William Elliott Whitmore - Animals in the Dark

Animals in the Dark was the first William Elliott Whitmore after released after his "Black trilogy" (as I've heard them referred to) of Hymns For the Hopeless, Ashes to Dust and Song of the Blackbird. Mutiny, the opening song here, immediately sets the album apart with a song that sounds like nothing on those earlier albums - comprising just (gang-)vocals and drums, it was very unexpected when I first heard it, but I loved it. Will's voice is one of my favourites and it works so well against the sparse drums. The outro of "He don't need no water / Let the motherfucker burn" was a surprise too, although tainted by the fact that most people (myself included) know the lines from shitty nu-metal songs around the turn of the century.

After that, we settle back into more familiar WEW territory, but with smaller twists - Johnny Law leans heavily into traditional country and Old Devils builds gradually in speed throughout (and is a highlight for it). The best songs are the ones that would have fit onto any of the previous albums (although that's not necessarily why they're the best songs) - Who Stole the Soul is slow and haunting, Hell or High Water is lovely in the usual Will Whitmore way, and There's Hope For You is uplifting and positive, in a way.

The album ends with A Good Day to Die, which is another lovely song but, if I'm being honest, a bit of a downer. I remember playing this album in the car in Florida as we got near to Gainesville for Fest and Sarah pressing eject somewhere towards the end of the song - she wasn't enjoying it and felt that Will had already expressed his opinion on whether or not today was a good day to die enough times already. My attempts to make her a fan of Will's work clearly didn't work.

I picked this copy up in Spillers just after it was released. 2008 was my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year and I'd only been in once in 2009 before I went in to get this in March; it wasn't intentional, I don't think, it's just that if I wasn't forcing myself to go I tended to be lazy and not go.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 18/03/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

The Murder City Devils - In Name and Blood

It's 2019 and The Murder City Devils remain in the list of occasionally active bands I'd love to see but still haven't (along with Snapcase, Hum and The Blood Brothers - the list hasn't changed in years, despite all four playing shows in US in recent years. One day I'll see them and I'll hopefully have a great time).

In Name and Blood was the last of the original Murder City Devils albums I got (The White Ghost... hadn't been released and they were very much broken up when I was getting into them). I got Thelema, Empty Bottles and the live album, R.I.P., in 2005/2006 and loved them. A while later I found the self-titled album and it became a stable in the kitchen of our house in Cardiff - that album acted as a little revival of the band for me and I was very pleased to find this album in Spillers one day early in 2009. The albums had been reissued on coloured vinyl and I was very pleased to add it to my collection.

I knew a bunch of the songs from R.I.P., but there are some great songs that weren't played at that last show - Bunkhouse with it's excellent chorus ("If you don't think that cowboys cry / Then you ain't never heard a cowboy's song"), Someone Else's Baby and Fields of Fire. Of course, Press Gang, Idle Hands and Rum to Whiskey were all highlights from the live album, particularly the last one, so I knew them well. There's also a couple of covers thrown in - Neil Diamond's I'll Come Running (for some reason) and two much-more on-brand Misfits covers - Hybrid Moments and She, although the latter is not listed on the sleeve. Goes without saying that MCD's organ-heavy sound and The Misfits make quite a pairing.

The band had a slight stylistic shift over the years, so much so they considered the Thelema EP part of the reason they broke up, but it's a very gradual change - in my mind (and ears), the self-titled album and Thelema are the extreme ends, but Empty Bottles and In Name and Blood are quite similar and a very strong pair of albums. All that said, if you like any of their music, I can't see you not liking the rest.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 13
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 18/03/09
Colour: White and red splatter
Etching: Side A: "Look upon your city, enjoy the sight..." Side B: "For it will soon be rubble and bleached bones"
mp3s: Download code

Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart

I think I've finally learnt which band is Jawbox and which one is Jawbreaker - Jawbox are the one I have a couple of albums by and quite enjoy, Jawbreaker are the ones I watched a documentary about on Amazon Prime thinking they were Jawbox (it was reassuring that even Steve Albini couldn't remember which was which). The Jawbreaker documentary was interesting and I stuck with it, partly because they seemed to really hate each other, but partly because people really love them and, it turns out, I've never listened to them despite them being the sort of band I feel like someone would have played to me. But enough about Jawbreaker.

