Top-20 countdown - no.01

Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow

Having a second Kate Bush album released in the same year as the previous one (even though Director's Cut was full of new versions of older tracks of hers) sounds outlandish even to the ears of her most ardent fans (in fact it has happened once before, back in 1978, with A Kick Inside and Lionheart being release in February and November of that year; the gap between is a personal best for her this time around, May to November). Yet she is here with us, with original material this time. And what material this is.

A wintry record, seemingly simpler than her previous ones, more organic and spontaneous. Not one of the seven songs (with more than 7 minutes duration for each) of the album is lacking from the rest. You want to listen them again and again, each time discovering something different, travelling to places far away, which in turn become familiar and closer because of her. With the help of collaborators like the prolific Elton John (who seems to be re-discovering his youth here), acclaimed actor Stephen Fry but also her son Bertie, Kate gives us her tenth album just as if she never was away from us. And we hope that she keeps on doing this in the future too.

Most of the text above has been first published as a review for free-press magazine FAGazine, issue 03












So far:

02. Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi
03. Tori Amos - Night Of hunters
04. Feist - Metals
05. Florence + The Machines - Ceremonials
06. Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting
07. Acid House Kings - Music Sounds Better With You
08. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
09. When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie
10. James Blake - James Blake
11. Little Dragon - Ritual Union
12. P.J. Harvey - Let England Shake
13. Scott Matthew - Gallantry's Favorite Son
14. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
15. Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia
16. Gotye - Making Mirrors
17. Austra - Feel It Break
18. Soley - We Sink
19. Cat's Eyes - Cat's Eyes
20. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

Top-20 countdown - no.03

Tori Amos - Night Of Hunters

In contrast with her unintentional nemesis, Kate Bush, Tori presents us with new records regularly, not always with the best results. Having raised our hopes high with her two latest ones, she scores from afar and securely with this one. Inspired from classical music (Debussy, Chopin etc.) and with a concept of a dark and fantastic story, the ghost of a relationship ending but also a twin personality framing her, Tori returns to her beloved piano and grasps us from the strings of our hearts, never letting them go until the album finishes. The surprise gift here is her daughter's participation in the vocals of some of the songs. If you still love her, do not miss this.

This review was first published in free-press magazine FAGazine, issue 01.






So far:

04. Feist - Metals
05. Florence + The Machines - Ceremonials
06. Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting
07. Acid House Kings - Music Sounds Better With You
08. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
09. When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie
10. James Blake - James Blake
11. Little Dragon - Ritual Union
12. P.J. Harvey - Let England Shake
13. Scott Matthew - Gallantry's Favorite Son
14. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
15. Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia
16. Gotye - Making Mirrors
17. Austra - Feel It Break
18. Soley - We Sink
19. Cat's Eyes - Cat's Eyes
20. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

Top-20 countdown - no.04

Feist - Metals

It took some time for Leslie Feist, better known by just her last name, to give us one more album, after the gorgeous The Reminder, which rocketed her to the top and made her music known to a wider audience (1234 in an Apple commercial). Instead of picking the easy way, serving us one of the same, Feist clammed up, trying to detoxify from her constant contact with music. Achieving a sort of catharsis then, she began to write songs again, this time more esoteric, more personal, more particular. Metals is not a difficult record, Simply, it is not just pop or just folk - I do not believe Feist was or is pop. Some may say it is cantankerous, deprived, wanting. It is not so. As she needed patience to regain her ability to write music, the same is needed for the listener to discover all that she has to offer in this metal box of hers.

This review was first published in free-press magazine FAGazine issue 02




So far:

05. Florence + The Machines - Ceremonials
06. Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting
07. Acid House Kings - Music Sounds Better With You
08. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
09. When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie
10. James Blake - James Blake
11. Little Dragon - Ritual Union
12. P.J. Harvey - Let England Shake
13. Scott Matthew - Gallantry's Favorite Son
14. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
15. Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia
16. Gotye - Making Mirrors
17. Austra - Feel It Break
18. Soley - We Sink
19. Cat's Eyes - Cat's Eyes
20. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

Top-20 countdown - no.05

Florence + The Machines - Ceremonials

The second album is always a trap for an artist. They must achieve the success of the first one but also move their oeuvre forward by one or more steps. At the same time they have to face the absence of the pleasant surprise of their "discovery". Does Florence succeed in all of these with the grandiose Ceremonials? I would say enough. It surely will be as successful as lungs. It definitely welcomes us pleasantly with exceptional compositions that find her and her group in form. We have to do with a solid album, imposing, impressive. At the same time though, she does not seem to move forward, evolve artistically, open up more to us - at least not as much as I think she should. Of course it is her right to do so. But I hope this does not prove to be a trap for her career next. But let's have fun with her. In the end, it is not a small thing to procure one of the best records of the year. Go Flo.

This review was first published in the free-press magazine FAGazine, issue 03.






So far:

06. Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting
07. Acid House Kings - Music Sounds Better With You
08. Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
09. When Saints Go Machine - Konkylie
10. James Blake - James Blake
11. Little Dragon - Ritual Union
12. P.J. Harvey - Let England Shake
13. Scott Matthew - Gallantry's Favorite Son
14. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
15. Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia
16. Gotye - Making Mirrors
17. Austra - Feel It Break
18. Soley - We Sink
19. Cat's Eyes - Cat's Eyes
20. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

Top-20 countdown - no.11

Little Dragon - Ritual Union

Little Dragon come from Sweden, like so many other exceptional musicians. They took their name from the nickname of their Swedish/Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano's nickname (she got it because of the way she defuses during recordings). Their music is seductive: electronic, synth-pop, with soul and chill-out elements, it hypnotizes you, driving you where it wants to take you. This, their third album, continues the tradition of the previous ones, with beautiful, well-made songs, that when you listen to them once, stick in your mind and haunt you. It is not simply luck that successful series like Grey's Anatomy or Gossip Girl pick Little Dragon songs for their soundtracks.

(this was first published as a review of the album in the free-press Fagazine issue 02 for November 2011)

So far:

12. P.J. Harvey - Let England Shake
13. Scott Matthew - Gallantry's Favorite Son
14. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
15. Patrick Wolf - Lupercalia
16. Gotye - Making Mirrors
17. Austra - Feel It Break
18. Soley - We Sink
19. Cat's Eyes - Cat's Eyes
20. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy