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The Girl That I Call Home. Tears For Fears
When
was it, 1983?, that Frits Spits played 'Change' in his 'Avondspits'
show as his record of the week? Not much later followed by an even
better song, 'Pale Shelter'. From there we went to ever greater
achievements by Tears for Fears in the 1980s. And from there, things
went quiet as far as I was concerned. Come 2024 and there is an
announcement of a new Tears for Fears single, announcing a double live
album. The single holds a lot of familiar elements from those glorious 80s days.
Fans of old and those who latched on through their parents or other
forms in which older music is heard will recognise these elements
easily. The Girl That I Call Home, Roland Orzabal's love song for his
wife of many years, is a song that may not be able to compete with the
best songs of the duo. What it does, is make me feel good and love the
music the band makes here. This single simply is good. It has that great
flow and dreamy atmosphere. so typical for the band's best songs. The lyrics describe a situation where
things are totally okay, where a look is enough. Daily life and routines
of decades, may never have been set to music better. "You are the girl
that I call home".
De
Mannen Broeders, Colin van Eeckhout en Tonnie Dieleman, hebben een
tweede single gepresenteerd aan de wereld. Op de dag van schrijven duurt
het nog tien dagen voordat de plaat uitkomt op 11 oktober. Opgenomen in
een paar dagen in een kerk in Middelburg. De video is dit maal
opgenomen in een kerk in Gent. Verteere Heel is een lang, bijna zeven en
een halve minuut, en intens nummer. Van Eeckhout zingt, indringend en
bijna gepijnigd, met een minimale begeleiding. Een bas drum of floor tom
en de banjo van Dieleman. Wel komt op een gegeven moment het kerkorgel
erbij. Dit maakt het nummer direct anders en toch niet omdat het zo
intens blijft. Verwacht geen spannende wendingen, maar hypnotische
bezweringen, omdat veel hetzelfde blijft. Niet monotoon, maar wel veel
herhaling. Dat is juist de kracht van Verteere Heel.
It
took about 20 years, but for the first time in all these years, I'm
listening to a Franz Ferdinand song that does not excite me at first
listen. I have doubted whether I should write about the song and even
pushed Audacious back in the line after the first listen session,
something I never do. Your in or out in the singles section of WoNoBlog.
One week later I find that Audacious is not a bad song. I hear what the bands tries for. Franz
Ferdinand is easing away from its erratic past and goes for a pop song
and succeeds, I'd say. Audacious is a pop song with a surprising twist
into the chorus. The guitars are far less prominent and that gives the
song a totally different feel. I am even inclined to conclude that the
band has listened to The Beatles for the first time. Most likely it allows to be heard that they are familiar with the Fab Four.. This song has
Beatles written all over it and in that way the single works as well. It
is just not exciting. There seems to be a new Franz Ferdinand that does
not want to take us out but sit in our chairs and listen to how clever
the new song is - and it is, so let's get on with it
Nytår is New Year in Danish. Aursjoen is Ria Aursjoen, a singer of Danish descent living in San Francisco. She plays in the band Octavian Winters. Nytår is her debut solo single. So now, you know the facts around the release. What you do not know yet, is the almost new age atmosphere of her single. What comes closest in my mind is Enya's number 1 single (in NL) from 1988, 'Orinoco Flow' and the songs from the accompanying album. Obviously, that music was called Celtic. The music in Nytår is just as mysterious. As if it is coming to me through the mist hanging over the landscape and time. Together with producer David Kruschke she created music that you can lie down on to be carried away ever so slowly into a dreamworld of angels and who knows what else. Everything is slow and relaxed but also somewhere between Scandinavian coolness and the warmth near the hearth in a Viking hall. Aursjoen presents music that could never have been made in the Middle Ages but sounds like as if it were played in dark, candle lit churches of old. Mysterious and almost otherworldly.
An
American, Cincinnati, band on an Italian label? Why not? It is 2024 and
globalisation is only just over its highest point ever. In the four
songs on Il Manzo (the beef in Italian) can be called garage rock with
an alternative rock twist, played with a punk attitude. There you have it all.
Because of the staccato way of playing I'll let you opt for postpunk as
well if you prefer. What stands out a lot, is the organ in BEEF's music.
That little old fashioned style organ, probably a Farfisa organ, gives
the whole a sixties vibe. BEEF keeps up the tempo for the whole
time. In all four songs the band goes for it, making sure that lovers of
the (sub)genres have a good time. BEEF lets attitude go before
cleanliness. The music is a big wall of sound, in which the individual
instruments stand out but almost as if it is not a conscious choice.
