Birds Of Tokyo - Birds Of Tokyo

MINE


It's... interesting.  I mean, the tunes are good, and I have no complaints about the singing or the production or any of the other myriad things that can go wrong in putting an album together.  But it just doesn't appeal to me.

Much like you can put on an article of clothing when the cut, colour and fabric all look right, but you look in the mirror and you just don't... pop.  I like my music to make me pop, and this stuff, while I almost guarantee it'll go on to please audiences worldwide and sounds ideal for stadium shows, leaves me unmoved.

Frankly it's a bit MOR for my taste, although YourZ hotly debated this with me.


VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

YOURZ

More proof that there is something about Perth that produces world-class bands and music.  Birds Of Tokyo are yet another example, featuring Ian Kenny, lead vocalist with another Perth act Karnivool (who we've previously reviewed here) and members of former Perth band Tragic Delicate.

More commercial and accessible than Karnivool, the Birds Of Tokyo make soaring, melodic rock, hinged around Kenny's incredible voice, quite possibly one of the best around at the moment (and not a hint of an auto-tuner anywhere).  This man could sing the phone book and it would sound great. 

This self-titled long player is their fourth album, released earlier this year, has already gained gold status in Australia, with the first two singles, The Saddest Thing I Know and Plans, becoming local hits.  But the album is full of great tracks, some reminiscent of Peter Gabriel, some more rock orientated but all highlighting the Birds great sense of melodic drama. And while they're not doing anything new or challenging, what they do, they do very well indeed.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For further information go to http://www.birdsoftokyo.com/

BT - Movement In Still Life

YOURZ

Regular readers of this page may recall me mentioning a friend who used to work in a local record shop and recommend different releases to me.  Movement In Still Life was one such recommendation, although it now occurs to me my friend didn't really have a good grasp of the sort of music I like.

However, in the case of BT, I think he did reasonalby well.  This is definitely a beat-driven album, which is what appeals to me when it comes to the 'dance' genre (and its myriad sub-genres).  Movement... has a few different shades too, moving from more big beat-driven tracks to trancier numbers.  What ties it all together is the incredible production of the album as a whole.  The last track, Satellite, is well worth the wait too - a lovely acoustic-driven number.

I'm not necessarily a big fan of the trancier stuff as I am, despite what Mine thinks, a lyrics guy and also like a good hook.  The trance numbers are longish and a little repetitive for my liking.  The production, however, is absolutely superb throughout the whole album.  It's no wonder BT has ended up working as producer for the likes of Peter Gabriel and, uh-hum, N-Sync.  Still, gotta got where the money is, I guess.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN (but remember it for our next party, Mine)

MINE

Going from big beat to hip-hop to hard dance and trailing off with some almost-acoustic numbers, Movement in Still Life has all the ingredients you need for a great night out.  In fact when I pressed play for this CD my first thought was "Damn, it's been a long time since I've had a night on the dance floor!"

Which brings me to the conundrum - for a man who buys a hell of a lot of dance music, my husband remains a committed non-dancer.  He likes to watch.  (YourZ sez: hehehe, yes, I likes to watch, hehehehe...)  Me, on the other hand, you can't keep me off the dance floor if there's one to be had, and often if there isn't.  I'll dance in the space between the bar and the jukebox, even if that's the direct route to the bathrooms and I'm being bumped aside every two minutes.  I'll dance in my car (chair-dancing) and have been known to boogie a little in between weightlifting sets at the gym.  I guess what I can praise my husband for is the fact that he manages to contain his embarrassment at my continual wiggling quite well.  Thanks, petal! (YourZ sez: I could watch you dance all day, dear)

Now, see what I mean?  My enthusiasm for the dance has completely removed from my brain any trace of a review I might have for this album.  So...

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (pass me a glowstick)

For further information go to: http://www.btmusic.com/

Peter Gabriel - Hit

YOURZ

Peter Gabriel was always my favourite ex-Genesis member, although, I'm a little ashamed to say Phil Collins ran a close race for a while back there.(Mine says: 'Ello... I'm Phil Collins! Hmm doesn't work without the cockney accent)  Poor old Mike Rutherford was never even in the running.  Thankfully, Pete won out by the sheer brilliance of his songwriting (and what the fuck was a ...Su-Su-Sussudio anyway?)

