The best new albums of the month, March 2014

I think it's fair to say that 2014 is no 2013 in terms of good albums released to date. I spent time this month with a few records that were getting rave reviews elsewhere, only to find myself disappointed. Happily though, some lesser known albums got promoted into the ten picks in their place.
You can hear tunes from albums like these on my weekly show on Radioaktiv, every Wednesday at 9pm GMT. For this reason I have tried to add tracks that I haven't played on the radio show. Enjoy...

Lorelle Meets the Obsolete 'Chambers'
Like many "scenes", there are now too many psych/garage bands around and the quality has been diluted. Happily Mexico's LMTO have released a collection of edgy and imaginative music which stands heads and shoulders above many of their contemporaries.

Jon Porras 'Light Divide'
my review (the 405)
An ambient album from one half of Barn Owl, moving away from guitar based soundscapes towards pure electronica. At times this is incredibly beautiful.

Real Estate 'Atlas'
There is nothing new in what Real Estate do but they do it so well, with a gift for melody and delicate guitar lines.

Metronomy 'Love Letters'
One of the best 'pop' albums of the year, 'Love Letters' sees Metronomy move away from dance music to embrace a minimal kind of psychedelia, not a million miles from Arthur Lee and Love. A very pleasant surprise.

Linda Perhacs 'The Soul of Natural Things'
With a back story reminiscent of that of Vashti Bunyan a few years ago, Linda Perhacs returns to the record business 44 years after her last album (the psych-folk classic Parallelograms), having retired from her career as a dental hygienist. This time she is aided by people she has influenced and inspired, such as Julia Holter and Panda Bear.

Liars 'Mess'
'Mess' sees Liars attempting to re-invent their sound by injecting it with 4/4 techno, yet they also manage to sound exactly like themselves in the process. Like they say of the Fall, always different, always the same.

Hauschka 'Abandoned City'
A sonically fascinating album on which Hauschka returns to the prepared piano, and creates a series of varied instrumental soundtracks. All of the track names are actual abandoned cities, fact fans.

Fenster 'The Pink Caves'
It seems this noir-ish collection came out of nowhere. Fenster hail from Berlin and this album manages to evoke both David Lnych and the recent Warpaint album at the same time. Investigate this if you like that description, you won't be disappointed.

François and the Atlas Mountains 'Piano Ombre'
Another luscious album from this bunch, and the first since they have fully relocated to France. Lyrically it is still split evenly between English and French, whilst the music is a mix of catchy pop and longer, more thoughtful pieces.

Dean Wareham 'Dean Wareham'
Last year's 'Emancipated Hearts' EP was strong and contained some of the best music the former Galaxie 500/ Luna man had made in years. If anything, this self-titled album is even better.

The best album releases of the month, June edition

Can 'Lost Tapes box set'

June was another month where the best new release was old. However, unlike My Bloody Valentine's reissues, CAN's Lost Tapes Box Set consisted of three hours of unheard music. I cannot recommend it highly enough, the quality is consistent throughout the epic running time, and as a long standing Can fan I was thrilled to hear bits of familiar tunes incorporated into other pieces. It is extraordinary to think this has remained hidden for the best part of 40 years, it is literally a gem.

Piano Magic 'Life Has Not Finished With Me Yet'

my review (the 405)

"Overall this is a desolate but beautiful record. Piano Magic have successfully introduced new elements into their sound and have made them gel. After eleven albums and sixteen years, this latest effort can comfortably sit amongst their best work."

Japandroids 'Celebration Rock'

Anthemic punk rock album of the season for sure. This duo's second full length album begins with fireworks and delivers some cracking songs; some brand new, others such as 'Younger Us' will be familiar from the singles series which they have been releasing over the last while.

