OK Go - OK Go

MINE

So long before this band became famous for this video clip, YourZ and I were sitting at home with another friend (hi, Dave!) and listening to a freebie compilation given away by Q Magazine.  A rock collection, if memory serves me.  And while most of the rest of it was unremarkable, one song made us sit up and listen.  (This video isn't quite the version we heard, but it'll do.) So we played it again, and then again.  And I believe later in the night we played it once more!

And then for quite a while I searched for the album it came from, believing it would be filled with similar gems.  And when I found it, I was a little disappointed.  But re-listening to that album now, I see I've dismissed the other songs too readily, because they're also great.  Sardonic, and at times weirdly reminiscent of The Cure, for some reason.  I love You're So Damn Hot and Don't Ask Me, but really they're all good.  So I can't call it a Forgotten Gem - but maybe it's a Rediscovered Gem?  Pop-rock heaven, anyway.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

I was pleased to finally land on OK Go so I could write about our collection of great CDs we've got for free from various music magazines.  As Mine says, we picked this track up from one such CD and I do believe we played the song possibly even more times.  I have a distinct memory of our friend requesting the song many times over the night.  And I think he laughed and sang along loudly each time.

I was sold on this band the first time I heard What To Do.  There was no way who ever wrote that song was going to write a one hit wonder.  I'd seen the album around when it was first released but didn't take much notice of it.  But I'm so pleased we sought this great band out.  This, their debut, is full of smart, wry pop rock gems (yeah, try saying that five times quick).

Again, as Mine says, they're more known for their clever videos.  Their domination of YouTube changed the landscape of the music industry.  And it won them a Grammy too.  Thankfully, they have continued to write the same smart music while making some fantastically inventive videos over the last few years (I reckon you could probably tell a lot about a person by what OK Go video they liked the most).

I listened to the CD twice through but was still wanting to hear more after the second listen.  And frankly, I'm a little surprised we haven't added anything more of theirs to our collection.  Guess these are going to be another addition to that list, Mine.

VERDICT:

For more information go to http://www.okgo.net/

Jamie T - Kings & Queens

YOURZ

I bought Kings & Queens on spec after reading a great review in Q Magazine which called Jamie T a cross between Joe Strummer and The Arctic Monkeys.  Generally speaking, such comparisons wouldn't sway my purchasing powers but in this instance, I was pleased I took a chance as the general accolades for this young South Londoner are actually deserved (although the comparisons are only probably drawn because he employs a similar wit to both).

Employing rock, punk, pop, and hip hop in equal measure , Jamie T draws you in with sharp hooks, whip-quick raps and huge singalong choruses that get stuck in your head for days.  The best descriptive I can come up with for Kings & Queens is eclectic but not so much to be disjointed.  Rather, it shows a playfulness and maturity, both in arrangements and production, that brings these disparate influences together very well.

From the acoustic treasures Emily's Heart and Jilly Armeen to the Clash-inspired British Intelligence to the more contemporary sounds of Hocus Pocus and Stick & Stones plus all the tracks in between, Jamie T consistently keeps both his and the listener's interests on high alert, in the best possible way.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

I'm more fond of British rappers than I am of their US counterparts.  Big statement, I know, but I find the Brits can do a rant (which is esentially what a rap is) with a tad more humour (with a "U") and some cheeky observations, while the Yanks tend to be mostly, um, angry.  The Brits can do misery better than anyone (see: The Streets) but Jamie T is handing out mostly up-beat raps here.

And he can sing.  My main problem with the whole rap genre is that so often it's delivered by someone with little or no musical sensibility, just the ability to follow a beat.  But this guy can sing and play and write music, so 'spect to him.  It's well-produced, well-written, well played and interesting to listen to.  What more can I say?

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.jamie-t.com/

Florence & The Machine - Lungs

YOURZ

As music fans, Mine and YourZ (truly) read a lot of music magazines.  Our favourite is Q Magazine, although it does have a habit of putting the bloody Gallaghers on the front cover.  Still, it's the content we love, not the covers.  And it has quite probably the largest review section of any music magazine out there.

Like a lot of British press, it spends a lot of time hyping up local acts, often to the extreme and often undeservedly.  In Florence & The Machine's case, though, they actually got it right.  This is a stunning debut of a real, honest to goodness talent and one that's likely to be around for a long time (fuck, I hope I haven't cursed her in saying this).

Oh, sure, there are endless comparisons you could adopt if you wanted to be a wanker about it.  It would actually be a task because this young lady is a bit of a musical chameleon, switching and adapting her sound to suit her moods and songs.  So to start drawing the comparisons is a bit of a pointless exercise.  Don't look for them, just sit back and enjoy it.  Just take our word for it; this is every bit as good as the hype will have you believe. 

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Why did it take me so long to buy this album?  I think I'm losing my music magazine mojo (MMM) - the ability to read a review and instantly know when an artist will appeal to me.  I think I've read about five reviews for Lungs and all of them made me want to buy it.  But I resisted the temptation because I hadn't actually heard any songs.  That's not surprising this year, because it actually takes quite some time to listen to all the CDs we're reviewing.  Plus I have a life, you know.  Work.  Housework.  Couches to potato on.  Cats to play with.  A husband to annoy. Stuff.

