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Medium-well.

[News]

Godspeed You! Black Emperor reform to curate ATP’s Nightmare Before Christmas

The most highly revered (don’t call it) post-rock band, Canada’s GY!BE have announced that they will be reforming for three performances at the Butlins-based festival in December, followed by a handful of international tour dates. After a 10 year hiatus, the hype has already hit “critical”.

Record Store Day, April 17th

I hope you’re all going to be supporting your local independent record stores this Saturday. Lots of exclusives to be had if you’re quick, some of them at sensible prices (though not many). Details here.

Steve Reid dead at 66

More sad news to report this week, as legendary jazz drummer Steve Reid passed away. Most famous for playing on the smash hit Dancing in the Street, Reid was forever innovating, releasing several albums with Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden.

[Recent Arrivals]

Love of Everything – Best in Tensions

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the Joan of Arc collective. Past and present, everyone who has crossed paths with the Tim Kinsella-led group has gone on to produce something worth listening to. If you need proof of that, I encourage you to check out the recently released Don’t Mind Control compilation featuring a wealth of JoA alumni (you can read my review of that here). The latest product off the Chicago-based production line is the latest by bassist Bobby Burg’s solo project, Love of Everything.

Released on the aptly titled Record Label record label, and distributed both digitally and on limited purple vinyl on Polyvinyl Records (CDs are so last year), Best in Tensions sees Burg and drummer Elisse La Roche step into a proper studio set up for the first time. The result is an all too brief collection of joyous indie pop, complete with hand claps and tennis balls. If you’re a fan of early Shins/Flake Music releases or the superb recent LP by Say Hi, you’ll find much to like in this record. If those bands are a bit recent for you, then I’ll wager you could slip track 4, Marriage, on a Syd Barrett album and no one would notice. Consider that high praise indeed.

Best in Tensions loses some of the noisy ramblings present in 2006’s Superior Mold and Die in favour of short and sweet sub 3 minute numbers. Personally, I’d rather they were kept, but considering I’ve more than once gotten the response “and this is music, is it?” when playing records for people makes me think I’m in the minority. This is a fun record start to finish, and it would take the most curmudgeonly of souls to not crack a smile at songs like Birds, Ice Cream and Whales. You’re not curmudgeonly, are you?

Best in Tensions is available now from Polyvinyl.

Parallel Lines – 38:22

It’s long been my own personal musical mantra that anything played over a drone sounds great. A project to try at home: Play some random guitar notes. Now hold a keyboard note and play it again. Better?

Now, that’s not to say it’ll be good. Just better. Good drones take actual talent, and talent is something that’s abundant on this live record by Parallel Lines. This collaborative venture between three Canadians whose real names you probably won’t recognize, but whose stage names you might – destroyalldreamers, thisquietarmy, Below the Sea, to name a few – is a perfect combination of ambient texture psych-folk rhythm.

The set opens some dramatic cymbal swells and tense sustain before opening out into 40 minutes of hypnotic grooves. The performance is broken down into five parts, but you don’t really notice the transitions as the subtle progress of the pieces draws you along. The brief shot of applause at the end never fails to come as a shock as it snaps you back to reality and makes you wonder what you’ve been doing for the last half hour. Music of the “turn on, tune in, drop out” variety. It’s the perfect remedy the mundanity of being a productive individual.

Available now in a hand-numbered edition of 200 copies from Dead Pilot.

[From the Archives]

A blast from the past. The records you might have missed and that I almost forgot about.

Austin Lucas – Somebody Loves You (2009)

In the days before MySpace jumped the shark I was exposed to dozens of people’s attempts to sum up their musical taste in the space of a small box. The classic response took the form of “I like everything except for classical and country” – with varying degrees of grammatical accuracy. This has always been a great source of consternation to me. Firstly, people writing off entire genres is a pet peeve of mine. From techno to bubble gum pop to death metal, there is something worth hearing buried somewhere in there. Secondly, the people writing that sentence had typically only heard classical music on television commercials and I’m not convinced they’d heard country at all.

