Ceres and Calypso in the Deep Time - Candy Claws (£6)
Candy Claws is a Dreampop and Shoegaze band based in Fort Collins, Colorado. Using Lush and Vibrant tones, Ceres Calypso conveys the mood of adventure and discovery throughout the album. There are two parts to this album: the full and explorative music and the lyrics which, on paper read like poems: “Wild wind, hidden lands. Parched riverbeds, harsh desert land. We listen for the water’s edge”. The vocals, however, are hardly heard, which helps to enhance the enormity of the world around them.
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Signs of Life - Penguin Cafe Orchestra (£7)
Signs of Life is Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s fifth album. It is mostly folk and America west style music but it has hints of experimentation on classical themes. The opening track Bean Fields is an all out country hoedown. After that, some songs are quite complex. However, this remains throughout a calm album with some happy and some sad moments. Songs to look out for on this album are Bean Fields and Perpetuum Mobile.
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Loveless - My Bloody Valentine (£5)
This album is a classic. It has been given full marks by many respected music critics and normal people. The washed out and reverb-filled sound of this album is isolated but warm and gives me chills. The opening track Only Shallow has some great, powerful riffs that fill the soundscape and then die down. My only real complaint with this album is that in a few of the songs the effect pedal comes in too late. However, this was fixed in the remaster. My Bloody Valentine came before their time and were never truly respected reaching only 27 in the UK album charts. Nevertheless, recently critical reception has increased popularity especially on Mu and Pitchfork’s review site.
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Illinois - Sufjan Stevens
This album was Sufjan Steven’s second instalment of his ‘fifty states project’ in which he proposed to create fifty albums about every state. The first Michigan was based on his childhood experiences with the state. Illinois is an album based on the state but also on his life and personal feelings. In the song John Wayne Gacy Jr, he talks about how he feels; on the outside, he is nice and calm person who is adored, but holds some deep secrets (probably not as many as the serial killer). The song Come on Feel the Illinois Pt.1 has a cover version of The Cure’s Close To Me on a full orchestral backing halfway through the song which is one of the highest points of the album. Sufjan really shows off his multi-instrumental prowess throughout this album; he plays a multitude of instruments and layers them on top of each other in a very effective way. Sufjan rejected 20 songs from being on this album and created the LP The Avalanche, which keeps the same tone and feeling throughout, almost like a part II to Illinois, which is also highly recommended.
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No Cities to Love - Sleater Kinney
After the success of Portlandia, fans of Carrie Brownstein were clamouring for another shot at the late-90s rock that Sleater Kinney produced. The all-girl band reformed last year to make an album. It still retains their late-90s rock feel but with a newness that has obviously come from the increasing pace of music over the last 20 years. It is also inspired by Portlandia and the like with some more obscure tracks using complex techniques buried in the straight-forward rock tunes. The title track is great and the riffs used are catchy and emotive. A New Wave got the music video treatment by the people at Bob’s Burgers which is what sold this album to a lot of people.
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