The year is swiftly drawing to a close, and it is time once again to write about the best music, films, and books that I have had the pleasure to hear, see, or read.  Normally I look back over the previous 12 months, but this year, as we are nearing the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it seems an opportune time to cast a wider net.

I am planning a series of five posts, on popular music records, popular music songs (“hit singles”), classical music, films, and books.  In previous years I have admitted for consideration anything I heard, saw, or read during the year, regardless of when it was originally released or published, but this year, to make things manageable, I will confine myself to things which were actually released or published between 2000 and 2009.

In this first post the topic is popular music.  My initial short list consisted of about 40 albums.  After long hours of re-listening I whittled the list down to 10 stellar records, along with a few runners-up.  I tried ranking the final 10, but the rank order was unstable from one day to the next, so I have settled on a simple chronological list.

Without further ado:

16 Horsepower — Secret South [2000]: It would not be true to say that the music of 16 Horsepower had no antecedents.  Country singers had been shouting about God and the Devil for a long time, but not often with the fervent intensity that the band’s singer, David Eugene Edwards, brought to his songs.  He came from Denver, but he sounded like he’d come out of the woods, down from the hills, and he bore an unwelcome message for our troubled times: repent, every one of you, for the Almighty is near, and He is not tame.  The sonic backdrop for Eugene’s wild-eyed evangel was a swirl of twangy banjos, wheezing accordions, and reeling fiddles, often in minor keys and dark tones.  This unique sound has since been given a label — “Gothic Americana” — and a long parade of bands have lately begun to ape it, but, as is so often the case, the originators do it best.  Of 16 Horsepower’s 5 full-length albums, Secret South is the strongest — indeed, it is terrific from start to finish. In some ways it is mellower than their other work, but the songs have great atmosphere. It includes, in “Praying Arm Lane”, one of my favourite gospel songs of recent memory, as well as two very good cover songs (the traditional “Wayfaring Stranger” and Bob Dylan’s “Nobody ‘Cept You”, another gem from his warehouse of unreleased songs).  This record is not to be missed.

Songs: “Clogger” (listen); “Poor Mouth” (listen); “Praying Arm Lane” (listen)

Leonard Cohen — Ten New Songs [2001]: Everybody knows that Cohen is a great songwriter. The quality of his specifically musical inspiration, not to mention his taste in arrangements, might sometimes justly be in doubt, but when the words are as carefully wrought as his there is something to be said for not letting the music distract too much.  On Ten New Songs the music and the delivery are relaxed, even cool, but this doesn’t prevent the songs from being intense and probing.  There is nothing here to rival the political and cultural critique that we heard on The Future, but somehow this record goes even deeper into the longing and brokenness of the human spirit.  Ultimately it is a beautiful and hopeful collection of songs, his strongest since 1967’s Songs of Leonard Cohen.  It would be difficult to think of higher praise (unless it be that my wife votes this record “Album of the Decade”).

Songs: “A Thousand Kisses Deep” (listen); “Alexandra Leaving” (listen); “The Land of Plenty” (listen)

Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator) [2001]: Country music from the borderland of sleep.  It’s mellow and ruminative, perhaps sometimes in danger of becoming somnolent, but if you’re in the right mood this is a really terrific record.  The songwriting, which takes a few hallucinogenic tips from Dylan’s playbook, is uniformly strong and evocative.  Though Welch gets top billing this is really a partnership, with her austere voice tastefully but very imaginatively supported by David Rawlings’ intricate guitar playing. I won’t say this record surpasses 1996’s Revival, but it is a near thing.

Songs: “Revelator” (listen); “Everything is Free” (listen); “I Want to Sing that Rock ‘N’ Roll” (listen)

Tom Waits – Alice [2002]: Tom Waits released two records simultaneously in 2002: Alice and Blood Money.  The latter was the noisier and more violent of the two, and I have not returned to it often.  Alice, on the other hand, I have found to be a winsome record, very much worth getting to know.  Apart from the eruption of phlegm that is “Kommienezuspadt” (a song which properly belonged on Blood Money), Waits filled this album with quiet and moody melodies, gently sanded by his graveled voice, and music that sounds like an old, creaky house.  As he is wont to do, he populated the songs with oddball characters whom, it seems, would be more at home in a circus funhouse than in the real world.  In some cases this leads to genuinely disquieting results (“Poor Edward”), but more often, on Alice at least, it is sweetly endearing.  I think this is one of Waits’ best records.

Songs: “Flower’s Grave” (listen); “Poor Edward” (listen); “Fish & Bird” (listen)

Johnny Cash – Unearthed [2003]: Johnny Cash died in the fall of 2003, and we lost one of the truly great figures in American music.  In the decade before his death he had experienced a bona fide late-career renaissance, having made, beginning with American Recordings in 1994, five outstanding records in collaboration with producer Rick Rubin.  Several months after his death Unearthed was released.  It is a 5-disc set of outtakes, alternate versions, new songs, and duets which were recorded during the sessions for his Rubin records.  It is a marvellous collection of songs.  The first disc mainly consists of outtakes from the American Recordings sessions.  Like the rest of that record, it is just Cash and his guitar, singing some great old songs (“Flesh and Blood” and “Dark as a Dungeon” being favourites).  The second disc finds Cash backed up by a full band, singing covers of songs by the likes of Neil Young (“Pocahontas”, “Heart of Gold”), Jimmie Rodgers (“T for Texas”), and Steve Earle (“Devil’s Right Hand”).  The third disc is similar and includes an excellent cover of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” and a duet — a duet, if you can believe it — with Nick Cave.  The fourth disc is the best of the bunch: titled My Mother’s Hymn Book, it has Cash singing a set of old gospel standards like “When the Roll is Called up Yonder”, “Softly and Tenderly”, and “In the Sweet By and By”.  The combination of that tremendous voice with those wonderful songs is something to treasure.  The final disc is a “Best Of” collection of songs culled from the first four Rubin recordings.  (The fifth Rubin record, A Hundred Highways, was released posthumously in 2006.)  By any reasonable measure, this is a major contribution to Cash’s discography, and that makes it a major contribution to popular music.