Patti Smith 'Banga'
This is the most impressive album that Patti Smith has made in years. It has catchy tunes ('April Fool') as well as longer pieces that touch on spoken word and experimental rock ('Tarkovsky' 'Constantine's Dream'). She is in great voice and the production works well, though I reckon there are more strings on this than on any of her previous releases. Tom Verlaine plays inspiratonal guitar throughout as well.

Tom McShane 'The Ural Winter'

my review

"At the heart of The Ural Winter there is some strong songwriting, so I reckon it would still have satisfied as a conventionally recorded album, but by bringing people together on that summer's day in 2010, a certain spark happened; something that made the music more alive. This is a downbeat, melancholic album that manages to feel raw and alive and is well worth your attention."

Shonen Knife 'Pop Tune'
my review

"At its heart it is a pure pop record, a summery carefree rush through the simple pleasures of life. I still think they could have taken the Ramones influence one step further and shortened some of the songs, but overall this is both an invigorating listen and an impressive statement from the band. Shonen Knife were always touted as an influence by bands such as Nirvana, L7 and Redd Kross, and whilst recent records have been good, Pop Tune helps us see just why this band packs such an influential clout."

Guided By Voices 'Class Clown Spots a UFO'

Sometimes the prolific nature of Guided By Voices can be frustrating. 'Class Clown..' is their second album of 2012 and apparently there is another one to follow. It's a good album, as is its predecessor, 'Let's Go Eat the Factory', but the thing is if you put them both together you get a great one. Still, out of all the reformed bands that have returned in recent years, they are the one that I am most pleased to see back.

Peaking Lights 'Lucifer'

Building on the buzz created by the superb '936', I think 'Lucifer' is more of a grower. Musically it tiptoes around the crossroads between dub reggae and dream pop. Their use of lo-fi electronics and extended melody lines give it a special edge. Worth it for 'Dream Beat' alone.

Ty Segall Band 'Slaughterhouse'

Another madly prolific act, like GBV, Ty Segall has committed himself to releasing three albums this year. I only heard this last week so I haven't had a chance to really get into it, but my initial impressions are that it is one of the best things he has put his name to. Steeped in even heavier psych-rock than his recent collaboration with White Fence, this sounds amazing when played loud. I haven't even got my hands on a proper copy yet, so I'm looking forward to that.

Liars 'WIXIW'

THe deliberately obtuse title (it's pronounced "wish-you") belies the fact that this is one of Liars most accessible and less abrasive records. Surely they can now be considered one of the most important acts of the last decade - every album is different and they have always challenged their listeners. Produced by Mute boss Daniel Miller, synths are more to the fore here, and the noise overload of old has been swapped for a subtle, more electronic feel. Like all Liars records, this rewards repeated listening.

The Walkmen 'Heaven'

A mature, grown-up record, by all accounts. Perhaps this status is underlined by the picture of the band posing with their children on their laps on the back cover. Dad-rock indeed. It turns out this is one of the Walkmen's best albums, its a grower, and the songs kind of creep up on you, rather than grab you straight away.

A Place to Bury Strangers 'Worship'

my review

A Place to Bury Strangers no longer seems like a flat-out noise assault, and ultimately Worship sounds more like themselves than a homage to anyone. It actually sounds great too, and I really like the band's own production work. It is clinical and cold rather than warm and fuzzy but that suits the material. This isn't woozy shoegaze to lose yourself in, it's much more edgy and abrasive than that, and I reckon it works.

Looking forward to Field Day this weekend? Here's a playlist and a preview

Something that interests me as a voracious consumer of new music is the rise of multi-venue festivals where you can try and cram as many acts into your day as possible. The SXSW festival in Austin, Texas is the best example of this, but this year already many UK events have taken this as their lead, with the likes of Brighton's Great Escape, Liverpool's Sound City and the long established Camden Crawl booking a huge range of bands over a variety of venues.

With literally hundreds of music festivals competing for space and attention over the summer months, this seems to be a succesful model. This year larger events such as Sonisphere have been cancelled, whilst even legendary ones like Glastonbury have taken a year off.