Like a lot of people (I suspect), I was introduced to Jawbox because Deftones covered Savory and their recording ended up on their 2005 B-Sides and Rarities compilation (as well as on the 2011 Covers LP). That recording also features most of the guys from Far, and I also had a recording of Jonah covering Savory on his The Three Sketchys compilation, so it's safe to say the song hit hard amongst that group of friends. I liked the song and made a mental note to check the band out; over the years I heard about For Your Own Special Sweetheart being a classic and landmark album.

In 2010 I finally stumbled across a copy - this is the 2009 reissue and Spillers had it in stock when I was back in town for some reason (it wasn't for a gig, so I'm not sure why I was in Cardiff that weekend in particular). I still hadn't actually heard Jawbox when I first played the record, but the covers of Savory and the general fanfare was enough to draw me in. Plus, it was on Discord, so it really couldn't go too wrong. Jawbox have a lot in common with Albini-related bands from Chicago but they have a far greater ear for a melody and throw in some incredibly catchy choruses; it's a far easier listen than anything Big Black recorded, which I see as a plus. It's still pretty abrasive (my wife made some strange faces at the start of FF=66 just now and left the room before the chorus kicked in). Of course, Savory is a great song, but so are Breathe, Motorist, Jackpot Plus! and U-Trau, mostly because of their soaring choruses. Reel feels quite different from the rest of the album, but is a nice moment.

Many years later I found a second-hand copy of My Scrapbook of Fatal Accidents on cd in Oxfam and that reminded me that I really should have bought more Jawbox records by now. It's no surprise that the only blocker has been that I never ever see their albums in shops and forget to seek them out online. I've bought both Jawbox releases that I've ever seen, so that's a reasonable effort I suppose. I should try harder; I like their music and could happily listen to more of it.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 13
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 17/04/10
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A: "This is not a psychotic episode" Side B: "This is a cleansing moment of clarity"
mp3s: Download code

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Lie Down in the Light

There was a period of time when I bought lots of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy records, and a period where I slowed way down and tried to make much more considered purchases from his back-catalogue. William Oldham's music is not something I universally love; in fact, he veers into territory that I don't like almost as much as he makes incredible music.

On one hand, he released I See a Darkness, one of the best and most interesting folk records I've ever heard, not to mention the darkest. I also have a couple of great live albums of his, and I really enjoyed the album with The Cairo Gang. On the other hand, I can't listen to Sings Palace's Greatest Hits, and there are a good handful of albums that are completely unremarkable. This album, the third of his I bought (after I See a Darkness and There Is No One That Will Take Care of You), falls into the latter category.

I bought this album about a week after it came out as my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers that week. The first disappointment (albeit a small one) was that it wasn't blue vinyl, which would have been such an obvious choice. The much bigger disappointment was that none of the edginess of the two albums I knew was present - despite the two being very different, both had a lot going on that made them interesting; Lie Down in the Light was kinda bland, with little excitement. It did nothing for me then, and every attempt to get into since has been equally underwhelming.

There was one incident that meant the album made some impression on me, but it literally the only one - in May 2012 we saw Bonnie 'Prince' Billy play a special show with Trembling Bells in the Union Chapel in London, although it was much more "Trembling Bells featuring Will Oldham" than the other way around. I suspect the vast majority in attendance that night also wished it was the other way around (they supported him when I saw him play an incredible set in Shepherd's Bush in 2010). I was there with a handful of friends, three of whom decided halfway through that it was so bad that they'd rather be in the pub. Somehow, the message didn't make it the whole way across the pew so Rich and I didn't know they were actually leaving, but probably would have watched the rest of the show anyway.

After they left, the band played the best song of the evening by far, a song I later realised was So Everyone from this album. I recognised the song; despite not having played this album a huge amount, the catchy chorus had lodged itself in my mind and I made an effort to figure out which album it was from when I got home. I was surprised that it was from Lie Down in the Light, partly because I didn't think I'd played it enough to remember any of it, but partly because I didn't think there was anything on the album remotely memorable. I stand corrected - it has one memorable song. If I was making a compilation of my favourite Will Oldham songs, it'd make the cut.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £12 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 27/05/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: None

Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers

I've recently come to the conclusion that I'll never actually get into this album. It's been ten years of periodically trying, only each time to give up once again. The following will probably be some of the least positive things I'll ever write on here about the Manic Street Preachers. I'm sorry; I do love them, but just not on this record.