Songs: “Long Black Veil” (listen); “Redemption Song” (with Joe Strummer) (listen); “I Shall Not Be Moved” (listen)

Sufjan Stevens – Come on, Feel the Illinoise! [2005]: Were I forced to choose an “Album of the Decade” I would probably choose this one.  It’s not perfect, but it is so rich in wonders that I have returned to it again and again with joy.  Sufjan Stevens had released a few indie records before this one, but none of them really indicated what he was capable of.  Illinoise is a pop-orchestral masterpiece, with bleating horns, shimmering flutes, jaunty drums, witty chorus, and Sufjan’s idiosyncratic songs — all of them about the great state of Illinois — holding it all together.   The record’s main flaw is its lack of discipline: it sprawls all over the place, with delicate and finely crafted little songs rubbing up against exuberant circus music and soundscape experiments, and the song titles spilling out uncontrollably, but in the end it is this very surplus of energy that makes it such an enchanting, life-affirming, and joyful record.  It’s a real treat.

Songs: “Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois” (listen); “Casimir Pulaski Day” (listen); “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!” (listen)

Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood [2006]: This decade was a great one for Neko Case.  In addition to an EP and two live albums, she made a string of four excellent records (Furnace Room Lullaby, Blacklisted, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, and Middle Cyclone).  I have had some difficulty deciding which of them to include on this list, but in the end I settled on Fox Confessor.  Case has a lot of things going for her: enigmatic but engaging songwriting, a terrific voice, and good looks.  Her songs have no padding: she gets right to the point, delivers the goods, and then moves on.  At times this can give them a fragmentary feel, their full potential left untapped, but it hardly matters when her inspiration is evidently so fresh and prolific.  I came late in the decade to her music, only in the past year going back and listening to her previous records, and I am very glad that I did.  (Thank you, Nick.)

Songs: “Hold On, Hold On” (listen); “Maybe Sparrow” (listen); “The Needle has Landed” (listen)

Joel Frederiksen – The Elfin Knight: Ballads and Dances [2007]: This is the only record on this list that qualifies as popular music in the strict sense — that is, music of the people.  It is a collection of folk songs and dances from Britain and America, mostly dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  Joel Frederiksen has a resonant and warm bass voice, and he is joined by the singers and instrumentalists of the period group Ensemble Phoenix Munich.  The performances are tasteful and idiomatic, and far better than is typical in this repertoire.  The selection of songs includes some well-known classics (“Barbara Ellen”, “Scarborough Faire”), but also a nice variety of less famous but nonetheless wonderful folk songs (“The Lover’s Tasks”, “Fortune, my foe”), and even a humorous bawdy song (“Watkin’s Ale”).  I don’t know how many times I have played this record during the past three years, but I have probably listened to it more than any other.  It is excellent. (Read more.)

Songs: “Farewell, Lovely Nancy” (listen); “Watkin’s Ale” (listen); “Scarborough Faire” (listen)

Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight [2008]: This was an indie album that became a surprise hit (a critical hit, anyway) for Frightened Rabbit, who hail from Glasgow.  It is an extraordinary record on a few counts.  First is the spontaneity and immediacy of the music making.  These guys had no idea they were making a record that would be heard by a large audience, and they probably didn’t have much money to put into it, but they had some songs and they needed to play them with all their hearts.  They did themselves proud.  They are brash, earnest, and vulnerable, with singer Scott Hutchison’s voice sometimes breaking under the strain, but the result has a rough beauty.  The song lyrics, mostly on (post-)romantic themes, are occasionally flat-footed, and they are laced throughout with obscenities — Frightened Rabbit are Glaswegians, after all — but the songs are unfailingly tuneful and memorable.  On acquaintance, however, the greatest merit of the record becomes evident: it is a portrait of the spiritual desolation visited upon so many of my generation.   Musings about death and nothingness, sex and loneliness, meaninglessness and desperation appear again and again through these songs.  In this respect it resembles Counting Crows’ fine recent album Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings, but whereas those songs were written to theme intentionally and artfully, here everything is unselfconscious, and all the better for it.  Listen, and enjoy, but not too much.

Songs: “The Modern Leper” (listen; obscenity warning); “My Backwards Walk” (listen; obscenity warning); “Poke” (listen; obscenity warning)

Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes [2008]: Fleet Foxes is another young band to have a hit (a critical hit, anyway) in 2008 with their debut record.  In some respects they are the antidote to Frightened Rabbit.  Their music is simply gorgeous.  The arrangements are spare but not spartan, the songs are plaintive and cryptic, if perhaps a little too homogeneous, and the long and beautiful melodies are juiced up with ravishing vocal harmonies that dazzled me on my first listen, and kept dazzling me each time I returned to them.  Fleet Foxes’ musical touchstone is The Band, as near as I can tell, and their music has that mature, knowing assurance that normally comes only with long experience.  It astonishes me that they are all young men, just starting out.  Fleet Foxes is a great record, and a very promising beginning.

Songs: “He Doesn’t Know Why” (listen); “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” (listen); “Oliver James” (listen)

***

Runners-up:

Sam Phillips – Fan Dance [2001]: A smoky record of tightly written songs that suit Phillips’ dry voice and terse lyrics perfectly.  This is the best of the three very good records she made this decade.  Songs: “Five Colors” (listen); “Taking Pictures” (listen)  [This song includes a wonderful line that always makes me smile: "Nostalgia isn't what it used to be".]

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief [2003]: I am well aware that Radiohead is one of the “important” bands of the decade.  The trouble is that I don’t actually enjoy listening to their music all that much.  I find that on Hail to the Thief their inhuman tendencies are least pronounced. Songs: “2+2=5″ (listen); “I Will” (listen)

The Innocence Mission – Befriended [2003]: This is as far from Radiohead as one can get.  Befriended sounds like it was made in a living room, and the songs are lovely and delicate.  Karen Peris is a distinctive songwriter, and her light-as-a-feather voice is well-suited to this collection of quiet, reflective songs.  Songs: “I Never Knew You From the Sun” (listen); “Tomorrow on the Runway” (listen)

Buddy Miller – Universal United House of Prayer [2004]: A very strong record that mixes country, blues, and gospel.  It includes two of the best cover songs that I heard this decade: Mark Heard’s “Worry Too Much” and Bob Dylan’s “With God on our Side”.   Buddy Miller’s voice is a chief attraction, and his gutsy guitar playing is another.  This might be his best record overall.  Songs: “Shelter Me” (listen); “With God on our Side” (listen)

***

That’s the way “the noughties” sounded to me.  If you have a record that you think deserves to be included among the “Best of the Decade”, I’m all ears.