One event that has moved from its normal slot in the festival calendar is London's Field Day; a one day outdoor event that has steadily been building an audience in Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets since 2007. This multi-stage music festival traditionally takes place in August, but this year it has been pushed forward to the first Saturday in June due to the huge presence of the Olympics taking over that area in August.

Field Day always boasts a cutting edge line-up of both established and breakthrough acts, and as it is all compressed into one day, you don't have to camp or bring anything with you. For me, it works brilliantly as a showcase; an excellent way to see quite a few new bands in one day as you can cover the ground between each stage in a few minutes.

The festival emerged from small grass roots venues and promoters working together and has grown into something much larger. In 2006, it began in the car park of the Griffin Pub in Old Street as the Return of the Rural and took the format of a village fete with live acoustic acts such as James Yorkston and Beth Orton, as well as Clinic and Four Tet. These acts were large enough to pull a decent crowd back then, and the promoters decided to do something bigger the following year they booked space in Victoria Park, joined forces with other promoters and announced the first Field Day, which sold out to 10,000 people in August 2007.

The festival has evolved and grown in size to 20,000 and has now played host to the likes of Florence and the Machine, Phoenix, Santigold, James Blake to name just a few.

Last year's festival was the largest yet and there were some issues with overcrowding. These have been addressed this year with a new layout to help the flow between stages, although the capacity remains the same.

The close proximity of the stages gives the organisers another headache, specifically how to reduce the bleed-through of sound between venues. Over the years they have taken various steps to address this and with some clever positioning of each PA plus a capacity crowd in each tent, the colouration is negligible.

There are around 60 acts on the bill, so I thought I would try and pick out some highlights. There are inevitable clashes of course, but I reckon on a carefully planned day you get to see around 8 or 9 acts. A clashfinder is essential but here are some suggestions.
Grimes – one of the breakthrough acts of 2012, Grimes is the alias of Claire Boucher, a young prolific talent from Canada, who manages to straddle the genres of dance music, lo-fi indie and witch house with ease
Peaking Lights – a husband and wife duo who make a lo-fi mix of dub, krautrock and psychedelic pop
R. Stevie Moore – a prolific but wilfully obscure DIY musician who has been making music since the mid-70s but is only just coming to a wider audience now thanks to the likes of Ariel Pink
The Men – high octane punk rock, noisy and brash, which sounds like it was recorded with all the needles on red
Summer Camp – duo Jeremy Walmsley and Elizabeth Sankey are building their indie-pop origins into something very special,as last year's Welcome to Condale album showed.
Fennesz – legendary Austrian guitarist now firmly established in the world of ambient electronica, he makes some lovely noises
Andrew Bird – an amazing talent who plays superb violin, writes great songs and does clever things with loops. He is also a fantastic whistler!
Tortoise – the guys who brought dub, jazz and krautrock to the world of American indie-rock in a rescheduled show from last year
Mazzy Star – newly reformed,this duo made three classic albums in the 1990s, featuring the distinctive voice of Hope Sandoval and the psychedelic fuzz guitar of David Roback.
Liars – one of the finest experimental rock groups of the last 10 years, showcasing their new album WIXIW.
Papa M - the alias of David Pajo, best known as guitarist of the post-rock group Slint
Django Django - last but not least, one of the bands of 2012, on a mid-afternoon slot so look sharp.

Just in case you missed the clashfinder, click here to get the official one.

The Field Day line-up was hard to pick ten or twelve acts from, so I've made a 25 track playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!

STREAM: new albums by Liars and Japandroids

Just to keep things ticking over whilst I finish up a couple of features for later in the week, Monday seems to be "new album stream day" and today sees two absolute stunners.
First of all, the sixth album from the consistently evolving Liars 'WIXIW' is streaming over at NPR.
Also, at the same site, Japandroids second full length 'Celebration Rock' is streaming ahead of its proper release next week.
Enjoy!