In fact, my time in the car, where I used occasionally to get exposed to new music, is now spent actively listening to old music.  But the other day, when we were wandering through a record shop, I bravely stretched my hand out and purchased this CD, gaining some of my MMM back and an appreciative remark from the pierced and tattooed goth girl behind the counter.

It's good.  Very good.  But it's taken me until today to realise whose voice it is Florence reminds me of.  It's Michelle Shocked.  Obviously that's where the comparison stops, because the wall-of-sound orchestration that F & the M use is nothing like the chirpy guitar-based folky stuff Ms Shocked was wont to push out.  It's an album I'm sorry I resisted buying for so long, and one I know I'll be playing for many years to come.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://florenceandthemachine.net/

Radiohead - Amnesiac

YOURZ

I could start this by throwing a bunch of shit at Mine.  But while I know she doesn't get Radiohead, in some small way, I'm kind of pleased about this.  It means I can be a little bit possessive of their music and a little bit geeky about the band without annoying her too much.

Some may wonder why she doesn't get it.  I don't.  I know why.  It's for the same reason some people enjoy Mingus or Monk yet can't abide modern music.  It's for the same reason some love Death Metal while others gag at the thought of listening to it.  It's all about our uniqueness, our very individuality.

I like to tease Mine and say her Radiohead bone is broken but the truth is she's only expressing her uniqueness.  And I can't help but love her for it.

This is also why I love Radiohead.  At no point in their career have they slackened off.  From the outset, they worked hard at everything they did, conscientiously choosing to do things their way.  Amnesiac saw them continuing the experimental twists in sound they first ran with on previous album, Kid A.  Like that album, it divided fans and critics alike between those who wanted the band to return to their more straight rock days and those who loved the new more experimental tunes.

Personally, I prefer the less predictable Radiohead.  There are plenty of bands in our collection who play it safe and stick to what they know.  But the reason I like Radiohead is because they don't.  More power to them, I say.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Oh, cheer UP!!  That's all I want to say to Thom Yorke, whose whiny, nasal drawl just makes my ears itch.  I know, I know, they're critically acclaimed, the world loves them, they can do no wrong.  But guess what?  I JUST DON'T GET IT.

I resisted buying OK Computer for ages, until Q Magazine rated it the Album of the Year in 1997.  And I tried, I really did.  I played it several times, willing myself to have that moment when distaste would turn to wonder.  But Radiohead, like the taste of olives, will forever make me grimace.

Oh, I quite liked Creep.  That's it.  The rest is what I call booooooooooring sub-prog rock (Your sez: I'm not even sure what this means).  I can appreciate that it's well done, that it's clever - but it doesn't sing to me.  Fortunately, liking Radiohead wasn't a deal-breaker for YourZ, or we never would have gotten married!

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN (because he'll never let me chuck it)

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

In our collection we also have OK Computer, Kid A, Hail To The Thief, In Rainbows and I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings

Billy Bragg - William Bloke

MINE

Ah, Billy.  Our relationship began all those years ago, on a late-night TV music show, not with any of your recordings but with the vocal stylings of one late-lamented Kirsty MacColl (of whom, I'm freely betting, more will appear here).  Her version of your song  A New England held me transfixed.  In fact, so enamoured was I of Ms MacColl's version, I sneered at yours when I was introduced to it a short time later.

It wasn't until I heard Talking with the Taxman About Poetry - which opens with the delightful Greetings to the New Brunette and also features the transcendant  Levi Stubbs' Tears - that I really understood what you were all about.  But I've always preferred your personal songs to your political ones, despite agreeing with what you have to say, you old-skool lefty.

I've seen you - um, three or four times, can't remember - and for a while there you were one in a whole range of blokes-with-a-guitar I saw back-to-back (Luka Bloom and Elvis Costello also featured as such, I recall).  But William Bloke doesn't have much on it I like.  Everybody Loves You Babe made me smile, and The Space Race is Over echoed my feelings so well - didn't we all dream of walking on the moon?  But generally this doesn't have much in it to warrant keeping it in the collection.

Fear not though Billy, I think your best-of album Must I Paint You A Picture? will be on my to-buy list.  I can see this blog's going to prove expensive, in the end.

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT


YOURZ

If there is such a thing as English country music, then Billy Bragg is definitely one of its biggest proponents, particularly on William Bloke, his eighth album.  Musically, this album moves between quiet, stripped back tunes reminiscent of Randy Newman (with a similar kind of humour too) to mid-tempo numbers.

Lyrically, Billy continues to tread pretty much the same ground he's always done, moving between quasi-political and protest songs to more personal songs about love.  Gone is the raw, raggedness of his earlier releases and in its place is a smoothness in production that, quite frankly, makes it bland and boring.

I like Billy.  He's intelligent, articulate and passionate.  He also enjoys a beer or three. He has a wonderful wit and because of this, his column in Q Magazine is one of the first things I read with each new issue.  As it is, I would love to say I enjoyed listening to this and although I tried hard to, I couldn't. Sorry Billy...

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

For more information: http://www.billybragg.co.uk/