***

UPDATE:

• Rolling Stone has published their Top 100 Albums of the decade.  If I counted correctly, 5 of my Top 10 were included on their list.  They didn’t do too badly.

Exploring the darker side of the the Americana genre.

Download the episode HERE

Music in this episode:

- Forgot I was Alive by Dax Riggs
(from We Sing Of Only Blood Or Love)
www.Myspace.com/DaxRiggs

- Bad Things AND Possession by Jace Everett
(from Red Revelations)
www.JaceEverett.com

- Rock And Roll Is Straight From Hell (Live) by Unknown Hinson
(from Rock And Roll Is Straight From Hell)
- Undead Blues by Unknown Hinson
(from Target Practice)
www.UnknownHinson.com

- Bolts In This Redneck AND Drink ‘Til You Ain’t Ugly by Bourbon Crow
(from Highway To Hangovers)
Bourbon Crow’s “Crowcasts”:
Episode 1 – HERE
Episode 2 and 3 – HERE
www.Myspace.com/BourbonCrow

- Teenage Monster AND Lucifer I Am by Michale Graves
(from Illusions )
www.MichaleGraves.net

- This World Is Evil AND Crooked Man by Those Poor Bastards
(from Satan Is Watching)
www.ThosePoorBastards.com

- Black Soul Choir AND Black Bush by 16 Horsepower
(from Sackcloth ‘n’ Ashes)
www.16Horsepower.com

- Spooky Spooky Time by The Famous
(from Halloween Spooktacular)
www.TheFamous.net

This episode is sponsored by Emusic.com and GuitarCenter.com.Visit my sponsor page for their special deals at www.AmericanaRockMix.com/Sponsors

NOW BUY MERCHANDISE. Shirts, stickers, mugs, etc. at www.CafePress.com/ARockMix

E-Mail: Von@AmericanaRoots.com
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I svime trøtt nå. Så om jeg hadde vært en fornuftig sjel, hadde jeg allerede hatt hodet hvilende på puten. Men, fornuftig kan jeg være om noen minutter. Akkurat nå, må jeg bare si høyt. Og tydelig. At dette har vært en Strålende dag. En slik dag, som startet bra og derfra ble bedre.

På et plan ser jeg, at jeg kanskje er i ferd med å gjøre denne. Nå. Med slike poster. Til noe påtakelig likt en offentlig dagbok, men kanskje det er det jeg hele tiden har ment. Eller kanskje det bare er en forveksling. Ettersom jeg må, eller synes jeg bør. Lage en ramme rundt dagens låtvalg. Og dagens delte video er en Strålende låt, både i original Cohen -versjon og i denne som kommer under her.

For øvrig,  er det vel på tide å si hva jeg visst aldri fullførte på en meget hyggelig lunsj tidligere i dag. Forklaringen på mitt navn. Her. Som også kan forklare dens innhold. Og min ublu selvsentrering. For det er, så enkelt som en sammensetning av arabisk for Jeg og engelsk for Meg…

Så var det sagt. Og jeg kan rettferdiggjøre en hver overdreven meddeling av øyeblikkets hendelser. Eller i hvert fall nesten. Da. Samtidig som jeg kan lage en om ikke annet illusorisk distanse mellom den meg jeg er her. Og den jeg som faktisk skriver at denne dagen har vært strålende. Slik at det passer å dele en sang som er nettopp det.

In een serie over muziekinstrumenten die onlosmakelijk verbonden zijn met de muziek uit de South mag natuurlijk de banjo niet ontbreken. “Amerika’s instrument” noemen ze het wel eens. Traditioneel is het instrument veel te horen in old time country en folk, maar de laatste jaren grijpen vooral Americana singer/songwriters graag terug naar die betoverende, bezwerende banjoklanken.

Enkele voorbeelden uit de laatste drie decennia.

The Violent Femmes – “Country Death Song”.

Toen de folk-punk band The Violent Femmes de songs van Hallowed Ground (1984) aan de platenmaatschappij voorstelden, had de grote baas alleen klachten over ‘Country Death Song’: “t Is goed, tot de piano begint en de boel verknoeit.” De band heeft echter helemaal geen piano gebruikt op dit nummer. De man kende het verschil niet tussen het geluid van een piano en dat van een banjo.

‘Black Soul Choir’ van 16 Horsepower, uit Sackcloth ‘n’ Ashes (1998)

“Muziek van de oude wereld, de nieuwe wereld en een andere wereld,” zoals David Eugene Edwards het uitdrukt.

Gillian Welch – ‘My First Lover’, uit Time (The Revelator) (2001)

Omdat Ariejan Korteweg het zoweel mooier weet uit te drukken, een citaat uit zijn colum Enteren:

“Zangeres Gillian Welch is iemand die weet wat enteren is. Harkerig neemt ze in My first lover de afslag naar het verleden, om op zoek te gaan naar haar eerste geliefde. Een rammelbanjo is haar enige gezelschap. Ze volgt een dun spoor dat haar, zo te horen tot haar eigen verrassing, bij ‘Quicksilver Girl’ van Steve Miller brengt. Een bij nader inzien wonderschoon lied, waarin zonder enige haast de liefde voor een vlinderachtig meisje wordt bezongen. Met hese stem schuift ze het refrein van dat lied haar eigen tekst binnen: “quicksilver girl, quicksilver girl”.
Steve Miller was een hoogbegaafde, aartsluie gitarist, wiens muziek klonk als iemand die zich behaaglijk uitrekt na een diepe slaap. Volkomen op z’n gemak vertelt hij over een verloren liefde: “quicksilver girl, lover of the world. When she needs a little lovin’, she’ll turn on the heat. . .”
Meer dan twintig jaar zijn verstreken. Welch laat de fysieke kant van de zaak rusten. Ze grijpt naar de banjo en beperkt zich tot het eind: and she’s free.”
(Gepubliceerd in De Volkskrant op 18 oktober 2001)

Laura Veirs – ‘Through December’, uit The Triumphs and Travails of Orphan Mae (2001). Zo triest… zo schoon.

In ‘Decatur’ vertelt Sufjan Stevens het ware verhaal van de skeletten die door een overstroming van het kerkhof door de straten spoelden. Uit Come on Feel the Illinoise (2005).

Op ‘Banks Of The Edisto’ bezingt Dyana Kurtz een overleden vriend. Uit Another Black Feather (2006).