More like a live experience where a wall of sound is blasted from the
speakers. BEEF obviously aimed to capture its stage sound and energy.
It's not hard to be convinced. No rest for the wicked here.
Time to wind down completely with Kate MacLeod and the three men who accompany her on this single under the name Mind The Gap, Paul Hammerton, John Bryant, and Matthew Metz. MacLeod can be found on this blog since 2022. Solo, including interpretations of Jean Ritchie songs. Here she is in the total relax mode. She starts with an intro on her acoustic country guitar before the accompanying musicians join in. With her high voice she moves the song somewhere between U.K. folk from around 1970 and country music of old. I would venture she delivers a perfect match between the two on Never Looked So Good To Me Before. The accompaniment on piano, bass, banjo and harmony vocals is modest, yet totally right as it makes Kate MacLeod's voice shine. She is the star of this single and rightly so.
It
still exists, a band that sounds like it recorded its song with one
microphone and just a tape or cassette recorder. The Shitdels go for
energy and effect and not a clean multi-tracked recording. Electric Cars sounds
even more mono than the garage bands from the 1960s that recorded one
single before folding, only to make it to the 'Nuggets' or 'Psychedelic
States' series decades later. The Shitdels is a band from Memphis (I
think, as there are so many towns mentioned in the bio). Jordan Wayne
started it all as a bedroom project, included his wife and later joined
by Mike Bibbs and Carlos Ortiz. You can expect exactly what is described
in the introduction. The Shitdells present garage rock with a punk
attitude. Drums, bass and gitar pound away. On top is a nice farfisa
organ with its high, thin notes providing some solo notes here and
there. The vocals are treated in such a way that the whole gets a
psychedelic undercurrent but above all this is rock and roll for modern
times. Even if its basis lies deep into the 1960s. A real fun track
Electric Cars is.
From garage rock punk to a pure pop track is but a small step in the WoNoBlog singles post. Dutch-American singer-songwriter Rachèl Louise has released the first single of her upcoming second EP (Feb 25). Busy is a very nice uptempo song that hovers successfully between upbeat and the slightly sad atmosphere of the topic of the lyrics. "Whatever happened to living in the moment"?, she mourns, wishing not to be busy and to do things she would like to do but doesn't. The music reflects this feeling perfectly. The tempo just goes on and on, without a single moment of introspection. The tempo in combination with the fleeting sounds over the rhythm is exactly what makes Busy work so well. Rachèl Louise sings over it all with a part longing, part resigned voice but also gives it a little edge in the chorus. In that little edge lies the answer in how to break free into that living in the moment. That place where she would like to be every once in a while. In her music she succeeded. Yes, I like this pop gem of a song.
Isbells is the band of Flemish singer-songwriter Gaëtan Vandewoude. One of its members is chanteuse Chantal Acda, who can be found on this blog in numerous guises. Vandewoude asked Acda to produce the new Isbells album, giving up control for the first time. Now, I am not an Isbells connaisseur but have heard many of Chantal Acda's albums of the past years. This first single definitely is a Chantal Acda kind of song. The slow tempo and the instruments used around the minimal band setting of an acoustic bass and a few sparse piano notes. From there a trumpet and strings come in regularly. Vandewoude sings with Acda on backing vocals for most of the song. The result is a song so vulnerable, that even just listening puts me in fear of breaking it. "Let me hold you" the two sing together, but to do so would shatter everything into smithereens. The effect Hold You has on me though, is one of being impressed. Hold You is truly beautiful.
Private Pyle. Nothingheads
Ah, all recommendations for Nothingheads' upcoming album 'The Art Of The Sod' (8 November) come with a Public Image Limited (PIL) reference. Unfortunately, I never was a PIL fan, so I can't tell. What I do hear is that Johnny Lydon (as Rotten is known since starting PIL) sneer in the voice of singer-guitarist Rob Fairey. On Private Pyle, he sneers as if in disdain of the whole world. The band supports Fairey by playing in a very direct way. There's a wall of sound and a stark riff stutting the whole fabric of the song. At heart a two note riff, that gets a little expansion towards the end of the vocal line. Matt Holt (Bass / synths), Ed Simpson (Guitar) and Chanter Whitehurst (drums) deserve all the credits here. When the vocals stop for a while, the band slips into another mood, a little more relaxed, allowing for a bit of a breather. Then that riff returns and we are back to square one right until that very abrupt ending. Postpunk? No, I opt for the real thing here.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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