Regina Spektor – Laughing With

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:27:44 +0000

With a name as ethereal as Spektor this lady has the ability to seep into your soul and incite emotion.
Regina Spektor seems to me to be one of those people who can see a dash of colour or a blade of grass and go into raving rhapsodies or deep depressions, the smallest of everyday situations speaking spiralling gothic narratives and being draped in swathes of vocal velvet.
‘Laughing With’ explicitly joins those existentialist dots and is a bewitching musical comment on the universal simultaneous independence and dependence the human race has with the idea of God.
Lacking the cascading intensity of other tracks from ‘Far’ this is a disarming track, daedal in what it says rather than being intricately congested.
The whole song is of an all encompassing mood, speaking of God and humanity, being plaintive and elegiac, whilst life affirming, this spectral song has within it the roots of future happiness.
http://www.noizemakesenemies.co.uk/review-regina-spektor-laughing-with

Malachai – Ugly Side of Love

admin — Sun, 30 May 2010 16:02:31 +0000

‘Ugly Side of Love’, this latest offering from the Bristol duo, made to the recipe of the handful of highlights of musical history, lashings of creativity, and a healthy heap of self indulgence , all mixed with vivid imagination is tearing the seams with individuality and excitement.
A textured tapestry, this is both uplifting and enigmatic. The ethereal opening of first track ‘Warriors’ had me hiding behind the sofa expecting Thriller-like zombies, until the trippy meandering beats kick in, and I found myself kicking back with hazy visions of the sun setting whilst the band jam, man. ‘Shitkicker’ moves along like a marble down a chute, albeit infinitely more of a propulsive groove , whilst ‘Snake Charmer’ has a ‘Lucy In The Sky’ psychedelic kick. As well as The Kinks influence on woozy love song ‘Another Sun’, we are treated to hints of Ian Brown and Beck. Fading World would not sound out of place behind ‘John Wayne’, until the mixing decks kick in and the cinematic scene changes to the desert island.
Although it seems as the perfect soundtrack for a game of ‘name that tune’, only two pieces of the puzzle are actually samples, and the rest of the mix cleverly crafted by Gee and Scott themselves.
There is no coherence, and although initially bewildering, this is exactly what works. No one wants a whole album of whooping singing, and if all the songs sounded like The Kinks Malachai would be criticised for, well, making songs that just sound like The Kinks. Like a box of chocolates, the magic is in the mix, and Malachai is the wondrous Willy Wonka.
http://www.noizemakesenemies.co.uk/review-malachai-ugly-side-of-love

noize makes enemies – and so she thinks

Regina Spektor – Laughing With

Malachai – Ugly Side of Love