Omdat er opvallend veel lijken gepasseerd zijn, eindigen we met iets lichter:

Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris en Linda Ronstadt bezingen in 1976 Partons Hillbilly oom, ‘Apple Jack’.

word by word
she spoke to me
hidden neath a mess of bygone linnen
she listens as to dry a thousand tongues
my love is thin and thinning
some cherised flower
flutters through
gentleborn beloved you
kindness always
kindness always

i hear the sound
the sound she’s left me

These actually went live a couple days ago, but I forgot to put them here.

16 Horsepower – Secret South
Super 400 – Sweet Fist
Taken by Trees – East of Eden (LP + CD)
Teenage Bottlerocket – They Came From the Shadows
Think About Life – Family (Green)
Thomas Function – In the Valley of Sickness
Thorr’s Hammer – Dommedasgnatt
Valhall – Red Planet (Red)
Vanity Fare – Early in the Morning (180 Gram)
Various Artists – Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records (2xLP, CD, DVD)

På senare år, från tjugofemårsåldern och framåt kan man nog säga, har 16 Horsepower varit det band som jag varit mest insnöad i. Det började med ett skivköp på Island, Sackcloth ‘n’ Ashes som jag lyssnade intensivt under min vistelse där. Det var dock inte min första bekantskap med dem. Flera år tidigare kom min bror hem från Hultfredsfestivalen och berättade om en ny upptäckt, nämligen 16 Horsepower. Av bandnamnet att döma trodde jag att det var något slags hardcoreband eller liknande. Sedan köpte brodern Low Estate och jag lyssnade, men fastnade inte för mer än ett par låtar. Den riktiga upptäckten skedde istället på Island som sagt.

Efter hemkomsten till Sverige skaffade jag mig de resterande skivorna. Enligt mitt tycke är det ingen av dem som är riktigt så bra som Sackcloth…, men de är ändå kanonskivor hela bunten. Den sista var jag lite besviken på när den kom, men det är en sådan där skiva som växer för varje lyssning, än idag faktiskt.

Hur låter då denna eminenta orkester? Ja, man kan beskriva det som kristen gothcountry eller något i den stilen. Sångaren David Eugene Edwards, vars pappa var predikant, är troende och hans texter handlar i mångt och mycket om hans relation till Gud. Det som gör det hela intressant är att Edwards ingalunda är någon lallande frälst väckelsepastor utan en person som brottas med tvivel och plågas av den börda det är att leva efter den kristna tron. Vad han sjunger är iochförsig intressant och en viktig del av helheten, men det som främst fångar mig är sättet han sjunger det på. Edwards sjunger med plågad röst som har en svärta så mörk att man nästan blir mörkrädd. Att lyssna på 16 Horsepower känns.

375. Sackcloth ‘n Ashes

376. Low Estate

377. Secret South

378. Folklore

Smakprov (några av låtarna är från en liveskiva som inte finns i min ägo, men låtarna finns med på ovanstående skivor)

—————-
Now playing: Silverbullit – People Get Real
via FoxyTunes

16 Horsepower

Secret South

(Razor & Tie, 2000 / Alternative Tentacles, 2009)

With countless artists now basing their work on the tones and messages of early country and folk recordings, it’s been easy to forget the importance of 16 Horsepower in establishing that movement in the mid-‘90s. Led by singer/guitarist David Eugene Edwards, the band were far from traditionalists, as evidenced by its first two releases on A&M Records that thoroughly modernized the spirits of Dock Boggs and the Carter Family.

But it was Edwards’ Old Testament-infused delivery that proved most affecting, and was possibly too much for a major label to take. Secret South, the band’s third effort, was originally released in 2000 on Razor & Tie, but soon went out of print, prompting Edwards to launch his solo career under the name Wovenhand. Now thankfully rescued, Secret South can be fully appreciated as the band’s masterpiece.

Edwards’ doomsday prophecies never seemed closer at hand than on tracks like “Clogger” and “Burning Bush,” while excellent covers of “Wayfaring Stranger” and Dylan’s “Nobody ‘Cept You” show how the band’s range was beginning to expand. In fact, nothing about Secret South sounds dated, and if it inspires 16 Horsepower to reform, then credit the impeccable taste of Jello Biafra and the rest of the AT staff.

Introduction: I’ve been doing this for about ten years now; my first published review was in early 2000, and I’ve been steadily listening and writing about music ever since. I loved music before 2000, of course, but, since donning my critical thinking hat and becoming an ever-aspiring music critic, I’ve explored music with greater and greater passion and, hopefully, knowledge. As a result, the music released in the past decade has a special place in my heart; look at my list of all-time favorites and you’ll notice a distinct bent toward the contemporary, a trend about which I am unashamed.

It’s hard to believe that this, the first decade of the millennium, is coming to a close. To mark the occasion– and to blaze a trail for my “favorite albums of the decade” list that will inevitably come in late December/early January– I’m starting a semi-regular series of posts, looking back at the landmark albums and trends that marked my own listening habits, one year at a time. And, taking a cue from Julie Andrews, I’ve decided to start at the beginning…

I think I’ll always remember the music of the year 2000 for one big, central dichotomy, a dilemma that spilled over into my first-ever “favorite albums of the year” list. As 2000 came to a close and I took to chronicling my favorite records from the previous twelve months, I was torn in two directions: That of celebrating traditional, soulful songcraft on the one hand, and honoring convention-bucking trailblazing on the other.

At the time, I decided to lean toward the former; at the year’s end, I hailed U2’s inspired return to full band-oriented, pop songcraft, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, as my favorite of the year’s offerings, a conviction in which I only grew stronger in the months that followed. While my love of Pop is well-documented, I was nevertheless excited to hear the band return to the sincere, arena-filling swell on which they built their career, particularly since it was done so well, and without deliberate glances toward the past; contrary to the conventional wisdom, which holds that this album is something of a throwback to retro U2, it was– and is– an album that stands out as unique in their catalog, a collection of intimate, soulful pop that mostly eschews the bombast and broad gestures of their classic work. The band has rarely played as well together as they did on that album, and Bono’s lyrics– songs of real joy and concrete, Christian hope– made the album sound like a true blessing in the dreadful months that followed the 9/11 attacks; for me and countless others, these songs will forever be treasured as anthems of hope and healing.

