Max Richter - Memoryhouse

A couple of years ago, I wrote about Max Richter's brilliant Infra on this blog. At the time it stood alone in my record collection; two sides of incredible neo-classical music surrounded by countless punk, post-rock and metal albums. However it represented the beginning of a journey of musical discovery I'm still on. Digging through the other albums Max Richter has released, finding the section in my record shop called "Neo-classical, experimental, noise and other" and converting friends has been very rewarding indeed.

One of the highlights is Memoryhouse, an album I'm very glad has recently been reissued on a lovely double white vinyl. Late in 2011 I found the cd of Memoryhouse in a second-hand shop in Soho and was pretty excited to hear it. I had no idea if it would be anything like Infra or whether I'd enjoy it at all, but my fears were unnecessary. I don't know if it's fair to call it an "album of songs" (any themes are less evident than they are on Infra) but it certainly works well in that sense; most of the songs stand well alone with a handful of notable highlights along the way. Listening to it as an album, some of the songs become more incidental and add to the overall flow. At 18 tracks, it's not a quick listen, but if I put it on my headphones at work it makes for a very enjoyable hour.

The highlights I mentioned before are spread pretty evenly throughout the record - the opener Europe, After the Rain, Sarajevo with its piercing vocals and violins, the more electronic Untitled (Figures) and the haunting Arbentia. However, the two most exciting songs for me are November and Last Days which are both hugely tense and overwhelming pieces of music. Those two songs sit perfectly between the worlds of classical music and post-rock, which is quite something.

The reissue was expensive but definitely worth it. The vinyl is particularly noisy but the crackles and pops really do add something here. Whilst electronic instruments are used and it's a very modern classical album, it already sounds timeless and all that surface noise adds to the idea that this LP could have been knocking for 60 years. I'm not sure why it's quite so noisy (it's only had one careful owner - me) but I like it.

Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 18
Cost: £25 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 26/07/14
Colour: White
Etching: None
mp3s: Download

Dirty Projectors - About To Die

Sometime I find I buy records just because I'm spending money; on the day I found this I'd picked up a couple of other records I fancied and just added this one to the pile. It's by no means an essential purchase and £7 for a four-song EP isn't exactly a bargain. That said, Dirty Projectors have been on a roll recently and their last two (proper) albums, Bitte Orca and Swing Lo Magellan, were both incredible. 

About to Die is a single from the second of those albums, sandwiched between the two highlights - Offspring Are Blank and Gun Has No Trigger. On the album then, About to Die never really caught my attention due to the strength of its neighbours, but it's a pretty good song. While You're Here isn't the most interesting song, but is apparently written about the death of the bassist from TV on the Radio. The two songs on the b-side both have more going for them, but show a simpler side of the band; the arrangements are more basic and it leaves room for the song to do the work.

Anyway, it's a nice enough EP but certainly isn't the sort of record that will change anyone's life. Despite it being second-hand the download card worked fine, much to my surprise. 

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 4
Cost: £7 second hand
Bought: Vinyl Exchange, Manchester
When: 18/05/14
Colour: Black
Etching: None
mp3s: Download

The Smith Street Band - Sunshine & Technology

Young Drunk was the first Smith Street Band song I heard, on one of the Fest 2013 mixtapes on Bandcamp. The mixtapes had steered me well when we went in 2011 so I was keen to discover some more bands for our next trip. Young Drunk was one of the biggest highlights that time around and I immediately went to their Bandcamp to listen to the rest of the album. The first time I heard Sunshine and Technology was sat at my desk in my very boring, very corporate office job. If ever there was a soundtrack to the exact opposite, this was it.

A good summary of Sunshine and Technology (and, in fact, all Smith Street Band albums) is that it's just good sunny day punk music; uplifting, upbeat and enjoyable. Some of the choruses are so huge it's almost impossible to not sing along (just have a listen to I Can't Feel My Face or Stay Young) and there's an incredible urgency to the vocals which I love. The final trio of Young Drunk, When I Said Us I Meant Them and Don't Mention the War make for one of the strongest album-closers I can think of right now.

I've got a lot of time for this band. I think some of what it comes down to is that they just absolutely nail the whole "being Australian and in your 20's" thing (which is understandable because they are). But because I spent some of my 20's living in Australia I feel a stronger connection to the music; even though that was long before these guys were releasing music, I can imagine being on three-hour drives between cities listening to this album. It's quite a strange feeling to retrospectively soundtrack my time there, but it works. It's hard not to have good memories of Australia (because it was always so sunny) but I've somehow wrapped those memories up with these songs and it's nice.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £6.30 new
Bought: Fest
When: 03/11/13
Colour: Grey marble
Etching: Side A: "The Smith Street Band loves to tour" Side B: "The Smith Street Band Loves Jeff Rosenstock"
mp3s: Download