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.

review: Real Estate, London Sebright Arms, 20th February 2012

words and lo-res pic by Jonathan Greer
This was one of those shows you feel privileged to be at. The last time New Jersey band Real Estate played in London they sold out the Scala, but tonight, as a prequel to their Koko show in support of Kurt Vile, they are playing the downstairs room in a renovated East End pub off Hackney Road.
I wasn't sure what to expect from the Sebright Arms but I was hugely impressed.  It's a basement with a low ceiling but they have added a decent PA and painted the walls black.  Add a sold-out crowd like tonight and you have a venue full of atmosphere and buzz. 
Real Estate take the stage after 10pm - for the benefit of you non-London types, that's almost a late show! - and play for over an hour, packing their set with songs from both of their albums.  
They open with 'Fake Blues' from their debut, although it sounds slicker and updated and those guitars are already starting to jangle.  The first crowd-pleaser, 'Easy', follows soon after and then the band are joined by Louis from Spectrals on guitar for the next bunch of songs which adds even more power to their wall of sound.  'Green Aisles' and 'Out of Tune' suggest that they are sticking to the familiar songs early on and the crowd are lapping it up.  Bass player Alex sings 'Wonder Years' and the band start to resemble prime period Byrds.  The powerful instrumental 'Kinder Blumen' is the climax of the three guitarist section of the set.
The take the pace down a little with 'Suburban Dogs' from the first album and then tease us a little bit with the bassline from 'It's Real' before launching into the full song, claiming that it's only the fifth time they have played it.  That's hard to believe, as it has become their anthem and it's no surprise that someone calls out "play that four more times!"
A normal show would have peaked here, but it seemed like Real Estate just went up a gear after this.  The last section of the show seemed short but in reality lasted well over half an hour and made me remember what it is like to get lost inside great guitar sounds.  This wasn't a noise guitar barrage or challenging improvisations, instead this was beautiful chords and intricate lead passages that never lost sight of the song. Lead guitarist Matthew Mondanile (also of Ducktails) seemingly never stopped playing throughout.  I was so entranced by it that I forgot to note down what the last few songs were, but I'm pretty sure 'Suburban Beverage' and 'All The Same' were in there.
This morning I listened to Real Estate again on a sunny bus journey into work. I had a big smile on my face and it was all their fault.

Slow Thrills weekly Spotify playlist 002

Slow Thrills list 002

The second week of this, and it's a good one! It's compiled by myself (Jonathan) as I haven't got quite got on top of the contributions just yet. I think I will do a longer list on the last Friday of every month as a bit of a round-up. Again, I've just featured music that's been relevant to my week, hope you enjoy. The playlist includes new singles from Real Estate and Dad Rocks!, a track from the new albums from Guided By Voices and Darren Hayman, plus Eleanor Friedberger - a live review of her went up this week - and Patrick Kelleher and His Cold Dead Hands - who were my new music post this week. There's also Gonjasufi remixed by Oneohtrix Point Never and a track by Blanck Mass, who have bagged one of the support slots to Explosions in the Sky later this month and have just been added to Jeff Mangum's ATP

Listen to Slow Thrills list 002

Last week's edition is here