Eventually, though, I came around to the fact that, while U2’s album will always mean a lot to me personally, it was the year’s other big rock album– Radiohead’s Kid A– that stands as the year’s most significant achievement, an album that literally created the context for the decade that would follow. Radiohead shattered pop music conventions so thoroughly that its influence is still felt today– rock and indie music can be divided into pre- and post-Kid A eras and nobody could reasonably complain– and its mind-bending imagination proved to be seminal for my own forming tastes and aesthetic. The divide between tradition and innovation remains ever-present in my own mind, and I actually tend to lean toward the former, but Kid A is still, for me, a mind-expanding album that revealed to me the limits of pop music– or, more accurately, the lack of limits. Almost no other album released this decade is as deserving of the term “landmark” as this one.

There’s at least one, however: Stankonia, the fiery and mercurial hip-hop opus from Outkast, which might accurately be termed urban music’s own Kid A, in the sense that it set the agenda and shattered the limits for what hip-hop music could be. Outkast’s scale and ambition are actually greater than Radiohead’s, and the way they brought the various strands of black music together into one genre-defying package set the tone for a decade in which hip-hop would prove to be one of the more creatively vibrant albums out there. Still, in the 00s, there are two kinds of hip-hop albums: Stankonia, and the albums that walked the trails that it blazed.

A few more albums and trends deserve mention here: Following Outkast’s lead, several hip-hop and R&B artists released bold, brilliant reclamations of urban music, many of them loosely affiliated with the Soulaquarians collective. Of these, Erykah Badu’s soulful Mama’s Gun is my favorite. Meanwhile, a similar reclamation was going on in bluegrass music, thanks to T-Bone Burnett’s fine soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?; PJ Harvey made a bid for the mainstream with the slyly slick and totally kick-ass rock album Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea; and David Eugene Edwards released his most soul-stirringly, bone-crunchingly intense work ever with his band 16 Horsepower– 2000’s Secret South stands as their finest recording.

And that’s the story of 2000– well, my story of 2000, anyway. I’ll time-travel back to 2001 in the next installment of this series, but until then, what are your favorite records from 2000?

Ett av mina favoritband sedan en tid tillbaka är Woven Hand. Anledningen heter David Eugene Edwards. Bandet skapades som ett soloprojekt vid sidan av hans dåvarande band 16 Horsepower. Vad som gör honom så speciell är

1)    Rösten. Det är svårt att hitta en mer intensiv, passionerad och mörk röst än Davids.
2)    Poesin. Han skriver väldigt bra, djupa texter, som ofta handlar om hans relation med Gud.
3)    Musiken. Jag har svårt att klassificera den, men det är en sorts mörk folk rock. Ofta mycket vacker.

Mitt favoritalbum är “Consider The Birds”. Tycker du om musiken är det helt klart värt att lyssna in 16 HP också. Deras bästa skiva heter “Secret South”.

Här är en link till streaming av en live-spelning med Woven Hand som också innehåller en interview med David. Fantastiskt bra!

Dette vil jeg mene er en elsk eller hat sang. Enten fenger det eller ikke. Jeg faller i første kategori. Det fenger som bare tusan. Har aldri hatt så mye til overs for country, men dette låter bra.
Som en vis, flink musiker en gang sa: Det finnes noe bra for alle i enhver sjanger – Terje Tylden 2008.

Ik ben het laatste halfjaar erg opzoek geweest naar americana. Americana staat voor een muziekstroming wat voortkomt uit country. Ik zou er uren over kunnen praten. Wat heb ik daar mooie muziek gevonden! Ik zal Wikipedia citeren:

Americana is een verzamelnaam voor een muziekstijl waar een grote verscheidenheid aan artiesten bij in valt te delen.

Over het algemeen wordt hier muziek mee getypeerd die is afgeleid van authentieke country, folk en blues in een modern jasje. Stijlen die hierbij zijn in te delen zijn onder andere alternatieve country, rootsmuziek en indie-pop met country en/of folk invloeden. Alternatieve country typeert country die teruggrijpt naar de elementaire sfeer van de grondleggers van countrymuziek zoals Hank Williams. De term rootsmuziek omschrijft een iets bredere stijl, naast country namelijk ook blues en folk.

Liedjes, daar is het waar het bij mij om gaat. Ik ben over het algemeen niet zo van de grootste, bombastische muziek (uitzonderingen daargelaten). Een mooi, ingetogen stukje muziek kan mij écht raken. Binnen de americana vind je hele mooie liedjes, die in hun meest kale vorm nog overeind blijven staan. Daar houd ik van! Het is heel erg lastig om nou aan te geven wat zo mooi is aan die americana. Ik zal wat Youtube video’s posten om duidelijk te maken wat ik mooi vind.

Je hoort het al een beetje denk ik. Het is geen country, maar ze hebben er erg goed naar geluisterd. Een rustig liedje met veel ruimte voor creativiteit en een fijne gitaarsolo. Als je (ook) muzikant bent, zal het je opvallen dat de gitaren altijd een lekkere ‘twang’ hebben. Ook de meerstemmige zang is kenmerkend.

Omdat americana zo’n groots, breed begrip is, kun je er veel onder kwijt. Ilse deLange heeft ook altijd goed naar country en americana geluisterd, en dat hoor je terug in haar muziek. Voorbeeldje? World of hurt is een lekker nummer met die welbekende, lazy countrygroove.

Deze 2 liedjes kun je ook best onder de noemer ‘popmuziek’ stoppen. 16 Horsepower valt ook onder de noemer amerikana. Die deel je niet echt onder de noemer ‘popmuziek’. 16 Horsepower is een van mijn favoriete bands geworden de afgelopen jaren. Check de video:

Zoals je al ziet, zijn al die nummers nogal verschillend. De goede luisteraar zal echter horen dat ze allemaal iets gemeen hebben. Wat, is moeilijk te zeggen. Je moet het horen, voelen en begrijpen. Dan begrijp je ook wat ik bedoel.

Uiteindelijk komt het allemaal uit één en dezelfde bron. Hank Williams was een van de mensen die aan het begin van die bron stond. Daarom ook een video van hem, als een van de americana helden.

Mocht je zoiets hebben van.. ‘hier wil ik meer over weten!’, zeg het tegen me! Ik ben altijd blij met comments. Ik kan je veel tips geven over leuke bands die de moeite waard zijn. Ik doe het met alle liefde!

