Bat for Lashes-Two Suns

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 4/26/09.

One of the newest artists emerging in the U.K. that doesn't fit around the mold of Amy Winehouse soul singers is Natasha Khan under her moniker Bat for Lashes. The half-Pakistani/half-English singer-songwriter has garnered some attention for her 2007 debut album Fur and Gold that's compared her to the likes of Bjork, Annie Lennox, and Kate Bush. A video release for the single What's A Girl To Do that featured Khan riding a bike with fellow people in costumes at night gave her some considerable attention. In 2009, Khan returned with her sophomore release that broadens her sound to new heights entitled Two Suns.

Written by Natasha Khan with production by Khan and David Kosten, Two Suns is an album filled with electronic music textures mixed in with folk and indie music. A conceptual record of sorts relating to the theme of duality, Khan brings in an alter-ego named Pearl to help exemplify her themes. Featuring members of Yeasayers as well as the legendary Scott Walker on a track. Two Suns is one of 2009's most surprising yet enchanting albums of the year.

The album opener Glass arrives with Natasha Khan's breathy, evocative vocal with descriptive, imagery-laden lyrics. With bass-pounding beats and washy guitar strums with chime-like percussions, it's Khan's vocals that drive the song with its dreamy vocals and wobbly bass line. With sputtering snare fills and Khan's wailing vocals, it's a song that sets the stage for all that is to come. Sleep Alone is a bouncy, mid-tempo track with twangy acoustic guitar riffs and warbling bass synthesizers. With Khan's swooning vocals and thumping bass beats with clapping beat accompaniments, the song is filled with lyrics of nighttime and loneliness. With a soothing synthesizer accompanying the chorus, it's arrangements and layered production help shape its sound.

Moon And Moon is a piano ballad with its somber, flourishing melodies performed by Khan as she sings in her breathy yet melancholic vocal tone. With its eerie, morose lyrics, it's accompanied by soft claps and backing vocals to help with its atmospheric yet dream-like tone. The first single Daniel arrives with soft, blaring synthesizers and smooth, pounding bass beats that accompanies Khan's evocative vocals filled with dreamy, romantic lyrics. With a bouncy snare beat and melodic, swooning synthesizers, the song's chorus led by Khan's enchanting vocals is carried through its production and a melodic guitar track that follows the chorus. Peace of Mind is a folky ballad with washy acoustic guitar strums with soft, warbling bass lines and pounding bass beats. With Khan's dreamy vocals with lyrics dealing with spiritual-laden lyrics and a backing choir on some parts. Its dissonant guitar performance and ethereal arrangements led by Khan's superb vocal performance makes the song a highlight.

Siren Song is a piano ballad led by Khan's haunting yet enchanting vocals with lyrics that are melancholic about day-to-day life and other thematic qualities. With the piano performance intensifying with droning bass textures in the background, it's Khan's vocals that shine in its powerful performance with siren-like performance. Even as the song returns to its somber tone with backing vocals accompanying her. Pearl's Dream is a rhythmic, bouncy track with sputtering beats, tingling percussions, and melodic synthesizers swoon. With Khan's seductive vocals with dark, worldly lyrics, it features a great chorus filled shimmering backgrounds and Khan's vocals accompanied by backing vocals with its layered yet hypnotic production. Good Love is led by a swooning organ with soft, synthesizer flourishes that play to Khan's raspy vocals. With soft, clapping percussions and Khan's swooning vocals filled with imagery, metaphoric-lyrics, it has Khan do a brief spoken word that adds a unique narrative while maintaining the song's slow yet unique arrangements.

Two Planets is a song with throbbing, pounding beats and percussion taps that accompany Khan's smooth yet ethereal vocals. With its dark, ominous lyrics and Khan's chilling vocals, its throbbing rhythm and arrangements intensify a bit, it's Khan's wailing vocals that take charge with its hypnotic approach and atmospheric production. Travelling Woman is another piano ballad with a thumping beat and swooning arrangements. With Khan's dreamy vocals and somber lyrics, it's a song that has a simple presentation while maintaining its soothing, atmospheric feel. The album closer The Big Sleep with Scott Walker is an enchanting piano-driven ballad that features Khan's ethereal vocals with Walker's more low-sounding, operatic vocal. With its droning textures in the background and mesmerizing, imagery-laden lyrics, it's a song that serves as a fitting closer to the entire album with its simple piano-ballad presentation.

Two Suns is a mesmerizing yet enchanting masterpiece from Bat for Lashes. Thanks in parts to its ethereal, dream-like production, rhythmic arrangements, and Natasha Khan's evocative vocals. With vocals reminiscent of the likes of Bjork and Annie Lennox along with music that is a style similar to those vocalists along with Kate Bush. It's a record from start to finish that grabs the listener and wouldn't let go until the end. Overall, Two Suns is one of 2009's most intoxicating records from Bat for Lashes.