Austin Lucas’ third album, 2009’s Somebody Loves You, isn’t country. It’s bluegrass. But to most people, and certainly to MySpace, they’re the same. Folk with a twang. Austin started his musical career playing in hardcore punk bands, grating his voice and inking his arms in the process. However, growing up in a family of musicians, including first rate banjo player, Bob Lucas (his father), it was perhaps only a matter of time before roots music won out. Austin left the angry stuff behind and put together his most expertly formed collection of heartfelt folk songs. Covering found love and lost love, Somebody Loves You, is a captivating record. Bluegrass music is renowned for its beer-soaked introversion and —- you attitude, and both are present here. The sad songs are injected with cynicism and wit which keep them closer to the older punk aesthetic than country crooners.

This album sounds more finished than his previous works. That is perhaps my only criticism. Roots music benefits – in my opinion – by being a little rough around the edges. Buying the vinyl and not cleaning it very well solves this problem, however. If you want expert musicianship and quality songwriting, this is worth picking up. Then you can work on classical.

Available now from Suburban Home, Hometown Caravan and major retailers.

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Welcome to another RARE.

[News]

Corin Tucker solo album announced

A couple of weeks ago I announced (with great excitement) that two thirds of riot grrrl legends Sleater-Kinney were reforming. It is with equal glee that I can say that the third third, vocalist Corin Tucker has just announced a solo record. It’ll be released on Kill Rock Stars later this year.

Nada Surf covers album out now

I’m ashamed to say I don’t really know any of the songs they reinvent of their latest record If I Had a Hi-Fi, but I do love a bit of Nada Surf. Out now on their own label, Mardev Records.

Malcolm McLaren dead at 64

Sex Pistols manager and impresario passed away this week.

New Eksi Ekso album on the way

The Burning Paris, who you’ll see mentioned below, became Eksi Ekso (“X E X O”) and their first album is a favourite of mine. The new one will be something to look forward to.

[Recent Arrivals]

Sylvain Chauveau – Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated)

So what to write about an album whose success is based entirely on its mastery of minimalism? How to sum up a record which gains its power from what doesn’t happen?

The latest release by French composer Sylvain Chauveau is perhaps the most arresting album I’ve heard so far this year. 30 minutes of sparse piano notes, haunting vocals and the odd flicker of electronic interjection. It could happily be the soundtrack to one of those Tate Modern video installations – a flicker of disjointed images which at first you don’t understand yet can’t tear yourself away from.

In previous releases Sylvain has worked with a wide variety of styles, most of which would fit under the phrase “modern classical”. He is well established as one of the driving forces of modern composition along with peers like Max Richter of Jóhann Jóhannsson. Artists who adeptly merge traditional inspiration – Bach, Liszt, Chopin – with entirely 21st century ambition.

While this isn’t an album to throw on as casual background music, there is plenty of beauty to be found. Abstraction makes way for momentum on several occasions, the most notable of which is the the penultimate track, A Cloud of Dust. It draws you back into the album very quickly and is the reason I regularly hit play again as soon as the record stops spinning.

Yet another star performance by Type Records. Out now.

Guanaco – Sky Burials

I really like the idea of sky burial. Is that too much information? Perhaps. I really like solo acoustic guitar, too. So the debut solo LP from Beggin’ Your Pardon Miss Joan’s Lex Panayi is something I was keen to hear.

I was very fond of …Miss Joan’s very limited EP on Dead Pilot Records from a year or two ago. For this slightly less limited release (300 vinyl copies) on Blackest Rainbow, Lex has followed in the footsteps of fellow DPR to BR defector, Cam Deas, by dropping much of the fuzz and keeping the fingerpicking. I’m glad to say there has been a number of talented standard bearers carrying on the mantle of John Fahey, Harris Newman, and the recently deceased Jack Rose. Sky Burials is a worthy addition to that roster, with a pleasing combination of big sky folk and bedroom ambient.

