Dacning About Architecture 06.06.06

Posted by Ian Wright on 06.06.2006

The best of the year so far, Doves, Decemberists, an Island splits and Gn’R.

The bit at the start

I know that technically I'm a few weeks early with this list but it's a slow news week and I'm short on content (do you really care if Mike Skinner is running a marathon? Neither do I). I also doubt that anything is coming out in the next few weeks that will top the albums that I'm mentioning here. Just be glad I didn't use the fact that it was reissued in the UK in February to put The Meadowlands at #1.

So without further ado, the top (half) ten of the first half of 2006.

5.


Cat Power - The Greatest

Chan Marshall's sultry and bluesy voice always sounded as though it would not be overwhelmed by bigger orchestration than it had been used with before and this album proves that theory. Backed by members of the Reverend Al Green's band Marshall has produced her sexiest sounding album to date which, although not quite as good as the stunning Moon Pix is a fine addition to her canon.

4.


Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming

Talented guy Spencer Krug, member of Frog Eyes, better known as a member of Wolf Parade and now the main man in Sunset Rubdown, which is basically him and whoever he feels like playing with. I haven't had this album for very long and I'm still letting it grow on me. Whether or not I wind up loving it or if it eventually makes me sick remains to be seen but things are looking good so far. "Stadiums And Shrines II" is probably my song of the year thus far.

3.


Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene (Released in Ireland this year, I live in Ireland, it goes in.)

Let's get this out of the way from the start. This album is nowhere near as good as You Forgot It In People, if you don't have it go and buy it before you get this.

Having said that there are some wonderful moments on this record and despite the fact that the band make a few missteps here with songs like "Superconnected", "Ibi dreams of pavement (A better day)" and "7/4 shoreline" here I can forgive them almost anything.

2.


Islands - Return To The Sea

The former Unicorns manage to surpass their former band at the first attempt but they didn't do it all by themselves. The material that just features Nick Diamonds, J'aime Tambeur and bassist (and not Unicorn) Patrice Agboukou just fails to live up to their earlier work but the contributions from members of Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre really push this one over the top.

1.


Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds

I put Owen Pallet's previous album "Final Fantasy has a good home" in my top ten of last year. It's a very fine album but upon mature consideration I've decided that it's one of those records with a few outstanding songs but with some filler too (see also my #3 pick here). Not so this time around.

He Poos Clouds is a far more fully realised record than it's predecessor, whereas before Pallet was responsible for the vast majority of the sounds on the record here he's able to take more of a back seat and bring in other musicians. A fuller sounding record you're unlikely to hear this year.

Yes, the top 4 ARE Canadian, I'm so indie I'm only interested in woman from Montreal now.

Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album

Slint – Spiderland.



See post-rock be invented on this album.

Experience the workings of other people's minds.

Read everyone.

You news, you lose

No man is an Island, this man is not an Island.

Maybe the reason the Unicorns became extinct is because they kept falling out and leaving each other and due to the isolation. The same fate might be just befall the musical Unicorns that befell the real ones from history. They just don't seem to get along though, Nick Diamonds and J'aime Tambour left the Unicorns to form Islands. They've since recorded one of 2006's best albums and played a bunch of shows of reportedly varying quality. But it seems that this hasn't been enough to keep them together as Tambour left the band last week.

In a statement on the band's website he wrote, "The fact is that I don't need to be in a band anymore. I think Islands is one of the best, if not the best band out these days, and I have every confidence that they will do incredibly well. I'm just not sure that being in a successful band is all that important to me anymore. I'm not leaving because of any problems with people in the band. It's very hard to do this, Nick and I have been creating together for quite a long time now... our relationship, both creative and personal is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life."

Diamonds said, "It is with sadness that I report Jamie has left Islands, but the band waltzes on! We wish Jamie the best in his new life."

He also added, "Islands are forever." (Unlike Unicorns which, you know … extinct).

Are people being ironic or what, I can't tell anymore.

If I mentioned the name Sean Greenhalgh to you you'd probably go "who"?