Bat for Lashes Albums: Fur and Gold

(Bat for Lashes/Other Lives-8/17/09 Atlanta, GA the Loft @ Center Stage)

(C) thevoid99 2011

Bat for Lashes-Fur And Gold

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 5/26/09.

One of the most interesting new artists to come out of Britain, Natasha Khan who is known as Bat for Lashes is a singer-songwriter that is known for creating dreamy, esoteric music. With influences ranging from Annie Lennox, Kate Bush, and Steve Reich, Khan has been gaining critical acclaim in recent years for her esoteric sounds ranging from piano ballads to more world-music, electronic-driven pieces. In 2007, Khan released her debut album under the Bat for Lashes moniker entitled Fur and Gold.

Written by Natasha Khan and produced by Khan and David Kosten, Fur and Gold is a record filled with Khan's earthy, dream-like vocals and a musical presentation ranging from piano ballads, dreamy electronic pieces, and elegant arrangements ranging from Oriental to European. With lyrics filled with heartbreak, innocence, and other themes. It's a record that is haunting yet mesmerizing that showcased Khan's unique talents as Fur and Gold is a fascinating, well-crafted debut album.

The album opener Horse And I arrives with tingling melodies of string instruments and harpsichords for an Indian-like presentation. With its haunting string accompaniments, Khan's dreamy vocals arrive with dark lyrics filled with imagery-laden surroundings. The song is then accompanied by a cadence-like drum fill accompaniment as Khan's vocals carry the track. The album's second single Trophy arrives with a low-sounding bass line with thumping electronic beats and a hollow, striking piano accompaniment. With shaking percussions accompanying Khan's ethereal vocals, the song includes some very esoteric lyrics as growling guitars and clapping rhythms arrive. Tahiti is a folk-style ballad with flourishing piano accompaniments by Khan as she plays along to some plucking string instruments. With her descriptive, dream-like lyrics, it's Khan's vocals that really take shape for the song. Especially its chorus as she sings in an elegant, high-pitch vocal with tingling chimes in the background.

The fourth single What's A Girl To Do? is the album's standout track with hollow, thumping beats and flourishing harpsichord performance. With an accompanying electronic beat and Khan's smooth vocals filled with heartbreaking lyrics, it's the song's chorus with Khan's vocals that really add a haunting quality with its wonderful, layered production. Sad Eyes is a melancholic piano ballad with slow, somber melodies as Khan's dreamy vocals really shine. With its lyrics filled with lots of sadness and heartbreak, it's another cut that really stands out. The first single The Wizard arrives with a melodic piano solo along with a smooth bass line with tapping percussion beats. With a bouncy rhythm accompaniment, Khan's vocals filled with mystical lyrics is one of the song's highlights along with its unconventional presentation.

The third single Prescilla is a rhythmic track led by foot-stomps and claps with flourishing autoharp accompaniments and Khan's dreamy vocals filled with lyrics about a strange girl named Prescilla. With its chorus filled with tingling guitar riffs and clapping rhythms, it's a good song though a bit overdone in its presentation. Bat's Mouth is a piano ballad accompanied by soothing, somber string arrangements. With Khan's breathy, angelic vocals filled with melancholic lyrics, the song becomes intense with its broad string arrangements and high-pitch, windy sounds. Seal Jubilee is a dreamy ballad led by a melodic guitar track and Khan's dreamy vocals partially distorted in its production. With a flourishing accompaniment of vibraphones in the background, it's a song filled with esoteric lyrics and screeching violins in the background as it's a track that displays Khan's unique vocal performance.

Sarah is an electronic-driven track with thumping beats, warbling synthesizers, and hollow bass lines. With Khan's eerie vocals filled with dark lyrics, she is accompanied by other female vocalists with bouncy synthesizer tracks accompanying Khan's vocals. With its unique production and unconventional presentation of instruments on top of another, it's another standout cut on the album. The final track I Saw A Light opens with an array of voices with warbling electronic backgrounds that becomes a piano ballad. With Khan performing the track, it's a song filled with Khan's somber vocals and eerie lyrics as a momentum-building violin starts to screech in providing a fitting close to the album.

While it doesn't feature a lot of standout songs, Fur and Gold is still an excellent debut release from Bat for Lashes. While the follow-up Two Suns would show a fuller, more developed sound and presentation that would give Natasha Khan huge acclaim. Fur and Gold is worth listening to hear how Khan has grown from her debut to her now acclaimed follow-up release. Even as there's some songs that are brilliant, particularly the single What's A Girl To Do? that includes a great music video of her riding a bike with other people and doing tricks. In the end, Fur and Gold is a stellar, well-crafted debut release from Bat for Lashes.