To cut straight to the point, Journal for Plague Lovers sounds to me like an album of demos that were never fully realised. There are two tracks on the record that I hear and think "this is a song" - the title track and William's Last Words - the rest are underwhelming. Some have a riff or a chorus that works, but that's it and it's not enough to carry the song. More than half of the songs are under three minutes in length, which is very short for a band who have written some of the best six-minute songs ever (Motorcycle Emptiness, The Everlasting) and do incredible things when at their fullest sounding as a band. The demos they've been so good at providing with each recent album are fascinating, but rarely ever a patch on the final product. I wonder if there was more depth and potential to these songs that for whatever reason they just never extracted?

The album had three particularly interesting features - it was written entirely using Richey's lyrics that he gave to Nicky before he disappeared; it was produced by Steve Albini - not a producer you'd immediately think of the Manics to go to; and they promised there would be no singles. Each of those deserves a little dwelling on.

Was the Manics using Richey's old lyrics a cheap attempt to reignite some old passion? I don't think so (but that's partly because I can't see that passion here), and I wouldn't like to say such a thing. It certainly threw more red flags for me than it did get me excited. I don't think the magic in the first three (and a half) albums was Richey's lyrics in isolation - I think the partnership between him and Nicky can't be ignored, not to mention that I suspect there was more to the process than lyrics-to-song without a bit of back and forth. A lot of these songs struggle to fit around the lyrics, making me think that the lyrics must have usually adapted to fit the songs more. The revival of the backwards R's and the use of more of Jenny Saville's artwork did, however, seem like a cheap way to make people draw comparisons to The Holy Bible though.

Steve Albini is an interesting choice as a producer for any band, but particularly one I can't imagine he would ordinarily have much to do with - they move in entirely independent circles and he is known for his strong opinions on music (and beyond). That said, I read an article a while ago where he noted that working with them was memorable and enjoyable, so I guess it was better than I'd assumed. Of course, we know Richey was really into Nirvana near the end, and Albini produced In Utero. Is the album influenced by Albini's production? Quite possibly - he famously prefers to be called an engineer, and these songs certainly aren't over-produced. I can imagine a more traditional (for the Manics) recording experience resulting in a very different album. I wonder if his hands-off approach didn't really work with the band.

As for the choice to release no singles, I feel like that is less a choice and more a function of the fact that there are no stand-out singles in these 13 tracks. Send Away the Tigers isn't my favourite album, but the singles there were at least songs you can get a bit excited about - Your Love Alone is Not Enough has aged incredibly well and I enjoy hearing it live every time they play it. Could you follow that up with any of these songs? No, not well at least. Peeled Apples starts well with a quote and a great bassline from Nicky, but has a remarkably flat chorus; James just about picks out a harmony in Richey's often disjointed lyrics in This Joke Sport Severed (which is why I can't believe these lyrics would have stayed the same had Richey been involved in the songwriting process); All is Vanity has the best chorus on the album, but otherwise I can't say much about it. For a band who have released some truly monumental singles in their career, to have so few is quite something.

The highlight is undoubtably William's Last Words, which stands out from the rest by a mile, and not (just) because Nicky sings (and sings so well!). At just over four minutes it's the longest song on the album by a good margin and feels like an actual song (chicken vs egg - is it a "song" because it's longer, or is it longer because it's a song). Musically there's some strings that add so much to the song and really hammer home the fact that the rest of the album is missing the extra "fullness".

Anyway, I rushed out to buy Journal for Plague Lovers the day it came out - I picked it up in Spillers along with a small poster of the artwork, which I still have rolled up somewhere. I played it and struggled a bit. It got filed away and I forgot about it a bit. I bought the double-cd a year later (for a fiver in the sale) and realised I'd barely listened to the LP. But having the mp3s still didn't help crack my way into the album. Some years later I was challenging myself to list all the Manics albums in order, and forgot this one entirely. I know a lot of fans really, really love this album but I'm not one of those (although that is one of the things I love so much about the band - a fanbase with passionately different opinions of what their best work is). I'd go so far as to rate it second-to-last in order of my favourite Manics albums (ahead of Lifeblood, of course). But even then that doesn't seem fair - Lifeblood feels like an album, but I can't get past thinking these are twelve demos and one excellent Nicky Wire song.

