The last Album You Listened to.

Last few things I listened to:

Juju by Siouxsie and The Banshees.

Really great this one. Don't know why I had never listened to it before: it's a classic. Post-punk that threads the fine line between darkness and accessibility with aplomb. Fantastic vocals, really cool guitar work and a dynamite rhythm section. A killer album.



Sign by Autechre

I think I admire Autechre more than I love them. I've tried my best to keep up with their recent output, but, jesus, there's just so much of it. So it came as a shock to see them release a conventional ordinary straight ahead single disc album. It's, by far, the most accessible stuff they've put out recently: very ambient, even warm sounding though it could still be a bit of challenge to a lot of people; Conventional song structures are still not what you'll find here. Good music for a soundtrack if you're looking out the window of a train, or omnisciently floating over a thrashed post-industrial landscape.




Visions of Bodies Being Burned by clipping.

Some of this I really love, it's the most cohesive and impressive clipping record that I've heard. Some of the production is amazing - loads of little details and unusual touches and how they construct the beats out of noise, but can still make them oddly flow and groove: it's pretty cool stuff and when it really comes together with the flow and storytelling of Daveed Diggs it can be very satisfying. The album has a few songs though that don't fully take off and the rapping isn't always 100% engaging - it can be hit and miss. And sometimes the whole album and their shtick is so overly dark and serious that it come across as a bit try-hard and not totally sincere, but I don't know, I still like what I heard so far and I think it'll improve with further listens.

I was listening to Funeral by Arcade Fire over the past few days. Getting reacquainted, it had been a good few years since I listened to it. It's as amazing still to be honest. I can't listen to it without being transported back to the Winter of '05 and having it on the go in my discman - remember those - for an extended period. That was the time of my first proper romance and the songs really do bring back so many of the wild wondrous emotions of that time.

But, even taking that into account, objectively it's still an absolute knockout of an album. No song is bad, most are unbelievable. It was so fresh at the time - there was nothing else like it. But now I really appreciated how confident and marvelously layered all the songs are. And there's a euphoria to it, but with a bit of darkness that stops it from becoming sappy.

I got a lump in my throat for this one -



Yeah, I know, we've all heard it a million times. But it immediately made me think of hearing it constantly a the end of the night in the local indie club and every sloshed person in the room - which is to say, everyone - getting all melodramatic and singing along like a fool. That was normal life, guys, wasn't it great? And to think we took it for granted...