Ach, dan gooi ik er nog een fijne uitsmijter tegenaan: Katie Melua d’r uitvoering van ‘On the road again’. Hebben de mannen ook nog wat om naar te kijken tijdens het luisteren

Ik heb zoveel mooie liedjes die ik wel met jullie wil delen.. het is een gekkenhuis! Reageer even als je het ook mooi vindt. Dan weet ik dat ik niet alleen ben oke?

The spiritual drive of this band leaves me cold. Yet, despite my atheistic leanings I am invariably moved by the passion and menace that David Eugene Edwards imposes into his performance. I really mean this when I say that Edward’s brooding, enigmatic, man-possessed singing and the accomplished accompanying music make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The explorations of redemption and the overtly religious nature of 16 Horsepower put me very much in mind of the Texas based Lift To Experience although this Denver outfit are much more direct. Expect a mix of bible based and biased southern swamp rock and Appalachian folk music.

The following article is taken from a 1999 interview between Edwards and James Stewart which was published in the Christian magazine The Phantom Tollbooth (article retrieved from the 16 Horsepower fan site: Thank You For Clapping as is the image above). As such it predates the release of the American Wheeze by a couple of years.

It’s been a turbulent year for 16 Horsepower. Caught in the storms which engulfed record label relationships a few months ago, their contract with A & M was prematurely ended, and they were left independent. When the Tollbooth caught up with band leader David Eugene Edwards, however, he was in a buoyant mood, having just returned from playing some London dates with Nick Cave and with good news to share.

“We signed with an independent German label called Glitterhouse Records. We just did that maybe a few weeks ago. And we also signed with a new manager who is based in London; most of our time is spent overseas, so it kind of made sense for our manager to be there, and for our record label to be there as well. We’ll have some sort of deal in America as well, another independent company, to distribute the records here.”

Europe does seem to be a regular stopping point for the band. “Our biggest country is France,” admitted Edwards, “and I think it has a lot to do with the two French people in the band. French audiences are very patriotic towards musicians from France, and they support them really well, especially if they do fairly well elsewhere. I think that has something to do with it. Another thing is they love Americana type of music all over–Holland, Germany. Just like I listen to Eastern European music, they listen to bluegrass and mountain music. So they have an affinity for it already, more so than the American people do, on the whole.”

Edwards has obviously spent time considering why people seem to prefer the music of other cultures. “It’s just what’s familiar. You have contempt for the familiar. I think a lot of the early American music makes people think of things in America that they’d rather not think about. People want to get past that and move on, into the future. But it comes back around. It always goes in cycles. That music becomes popular again.”

The music of 16 Horsepower certainly shows a wide range of influences, especially from the traditional music of a variety of cultures. “I love Hungarian music, Mongolian music. My favourite group is a big Hungarian, sort of traditional band. I just love the hurdy-gurdy, anything that’s kind of heavy and droning.” Edwards’s tastes are not limited to Eastern European music, however: “We’ve been fortunate to have toured with most of the bands that I really, really like. Like Shane McGowan and the Popes, and Morphine, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. We just toured with them. I’d like to play with the Danielson Family one of these days.”

Sixteen Horsepower’s music is nothing if not dark, and Edwards was more than happy to talk about this aspect of his art. “That’s what I listened to when I was growing up. I listened to Joy Division and the Gun Club. It had that type of droning, melodramatic feel which is similar to the European music I like. It has to do with the way I was brought up, the things I was taught. I grew up in a really Nazarene church. My grandfather was a preacher, very strict: women can’t wear makeup, you can’t play cards, you can’t go to the movies, you can’t drink, you can’t do anything. Basically, it’s just fear all the time of losing your salvation, fear of this, fear of everything. My mother had nervous breakdowns because she couldn’t handle it, and we ended up going into a Baptist church. My grandfather disowned us for a long time.”

“My father died when I was really young, and I went to funerals three or four days a week with my grandparents. My grandmother was fairly morose, she always wore black, and she liked to go into the funeral parlor, “Look what’s in there!” and I would go in there. I was a little kid, and there was a dead body in there. She wasn’t like weird about it, it was kind of just every day life, in a way. You know what I mean?”

When asked about his reading habits, Edwards mentioned a taste for Russian authors, as well as Western writers such as C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald. “Everything that I’m really interested in is going to affect my music one way or another,” Edwards shared, “whether it’s in the lyrics or the music itself or both.”

The band has only one further trip to Europe planned before starting work on a new album, and this, unusually, may turn out to be a speaking engagement. “In October I’m doing the Crossing Border festival. I’m just doing a reading; we’re not playing or anything, I’m just reading something from the Bible, something like that.

The spiritual background of the band is diverse. Edwards grew up in a strict religious environment which he has now moved out of to a slightly more relaxed situation. The others have had different experiences. “Our French members obviously grew up in the Catholic church in France, but neither of them go to Catholic church, or any church, for that matter. Steve, the guitar player is a believer; I don’t know what church he goes to in New Orleans. I think sometimes he goes to a Catholic church because his wife is Catholic. And I just go to a Christian non-denominational in Boulder, Colorado.”

Edwards feels that music is where God has placed him and talks of a feeling that being a musician is what he has to do, a kind of compulsion. He explained this a little more for us: “I don’t know how do anything else. Unless the Lord teaches me to do something else, I’ll do this. I’ve never been good at anything else. It’s not like if this fails, I have something to fall back on. I’ll probably be washing dishes or something like that. But that’d be all right, too. I feel like if the Lord wanted me to do something else, he’d give me the ability, or whatever it is I need to do.”

When we talked to him, Edwards was beginning to work on the band’s new album, and was obviously excited at the prospect: “It’s definitely different; the music is different. It’s still obviously us, but it’s definitely moved in a different direction, and it’s nice. We like it. Tonight we’ll play probably eight or nine songs off of the new record. As far as lyrics go, I do all the writing. Music, I probably write about 80% of the music itself. Johnny (sic), the drummer, has also written a couple of songs on the new record. But we all collaborate on putting it together and adding our own parts, or whatever.”