Bat for Lashes Albums: Two Suns

(Bat for Lashes/Other Lives-8/17/09 Atlanta, GA the Loft @ Center Stage)

(C) thevoid99 2011

The Cure-S/T

After the release of 2000’s Bloodflowers and a greatest hits compilation in 2001, the Cure officially ended their relationship with their longtime label Fiction Records after a period that spanned for more than 20 years. During this four-year period between studio releases, the band went on the road for some shows including a two-night engagement in Berlin where the band played their famed trilogy of albums for Pornography, Disintegration, and Bloodflowers that was released for a DVD release in 2003. That same year, the band signed a three-album deal with Geffen Records as they began work on a brand new studio release with famed producer Ross Robinson, who had been known for his work with Korn, Slipknot, and At the Drive-In, for their twelfth studio release simply entitled The Cure.

Produced by Ross Robinson and band leader Robert Smith, the self-titled album has the Cure taking on a heavier sound filled with loud guitars and bombastic rhythm. Featuring a more livelier sound than in any of the previous albums due to Robinson’s desire to record the band as if they’re playing live in a studio. It’s a record that has the Cure going for something more intense performance wise while the lyrics has Smith continuing the dark themes he had explored over the years. The result is an excellent yet rapturous record from the Cure.

The album opener Lost starts off with Robert Smith strumming to a guitar as he sings “I can’t find myself” repeatedly into this heavy, mid-tempo track with Jason Cooper’s pounding drums and driving guitar and bass. The rest of the lyrics recalls dark lyrics of loss as Smith wailing through the song’s vocals. Labyrinth is a pulsating track led by shimmering keyboards, walloping beats, and swirling guitars as Smith sings through textured vocals. With its haunting lyrics filled with eerie imagery, it’s a song that exemplify the Cure becoming more intense musically and lyrically. Before Three is a mid-tempo track with driving guitars from Smith and Perry Bamonte along with bopping rhythms from Cooper’s drums and Simon Gallup’s loopy bass line. Smith sings in his tormented vocals to the song’s nostalgic-laden lyrics with elements of longing and anger.

The first single The End of the World is an upbeat yet mid-tempo song with pounding beats, soothing bass lines, and washy guitar riffs. Featuring heart wrenching lyrics filled with desperation through Smith’s soaring vocals as it‘s one of the band‘s best singles. Anniversary is a heavy, mid-tempo track filled with fluid keyboards from Roger O’Donnell with hollow yet rumbling rhythms and wailing guitar melodies. Smith’s vocals is calm for the song’s harrowing yet reflective lyrics as the song is carried wonderfully by its atmospheric production. Us or Them is an upbeat though intense rocker with pummeling beats and driving guitar riffs as Smith snarls through the song with his biting vocals to the song’s angst-ridden and confrontational lyrics.

The album’s second single Alt.end is an upbeat yet bopping track led by melodic guitars and bass with steady drum fills and Smith’s calm vocals. The lyrics feature themes of desperation and the desire to change as the song includes wailing guitar solos and a swooning keyboard in the background. (I Don’t Know What’s Going) On is a mid-tempo track with thumping beats, soothing keyboards and swirling guitar chimes as it features lyrics of confusion as Smith sings in his evocative style. The third single Taking Off is a soothing, upbeat track with washy acoustic guitars, fluid synthesizers, rumbling beats, and driving electric guitar wails. Smith’s vocals is presented in great form as it complements the dreamy yet adventurous lyrics.

Never is an up-tempo track with pummeling beats and sturdy bass line that is followed by swift yet driving guitar riffs as Smith sings the song’s lyrics about lovers trying to be something they couldn’t be for each other. The album closer is the ten-minute The Promise that opens with Smith’s screaming vocals and warbling guitar riffs. Featuring Gallup’s wobbly bass line, Cooper’s hard-hitting drums, and O’Donnell’s soft keyboards, the song is among one of the band’s darkest as it features devastating lyrics of heartbreak that serves as a fitting close to the album.

Released on June 28, 2004 to excellent reviews, the album was a modestly-successful album on a commercial scale proving that the band was still able to capture the attention of the music-buying public. With the band getting lots of attention by headlining the 2004 Coachella music festival and having their own tour called Curiosa with bands like Interpol, Muse, and the Rapture. The Cure was suddenly getting more attention than ever as they were also presented with a MTV Icon special for the band. Following the album’s release and Curiosa tour, Robert Smith decided to make some changes once again as guitarist Perry Bamonte and keyboardist Roger O’Donnell left the band in 2005. Smith decided to have the band become a trio for a while until former guitarist Porl Thompson returned to the group in June of 2005 as a four-piece for a series of festival tour dates in Europe.

The Cure’s self-titled release is a stellar yet captivating album from the band. While it’s a record that is among one of their finer, latter-day period releases with 2000’s Bloodflowers, it’s a record that fans can enjoy for its heavy sound and dark lyrics that is distinctive of the Cure. Yet, it’s a record that is flawed due to some of the production and mixing that drowns out some of the bass as well as its emphasis to be very heavy musically. Still, the Cure’s self-titled album is among one of their finer albums that might not live up to their hey-day of the 1980s and early 90s but provides enough moments for fans to enjoy.

