"We may have fought with teeth and nails, I still recall your banking details"
Because you can't go out every Saturday night and you sometimes have to find things to do rather than subjecting yourself to shite Saturday night telly, I've decided to do some blogging. And for once, it's not a mixtape!
Sorcerer has got some minor love on this page in the past year-or-so, but for those who weren't paying attention, here's the skinny. Sorcerer is one man, Californian Daniel Saxon Judd (ooh, double-barrelled!), who used to be in twee synth-poppers, Call And Response (remember them? Probably not) and also happens to be one-half of Windsurf with Hatchback (him of the barnstorming Prins Thomas mix for 'White Diamond'). That's not important right now though, because what is important is that Sorcerer has just released one of the albums of the year, White Magic on the can-do-no-wrong Tirk imprint.
Musically, White Magic is pitched somewhere between the Balearic kraut-pop of Studio and Lindstrom & Prins Thomas' soft-rock acknowledging soundscapes but it inhabits a little universe all of its own, with recurring motifs and a palpable sense of location (this is most definitely a coastal record) that sets it apart from the rest of the cosmic crowd. Some of you will already know the single, 'Surfing At Midnight' with its warm swathes of Rhodes and choppy/laidback guitars, but there's plenty more here to fall in love with/to.
The lapping wave samples that open 'Divers Do It Better' sets the scene (the sun's going down, you're on a blanket with your beloved, or maybe you're just under the pier waiting for the mescaline to kick in so you can take on those crabs that tried to steal your stash last night) and the album finds its groove from the get-go. 'Airbrush Orgasm' is all vintage synths and evocative melodics and is easily one of the album's most 'hyper' moments, although that term doesn't really apply here. The funk guitar that pervades 'Surf Wax' seems destined to soundtrack a campfire-lit beach party (like the one in The Karate Kid, only with more beards and less Ralph Macchio), while the subtle house textures of closer 'Popsicle Orange' take us through to the dawn with a smile on our faces and sand in our underpants.
So yeah, the nu-disco mafia have ushered forth another great release, as White Magic follows Yearbook 1, Miss Diamond To You and Cosmo Galactic Prism into the rapidly expanding canon. Just don't forget to pack your trunks.
Sorcerer - Tennis (Game, Set, Patch) (mp3)
Sorcerer - Popsicle Orange (mp3)
Yes! Super Furry Animals are back with their eighth studio album, Hey Venus!, an impervious collection of classic Super Furries pop songs. Yeah, it might be a little on the slight side and it's nowhere near as adventurous or bold as they used to be as recently as Rings Around The World in 2001, but honestly, is there a band that's better at this kind of thing than SFA?
I think not and this album showcases the band's talent for melody and harmony in such a clear, concise way that only the most stern among us could deny its brilliance. Bright, breezy and addictive, Hey Venus! is another great album by possibly the greatest indie-pop band that Britain has to offer right now and that's pretty much all I have to say on the matter.
Super Furry Animals - Neo-Consumer (mp3)
Super Furry Animals - Carbon Dating (mp3)
That's it for now. That killed half-an-hour.
JMx
Sorcerer has got some minor love on this page in the past year-or-so, but for those who weren't paying attention, here's the skinny. Sorcerer is one man, Californian Daniel Saxon Judd (ooh, double-barrelled!), who used to be in twee synth-poppers, Call And Response (remember them? Probably not) and also happens to be one-half of Windsurf with Hatchback (him of the barnstorming Prins Thomas mix for 'White Diamond'). That's not important right now though, because what is important is that Sorcerer has just released one of the albums of the year, White Magic on the can-do-no-wrong Tirk imprint.
Musically, White Magic is pitched somewhere between the Balearic kraut-pop of Studio and Lindstrom & Prins Thomas' soft-rock acknowledging soundscapes but it inhabits a little universe all of its own, with recurring motifs and a palpable sense of location (this is most definitely a coastal record) that sets it apart from the rest of the cosmic crowd. Some of you will already know the single, 'Surfing At Midnight' with its warm swathes of Rhodes and choppy/laidback guitars, but there's plenty more here to fall in love with/to.
The lapping wave samples that open 'Divers Do It Better' sets the scene (the sun's going down, you're on a blanket with your beloved, or maybe you're just under the pier waiting for the mescaline to kick in so you can take on those crabs that tried to steal your stash last night) and the album finds its groove from the get-go. 'Airbrush Orgasm' is all vintage synths and evocative melodics and is easily one of the album's most 'hyper' moments, although that term doesn't really apply here. The funk guitar that pervades 'Surf Wax' seems destined to soundtrack a campfire-lit beach party (like the one in The Karate Kid, only with more beards and less Ralph Macchio), while the subtle house textures of closer 'Popsicle Orange' take us through to the dawn with a smile on our faces and sand in our underpants.
So yeah, the nu-disco mafia have ushered forth another great release, as White Magic follows Yearbook 1, Miss Diamond To You and Cosmo Galactic Prism into the rapidly expanding canon. Just don't forget to pack your trunks.
Sorcerer - Tennis (Game, Set, Patch) (mp3)
Sorcerer - Popsicle Orange (mp3)
Yes! Super Furry Animals are back with their eighth studio album, Hey Venus!, an impervious collection of classic Super Furries pop songs. Yeah, it might be a little on the slight side and it's nowhere near as adventurous or bold as they used to be as recently as Rings Around The World in 2001, but honestly, is there a band that's better at this kind of thing than SFA?
I think not and this album showcases the band's talent for melody and harmony in such a clear, concise way that only the most stern among us could deny its brilliance. Bright, breezy and addictive, Hey Venus! is another great album by possibly the greatest indie-pop band that Britain has to offer right now and that's pretty much all I have to say on the matter.
Super Furry Animals - Neo-Consumer (mp3)
Super Furry Animals - Carbon Dating (mp3)
That's it for now. That killed half-an-hour.
JMx
Labels: Daniel-san, Sorcerer, Super Furry Animals
posted by James at 9:23 pm
2 Comments:
Hi there. Apropos of nothing except your earlier comment about there never being too much Prince, I just have to know whether you bought last week's Mail on Sunday for the free Prince CD and what you did with the newspaper afterwards!
I did indeed buy the Mail On Sunday for the first and only time in my life (that is, unless LCD Soundsystem decide to give away their next record with the rag, which I can't see happening). I disposed of it in a manner befitting of such reactionary shite in that I burned it and danced on the ashes.
Do they even realise that Prince is, y'know, black?
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