Thinking about it, Solsbury Hill would have to be another I'd want played at my wake (are you taking notes, Mine?)  It is such a beautiful, positive, uplifting piece of music and the lyrics match it perfectly... "Hey, I said "You can keep my things, they've come to take me home."  How beautiful is this?

Then there is Don't Give Up and the accompanying video clip, where he spends all of it in the arms of Kate Bush.  Oh, how I envied him.  And the song itself had every chance of being a saccharine piece of schmaltz but it just isn't.   Then there's Games Without Frontiers, a brilliant piece of commentary on nationalism built around minimalist keyboards and programed drums.  And yes, Kate Bush sings backing on this one too.

Hit covers a fair cross section of material from Gabriel's solo career but for me, it's the tracks from the earlier part of his career that stick out for me.  The production is stripped back and sparce with his distinctive voice cutting over the top, majestic and shining.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Hmmm, another "best of" album.  Not saying anything. (YourZ sez: yes you are - how many times do you wanna hear me say I was wrong?)

I was introduced to Peter Gabriel by my first husband many, many years ago.  I listened to the first solo album (after Genesis) many times, and hearing Solsbury Hill open this CD just brought that all back to me.  It was probably three or four years old at the time and I'd never heard anything like it.  I remember gazing for hours at the beads of water on the car's bonnet that forms part of the cover art.

And the man's output, when condensed into this selection of songs, is truly staggering.  Who among you doesn't smile at the thought of the chickens dancing in the video for Sledgehammer?  I'm sure I'm not the only one who sheds a tear or two during the beautiful duet with Kate Bush -  Don't Give Up. In fact, I was surprised by how many of these songs took me back to a place, a time, I hadn't thought about for years.

There's his work for political and humanitarian causes - for Amnesty and other human rights organisations.  there's his championing of world music and dance in WOMAD.  There are many reasons to love Peter Gabriel and you can hear examples of them on this CD.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.petergabriel.com/

Kate Bush - The Whole Story

MINE

This greatest hits CD misses some of the songs I would have included - but it's damn fine anyway. The Kick Inside and Lionheart were soundtracks to much of my teenage years, and Bush was - and still is - a huge role model for so many women. Not just a singer, a dancer, a songwriter, a musician, amazingly attractive, not a bimbo.... the list goes on. And Wuthering Heights meant so much to me - singing as she did about one of my teenage heroines - Catherine Earnshaw. It finally made sense to be a literature nerd who was into modern dance!

I'd have been happier if the compilation had included Hammer Horror from Lionheart and her duet with Peter Gabriel - Don't Give Up. But listening to it has reminded me how classic, and at the same time contemporary her music remains. Samples and covers of her work over the years by artists as varied as Utah Saints and Natalie Cole show how relevant she remains to this day.

And personally - the outfit she wore for the video of Hammer Horror totally informed my dress choice for the end-of-year school dance that year.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP


YOURZ

Kate Bush only came to existence in my world from a single, memorable point - the first time I saw the film clip for Babooshka. Oh sure, I remember her first single, the annoyingly catchy Wuthering Heights, but only because it came out around the same time I had to read the book at school. If anything, she saved me from having to read the bloody thing.

At the time, I was more interested in bands like Kiss and Sabbath to pay much more than cursory notice to the woman singing, apart from remembering her prancing around in the moors somewhere. All this changed with Babooshka.

Suddenly, those raging hormones in my 17 year old body stiffened and made it hard for me to even breathe. My hand and I became more than just friends while I took off Kate’s armour again and again and again (well, I was young then).

A number of years later, in my guise as sensitive young man, I cultivated an appreciation of Ms. Bush’s tunes, if only to pursue and conquer a number of more accessible objects of lust. But Ms Bush became one of those creepy commonalities between all the girls I liked and loved, including Mine.

I don’t hate her. How could I hate any one who informed my lust so well. But this is the sort of music that highlights the differences in taste between me and Mine. Viva la difference, I say.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

Click here for more info: http://www.katebush.com/