Kosheen - Resist

MINE

Oh this is a Forgotten Gem for me... why haven't I been putting this on my workout list?  It's just the sort of music I love to insipre me for one more minute on the elliptical machine.  Vaguely reminding me of Moloko and Portishead - but faster - this album is chock full of great songs.  Demonstrate, Catch U, Suicide - all pearls. 

I'll have to say I love this primarily because of the gorgeous voice of Sian Evans, who also doesn't suck as a songwriter.  Classified as trip-hop, I'd call them darker dance-pop.  And magnificent.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

Another of those albums added to our collection through the recommendation of a friend who worked in a record shop.  Thankfully, he got this one right as Resist is a great example of the genre.

While not necessarily my cup of tea (peppermint, if you please), it is the sort of music perfect for cruisy summer balcony parties while soaking up the last of the sun, just before the night (and whatever else) comes on.  You know what I mean...

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

For more information: http://www.kosheen.com/home/

Lush - Lovelife

MINE

Here we go, hanging out in Camden/ Drinking with my girlfriends on a Saturday night

Every time I think of this CD, the opening words to Ladykillers just run through my head on repeat.  I. Love. This. Album.  I used to have the chorus from Ladykillers as my email signoff.  Ciao! has gotten me through many a dark day.  Single Girl was me many a time.  If ever I'm feeling blue, Lovelife is certain to cheer me up.

Of course, the band came to an early end after this album, when their drummer committed suicide.  A point a recent commenter on an article in the Guardian about the death of former Stereophonics band member Stuart Cable chose to call "the curse of the 90's indie drummer" also mentioning Space and the Wonderstuff.  Kind of gruesome, but it makes you think...

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (I know the score I've heard it all before)

YOURZ

While Mine clearly has a great love for this album, I must confess that *gasp* I don't know it that well.  In the very early 90s, I had friends who were huge fans of just about everything 4AD (hi Nadine and Tim) but by the time this album came out, they'd moved away and I'd was more interested in lo-fi and slacker rock than the Brit-pop stylings of Lush.

But there was a time when shoegazer was a big thing with my friends and I and Lush, along with bands like Ride, Curve, Pale Saints, Charlatans, My Bloody Valentine and, particularly for me, Swervedriver (see our review of Mezcal Head here) were played and discussed with much fervour.  In fact, friendships were made and lost depending on which shoegazer band you liked or hated.  Such was our completely irrational, unfounded belief in the power of such bands.  (I'm feeling a little smug as the only survivors of that period were my favourite - Swervedriver.  Who's the cool one now, huh?)

For the most part, Lovelife lives up to its reputation for being one of the classic mid-90s British albums, with those gorgeous soaring harmonies and jangly-pop stylings.  I particularly like the opener, Ladykiller, Single Girl and the vaguely trip hoppy Last Night.  But the big surprise and the track of the album for me, is Ciao!, a duo between lead Lushette, Miki, and Pulp's Jarvis cocker.  Worth the price of the album, this one.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP particularly track 7

For more information: http://www.4ad.com/lush

Massive Attack - Mezzanine

YOURZ

I have a few quirks.  For the most part, you'd have to know me well before I'd reveal them.  But I'm prepared to let you in on one of them now.

And no, it's not some perverted secret love of teen boy bands.

When it comes to music, one of the worst things someone can say to me is "oh, I just know you'll love this band/album/singer".  It just sets my teeth on edge and I go out of my way to either completely ignore said artist or look for inadequacies, no matter how small, so I can put shit on it.  It's like I want to discover it for myself, without anyone else telling me.  I know it probably sounds ridiculous, but aren't most quirks? (Mine says: hence the difficulty in ever daring to buy you music as a present - but I've done it before, and dammit I'll do it again)

Such was the case with Massive Attack. It was years ago when I was a guitarist in a moderately successful indie guitar band and an ex-girlfriend, trying to expand my musical palate a little, used those words about MA's Blue Lines.  She played it all the time, particularly when I was around.  The more she tried to convince me, the more I hated it.  Then we broke up.

It meant I could finally listen to this band without the feeling of someone saying "see, I told you you'd like them".  Massive Attack are without a doubt the best exponents of trip-hop in the world.  The song arrangements and constructs are multi-layered, rich and deep without becoming bogged down in widdly bits.  Mezzanine merely continued to show the rest of the world how it's done proper, like.  Blue Lines will always be my favourite but this album is right up there with it.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

While Blue Lines is one of the albums I'd replace instantly should the collection ever vapourise (how? slip into a hole in the space-time continuum?) (YourZ sez: it might slip through a liminal space flaw into some parallel universe and into the hands of a nascent musician who uses it to take over his/her world - yeah, I know, I should stay away from the red lollies, right?)  I also love Mezzanine.  I appreciate trip-hop's not everyone's cup of tea, but I had this album on pre-order before it came out.  I picked it up the day it was released, as I did with its predecessor, Protection.  I love these guys.

That doesn't make for a great review - and I can't even lighten this entry with stories of when I saw them live, as I haven't.  I can say it's another great Sunday-morning-coming-down album (don't the Brits do those well?  Wonder why? tee hee) and it would also make great dinner-party music.

Oh, plus the video for Teardrop is just inspired.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (close your eyes and drift away)

For more information: http://massiveattack.com/

In our collection, we also have: Blue Lines, Protection and 100th Window