Muso Club: Round 4 Results

Faustiandan’s choice:

Sieben - Ogham Inside The Night

Now brothers, there is something I’ve been meaning to share with you for some time and I think, perhaps, this might be the forum. It is my endless love of Neo-folk. I know I have shared this with you verbally and my last fm account is a testament to it; so I don’t mean I want to simply tell you how good neo-folk is. I am also acutely aware of your shared interest in the genre; both of you being fans of some of the stand out artists– Current 93 and Rome spring to mind and also, if you follow a logical musical path, Laibach. So I don’t want to share this with you in an ‘introducing’ kind of way. I simply want to share with you how big a part of my listening habits neo-folk accounts for. So I am using Muso Club to represent what’s been taking my interest – and Neo folk albums are always grabbing me.

The album in question is a one man band, which in itself is quite strange. But from this singular creative force comes a swell of ingenuity and beauty – driven by Matt Howden’s captivating voice and haunting violin, this is a shining star of what Neo-folk has to offer – RYM said “Every so often you encounter music that you know is a masterpiece the first time you hear it”, this is one of those albums!

Mega Matt Mega Matt Mega Mega Matt Matt’s choice:
Textbook of Modern Karate 'Needle'

Obviously I was lead to this album because of our shared love of Thee Maldoror Kollective. This is as experimental as the original if not more but maybe with less catchy rifts in it. Does anybody know what the women is crying about on “A Gibbet Rootwork”, she disturbs me! I have listen to this quite a few times and although there is some brilliant elements it does not gel together so does leave one a little confused.

The Meads of Asphodel 'The Murder of Jesus the Jew'
Interesting introduction, I was wondering where this album may be going but by the start of the second track it was all clear, so I thought until half way through this track and then the only thing clear was that this was going to be a ride. I am not expect in this genre, if this falls into one, but I found the album amazing.

Tim Sim’s Choice:
Bjork and The Dirty Projectors – Mount Wittenberg Orca

Can I jump in with my next selection a little early? I have many I want to do, but listening to this last night I though yes yes yes yes. Get hold of a joint effort between the always delightful (in a way) Bjork and the dirty projectors. The album is called Mount Wittenberg Orca. It has everything you want from bjork mashed into this springy showmanship, almost broadway sound of the band. There's multiple vocals all balancing each other wonderfully.

Extras - Ulver 'The Wars of the Roses' & Solar Bears 'She was coloured in'

Faustiandan’s choice:
So, what am I recommending? I am going for a selection of two rather popular albums. The reason I have to submit two albums is because Tim has mentioned the new album that has most excited me of late, James Blake’s eponymous debut album. What is fascinating about this album is its bizarre mass appeal. He’s a classically trained pianist playing around with Dance music; producing more artistic numbers rather than floor fillers. His work to date labels him as Dub-step but his EPs aren’t really; they are more influenced by Dub-step or, better, can be seen as making a knowing nod towards the genre, post-dub-step if you will. So he’s a dub-step producer who’s not really a dub-step producer who then has moved onto baffle us further by releasing an album of vocal tracks in a ‘singer-song writer’ mode. Safe to say this album could not really be classified as ‘singer-song writer’ (whatever that means) nor can it be called dub-step. What you have instead is a soulful, uber-produced and ultra modern take on pop song music with experimental electronic programming throughout. It is haunting, interesting, uncomfortable and breathtaking in equal measure and, above all, it is universally praised. From the main stream through to the underground, everyone is wetting themselves about how good this is. What’s really funny about this admiration is the fact that it is really not very easy listening; in fact it is often quite uncomfortable. There is nothing that tickles me more than ostensibly underground music getting mass attention. I like to imagine those poor teenie boppers getting it home and listening in bewilderment as the album unfolds.

Anyway – for whatever my view is worth, the hype is more than justified. This is brilliant and will undoubtedly feature in many people’s top albums of the year. Check it out bros. My other option, as I know Tim definitely has the album above, is another popular release this year which I’m also certain will appear in many top albums of the year come December. The album in question is the new release from PJ Harvey, Let England shake.

