It returns for the one and only gloriously vintage blog appearance. The title reflects the fact that 7 of the 10 bands come from the British Isles.
If only I could make my text sparkle the way this blog does. Until then, you can suffer through my over-adjectived reviews (no numbers)
Friday Random 10
1. Franz Ferdinand - Walk Away: This song is excellent. They step out of the inimitable dance aesthetic away from the New British Invasion and harken back to the original Britsh Invasion. It's not the best song and I like these guys when they are pushing things a little more than they do here but they manage not to leave this song high and dry. It's almost odd because this album it's really apparent that it is the 'B' side of the record I would be obsessing over.
2. The Thrills - Old Friends New Lovers: These guys generally get a little under my skin but here they have fallen back into one of those topics (love) that actually works well with country music. Plus, they have more of the bluesy guitar running through the song than usual and actually seem to be mixing up a little bit of the Irish roots back into the Nashville aesthetic.
3. The Black Heart Procession - A Cry For Love: This is one of those moments where randomness pays unexpected dividends. This song combines nicely with the previous song. It keeps things slow and actually adds a more funereal element to the whole affair. It has simple melodic structures and a fairly spare arrangement while managings to convey the emotional plaintiveness behind the song.
4. Imogen Heap - Loose Ends: This album was procured for others. This song is pretty bland dance-pop but with the esteemed vocals of Ms. Heap being the only thing that really makes this song worth possessing at all. Think of the new Madonna song with an alto.
5. The White Stripes - Blue Orchid: This song is a thing of singular beauty. It is good and clean and dirty all at the same time. The distortion on each of those keening guitar plucks is so dirty but the space between each of those rythmic, driving pulses is so clean.
6. Of Montreal - So Begins Our Alabee: This song shows the danger of a one man band. I like Of Montreal, even a lot of their new stuff. This song, however, has a minute too long of an intro. It doesn't quite build effectively and I'm really not sure what it adds. After that, it becomes a fun pop song with the signature electro-psychadelia that Of Montreal do so well.
7. The Sames - Heartpine: I really wish Yo' would go check out these guys for me. I only have two songs of theirs I stumbled onto but I like them. This one has more traditional indie/emo vocals over a borderline emo/garage sound. I know this isn't the best description but they are pretty cool. Anyway, they're based in Durham, NC so that means our "All Things Carolina" expert is appointed to investigate more fully.
8. Radiohead - Everything in Its Right Place: Another good song. A little abrupt of a changeover from The Sames but no one is really going to complain once they realize what is playing next. Radiohead! Finally, one band that we can all agree on...or else.
9. J Dilla - Love Junkee (featuring Cameo): Unfortunately, he just died from lupus. Some passable hip-hop. It is not overwhelmed with fancy samples, thankfully, but it goes on for too long with some vocals you can barely pick out of the mix before they hit the heart of the song. Some slight Eastern (Indian) influences seem to slip into the underbelly of the latter half of the song. I'm not an expert so I'll stop before I say something dumb(er).
10. Gorillaz - Last Living Souls: Another spare hip-hop song. It is really suprising that this is the song that is supposed to draw me into their album. It is kind of cold and lacking that bounce that draws me to most Gorillaz songs. So this song doesn't quite do it for me.
Take it to 11:
Blur - Far Out: A pretty random example of the joys of Britpop. So quirky you just wanna hug em and hug em and...well, maybe you ought to just hum along.
posted by fulsome @ 3:31 PM