The band are planning to produce the record themselves but bring in an engineer who will help them explore different possibilities. They hope to arrange for the album to release on the same date on both sides of the Atlantic and to tour across America and Europe. It’s a situation that makes life difficult for Edwards’s wife, but she is a strong support to him. “We’ve been married for thirteen years, and we were married a long time before I ever started touring; so we have a really good relationship. I have two children, which also makes it really hard. A son who’s just turned two, and he has Down’s Syndrome which makes it even harder for my wife. He needs more time spent with him, but I was just home for seven months straight, and that’s all I did, every day, was just be with my family. The Lord provides times for that, but it doesn’t make it any easier necessarily when I’m gone. Especially when I’m overseas. When I’m here, I can get home really quick if I have to, but over there, it’s much more difficult. Hopefully, the better I do, the more I’ll be able to have them with me. You have to sacrifice somewhat, I guess.”

Elin Palmer and Kal Cahoone walk out onto the stage facing a comfortable crowd of less than 200 people.   Kal takes a seat at the grand piano as Elin confidently reaches for her violin.  A poised Kal opens with a waltzy piano arpeggio intro that commences “Evita,” an enchanting song from her solo work that sends my thoughts back into the basement of Radio 1190 where we used to play her demos along with other tracks from her late band: Tarantella. Elin picks up the nyckelharpa, a Swedish instrument that looks a bit like a violin with a very fat neck.  Whilst depressing the accordion-like levers with her left hand, the bow in her right dances atop the stringed behemoth with flawless speed and ease.  She plays a couple of her own songs, which will likely be on her highly anticipated forth-coming album (produced by the legendary Bob Ferbrache!) due out this month.

After Kal and Elin have finished their set, David Eugene Edwards sits down at his chair and begins rotating his head side to side very quickly and methodically.  He kicks a pedal that triggers samples of darkly atmospheric sound not unlike the haunting bowels of the didgeridoo, conjuring images of ruins crumbling in the parched desert sand.  In front of him is his typical dual microphone setup, with the condenser mic less than a foot apart from the clean mic.  Although it is common for him to fluctuate between the two microphones at different parts of the songs, tonight he swiftly rotates his head in the middle of lyrical stanzas, producing an intriguing sort of panning stereo sound.  After mentioning that his band normally plays “loud enough to bring the law,” he launches into a predictably intense set that touches down on various tracks from most of his studio work, including two very unexpected tracks: “Wooden Brother” and “Blue Pail Fever” from his debut self-titled release!

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing both David and Kal on numerous occasions throughout the years, and I feel as if it’s in these intimate acoustic settings that their craft really shines.  Tonight’s show closely rivaled the brilliance of the St. Mark’s coffee house show they played a few Winters ago although not as remarkable as the solo Wovenhand show at the Boulder Theater in January of 2004.  Not to say that there is not something tremendously powerful about a plugged-in David Eugene Edwards’ attacking a heavily reverb-laden guitar that sounds not unlike canons firing through an apocalyptic Cormac McCarthy landscape, but I think that his resonant open tunings can muddy up his subtler licks in the horrifying derailing train engine howl he has perfected throughout the years, most noticeably on his last two studio albums: Ten Stones and Mosaic.   As for Kal’s solo work, I’ve found that even as small a stage as the Meadowlark’s outdoor patio overpowers the gentleness and airiness of her vocals.  The accompaniment tonight from Elin Palmer, with her fearless posture and dynamic precision, made for an enthralling and full show.  I expect that she will be recieving more national press in the coming months, given her already impressive list of performance and studio work with the likes of 16 Horsepower, Crooked Fingers (Eric Bachmann), DeVotchKa, Munly and M. Ward.

Shuffled music festivale…

1. “Animation” – Jon Anderson, “Animation“
2. “The Golden Age of Steam” – Steve Hackett, “Darktown“
3. “Sunrise” – Icehouse, “Man of Colours“
4. “How You Shone” – Roger Eno, “Swimming“
5. “The Great River” – Howard Shore, “The Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack“
6. “Heel on the Shovel” – 16 Horsepower, “Sackcloth ‘n’ Ashes“
7. “Geoff Downes – Keyboard Solo” – Asia, “Live at Budokan“
8. “Slow and Easy” – Henry Mancini, “The Music from Peter Gunn soundtrack“
9. “Mister Class and Quality?” – Gentle Giant, “Three Friends“
10. “World Machine” – Level 42, “World Machine“

Fin. Enjoy your weekend!

Siniestrito va camino de sus sueños. Porque caminar hacia los sueños nunca depende de donde te encuentres, sino del sitio al que quieras llegar. Puede que ya no trabaje a su lado, pero recomienda (y yo) no olvidarse de él, porque esto no sería lo mismo sin su sabiduria musical.

El mundo está lleno de sitios oscuros, de miedo y de manos que tapan bocas y acuchillan rápido. Hay mucho asesino de sueños suelto. Son demonios oscuros de agua y fuego. Se esconden incluso cerca de los dioses de cada uno. Se esconden en nosotros. Todos somos un diablo, todos somos mentirosos. Asi de oscura es la recomendación de Siniestrito. Porque la mejor manera de que no te asesinen los sueños es tener a los asesinos muy cerca, vigilados, por si acaso. Puro country alternativo, sureño, de iglesias y almas oscuras y de fe que bien podría servir a la luz o a las sombras. Con todos vosotros, Black Soul Choir, de 16 Horsepower.

[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4h1p1_16-horsepower-black-soul-choir-live_music[/dailymotion]

Por cierto, altamente recomendabel ver el video de la canción en YouTube, en un blanco negro igual de oscuro que la letra de la canción. No he podido subirlo porque los de A&M no tienen dos dedos de frente ni les importa un bledo que se conozca la música si no es a través de sus bolsillos. Nunca aprenderán. O lo harán desde la quiebra a la que van.

Lee esta entrada en mi nueva casa, cosechadel66.es

Un concert auquel j’aurais aimé assisté cette semaine : David Eugene Edwards à Feyzin (près de Lyon), lundi 11/05.

Dire que je descendais à lugdunum le lendemain pour deux jours.  Pas de chance.

Je me contenterai donc des résumés de Next et La BUze qui avaient la chance d’y assister.

Et je me consolerai avec ce dvd, reçu ce matin dans ma boîte à lettres :

Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2006)

On y voit David Eugene Edwards interpréter plusieurs chansons, au banjo, dont le traditionnel Wayfairing Stranger (Over Jordan) au milieu du Bayou.

Et aussi 16 Horsepower (l’ex groupe de DEE) dans les bonus, en live.