The Cure Studio Albums: Three Imaginary Boys - Seventeen Seconds - Faith - Pornography - The Top - The Head on the Door - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me - Disintegration - Wish - Wild Mood Swings - Bloodflowers - 4:13 Dream

Compilations: Standing on a Beach/Staring at the Sea - Mixed Up - Galore - Greatest Hits - Join the Dots

Live Albums: Concert: The Cure Live - Show - Paris

© thevoid99 2011

Serge Gainsbourg-Comic Strip

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 7/22/04 w/ Additional Edits.

If France had one musician to call his or her own, it’s Serge Gainsbourg. Gainsbourg’s sexually charged music was tongue-in-cheek as well as controversial. With its subjects of sex, violence, and everything above, Gainsbourg was fearless in his songwriting and subject matter while presenting himself in controversial fashion to the public eye. Even recording a song in the 80s with daughter and acclaimed actress Charlotte called Lemon Incest when she was only 12, years before her acclaim in films like My Wife is an Actress and 21 Grams. While he wasn’t well known in the U.S., to Americans, he was most famous for an appearance on French television when he told a young Whitney Houston in English, “I want to fuck her”. Since his death in 1991, Gainsbourg has left a legacy of great music that is mostly used for sex. In 1996, Mercury Records released a compilation of Gainsbourg’s best work from 1966-1969 entitled Comic Strip.

Comic Strip is a twenty-track compilation of some of the dirtiest music ever recorded in pop music. While its sung entirely in French, the song’s sexually vibrant energy, seductive tempos, and Gainsbourg’s oozing, baritone vocals aren’t lost in translation. It doesn’t really matter what Gainsbourg is saying but what he’s suggesting is far more interesting. With duets with lovers and actresses Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin (mother of Charlotte Gainsbourg), the songs are just here to serve for your undying pleasure. Forget Nelly’s Hot In Herre, Gainsbourg just simply wants to you get on with the fucking. Everyone, take off your clothes for Serge Gainsbourg’s Comic Strip.

The first song Requiem Pour Un Con (Requiem For A Jerk) is an oozing song with Serge Gainsbourg’s thick French vocals as he sings the song in French. What drives the song into sexual overdrive is its smooth, menacing drum fills and thumping bass tracks that has a groove that is tempting. Whatever Gainsbourg is talking about in this song, he probably is singing about a jerk but a charming one, especially in something with a groove this sexy. Next is Bonnie & Clyde with actress Brigitte Bardot is a sweeping, acoustic romp with dangerous lyrics about Bonnie & Clyde. With a whooping voice background, Gainsbourg just gets into his dirty, demeaning tone as he is followed by Brigitte Bardot’s sexy vocals. The song’s fast, acoustic tone is filled with a lot of sexiness, no wonder Kate Beckinsale was stripping to that song for Frances McDormand and Alessandro Nivola in Lisa Cholodenko’s 2002 film Laurel Canyon.

Initials B.B. is a sweeping track filled with barreling rhythms, lush arrangements, and a fast, swooning tempo with a bluesy piano in the background as Gainsbourg sings about Madame Bardot. The song’s mix of blues and classical arrangements is filled with ambiguity and danger in Gainsbourg’s lyrics as he just goes into a seductive trance. Comic Strip is a kitschy, tongue-in-cheek pop song that is filled with a cabaret-like rhythm and piano filled with Gainsbourg’s dirty, sexual lyrics as each verse is followed by Brigitte Bardot singing, “Sha-bam, pow, blop, whiz” with its swanky guitars and playful format. It’s easily one of the album’s greatest standouts thanks to Gainsbourg’s dirty old man routine and Bardot’s sexual vamp. Chatteron is a strange song about a praise suicide that is given a swooning, upbeat feel with its wailing organs and power-hitting rhythms. Gainsbourg leads the charge with his snarling baritone vocals and his dirty lyrics that really sound like a strange black comedy yet its groove is catchy and groovy with its horns and rhythms.

Bloody Jack is a mid-tempo song where the song seems to be filled with violence but Gainsbourg’s ability to mix dark, strange lyrics with an upbeat accessible sound is remarkable. Sung with a female vocalist, the song sounds pretty dirty, especially with its pulsating rhythms and organ tracks. Docteur Jekyll Et Monsieur Hyde is a more sweeping, upbeat track with a bopping, fast rhythm and catchy lyrics about the story of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. The song is obviously about the two as it really serves as an example of Gainsbourg’s warped mind while female vocalists accompany him in this catchy pop ditty. Torrey Canyon is another strange song that is about oil spills where in French, Gainsbourg sings about its threat in his beloved canyon in this upbeat, pop-laden song with an accompanying female vocalist. The song is again another ambiguous pop song with horn arrangements, organs, and pulsating rhythms as he proves to be a champion of 60s pop music.

