Broadcast - The Noise Made By People (2000) (@256)

It's been quite long since the last upload about Warp's 20th birthday. So, the tribute continues with an album quite different from the largest part of Warp discography. It's, as Heather Phares describes in allmusic, "a collection of more shimmering, weightless pop that is nostalgic for yesterday's visions of the future but remains on the cutting edge of contemporary music." Brilliant.

review link: here

download link: here

Peter, Paul and Mary - Ten Years Together: The Best of Peter, Paul and Mary (1970) (@256)

Mary Travers, one of the most beautiful voices of the 60's left us recently. Along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey, are a large (and delightful) chapter of the 60's folk revival, also responsible for popularising Dylan's music.
What I have to notice here, is that a woman of such physical beauty chose to follow a difficult music and social path, unlike hundreds of contemporary female artists who prefer to be spent in lighter than thin air careers.

Rolling Stone obituary

review link: here

download link: here

Primal Scream - XTRMNTR (2000) (@256)

Probably my no1 in the list of 2009's best albums is Kasabian's West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum. A feverish album, full of excellent ideas and hidden layers of complexity that blend to serve the whole substantial result. It seems that this time they reached very near to the perfection of the album they used (again) as blueprint (minus the heavy political agenda).

review link: here

download link: here (link removed)

Tartit - Ichichila (2000) (@256)

I'm not the only one that I consider Tinariwen's "Imidiwan: Companions" one of the best albums of the year. Their impressive blues version is evidently a sound that could be created only by these former desert warriors that replaced their riffles with electric guitars.

Tartit is a group that, as with Tinariwen, are Tuaregs (or Tamasheks as they prefer to be called). The former's melodic, meditative and rural style and the latter's raw, intense and powerful one, are simply the two sides of the same coin.

review link: here

download link (with booklet info): here

Watersons - For Pence and Spicy Ale (1975) (@256)

It could be a tricky question in a music quiz: "Which is Britain's oldest indie label that is still active?" Answers such as "Beggars Banquet", "Rough Trade", "4AD", "Cherry Red " etc. are all wrong! The correct answer is Topic, a legendary label that was founded in 1939. For a company that its stated mission is "Music should be used as a tool of revolution, in a cultural and educational sense" one shouldn't be surprised that Topic had always a strong sense in social issues. But a sense that was only seldom presented in a form of dry rhetoric and largely by observing and commenting the daily life of ordinary people. Topic is (thus) responsible for reserving and spreading British folk throughout the years (one could argue that it is the equivalent to Smithsonian or Folkways), while its contribution to the British folk revival of the late 60's is immense. Recently, in order to celebrate the label's 70th birthday, they released a solid compilation of seven (!) cds, named "Three Score and Ten: A Voice to the People" that travels us from pre-WWII recordings up to recent ones. If you bother to spend your quids on it, it's for sure that you'll not regret it. And if you think that releasing a 7-cd compilation is not a business-wise decision, you'll have to know that they celebrated their 60-th birthday by releasing a series of 20-cds!

So, here is a cornerstone of Topic's catalogue, from a "royal family" of British folk, backed by Martin Carthy. As Richard Meyer notes in allmusic: "For Pence and Spicy Ale sounds like the back room of an old pub in its charming immediacy; listeners really get a sense of the fun it is to sing these old songs with affection and respect. "

Further reading:
Topic's selective discography
Guardian for Topic's anniversary
topicrecords.co.uk

review link: here

download link: here

P.S. For those interested, another brilliant Topic release has been posted earlier in this blog and can be found here.

Lou Reed - Berlin (1973) (@256)

For the city of Berlin obviously, which celebrates its 20th reunification anniversary today. Lou Reed explained (to Ed Pilkingon from Guardian while interviewed on his 2007 tour that brought Berlin on stage) that his idea was to use the divided city of Berlin - which he had then never visited - as a metaphor for human discord. Or as prefixmag puts it: "Berlin (...) is a rock opera about a strung out couple who are divided, much like Berlin was by the wall. Reed uses the city as a narrative device on the album, placing his central character, Caroline, in the city as she indulges in various addictions and love affairs. Berlin itself doesn’t figure much in Reed’s lyrics, but the druggy words and occasional mentions of the Wall help conjure up images of the city."

review link: here

download link: here (link removed due to a relevant request)


Wings of Desire