Mega Matt Mega Matt Mega Mega Matt Matt’s choice:
And finally, after an unfortunate wait, it's time to offer up my selection. I have picked The Jade Motel by Zeigeist. It's an up tempo electro pop album from scadanavia and much in line with the Knife sound.
**Note – this album has been deleted as an official selection due to an incident of identity theft. An enquiry has been launched regarding this issue.

Tim Sim’s Choice:
I have decided to head down the contemporary jazz route and offer one of my favourite modern jazz records. Nik Bartsch's Ronin, the album is Holon. He is a Swiss pianist and composer, and this work is of the highest quality. It certainly is a builder of an album, meandering along slowly to start, but it really gets going at points. It manages to be relaxed and excited all in one journey.

Muso Club 2

Faustiandan’s choice:

I have opted for a little gem I read about in my trawl through the best of 2010, Umberto’s ‘Prophecy of the Black Widow’. This is synth driven music reminiscent of horror soundtracks from the 70s and 80s; i.e. Goblin and John Carpenter. What raises it above the bar of other retro sounding bands plying a similar trade (e.g. Zombi) is it’s compositional quality and abundance of ideas. Also, for a pretty experimental record it is very engaging whilst still reaping the rewards of continuous listens.

Mega Matt Mega Matt Mega Mega Matt Matt’s choice:

Now I have already shared this with Dan when he came down but the intense first track with the balance of the 2 vocals just blew me away.

Tim Sim’s Choice:

My suggestion is a little blues number by John Fahey. Check out 'Legend of Blind Blind Joe Death'. On reflection I suppose it may prove a little blues niche and perhaps not for general consumption. I love it though, it's got the structure of classic delta blues, but a refined, layed back approach. It's peaceful.

Muso Club Round 1 Results

FaustianDan’s choices:

Flower Travellin’ Band – Satori (1971)
Japan’s answer to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, this is catchy, heavy and psychedelic. One of the most exciting albums I have heard for quite some time. It’s complex yet easy to listen to; trippy as you like yet still rock and roll. Dislike this one and you might as well admit you are a tasteless philistine!!

Klaus Nomi – Klaus Nomi (1981)
OK, admittedly this guy has a voice that may lead many to disregard the album wholesale. This isn’t helped by the sound production which, to the untrained ear, could sound a little dated. But wait my friends – persevere and you will see this is catchy, majestic and spews genius out of its many orifices. Influenced by Kraftwerk in its electronic programming, the greatest complement you can give to this is to acknowledge that without his work David Tibet would be a completely different artist and Antony and the Johnsons simply would not exist.

Mega Matt Mega Matt Mega Mega Matt Matt’s choices:

The Builders and the Butchers - Salvation Is A Deep Dark Well (2010)
There is nothing ground breaking with this album at all. Acoustically very main stream and I bet big in the states. However, lead vocalist Ryan Sollee has a very soothing, reassuring voice.

Infected Mushroom - Legend of the Black Shawarma (2009)
As far as Israeli psychedelic trance goes, there is no finer. I found some tracks get a little lazy but then again a lot of trance can but this they do produce some unique quirky sounds that are worth a listen.

Tim Sim’s Choices

So my first choice is the jazz act When with the homage to Sun Ra. You know you love it, you know you love the intergalactic musical mystic. Brilliant.

The second and final choice (oh how I wish I could have 4 or 5). It's from that old Japan super slick, super dude, David Sylvain. As Dan is the one who suggested this guy to me some time earlier this year, I'm sure he's already checked out the top albums. In this instance I want us all to give some more, dedicated focus to the work made in collaboration with another Japan connection, Japanese master pianist and electropop pioneer Ryuichi Sakamoto. The album is called Forbidden Colours. I suppose it's not quite an album, more an EP, but with so much music to digest in such a short time, this was an additional factor in my choice. The choice which hit third place is about 90 minutes long, so we can be grateful to my logic.