Shu Ba Du Ba Loo Ba is a fast, upbeat pop song with fast, bopping rhythms and swanky guitars with the female vocalists singing “Shu ba du ba loo ba” chorus in its catchy, irreverent song. Again with a sexual intensity, the song is catchy while having its dirty tone in Gainsbourg’s vocals. Ford Mustang is a 12-bars blues piano/acoustic driven song that is a change of pace to the catchy pop ditties of previous tracks. The song is mid-tempo but has a dark feel through Gainsbourg’s vocals and lyrics while being accompanied by a female vocalist and a lush but wailing string arrangement. The song must be something about Ford Mustangs and something bad about it but I don’t know, still it’s catchy. Black And White is a more upbeat but swinging song with a wailing guitar solo opening and a smooth, pulsating rhythm with its sexual groove and Gainsbourg’s dirty old man swagger. The lyrics are probably dirty but I assume he liked all kinds of ladies in this one.

Qui Est In Qui Est Out (Who’s In Who’s Out) is a catchy, bopping song with a group of female vocalists with Gainsbourg singing in his dirty demeanor and the question of who is willing and who isn’t? Is he suggesting an invite to an orgy? Hold Up is a more mid-tempo driven song with a nice, swanky groove with Gainsbourg leading the charge. Again with a 12-bars blues piano and a washy guitar accompanied by hard-hitting fills, the song is oozed with sexual power and it’s very catchy for its tone that is dirty but tongue-in-cheek. Marilu is more upbeat with its bopping organ melodies and barreling beats and Gainsbourg’s dirty lyrics and his amazingly thick but sexy vocals. Again playing the dirty old man, he just brings in a swagger that is very enchanting, especially as he’s accompanied by female vocalists. Un Poison Violent, C’est Ca L’amour (A Violent Poison, That’s What Love Is) is a duet with Jean-Claude Brialy in a song that was used for the movie “Anna”. With its swanky, bopping rhythm, the track features a lot of dirty, angry talk from Brialy with Gainsbourg playing the funnyman to Brialy’s straight man.

Sous Le Soleil Exactement (Precisely Under The Sun) is a smooth, seductive track with a lovely bass track and slow but seductive rhythms filled with dreamy guitars and organs. Gainsbourg decides to just play nice and asks for a nice old fucking under the sun to his then-girlfriend Jane Birkin in this 1969 album he recorded with the British actress, who you might know for an infamous, naked appearance in Michaelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 masterpiece Blow Up. This song along with the next three tracks is from Gainsbourg’s duet album with Birkin back in 1969. Soixante Neuf Annee Erotique (69 Erotic Years) is a swooning, dreamy track with a nice bopping rhythm and melodic bass lines with Gainsbourg singing sexually driven lyrics filled with his seductive bravado. In the chorus, Birkin sings the song with her soft, angelic vocals supported by a lush string arrangement as the two sing about themselves. Les Sucettes (The Lollipops) is a vibrant, pulsating track with a swanky, washy guitar track that just oozes to Gainsbourg’s swaggering vocals. With its dirty groove, the song is filled with that break-beating rhythm that Gainsbourg loves as he sings those dirty lyrics.

L’annmour (The Nonlove) is a smooth, swankier, mid-tempo song with a nice backbeat and bopping rhythms with Gainsbourg again, being the dirty old man in this strange little love song. With a lush string arrangement in the background, Gainsbourg seduces in his demeaning way with his French, sexualized lyrics in this nice, dreamy song. The album’s final track is Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus (I Love You… Neither Do I) with Jane Birkin. Gainsbourg biggest U.S. charting single peaking at # 69, this song is very naughty. With its smooth, swooning organ background and swanky guitars, Gainsbourg and Birkin just sing in their sexual, seductive manner with the two getting turned on as Birkin keeps saying “I love you” in French with her orgasmic vocals. The song then reaches its climax as she sings in her angelic vocals and by the song’s coda, if you listen very carefully, they’re actually fucking in the recording booth.

Well for folks who are sexually oppressed, Comic Strip by Serge Gainsbourg will get them out of that repression. It’s one of his most definitive compilations from the French singing legend. Plus, it’s one of the greatest records to simply fuck to. Alternative Press thought so a few years back and with its pulsating rhythms, swooning grooves, and dirty French lyrics, how can any not deny this? Throw away those crap Nelly albums and pick up some Gainsbourg. He’s the man that will get clothes off and everyone to commence the fucking! It’s not wrong to buy this just because for anyone that is American. It’s wrong to be denied some good shit from other countries. If no one picks up Serge Gainsbourg's Comic Strip, they'll be pretty damn lonely not just for lacking in taste but also for lacking the urge to be sexually adventurous.

(C) thevoid99 2011

St. Vincent-Actor

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 5/5/09.