If you’re at all familiar with Blackest Rainbow releases, you’ll be very comfortable with this. They have a very consistent hit rate with modern folk music and this album fits snugly in the roster. If you fancy something rootsy yet modern, you should look this way.

Available from Blackest Rainbow and Norman Records.

[From the Archives]

A blast from the past. The records you might have missed and that I almost forgot about.

The Baltic Sea – Through Scenic Heights and Days Regrets (2008)

Few of us have money to throw around, and the internet being the way it is means we never again have to buy a bad album. However, there have always been albums that appear on my horizon that I just have a good feeling about. Albums by bands I’ve never heard of that catch my eye at the right time and cause me to part ways with my $10 (plus shipping) based on zero information. Most recently this was the case with the latest album by the Felix Culpa. I had a good feeling about it. It will be on my year end list. The system works!

The first time I remember this buying entirely on spec in the internet age was with the first full length from Portland’s The Baltic Sea. The label took a very personal approach with the release – taking questions, releasing tracks here and there. I liked the sound of it. The artwork sealed the deal.

The Baltic Sea are a band for those who a bit more atmosphere in their rock music. It doesn’t quite have the reverb pedal antics of a post-rock record, but it has a healthy dose of cinematic grandeur. It’s a guitar/bass/drums record, but one that benefits from sitting down with more so than something to throw on in the background. Tracks like Impasse have have a Lizard-era King Crimson vibe, while the opening pieces are reminiscent of The Burning Paris and Constants with an occasional glimpse of Low Level Owl-style Appleseed Cast peeking through. It’s a slow-burner of an album and one which might sit on a shelf for weeks at a time until you’re in the right mood for it. But when that happens it really hits the spot. It’s a good example of why you should take the occasional risk on a band.

Available now on Ericrock.

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Bienvenue.

[News]

Holy Grail discovered.

The most celebrated album in heavy music and the most eagerly awaited re-issue of the past ten years, Converge’s Jane Doe has finally seen the light of day. Released on April 1st, though seemingly no joke, the re-press will be available on five varieties of double vinyl. Get it now from the label.

Jane Doe is real, pg.99 isn’t

Kudos to Magic Bullet Records for getting me with the Document #15 re-issue.

Debut release from Iroha

In addition to the Celeste album reviewed below, Denovali Records have just launched the pre-order for the first material by Birmingham’s Iroha. Former members of Final and Jesu, they sound… well just like Jesu. But if you like Justin Broadrick’s old work, you’ll enjoy it. Order here.

Bright Eyes’ Fevers and Mirrors re-issue

In other exciting vinyl news, Wichita Recordings are releasing the long out of print 2LP version of arguably the best Oberst release (I doubt I’ll find anyone who agrees with me on that). Get it here.

[Recent Arrivals]

Growing – Pumps!

I feel I should start with a confession. I got this album confused with Grouper. I pressed play expecting Liz Harris’ dreamy vocals over a bed of guitar fuzz and was quite shocked to discover she’d turned into a electro-psych-jungle-synth band… with an exclamation mark in the title, no less! I am of course an idiot, and this is the latest release by Olympia Washington’s Growing who, while notoriously a bit all over the place style-wise, are of course more likely to produce an album like this.

Their first release on new label, Vice, is a bit of a departure. Previous albums like 2008’s Lateral and 2007’s Vision Swim demonstrated the group’s talent for lush ambience. Pumps! (or PUMPS! depending on who you talk to) is an altogether dancier affair. The record kicks off with some fuzzy electro looping that would be very at home on the new Holy Fuck album. My overriding impression is one of retro, they-don’t-make-them-like-that-anymore gritty electronica. The kind of tracks made with thrift store gadgets rather than Mac Pros. If you have albums by Matmos or Trans Am or Tarwater tucked away somewhere, this release will make you want to dig them out.

Though definitely and electronic record, it has much in common with some recent psych-folk releases. It would fit in well with the Pocahaunted album I mentioned the other week, for example. It’s more beards and acid than glow sticks and ecstasy. It has, in fact, inspired me to follow my own advice and pull out some forgotten records, and any album which can rekindle my love for the past is a good album in my book.