Possibly the worst part of this whole saga is that it marked the start of a period of time where I'd pretty much given up on the band. For a while I stopped buying all their singles and really tuned out, which is quite something for a band I'd loved for such a long time. More on how I came back out the other side of that is a story for another time though.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 13
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Spillers' Records, Cardiff
When: 18/05/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Weezer - Weezer (The Red Album)

I feel like when I bought this record the idea of buying the new Weezer album the week it came out wasn't a thing to be embarrassed by, but looking back at their discography it must have been. I'd had Make Believe for a year and a half by that point so knew they were capable of writing bad albums. But The Green Album and Maladroit weren't uniformly terrible, so it was possible, I'm pretty sure, at the time at least. that Make Believe was just an anomaly. Of course, we all know it was next step in a slippery slope; a slope that steepened with The Red Album.

The Red Album came out whilst I was doing my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year and seemed like a solid purchase that week. My colleague Hywel was really excited for the new Weezer album and I think some of that rubbed off on me. As has been discussed at length by everybody on the internet for years, Weezer built up a lot of good trust with The Blue Album and exactly how far that trust went varied depending on who you asked. For me, I definitely went into this wanting to like it. But I never really did. Pork and Beans has something classic Weezer about it, but is ultimately a very stupid song (which eventually became their modus operandi). The Greatest Man That Ever Lived was a ridiculous concept that didn't translate into a good song, and there's basically nothing else I remember about the rest of the album. I can't think how many years it's been since I last played The Red Album, maybe there'll be something to redeem it I'd forgotten about. Update: I'm at the end now and there isn't. The Angel and the One isn't terrible, but that's not exactly praise. I'd also forgotten that Cold Dark World contains one of the worst lyrics I've ever heard.

The Red Album turned out to be the last new Weezer album I bought. Raditude came out a year later but I had no interest in buying it. Weezer's downwards trajectory was well-established and the good trust they'd established with me was finally wearing out. Some friends gave them a few more chances, others stopped before I did; everybody has their limit with Weezer-Blue-Album-good-faith and I quite like seeing where that line is for other people. This album pushed me to the other side.

Format: 12", gatefold
Tracks: 10
Cost: £15.50 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 23/06/08
Colour: Red
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Alexander Tucker - Portal

I was convinced I'd written about this album years ago, but apparently I haven't. I'll get straight to the point - I've never really gotten into this one. I've definitely tried, but it's never happened and I suspect it never will.

I bought this during the Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year and the main reason for doing so was because it was on ATP Recordings. A few months before that I'd been to my first ever ATP festival and was beginning a journey that would last years and introduce me to more bands than I care to count. My friend Aled had passed a comment at some point about how great it is discovering records because they're on a certain record label - how that was essentially a stamp of approval. Whilst I agree that's true in some cases, there are many examples of it going the other way. I can totally see why this album would get released on ATPR, but that's not to say I like it.

Alexander Tucker plays all of the instruments on this album and, generally speaking, that's a worrying sign for me; there's a lot to be said for other people reining in ideas sometimes. Of course, I didn't know that when I bought it. In fact, beyond the fact it was on ATPR and whatever positive things Spillers had written on the sleeve, I knew nothing about it but figured it'd be worth chancing £10 on. The music is nice enough - mostly acoustic guitar and various layers sounds - but his voice grates a bit. It's not a very powerful voice and, intentionally I'm sure, floats somewhere behind the guitars. I imagine Alexander considers himself a guitarist first and foremost, and is very talented at it. I'd often had trouble with music I've called "guitar-players music" - music that people who play the guitar love, but because it's complicated and strange, not necessarily because it's good (I put Sonic Youth firmly in this category). Maybe I'm just unfairly dismissing it because I'm not talented enough to play the guitar, who knows.

Every now and again through this album, there are some pretty heavy guitars, and I'm a fan of that. But they're always paired with that same acoustic guitar and background-y vocals and it's just a shame. The label (the only place on the sleeve where there's any information) thanks Stephen O'Malley (of Sunn O))) fame), a name that wouldn't have meant anything to me when I bought this; I can see how the two might get along. Belljars, the first song on the second side, has a strong riff and pairs heavy electric guitars with the acoustic ones and works quite well until the point where it turns out that it's not an instrumental song.

When I was buying my weekly record from Spillers I was routinely recording the albums I bought onto cds to play in the kitchen (via my shitty USB turntable) and the pile of cds that resulted in still sits in a spindle in my car. Every time I go through there I see this album and I absolutely never think to play it. With a few of those cds I think "maybe I could be in the mood for that", but I never get that with Alexander Tucker. Playing it now will probably tide me over for many years. Like I said, I've never cracked this album and I'm increasingly sure I never will.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 8
Cost: £10.50 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 02/09/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

The Shins - Oh, Inverted World

I was convinced I'd already written about this album, but apparently I haven't - I googled to check and everything. I've told the story about the time I saw The Shins so many times I figured I must have written it here too, but I haven't, so here it is for the first time.