2007's Marry Me was an acclaimed debut from indie musician Annie Clark in her St. Vincent moniker. The record attracted attention from the indie music press as they hailed her record as one of the best debuts of that year. While Clark continues to contribute for other artists including the Dresden Dolls vocalist Amanda Palmer, Clark was still planning work for her second record. This time around, Clark wanted to broaden her sound while making it into a concept of sorts for the album's title entitled Actor.

Written and performed by Annie Clark with production by Clark and John Congleton, Actor is an album that takes Clark's unique blend of rock, indie-pop, electronics, and jazz to newer, more aggressive heights. With songs filled with themes of conflicts and the struggles of acting, it's a record that has Clark taking on new challenges for herself as a singer and songwriter. Featuring contributions from Daniel Hart on violins and Hideaki Aomori, the result is a brilliant, chaotic, yet seductive album from Annie Clark in her St. Vincent moniker.

The album opener The Strangers arrives with a brief, choir-like sound of flutes and vocals with a bouncy, rhythmic programmed beat to Annie Clark's soothing, calm vocals. With its eccentric, colorful lyrics and pluck-scratching guitars, the song is carried by wavy string arrangements with backgrounds of tingling percussions and Clark's mesmerizing vocals that includes thrashing, droning guitars in the coda as its performance intensifies. Save Me From What I Want is a mid-tempo track with distorted, pounding beats, an opening section of blaring keyboards as Clark sings in her angelic, evocative vocals with lyrics filled with dark, desperate lyrics filled with descriptive imagery. With a spurting guitar riff with distorted, pounding bass tracks, it's a song that is weird yet accessible.

The Neighbors is another mid-tempo song with swooning noises and warbling, pounding beats accompanying to Clark's sensual, dream-like vocals. With its dark, biting lyrics and a presentation of pounding drums and soft, blaring keyboard accompaniments. It's a song that is supported by its broad production that captures every instrument performed including a grinding guitar and melodic noises of keyboards. The album's first single Actor Out Of Work is a straight-ahead rocker with charging, droning guitars and hard-pounding drums to Clark's soothing, angelic vocals. With its aggressive presentation that includes blaring horns and Clark's angry, somber lyrics, it's a song that features so much including choral-like backing vocals that provide layers to the performance and production.

Black Rainbow opens with a wavy flute performance that later serves as an accompaniment to the mid-tempo song with bouncy keyboard riffs with Clark singing in her calm, evocative vocals. With its descriptive, imagery-laden lyrics, it's a song that has a nice presentation that is playful to its dark tone which includes a menacing coda of pounding drums and blaring violins. Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood is a mid-tempo ballad that begins with a melodic acoustic guitar performance and somber string arrangements. With Clark's dreamy vocals and a dreamier backing vocal, the song has a unique presentation of a moody electronic-like track for the verse with a more rhythmic, distorted version in its chorus with melancholic, quirky lyrics that give the song some humor. Marrow opens with swirling, wailing synthesizer track to a soft, bouncy beat. With its grinding sounds of noises and guitars in an ambient-presentation to accompany Clark's ethereal vocals. The song then goes into a rhythmic presentation with its bumping beats and distorted bass lines to Clark's quirky, esoteric lyrics.

The Bed is a rhythmic ballad of sorts with acoustic guitar swirls, pounding bass drums, and choral-like arrangements of strings and vocals. With Clark's dreamy vocals carrying the song with its imagery-laden lyrics. With its broad sound of string arrangements and spurting guitar/bass riffs, it's a song that shows Clark's versatility in sounds. The Party is a bouncy, piano ballad with Clark's calm, wailing vocals filled with descriptive lyrics about a crazy party. With its melodic piano presentation, it's a song that has an interesting narrative as its simple presentation and choral-like coda of wailing vocals and smooth, pounding drums makes it key to the song's brilliance. Just The Same But Brand New is another ballad with melodic keyboard flourishes and Clark's soothing, evocative vocals. With its melodic-driven guitars and esoteric, dream-like lyrics, it's a song that plays up to its atmospheric tone with a weird yet layered production that only becomes intense with its pounding drums near its coda.

The album closer The Sequel arrives with a wavy arrangement of flutes, organs, and woodwinds to Clark's ethereal vocals. With an acoustic guitar flourish and screeching string arrangements arriving to build some momentum, it's Clark's vocals and haunting lyrics that carry through the song making it a fitting closer for the album.

Actor is a superb, rich, and versatile masterpiece from Annie Clark in her St. Vincent moniker. Just as her first album Marry Me exemplified her versatile styles of music is reached to newer heights with this record. Filled with crazier but tighter arrangements, chaotic musical presentations, and a sound that is described as broad and atmospheric in the likes of the Beach Boys and the Flaming Lips. Actor is a record that is masterfully made with great details in the production and performance while Clark's voice is definitely one of the best ever heard in the indie music scene. In the end, for a record that has songs that go all over the place but also is filled great melodies and hooks. St. Vincent's Actor is the record to hear from someone as complex and talented as Annie Clark.