Pumps! is out on CD, vinyl and digital April 6th.

Celeste – Morte(s) Nee(s)

Celeste play in the dark with frickin’ laser beams strapped to their heads. I shouldn’t need to sell them anymore than that, really.

But if you’re still reading…

Morte(s) Nee(s) marks the 4th release by the Lyon-based 4 piece. If you’ve always thought of the French language as the epitome of beauty and elegance then Celeste are here to teach you just how wrong you can be. In the press release their label claim that they “wrote a heavier, better, darker full length than the last time”. Honestly I’m not sure that’s true – if simply because they couldn’t really get any darker of heavier than their previous release Misanthrope(s). Celeste are easily the most destructive band that I’ve had on rotation over the past 12 months. Let’s be clear, though: this isn’t blast beats and noise. This isn’t piss-off-your-parents metal. Celeste are a genuinely talented group of musicians whose songs flow and develop with an elegance and subtlety that is entirely becoming of their gallic origins.

There has been some changes made to the formula for this record. Samples, some additional instrumentation and a very successful interlude in the form of the half way track, (S). There is a lot to discover in this album once you’ve adjusted to the sheer force of it. But anyway, I digress. Laser beams:

Morte(s) Nee(s) is available for pre-order and free download now from Denovali Records (turn your volume down before clicking).

[From the Archives]

A blast from the past. The records you might have missed and that I almost forgot about.

Rachel’s – Music for Egon Schiele (1996)

Released on CD and LP in 1996, Music for Egon Schiele is the soundtrack to a play about the eponymous artist. Louisville, Kentucky group Rachel’s were approached by the director to score the performance and the result was 47 minutes of beautifully restrained violin and piano.

Rachel’s are perhaps best known for their more recent records. Albums which fuse modern classical arrangements with electronics to create a vast soundscape. While those releases have much to recommend them, for me, it is Egon Schiele that stands head and shoulders above the rest. I’m generally very dismissive of soundtrack albums. They often feel shallow and cheap without the on screen performance they are written to accompany. Perhaps it is because this was written for the stage that it succeeds in filling that gap. There is an intimacy to the recording that sweeps you up in it. You can feel the dappled sunlight and dust of the studio. That off-white paper glow that typifies Schiele’s work. The sometimes troubled relationship with his model and mistress, Wally.

The individual pieces are short, but Rachel’s manage to do a lot with it. The pace is kept consistently slow as you’re guided through the story with each changing chord. The lilt of the instruments is consistent with the characters’ movements on stage and the whole things just works remarkably well. This perhaps only LP I’ve played for friends and family that has met with universal approval. A feat.

Available on Quarterstick Records.

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TGIF

[News]

Sleater-Kinney reform!

Or something close to it. Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss have been hinting that a new project is in the works. Excited!

New Kayo Dot album available.

The new album by the NYC prog masters is up for ore-order from Hydra Head Records.

New Celeste album in April.

French metalers Celeste have two (amazing) new songs up on their MySpace page right now and the pre-order for the forthcoming 2LP, Morte(s) Nee(s), will be going up on Denovali March 31st

[Recent Arrivals]

Sam Amidon – I See the Sign

The artist formerly known as Samamidon has returned for the follow up to his 2008 breakthrough, All is Well. I See the Sign is an important step for the folk singer. The last album was a collection of excellently rearranged traditional pieces. Moving stories of early America as old by its recent arrivals. This latest release, due April 13th on Bedroom Community records, is a collection of originals.

So, having established that he can play, can he write? A resounding yes. I See the Sign is the kind of record that you don’t even notice at first. It drifts by in a daze and slowly, as you listen more, different elements will jump out at you. Subtle phrases, delicate guitar runs, the occasional swirl of strings. It is an album that needs to be savoured. Sat and listened to whilst doing nothing in particular. Its 42 minutes fly by.