If I went on to explain that he's the drummer in Clap Your Hands Say Yeah you'd probably go, "Oh, ok".

However Greenhalgh up till now has been leading something of a double life. For the last number of years he's been Axl Rose in the "World's Drunkest" Guns n' Roses tribute band Mr. Brownstone. However, much like the band that inspired them did many years ago they are about to break up. Their last ever shows will be on June 10th at New York's Bowery Ballroom and July 15th at the Paradise in Boston, whether or not Greenhalgh will continue the band without any of it's current members as a sort of fake Mr. Brownstone.

In an e-mail to pitchfork (why would they care? Why do I care, I'm confused) Greenhalgh said "We've claimed to be playing our 'final shows' more often than Axl has claimed that Chinese Democracy is coming out. But this time it's for real."

"We've decided to call it quits for a few reasons. We never intended this band to go on for as long as it did. It started off as a college joke and grew into a successful piece of regional musical theater. We've been trying to quit for the past five years, but it's just been more fun to get paid to get drunk and play dress up than to not. Another reason is that we've all got original projects or real jobs now that require too much of our time."

Despite the fact that he no longer has an outlet for his cock-rock urges don't expect CYHSY to start sounding like Axl n' co. "I tried to get the band to cover "Patience" one night at the Troubador in LA, but they weren't having any of it," Greenhalgh said. "I did manage to slip in the opening beat to "Paradise City" before the encore as an homage to my adolescent heroes."

"GN'R are in no way an inspiration for CYHSY, but the other guys would grudgingly admit that Appetite for Destruction is at least a good album. I always thought (at least early) GN'R had a pretty punk approach to the music for a bunch of cock-rockers. Izzy and Duff learned their instruments about a year before they recorded Appetite, but both wrote great, important parts for that album. That's definitely an approach that suits me. You do the best you can within your given limitations."

So what of the current lineup? Greenhalgh isn't to impressed, "I heard a bunch of leaked demos while we were in Europe this winter. As someone who can say they love Use Your Illusion II with a straight face, it was shocking to hear how bad the new demos were. Shocking. I actually did get to see the new GN'R at Hammerstein Ballroom when they were in NYC a couple of weeks ago. Axl actually sounded pretty good, but the new band lacks the bluesy looseness and sense of danger of the old one. You get the sense that these guys get fined if they fuck up. I'll take a coked-up, drunk out of his mind Slash any day over these guys. Either that, or I'm just not 12 years old anymore. Not sure."

Probably a combination of both, I was really into Gn'R when I was 14 but 6 months later I thought they were a joke.

That sound you hear is Tollah leaping majestically to the rescue so I'd better stop now.

Octoberists.

I'm not on the Decemberist's mailing list. I don't' really like their music but thought they were pretty good when I saw them live a couple of weeks ago despite thinking that Colin Meloy desperately wants to be Jeff Mangum. If I were I would have received a mail detailing the band's next release. As it happens I've had to crib it from another site.

The album is called "The Crane Wife" and it's out on October 3rd on Capital (SELL OUTS!!! … yawn). The Decemberists are currently holed up in their hometown of Portland Oregon trying to figure out which of the 22 songs they've written (some of which are over 10 minutes long). Despite the fears of self indulgent up their own assesery they're quick to reassure fans, "This one's going to be really good, though. Undoubtedly the best thing we've done to date. And while that might smack of hyperbole ('didn't they say that about the last record?,' you well may be thinking...), we can guarantee that it, at the very least, will be decidedly above average."

So there you have it, above average. Hey that means it will be the best thing that they've ever done.

YAY.

Also hard at work on a new album are Doves who are preparing a follow up to last year's hugely underwhelming Some Cities in a farm outside of Manchester.

A message on the band's website said, "We've been in there (the farm) for a couple of weeks now mainly setting gear up and ironing out our usual technical problems!

"The idea is to record everything here and maybe mix elsewhere & produce the record ourselves, but knowing us lot, that could all change if we get sick of the smell of cow s*** on the farm!