Autres apparitions de marque dans le film : The Handsome Family, David Johansen, Johnny Dowd.

Il s’agit d’un documentaire sur le Vieux Sud, en compagnie de Jim White, artiste alt-country (mais pas seulement). Le réalisateur, Andrew Douglas, à qui on avait offert un jour l’album qui a révélé Jim White (Wrong-Eyed Jesus, 1997), a eu l’idée, en 2006, de partir à la recherche de ce fameux Old Dixie et à demandé à Jim White de lui montrer le chemin.
Ils achètent alors une vieille Chevrolet pleine de rouille et partent sur les routes de Floride et de l’Alabama. Ils vont rencontrer des personnages dignes des films sudistes des frères Cohen  (O’Brother, Ladykillers) sauf que là, ils sont bien réels. Ils ont tous au moins une histoire à raconter. De plus, les paysages sont magnifiques, et les lieux visités typiques : prison, honky-tonk, truckstop, églises …  Voir la carte ci-dessous figurant dans la pochette dvd :

The South

Le sujet du film (Jesus) déniché pour 65$ dans une casse auto.

Et l’album de Jim White qui a inspiré le film :

Wrong-Eyed Jesus (1997)

Bror var på besök över helgen. För att se Woven Hand och för att försöka ta igen att vi aldrig ses. Perfekt väder, kall öl och gott sällkap borgade för en strålande helg.

Woven Hand då? Jo, det var en fullständigt makalös långmangling som David Eugene Edwards genomförde på Debaser Medis. Jag har väntat i nästan tio år på att se karln. 16 Horsepower har jag lyssnat på så länge och ofta att det en normal person borde ha lessnat. Samma sak med Woven Hand, som han kallat sig de senaste åren. Trots upprepade försök har en liveupplevelse aldrig blivit av. Yranspelningen ställdes in eftersom 16 Horsepower splittrades. I Göteborg missade jag att köpa biljetten. Så har det rullat på. Till i söndags då.

Och den nästan två timmar långa spelningen var sinnessjuk. Som ett åskoväder. En mullrande bas som värkte i hjärtat. Distade gitarrer och tunga tunga ljudmattor. Att Edwards håller käften mellan låtarna och knappt ägnar publiken en blick ger bara ännu mer tyngd åt intrycket att det känns som ett oväder som drar över en.

Höjdpunkter: Gamla favoriten Winter Shaker samt The Beautiful Axe och Not One Stone från nya skivan Ten stones.

Betyg: Fem getingar.

Not one stone:

I can sense it all around me
There’s somethin’ in this room
It ain’t magic nor no witchcraft
No bitch on no broom

Look see his bones are gone
He done left the grave
The grip of death it could not hold him down no
It’s for him that I rave

My knees was made for kneelinAn that’s just what they’ll do
One of these days little girl
I’ll go down an pray for you

Look see his bones are gone
He done all my dyinSometimes the hope’s so strong in me girl
I commence to cryin
O my brothers
These are the great dust bowl days
Just take a gander round ya
Everything in a wicked haze

“The wind blows like the devil when it blows
An a boy grows up an like the wind he goes”

I’ve grown tired, of the words of the single man
Hangin’ lifeless on his every word – O man
You don’t understand dear man
The little angel held out her hand
Sayin’ father, father I love you
O praise Jesus I got her

Ok yeah billygoat an we’ll play farm
I didn’t mean to spirit stiff you
Nor to doy you no harm
You say you’ve got a bone to pick
Well, there’s plenty showin’ on me
Come on up yea bring your temper boy
We’ll see, we’ll see

Yeah you may be the only one
Come on son
Bring your blade and your gun
And if I die by your hand
I’ve gotta home in glory land

Jag gillar listor. Och jag gillar akustisk musik. Så, här är min top 9-lista akustiska musikalbum! Kriteriet för musiken på listan är att den ska vara 1) någolunda akustisk genom hela skivan och 2) vacker

1) Seven Swans – Sufjan Stevens
2) Veneer – José González
3) American IV: The Man Comes Around – Johnny Cash
4) Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen
5) MTV Unplugged – Lauryn Hill
6) Avalanche – Sufjan Stevens
7) Folklore – 16 Horsepower
John Wesley Harding – Bob Dylan
9) We Sprout In Thy Soil – David Åhlén

Jag lägger också upp en Spotify link med flera av albumen här. Vissa album fanns tyvärr inte att tillgå hos Spotify.

Even if this was in color, I would still be unsure as to what is happening.

Fans of PJ Harvey understand that in order to reap the rewards of her prolific repertoire, one must be prepared to take risks just as she does. Harvey can screech just as well as she croons, and for every Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea there’s an Uh Huh Her. Personally, I prefer Polly Jean in her more melodic offerings, but even at her most atonal and opaque, there’s no denying the artistry present in her work. Lucky bastards throw anything they can find at a canvas, and people will see it and call it genius. Real artists put an obsessive amount of thought behind every brush stroke, each inch of paint, even the ones that don’t agree with the viewer. Maybe the most attention is paid to those manipulations of the brush.

This is an important distinction to remember when listening to Harvey’s newest album. She has teamed up with her long-time friend and musical accomplice, John Parish, who has handled instruments and production on past works such as To Bring You My Love and White Chalk. Parish has also produced Goldfrapp and 16 Horsepower. Harvey has interviewed that although A Woman a Man Walked By is only their second record together, she and Parish discuss their own projects with each other nearly every day. I can only imagine that their past conversations sounded a little like this:

PJ: Hey J? It’s PJ. Did you have a chance to listen to that demo I sent? The one about the black demon eating the feminine essence?

J: Yes. I think it needs more screaming set to industrial poles being beaten onto a concrete warehouse floor. Also, more cowbell. Don’t you think?

P: Thanks, J.

In all seriousness, it’s difficult to pin down the most recent Harvey/Parish collaboration. It includes a bit of poetry, barked out lyrics that could very well be Harvey speaking in tongues, and some really great driving guitar on the opening track. Some critics are already calling the album a brilliant meeting of the minds, though I predict it will not end up in every home as a result. But then, some of the best art is still being digested and debated long after its creation. In the very capable hands of musicians like PJ Harvey and John Parish, I am certain that will be the case here.

• PJ Harvey and John Parish ~ A Woman a Man Walked By ~ Island

Black Hearted Love [Due to copywright issues, the link to this song was deleted.]