It's not a great story - nothing particularly exciting happens - in fact, it's hard to write it such that it sounds anywhere near as good as it was. Basically, we saw The Shins play at Leeds Festival, the sun was shining and everything felt right with the world. We'd got a bunch of free Jack Daniels cocktails (we were working on another bar, so alcohol was a currency) and were still a while from starting our shift. The weather had been a bit miserable, but the sun peaked out for almost exactly the length of The Shins' set on the main stage, and we all sat there a bit far back from the stage, drinking our drinks and just having the best time. I'm not even a big fan of The Shins; this is the only album of theirs I own, and I wouldn't even consider it a favourite. But for that hour, in the sun with those friends and those cocktails, their music was the greatest thing ever. I count it as one of the best sets I ever saw at a Reading/Leeds Festival, and there is some steep competition in that list.

The order of events is as follows: in 2002 I bought a cheap Sub Pop sampler that had The Shins' legendary New Slang on it (although, I was much more into the song by the Murder City Devils). In 2005 I bought Give Up by The Postal Service and heard The Shins cover of We Will Become Silhouettes (although I was much more into Iron & Wine's cover of Such Great Heights). At some point after that, I saw Garden State and wondered why Natalie Portman played him New Slang when she should have played him Such Great Heights. In 2007 we watched The Shins at Leeds and I had the blissed-out hazy summer moment the band were designed for. In January 2008 I bought this album in Spillers as part of my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year. In 2011 I moved to Kingston and Banquet Records made sure New Slang had a new meaning yet again (although I was much more into their New Noise nights).

There's a common theme above of The Shins taking a backseat to something else that grabbed me more at the time. Maybe I've never really let them have a moment to shine (other than for an hour at Leeds). The music they play is really nice, but the 60's feeling it invokes just isn't a winner for me. Between this album and The Olivia Tremor Control I have my fix of 60's-sounding bands (and, I rarely get more than halfway through Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One in any one sitting). I don't think anyone could really object to The Shins, but New Slang aside (and maybe Caring is Creepy) it's hard to find any really exciting moments (oh, maybe The Past and Pending too - that's three, not bad). I would say I should maybe check out their other albums at some point, but this is the only one I've ever heard people rave about, so my chances of getting much more from the others is slim.

But - and this is an important "but" - every time I scroll past this album on my iPod, or run my finger past it on the shelf I think of that afternoon at Leeds and how perfect everything felt. I almost never stop and play the album because just seeing it reminds me of the warm sun and alcohol buzz and I have more fun than I probably would from actually playing it.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 11
Cost: £8 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 31/01/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound

Sometimes I think I could watch Shellac play The End of Radio, the first song here, for a full set. Sure, Bob would get bored and I'm not sure Todd could hold the snare drum above his head for a whole hour, but the smile on my face would be ridiculous. Ever since the first time I saw Shellac, watching them play this song has been a highlight. Shellac, unlike a lot of rock bands, understand that you don't need to play all the instruments all the time, and this song is a perfect example of that - the only constant is Bob's bass, slowly and gradually varying; Todd's drums reduced to one key instrument and Steve only going near his guitar in the chorus. I love it. This version is eight-and-a-half minutes, but live it goes on for as long as Steve can ramble.

The rest of the album is a great Shellac album, but my love for The End of Radio kind of dwarves the other songs. Steady as She Goes has a great riff and Be Prepared is another live highlight of any Shellac set. Genuine Lulabelle ruins the flow a bit, but the unusually twinkly guitars on Boycott get things going again. Spoke is a brilliantly frantic way to finish the album.

I'd been listening to Shellac for a long time before I finally got Excellent Italian Greyhound - in fact it was the last of their albums I bought (including Dude Incredible), only because I didn't see it in record shops any sooner. It's fitting that when I finally bought it, it was in Spillers, the shop that introduced me to the band through 1000 Hurts eight years earlier (a notable highlight of the Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year).

Of course, one of the most notable things about Excellent Italian Greyhound is Todd's dog Uffizi, the namesake and star of all the artwork. At the Shellac-curated All Tomorrow's Parties one of the most curious things we stumbled across on the chalet TV was a documentary about Italian greyhounds on an American show called Dogs 101. If you've not seen it, it's on YouTube and definitely needs a watch - you'll not see the band in the same way again (but in a good way).