St. Vincent Albums: Marry Me - Strange Mercy

(C) thevoid99 2011

St. Vincent-Marry Me

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 5/4/09.

One of the prominent musicians in the indie music scene, Annie Clark is an artist who has been acclaimed for her performance on guitar, bass, and keyboards as she was a touring musician for Sufjan Stevens for his 2006 tour while in 2007, she joined the Polyphonic Spree. During her tour with Stevens, she released a three-song EP under her St. Vincent moniker that featured a cover of Nico's These Days written by Jackson Browne. After working on the third Polyphonic Spree album, Clark went solo under her St. Vincent moniker for her full-length debut album entitled Marry Me.

Produced by Annie Clark, Brian Teasley, and Daniel Farris, Marry Me is an album of lush, indie-pop music that exemplifies Clark's unique musical talents and quirky lyrics filled with various themes. Featuring appearances from Polyphonic Spree bassist Mark Pirro and legendary David Bowie pianist Mike Garson. The album is filled with unique arrangements and Clark's angelic, somber vocals. The result is one of 2007's insatiable debut albums.

The album opener Now, Now arrives with melodic-tingles and smooth, warbling programmed beats with Clark's soothing, evocative vocals. With melodic guitar swirls and Clark's eccentric lyrics, the track features a sweeping orchestral arrangement with layers of backing vocals and arpeggio-flourishing acoustic guitar melodies. Jesus Saves, I Spend arrives with speedy drum fills, bum-bum-bum backing vocals, and Clark's calm vocals with lyrics about Jesus in a comical manner. With a smooth, driving guitar and layers of background noises including a swooning, melodic keyboard in the bridge, it's a song that is filled sprawling, layered arrangements with Clark performing most of the instruments. Your Lips Are Red is a sinister cut with pounding bass and warbling drums with Clark's eerie, soothing vocals. With spurting guitars and creepy lyrics, it's a song that has a great structure that includes a driving section of ominous violins from the song's co-writer Daniel Hart as Mike Garson plays some striking, flourishing piano accompaniments.

The album's title track starts off as a somber piano-driven ballad with a soft, thumping bass drum track and Clark's angelic vocals sung with melancholic lyrics about marriage. With a bouncy accompaniment from the drums, the song includes accompanying claps, soothing violins, and a xylophone performance that tingles throughout the track. Paris Is Burning is strange yet rich track led by Clark's arpeggio-flourishing guitars, distorted beats, and Clark's eerie vocals for a rhythmic song filled with quirky, imagery-laden lyrics. With its smooth, thumping rhythms and arrangements, it's a song that is filled with lots of layers and instrumentation in its performance. All My Stars Aligned is a rich, torch-like piano ballad led by Mike Garson's flourishing piano performance with a smooth rhythm and washy acoustic guitars. Clark's angelic vocals carry the song with her evocative range and dream-like lyrics as she's accompanied by a backing chorus, wondrous string arrangements, and Garson's superb piano performance.

Apocalypse Song is a weird, comical song about the apocalypse with buzzing sounds, bouncy beats, and washy guitars through Clark's calm, evocative vocals. With Clark's high-pitch, wailing vocals filled with sprawling arrangements of sweeping string arrangement and backing vocals along with rhythmic claps and guitar spurts. The Mike Garson-penned instrumental We Put A Pearl In The Ground is an ambient piece with Mike Garson's soothing piano melodies that flourish through with Clark accompanying him on a soft keyboard track. Landmines arrives with a smooth, bouncy rhythm that acts as ballad with dark lyrics sung by Clark in a dreamy vocal presentation. With instruments ranging from lap steel guitar flourishes, shimmering harps, and swooning noises, it's a song that features a lot of tricks through its production.

Human Racing is a bouncy, island-flavored track with washy, spurting guitar tracks and Clark's swooning vocals filled with dreamy lyrics about love. With finger-snap accompaniments in the background, it's the simple presentation and a melodic trumpet solo that make this song stand out. The album closer What Me Worry is another jazz-inspired track with jazz-spurting guitar riffs, a smooth rhythm, and Clark's evocative vocals filled with humorous, melancholic lyrics. With a flute accompaniment, it's Clark's vocals that are the highlight of the song. Appearing as a bonus track from the Japanese version of the album is a cover of the Jackson Browne-penned, Nico song These Days. With its rich, melodic-swirling guitar arpeggios and Clark's ethereal, calm vocals, it's a faithful yet entrancing cover of the melancholic ballad as it's performed with just simply Clark and her guitar.

Marry Me is a fun, eccentric, yet entrancing debut record from Annie Clark in her St. Vincent moniker. While some of the layers of arrangements, quirky lyrics, and broad production might not be for everyone. The record is still something rich and dream-like through Clark's vocals and her performance on the guitar and various other instruments with the exception of Mike Garson's sprawling piano work. In the end, for a debut record by an artist that creates rich textures in melodies and arrangements that is carried by superb vocals. Marry Me is the record to get from St. Vincent.

