That was the month that was….
I’ve said this before…but it’s been an excellent month for new releases. And pretty much everything I’ve bought has been at the least ‘very good’.
Having listened to the lot, I’m slightly embarrassed to say that the one I keep coming back to is still Ben Lee’s Awake is the New Sleep. I’m embarrassed because it’s by far the most mellow of this month’s purchases, and I’m slightly paranoid about my musical tastes sliding straight to easy listening. But, I’m a sucker for a good melody and a half decent lyric and he fits the bill nicely. A must buy, a veritable white trainers of an album - it goes with everything.
Not that I don’t like the Bravery, with their slight electro twist on the indie-pop thing (although I was convinced that Honest Mistake was the theme to the new Dr Who when I heard it on the radio) but there’s so much of this stuff around at the moment - all very good, admittedly - that I feel I can take or leave this one.
Beck’s, Guero, is the first thing from him that - imho - comes anything near Odelay and in any normal month would be something of a highlight, but a good new ‘un beats a good old ‘un in my book, so he’s relegated into the also rans in the face of so much other good stuff.
The album I most wanted to love was Brendan Benson’s The Alternative to Love. It had all the right ingredients - and again, in a normal month it would be there as something of a revelation. He’s good, but the album bounces about a bit and lacks a really winning track. I’m still tempted to go back and buy everything he’s ever done, and will probably do so the next time I tumble onto Amazon after a couple of glasses of wine. Despite my reservations, I sense he’s going to be quite huge though…read Laura Barton’s interview with him in today’s paper.
Ambulance Ltd is probably my number two album for the month. Interesting, catchy and just a little bit different from your standard indie fayre. Also plays to my penchant for lolloping sixties stuff. A New York take on British shoegazing? (says MTV) Well, let’s not kill ourselves in search of a new musical category cocktail, shall we?…it’s very good, buy it.