Music Purchases September - October

Dave Matthews Band – Away From The World As some of you might know I’m a huge fan of DMB so that fact he has released his second study album in 3 years makes me smile a lot. Not to every bodies taste, it doesn’t really follow the tried and tested formula of verse - chorus – verse, but this will be on heavy rotation for me over the next couple of weeks.

The Gaslight Anthem – Handwritten Next instalment from the New Jersey foursome. Brian Fallon has a knack of writing hook laden songs and there is plenty to admire here. Nothing different from previous Gaslight Anthem releases but if it isn’t broke don’t fix it!

Sigur Ros – Valtari Latest from the Icelandic music makers, picked up cheaply in HMV. Expect most of these tunes to be used to soundtrack wildlife programmes over the next 12 months!

Matchbox Twenty – North Savaged by the critics I expect this album to be riddled with soft rock anthem and touching ballads about love lost, love found and love lost again. Perfect just how I like it!

Bear’s Den – EP caught these guys supporting The Smoke Fairies and was that impressed I bought their EP. They sound a bit like the Fleet Foxes which is no bad thing in my opinion.  

Mogwai – Come On Die Young & Happy Songs For Happy People catch up back purchases from the Scottish band that make an very big noise that seems so perfect and intimate.

Lambchop – Damaged picking up albums that I don’t have by an artist especially when they are £3 in HMV.

Wild Beasts – Limbo Panto Same as above this was Wild Beasts debut album and they are turning into a rather fine band, both on CD and live. 

Squeeze – Greatest Hits  A BBC4 documentary lead me to confess that I did not own any of Squeezes music and as I can sing word for word at least 12 of these songs though I best put that right. In truth this compilation has 20 tracks of which 7 I suspect never worried the charts, but the first 11 tracks are as near to pop perfection as you will get.

 

Yeasayer – All Hour Cymbals  More scratching about in HMV brought the next few purchases all for £3 each. I like Yeasayer and couldn’t resist their debut album

White Denim – Workout Holiday White Denim play music hard to define other than saying it’s great and never fails to impress. This is their debut and adds to Fits and D which are also fantastic.

WU LYF – Go Tell Fire The Mountain pronounced Woo Life bought on the strength of the cover sticker and on first listen very interesting. Vocals rawer than Tom Waits with a saw throat driven along with an intense guitar sound. 

Various Artists – Best Of Kokua Festival I haven’t listened to Jack Johnson since seeing him in 2010 and being bored witless so buying a live album with Jack playing on every track didn’t seem like a wise choice even to me! In truth with collaborators as good as Dave Matthews, Ben Harper, g Love, Eddie Vedder and Willie Nelson this was never going to be a risk. Chilled, yes, laidback, yes, boring NO!