding of what you are purchasing. This is one of those CD’s for me and I very surprised on how enjoyable it has been. Mr. Watson has a raw jazzy feel to his work that has been working very nicely with my enjoyment of “The Good, The Bad, The Queen.” This selection of songs may have some dark undertones, but not depressing and has a great ability of create some real amazing transitions and crescendo of musical enjoyment.

When I first heared Funeral by Arcade Fire, I was struck by the music, listing to it over and over again. Then one day it struck me on how sad and depressing the songs were lyrically. Arcade Fire’s new CD Neon Bible is a bit jarring and striped down if you compare it to Funeral. There is a lot less hiding of themes and is a little more in your face. It is a brilliant work of music, that sonically simpler, darker and seems to challenges the political climate and the religious extremes of today.

Take a member from Blur, The Clash, Verve and add in Tony Allen and you get the sounds of The Good the Bad and the Queen. I have been listen to this disc for the last week and the retro non-interruptive feel to it has been a great pleasure to listen to in the studio.
There is a sort of dirty time machine sound to this group of songs that seems to want to transport me to some street in London. It has been a fantastic sunrise that seems fresh and familiar with a great balance in rhythm and expression.

Well, sometimes songs try to say to much. In Joanna Newsom new CD “Ys” it suffers often of this wordy bit of song writing. The songs in there 7 minute plus format are extremely wordy with a new sense of off balanced music structures. This style of song writing in this collection of songs often leave me enjoying the first half of the songs but hoping they would end soon. Newsom’s voice is not for everyones musical enjoyment, it has calmed down lightly, now almost sounding of a young Byork but still has the high pitched phrases that fill you full of visions of faryies. This though is why she is thought of the most prominent of the modern psych folk movement. Her harp playing is a fine bit of work, but regretful seems to be buried behind some digital string arraignments that bring some vision of a 3 Year old banging against the keyboard. This is a CD that I really would like to like, but I think the songs are often frustrating me before they finnish.