The biggest reward for committing your time is the penultimate track, Relief. The definite highlight, it emerges out of the song which precedes it somewhat unexpectedly. If you enjoyed the album Michigan by Sufjan Stevens, this will hit a chord with you. Another point of reference is Fleet Foxes drummer, J. Tillman’s solo work. They all have the knack of doing a lot with very little and the result is something timeless.

My new Sunday morning album of choice.

Red Sparowes – The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer

April 6th will see the release of the third full-length from Los Angeles’ Red Sparowes. After two releases which had long run times and even longer titles, The Fear reigns the band back to 40 minutes and a single LP. This hasn’t done anything to dampen the work of a band whose middle name is ‘atmosphere’, however. If anything a step towards the concise has improved matters.

Red Sparowes soundtrack the end of the world. Dark and brooding with the occasional flicker of hope. Their albums are like the soundtrack to an apocalyptic thriller (think The Road or 28 Days Later) without any need for the narrative. Featuring members of the accurately rated ISIS and criminally underrated Halifax Pier, they have the credentials to back up their long-form ambitions. Their unusual use of pedal steel guitar gives the record the perfect laid back desert vibe while the driving bass keeps the momentum up. If Sam Amidon is Sunday morning, this is what you want for the afternoon out on the road.

Released in Europe by Conspiracy and in the States by Sargent House, this record is worth getting for the artwork alone.

[From the Archives]

A blast from the past. The records you might have missed and that I almost forgot about.

The Silent Type – Of Writing / Of Violence (2005)

I talk about this album every chance I get. To the point that I had to check the back issues to see if I’ve mentioned it before. The only full-length to date from Virginia band The Silent Type is a collection of perfectly formed folk rock. Think somewhere between the introversion of Carissa’s Wierd and the swagger of The Good Life.

I first came across their work on a split release with the amazing Gregor Samsa. For whatever reason, GS made a bit of an impact while The Silent Type never managed to get all that far off the ground. Indeed, the band has been on indefinite hiatus for some time, with only the occasional murmur of new material.

The album opens with the outstanding track, Kneel. An intense 7 minutes of guitar and strings over a tragic vocal. As the record progresses you’re treated to an ebb and flow of male/female harmonies and a succession of really beautiful songs. Orchestration is used sparingly and to great effect. There’s an honesty to the lyrics that you can’t help but be compelled by. I think it’s criminal that The Silent Type aren’t more widely known. Another album, please.

Available on CD from Limekiln Records and Amazon.

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Welcome aboard.

[News]

New Tallest Man on Earth material surfaces

Swedish folk ace The Tallest Man on earth has a track from his forthcoming album, The Wild Hunt, up on his MySpace. It’s great.

The vinyl re-issue of Brand New’s superb 3rd album, The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, is delayed yet again.

Buy the CD.

The forthcoming Dillinger Escape Plan album

…is worth mentioning simply because the deluxe edition contains a CD with playable vinyl on the reverse (which I’ve heard sound awful), luggage tags, a hat and, inexplicably, a machine that will turn off any televisions in the area.

[Recent Arrivals]

The Felix Culpa – Sever Your Roots

The Felix Culpa formed in Illinois in 2003 and have spent virtually all of the time since them not informing me of their existence. In hindsight I’d consider this a real shame, as their new album, “Sever Your Roots”, which came out on Youth Conspiracy Records on January 23rd, is spectacular.

To be fair, the band spent most of the last seven years not releasing anything. So the fact that they were new to me doesn’t come as much of a surprise. “Sever Your Roots”, as the title implies is an album about moving on. There’s an urgency and a passion about it that you can’t help but be swept up in. The vocals crack in all the right places and there’s an honesty to the lyrics, which unfortunately aren’t reproduced for the vinyl edition, that will keep them swimming in your head for days.

The Felix Culpa would sit quite well next to bands like Brand New or Thursday, but they have a heart-on-sleeve openness about their sound that would suggest they’d probably be nicer to you at the merch stand than either of those. The production on the record is excellent, and I’d recommend heading over to the “Sever Your Roots” website where you can read the details of the recording process and download demo versions of most tracks. The guitars are spiky, the bass gutsy and the percussion suitably dramatic. A lot of thought has been put into what you hear and when and it works perfectly.