St. Vincent Albums: Actor - Strange Mercy

(C) thevoid99 2011

The Cure-Greatest Hits

Greatest Hits is the Cure’s third full-length best-of compilation release that features many of the Cure’s hit singles. This time around, the tracks are chosen by the band’s leader Robert Smith as he picks sixteen (seventeen for the U.K. release) hits from the band’s more than 20-year career remastered for the compilation plus two new songs. The release also includes an additional disc of the same songs performed acoustically the then-current line-up of Smith, bassist Simon Gallup, guitarist Perry Bamonte, keyboardist Roger O’Donnell, and drummer Jason Cooper plus former drummer Boris Williams on percussions. The result is a superb best-of release from the Cure.

Opening the album is the upbeat Boys Don’t Cry with its bopping rhythms, driving guitars, and melancholic lyrics while a shortened version of A Forest shows the band embracing a dark sound with its ominous keyboards and Simon Gallup’s sturdy bass lines. The next three tracks are the new-wave inspired non-LP singles for the quirky Let’s Go to Bed, the electro-dance of The Walk, and the jazz-inspired The Lovecats which shows the band embracing pop music after moving away from dark, heavy Goth music. The next two singles from 1985’s The Head on the Door with the brimming, new-wave inspired Inbetween Days and the mid-tempo yet rhythmic Close to Me that features wailing horns for its single mix.

From 1987’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me comes two of the band’s popular singles that includes the upbeat, synthesizer-wailing Why Can’t I Be You? and the evocative love song Just Like Heaven with its rich arpeggio guitars, somber synthesizers, and mesmerizing lyrics. The next two tracks from 1989’s Disintegration show the band returning to its darker, Gothic roots such as the creepy yet lush Lullaby and the heart wrenching Lovesong with its rich production and swooning keyboards. The hard-rocking Never Enough shows the band embracing full-on rock while the ethereal High has the Cure meshing their flourishing Goth sound with pop elements. The upbeat Friday I’m In Love has the band going full-on pop as one of the band’s more quirky upbeat songs to the more whimsical Mint Car that is really one of the band’s more underrated singles.

Wrong Number, from the 1997 compilation Galore, has the Cure experimenting with electronic music as it includes a wailing guitar solo from former David Bowie guitarist Reeves Gabrel. The next two tracks are the new songs the band put for this compilation with the first being Cut Here. The mid-tempo song with pulsating beats, swooning synthesizers, wobbly bass lines, and driving guitars is truly a superb song with Smith’s heart wrenching vocals filled with lyrics of loss and reflection. The second is Just Say Yes is a more electronic-driven track with swirling sitar melodies, flourishing keyboards, and an upbeat yet dance-driven rhythm as it features eerie yet eccentric lyrics as Smith sings through a warbled vocal mix.

The second disc includes all of the songs that appear in the first disc performed acoustically by the band plus former drummer Boris Williams, from the band’s period from 1985 to 1994, providing additional percussions as they perform the songs live in a studio. Many of the songs are given faithful renditions for these acoustic performances with Roger O’Donnell playing a harmonium and piano to maintain the stripped-down approach to the songs. For the electronic-driven stuff like Let’s Go to Bed and The Walk, the use of the harmonium and Williams’ additional percussion add more dimension to these songs. The Lovecats maintains its jazzy vibe while the additional cymbals and clanging percussions that Williams add help bring out the faithfulness of the song.

The acoustic performances are truly inspiring and lively as it allows Smith to be humorous as he talks a bit during the final moments of Close to Me. The overall presentation of these songs really show a wonderful dynamic to the Cure as it’s something fans will enjoy.

Released on November 21, 2001, the album was released in two different versions as the U.K. version included an extra track in The Caterpillar in the set as the release was well-received with fans and critics. Notably for the second disc in its acoustic set which was something Smith feel the fans would love. With rumors about the band disbanding still swirling around the record’s release, the album did mark the end of the Cure’s relationship with Fiction Records after being with the label for more than 20 years.

Greatest Hits is a wonderful best-of collection from the Cure as the acoustic disc gives something for the hardcore fans to enjoy. The record itself serves as a wonderful introduction to audiences new to the band as it provides many hits from the band’s career though previous compilations like Staring at the Sea and Galore cover more ground with the other songs that aren’t in the collection. In the end, Greatest Hits is an excellent best-of collection from the Cure.

The Cure Studio Albums: Three Imaginary Boys - Seventeen Seconds - Faith - Pornography - The Top - The Head on the Door - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me - Disintegration - Wish - Wild Mood Swings - Bloodflowers - The Cure - 4:13 Dream

Compilations: Standing on a Beach/Staring at the Sea - Mixed Up - Galore - Join the Dots

Live Albums: Concert: The Cure Live - Show - Paris

© thevoid99 2011