Latest music reviews, including Lana Del Rey, Mark Lanegan, The Doors, Field Music, Lacuna Coil and Phantom Limb
Lana Del Rey Born To Die
Lana Del Rey: Born To Die
THERE’S something so distinctive about Lana Del Rey’s music.
It’s quite astonishing how she’s able to take such a vintage and recognised concept of the American dream, and subsequently make it sound so refreshing and cutting edge.
With this debut album, she has undoubtedly created her own sub-genre, Hollywood Pop, while utilising elements of hip hop and orchestral music. With most of our modern music becoming more focused on producing fast-paced and generic dance tracks, Lana Del Rey’s audacious choice to go against the norm and release a debut album that challenges that typical criterion is impressive.
In the end, Lana Del Rey is truthfully more than just the ‘Gangsta Nancy Sinatra’. She’s a wholehearted, inventive pop act that’s determined to present us all with a blast from the past, while also making use of the power of the present to completely demonstrate herself as an artist.
Mark Lanegan Band: Blues Funeral
BLUES Funeral is the first Mark Lanegan solo album since 2004’s critically acclaimed Bubblegum.
Despite a lengthy break, Lanegan’s prolific work rate has been in full force, with guest spots and collaborations with the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Isobel Campbell, the Gutter Twins, Soulsavers and Bomb the Bass.
Blues Funeral is an equally familiar and surprising evolution in Lanegan’s remarkable, if still under-appreciated solo career.
Lanegan is in fine form and his vocals seem to get better with age; a rich, world-weary growl with stunning control and depth. His fruitful artistic endeavours are reflected throughout Blues Funeral, unearthing some of his most adventurous song-writing amidst an impressive cast of contributors. Guests include Jack Irons, Chris Goss, Greg Dulli and multi-instrumentalist and production wizard Alain Johannes, who rubber-stamps Lanegan’s superb arrangements with warm, textured production.
The biggest surprise is the increased integration of electronic textures and synth-pop influence. This works particularly well on the mesmerising Ode To Sad Disco and the darkly upbeat Harborview Hospital.
Elsewhere, Lanegan delves into more familiar territory on the brooding, bluesy balladry of Phantasmagoria Blues and the sublime St Louis Elegy. Riot In My House is a delightfully raucous rocker, with an inspired guest appearance by guitarist Joshua Homme. Quiver Syndrome follows a similarly rockier path, while Gray Goes Black is shady pop-rock brilliance.
The varied instrumentation and rich dynamics are complimented by an inspired collection of genuinely memorable, engaging songs.
The gloomy atmosphere of Blues Funeral, and its accompanying lyrical bent of dark imagery, despair and regret, is offset by a lilting sense of hope and redemption, maintaining a darker edge without sounding depressing or one-dimensional.
Lanegan has created one of his most accomplished efforts; an album that transcends genres and trends, carving its own unique path of musical growth, artistic integrity and gritty resolve. Blues Funeral is destined to become a modern classic.
Release Date: February 6
The Doors: L.A. Woman 40th anniversary edition
THE Doors’ last album before Jim Morrison’s death stands apart from their earlier releases.
Grittier and bluesier, it isn’t representative of what made them successful, but has its own aura. The cover shot shows a grizzlier, chunkier Morrison, no longer the budding sex god, and his vocal delivery is that of a more mature hell raiser.
Two additional musicians on rhythm and bass guitars are also featured, so that Ray Manzarek’s keyboards, though still prominent, are less dominant. The result is that the band sounds less different from other bands than before, but they also sound more fluid.
Blues forms the main thread to the album. There are three straight examples of the form, but there are, as usual, surprises. L’America is the most uncomfortable listening and reveals that Morrison still possessed plenty of menace. Love Her Madly is deliciously light and melodic, Manzarek’s piano skipping along, as is Hyacinth House. Changeling provides an earthy opening, while the title track fairly bombs along, allowing each member to stretch out.
This is one of the album’s trump cards, but two more are left until the end. Texas Radio and The Big Beat sees Morrison on mischievous form, and it does indeed feature a big beat. But the crowning achievement is, of course, Riders On The Storm, a soundtrack for psychopaths everywhere, full of beautiful sounds and dark dramas.
Possibly not to every fan’s liking, L.A. Woman is nevertheless a superb performance, and with all the added bonuses on the superb second disc, with is a very rare thing in the music buying world – a re-release that’s worth every penny … and more! I just hope the rest of the back catalogue is about to get the same stunning treatment.
Release Date: February 6
Field Music: Plumb
PLUMB by Field Music is a prog-pop showcase sporting sounds that will remind listeners of bands like Yes, Genesis, XTC and The Beatles.
Nothing on this record is conventional. None of these songs are straight arrows. They zigzag, swivel, swoop, bounce and bop along. This is artful music and sound orchestration for smart people, with some lyrics thrown in for good measure. Percolating liquids, street sounds, church bells, handclaps, rubbery guitars, rumbling bass lines, ear-busting tuba toots – the list is long and backed up around the block. Patient people with open minds, who like their songs like seeds (the kind that grow on you), will find a plethora of delights while listening to this highly accomplished release.
Release Date: February 6
Lacuna Coil: Dark Adrenaline
WHILE the band has wisely chosen to return, in part, to the dark, more gothic-leaning composition found on their earlier albums (Comalies and Unleashed Memories), their continued reliance on the latest nu-metal producer-du-jour Don Gilmore makes them sound like a hundred other bands.
Pummelling the listener with detuned, Korn-like bass rumblings and double-bass drumming is unnecessary when the composition of the music itself is generally heavy enough. Still, a welcome change for the better.
And their continued ability to make a cover song their own (as they did quite admirably with Depeche Mode’s Enjoy The Silence and Dubstar’s Stars) continues here with their interesting take on another huge hit, REM’s Losing My religion. Who would have thought you could make a heavy, gothic statement with that one?!
Additionally, album closer My Spirit, written as a tribute to former tour-mate Peter Steele of Type O Negative, further shows the band hasn’t forgotten its gothic roots, which was very much the case on the previous album Shallow Life. Think of this as 35 per cent Comalies and 65 per cent Karmacode.
Release Date: February 13
Phantom Limb: The Pines
WITH an exciting blend of country and soul and fronted by the amazing voice of the supremely talented Yolanda Quartey, Phantom Limb sound as though they should have been conceived in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, rather than Bristol, England.
Few bands are fortunate to have a singer as evocative and inspiring as Yolanda, and notwithstanding the influences of Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, Etta James and Aretha Franklin, the sound she makes is entirely her own.
Pines is the group’s second studio album, recorded in California and produced by Marc Ford of The Black Crowes. It features 11 songs written by the band members, one by Ford and a CD bonus track, Hank Williams’ Angels Of Death. The original songs are all high on emotion, melodically beautiful and with emotive lyrics. It’s The Only Way is nothing short of heart-wrenching.
The four-piece band give Quartey the backing her stunning voice deserves, and guitars, pedal steel, drums, piano, Hammond organ and close harmony vocals make an intoxicating brew. This is contemporary British music at its very best. Phantom Limb deserve greater recognition.
Release Date: February 13
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