The album clocks in at over an hour, and I won’t go into the details of each track, but it’s safe to say that the time passes quickly and (for me, at least) repeated plays are a regular occurrence. “Our Holy Ghosts”, “Mutiny” and “An Instrument” are all potential songs of the year and “The First One to the Scene of an Accident…” consistently renders me incapable of doing whatever it was I was doing for its duration.

This record was a long time coming and an ambitious undertaking, but it’s safe to say, a massive success.

Available on CD, double clear vinyl and digital directly from the band.

Slow Six – Tomorrow Becomes You

I’m going to use the word “post-rock” right here at the beginning to get it out of the way. That was my first thought upon receiving the new record by the Brooklyn, NY collective. But it’s a description which would sell them short. Guitar-driven instrumental music fans, amongst which I would count myself, are largely in agreement that the genre has gotten pretty stale of late. Dynamism is decidedly lacking and delay pedals have become mundane. Slow Six do a damn fine job of redressing this balance.

Opening piece, The Night You Left New York, is as good an instrumental track as I’ve heard in some time. A collision of modern classical acts such as Strangers Die Every Day or Rachel’s with your more usual p-r fodder. It’s playful and compelling and it had me hooked right from the start. It does however set you up for a surprise as the album progresses. The latter parts of the record get decidedly more atmospheric, with some ambient/drone elements and fuzzy processed samples. They change the pace quite noticeably, but succeed in never dragging the album down. In fact they make it more compelling – this band are no one trick pony.

If this is the shape of instrumental music to come in 2010, then I will be very pleased.

Available from Western Vinyl and all good retailers.

[From the Archives]

A blast from the past. The records you might have missed and that I almost forgot about.

Khanate – Things Viral (2003)

A very exciting thing happened this week! After several months of (not really) trying (very hard), I finally got into Khanate! Slow tempos, lots of abstract noise and a vocal delivery that verges between harrowing and downright scary, Khanate are a challenge to even the most adventurous ears.

Started by guitarist Stephen O’Malley and bassist James Plotkin, whose various projects could fill up a month’s worth of this column, and featuring Alan Dubin on vocals and Tim Wyskida on drums, Khanate  tread a unique path in experimental music. On their second LP, Things Viral, the band steer you through four tracks which clock in at a little short of an hour. It’s a bumpy ride.

Blasts of rhythm punctuate layers of feedback, distortion and ambient noise while Dubin’s shrieked poetry slices through the whole lot with unnerving authority. The record is a challenge in the best sense. It requires some commitment on your part; a degree of trust. But the reward is that of the perfect horror movie: tension and relief followed by a lot more tension. When you start to enjoy it it is a really satisfying feeling, and you’ll be digging through the band’s brief back catalogue for more. If you’re one of those people who claims to listen to “everything”, this will test your metal.

Khanate are for life, not just for Halloween. Available on CD from Amazon and the like.

Khanate MySpace (unofficial)

RARE

Hello and welcome to another week of musical intrigue.

[News]

Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova split re-issue on Saddle Creek in March

Omaha’s Saddle Creek Records are  re-issueing the excellent EP by Bright Eyes and the massively underrated Neva Dinova. Bonus tracks and vinyl and other temptations. Pre-order.

The new Efterklang album is a bit different

It is. But Efterklang are pretty consistent, so I imagine I’ll warm to it. Out February 22nd.

Arms & Sleepers are nearly in the black

Ambient electronica duo, Arms & Sleepers, are very close to successfully raising the $2,500 they need to pay for their excellent album, Matador. Check them out over at Kickstarter.

[Recent Arrivals]

Dead Pilot Split Series, Volume 7: Plurals & Tuluum Shimmering

Down to business. First up this week is the latest installment in the ever compelling Dead Pilot Records split series. Volume 7 sees UK collective Plurals pitted against fellow countryman, Tuluum Shimmering. Each contribute a single 15-odd minute track to the disc.