"It's very early days so don't expect anything too soon, but there's loads of ideas kicking around & we're all well excited about where we're going to go on this one."

Doves are capable of great things but I really disliked the last album, here's hoping that the next record is a return to form.

If you can you should go to these gigs.

Islands

07-02 Belfort, France - Les Eurockeennes
07-03 Malmo, Sweden - Accelerator
07-05 Gothenburg, Sweden - Accelerator
07-06 Stockholm, Sweden - Accelerator
07-07 Borlange, Sweden - Peace & Love Festival (Accelerator Stage)
07-08 Helsinki, Finland - Klubb Gang
07-10 Frankfurt, Germany - Brotfabrik
07-12 Munster, Germany - Gleis 22
07-14 Frankfurt, Germany - ASTA Sommerfest
07-15 Dour, Belgium - Dour Festival
07-16 Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso
07-17 Nijmegen, Holland - Valkhof Affaire
07-18 Liege, Belgium - L'Escalier
07-19 Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli (de Helling)
07-21 Paris, France - Maroquinerie
07-22 London, England - TBA
07-23 Manchester, England - Roadhouse
07-24 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC2
07-25 Dublin, Ireland - Sugar Club
07-26 Birmingham, England - Bar Academy
07-27 London, England - Bardens Boudoir
07-29 Berlin, Germany - Berlin Festival
08-02 Berlin, Germany - Bastard
08-03 Cologne, Germany - Prime Club
08-04 Erlangen, Germany - Sommerfest
08-05 Haldern, Germany - Haldern Festival
08-11 St. Malo, France - Route du Rock
08-12 Aulnoye-Aymeries, France - Les Nuits Secretes
08-17 Avenches, Switzerland - Festival Rock Oz Arenes

Built To Spill

06-03 Boise, ID - Big Easy Concert House
06-13 Seattle, WA - Showbox
06-14 Seattle, WA - Showbox
06-15 Seattle, WA - Showbox
06-16 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
06-17 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
06-19 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
06-21 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
06-22 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
06-23 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
06-24 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
06-25 Santa Cruz, CA - Catalyst
06-27 San Diego, CA - House of Blues
06-28 Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour
06-29 Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour
06-30 Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour
07-01 Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour
07-06 Tucson, AZ - The Rialto
07-07 Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre
07-08 Albuquerque, NM - Launch Pad
07-09 Colorado Springs, CO - Black Sheep
07-10 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre
07-11 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre
07-12 Aspen, CO - Belly Up
07-13 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
08-05 Chicago, IL - Grant Park (Lollapalooza)
09-12 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
09-13 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
09-14 Madison, WI - Barrymore Theatre
09-15 Chicago, IL - Metro
09-16 Chicago, IL - Metro
09-17 St. Louis, MO - Mississippi Nights
09-18 Columbia, MO - The Blue Note
09-20 Lawrence, KS - The Bottleneck
09-21 Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom
09-22 Little Rock, AR - Vino's
09-23 Memphis, TN - Young Ave. Deli
09-24 Nashville, TN - City Hall
09-26 Indianapolis, IN - The Vogue
09-27 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
09-28 Detroit, MI - St. Andrew's Hall
09-29 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Smalls
09-30 Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
10-01 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
10-02 Boston, MA - The Roxy
10-04 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
10-05 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
10-06 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
10-07 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
10-08 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
10-09 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
10-10 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
10-11 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
10-12 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
10-13 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
10-14 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
10-15 Birmingham, AL - Zydeco
10-17 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
10-18 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live
10-19 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room
10-20 Austin, TX - Stubb's
10-21 Lubbock, TX - Jake's Backroom

Writing under the influence

Without which this column would not have been possible:

Talk Radio.
A Smog mix a friend made for me.

The bit at the end

Short one this weeks folks, sorry. Slow news week.

This week sees the start of the world's finest sporting spectacle. I'll try not to let too much football seep into the column over the course of the next 5 weeks. There's a huge World Cup Roundtable going up in the sport's zone in the next few days so check it out if you're interested.