Plurals may be familiar to some as the more sociable incarnation of Dan Mackenzie’s excellent solo ambient project, Ekca Liena. Plurals, as the name suggests, bring something new to experimental party by being a band in a room full of soloists. Many brains contributing to the outcome leads to an unpredictable series of twists and turns as sounds swirl around each other. Sounding something like a Star Trek interlude pinched and stretched in every direction, it takes you on a ride that makes a quarter of an hour fly by in an instant.

If Plurals’ side is science fiction, then Tuluum Shimmering’s is adventure. The opening bars hint at deserts and middle eastern sunshine. The enlightenment is carried throughout the piece with galloping hooves leading to a cascade of wind chimes and on to chants reminiscent of Pocahaunted buried under Tim Hecker fuzz. A blissed out haze than then drops you with a thud.

DPSS07 is packaged in a black digipack with artwork by Ekca Liena. It’s a hand-numbered edition of 100 copies and is just £3.50 directly from Dead Pilot, so act quick.

Plurals MySpace | Tuluum Shimmering MySpace

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – Kollaps Tradixionales

There are two schools of thought when it comes to the Silver Mt. Zion collective: Those that feel front-man, Efrim Menuck, should keep his mouth shut, and those that don’t. Over the course of six LPs, the group has moved from instrumental string trio to a unique blend of orchestral punk led by Menuck’s yelped political vocals.

Personally, I feel they’ve improved with each record. 2008’s “13 Blues for Thirteen Moons” was a wonderful album and 2005’s “Horses in the Sky” even more so. The new CD/double 10″ on long-time label, Constellation, opens with the 12 minute anthem, “There is a Light”. Part sorrowful lament, part joyful waltz, it’s an unusually uplifting piece from a band whose most recent work has largely concerned the demise of society at the hands of corporate America.

That uplifting feeling is brought crashing back to more familiar territory with tracks two and three – “I Built Myself a Metal Bird” and “I Fed My Metal Bird the Wings of Other Metal Birds”. The spiky violins and throbbing double bass that fans will recognize from recent tours are here in abundance and represent the real high point of the album.

The trio of short “Collapse Traditional” pieces on the C-side slow the pace back down again. Recalling the quietly powerful “Mountains Made of Steam” and “Hang on to Each Other” from the “Horses in the Sky” record, they will (to a point) keep the older fans happy with a dose of pretty post-rock. The final piece, “‘Piphany Rambler”, another 15 minute epic, closes the album much as it began. A funeral march which builds to a rallying cry.

As impressed as I was with the previous Zion records, I was very keen to like this one just as much. Having spent quite a bit of time with it, I’m yet to be hit with the full force of the tracks. They’re yet to grab me quite like “BlindBlindBlind” or “God Bless Our Dead Marines” did. Something tells me I need to see these tracks live for them to click. However, that shouldn’t really be a necessity. I shall play the optimist for the time-being and call this one a grower.

Released February 8th in Europe and the 16th everywhere else on Constellation Records.

[From the Archives]

A blast from the past. The records you might have missed and that I almost forgot about.

Lucero – Tennessee (2002)

I have a predisposition towards being nice to anything Tennessee-related. I lived there for a very pleasant year and came away being more defensive of it than I have any real right to be. To that extent, an album by a Memphis band named after their home state was a pretty easy sell.

Lucero, fronted by the raspy twang of frontman Ben Nichols, have been releasing first rate bar rock for several years now. Last year’s “1372 Overton Park”, the first of a four album deal with Universal was a favourite of mine. However, while that record was all major label gloss (horn sections galore), “Tennessee” is a much grittier affair. They could be the regular Friday night band of any southern bar, singing of young love and missed opportunities.

With just the right mix of foot-tapping and heartbreak, it’s a record you’ll find hard to get out of your head. Simple and touching and evocative. I think it manages to transcend my personal Tennessee bias.

Available on CD everywhere and, word is, on vinyl again at some point this year.