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve, picture sleeve, outer sleeve
Tracks: 9
Cost: £14 new
Bought: Spillers Records
When: 15/11/14
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A: "Pronto prova..." Side B: "A isamu sta lapa!
mp3s: cd included

The Verve - Forth

Forth probably isn't a bad record, but it's certainly not one that needs to be exist. That sounds bad, but it's proving to be the case for most new-albums-from-reformed-bands. I listen to the first three Verve albums a lot still, each with it's own charms; I almost never play Forth. 2008, when it came out, was eleven years after I'd got Urban Hymns and eight years after I'd got A Storm in Heaven and A Northern Soul; moreover, I was 24 rather than a teenager, listening to punk-rock and had just been to my first All Tomorrow's Parties - The Verve weren't a cool band in the same way the other bands I was listening to were.

That said, 2008 was also the only time I'd ever see The Verve, and I was so fucking excited. It was Glastonbury and we were working on the bar in exchange for free tickets. I was pretty gutted that our Sunday shift was when they were playing, but our bar faced the main stage, so I got to watch from behind the bar, and took my break in the middle of their set. I sang along to Bittersweet Symphony with a bunch of drunk people I'd just sold beer to. I don't want to understate the impact that song had on my life - it was the first song that made me genuinely feel anything about music and I wouldn't be sat here writing about my records had I not heard it. Watching The Verve that day was purely about satisfying teenage-me, and it more than did the job.

If The Verve making a new album is the price we had to pay for them to reform and play shows, then this album is worth it. I got to the see The Verve, which is something I never thought I would do. I remember watching their Haigh Hall set live on the BBC and hearing that they were breaking up and feeling so annoyed that I came to them slightly too late. I'm very pleased I was there the second time around.

Is it a bad album? I mean, maybe. There's no way to hear it without the context of the three albums that came before it, the three albums that had already been played more times than this album could ever expect to be heard. Richard Ashcroft had started his dubious solo career and that would taint the enjoyment here - Rather Be is crazy-catchy but feels like a step further away from the direction they'd gone on Urban Hymns, and sounds more like a Richard Ashcroft solo song than a Verve song, which isn't that surprising when you see that he has the sole credit on it. Love is Noise is somehow both really annoying and one of the best songs on the album. Not sure how they managed that. Valium Skies was also a highlight, and the song I find in my head after playing the album. The closer, Appalachian Springs finally sees them letting loose, which is a long time coming. A whole album of songs like that would have worked for me.

Side B is entirely underwhelming - there are hints of the spaciness of the earlier albums, but executed in the most unexciting way. It's early for the album to start dragging. I See Houses has a chorus that has some bite, but musically is still too restrained; if they'd let themselves go for it, it could have been one of the best songs on the album. Noise Epic has one of those titles that you just know isn't going to deliver - it was a big promise and the six songs that proceed it suggest that they're never going to get as noisy or epic as they used to. It gets going eventually, but in the context of the rest of the album feels a bit out of place. There are two bonus tracks that aren't on the cd album: Ma Ma Soul and Muhammad Ali. The first sounds like a mid-career b-side, that is to say, I actually quite like it. The second has a bit more power than a lot of the album tracks, but isn't particularly memorable.

Partly to appease teenage-me, but also because I had genuinely loved seeing the band play that summer, I bought Forth on the day it came out as my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers that week. I knew it was never going to be the "classic" that the hype sticker (quoting the NME) claimed. Nearly a year later, the Virgin Megastore in Cardiff was closing down and everything was dirt cheap, so I bought a lot of cds. One such album was the cd and dvd edition of Forth for £6. The LP hadn't come with a download code so it felt worth it to get the mp3s, plus I wanted to watch the dvd to see the band play live again (the reissues of the original albums would provide much better live shows on dvd, but I wasn't to know that back then). I remember seeing the ridiculous boxset version of the album quite cheap a few times as well, but given that it just contained this double LP and the cd and dvd, I had no need for it.

Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve, picture sleeves
Tracks: 12
Cost: £19 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 27/08/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

The Dwarves - Blood, Guts & Pussy

When I was doing my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year, sometimes when I'd get back to the office my colleagues would ask what record I bought; they mostly knew very little about the music I was into but liked to look at the covers and ask what sort of music it was. When I came back with this LP that summer, I remember praying that no one would ask me - I snuck in and hid it by the side of my desk. How do you explain that cover to anyone? The band name alone would raise some eyebrows, let alone the album title. What if they looked at the song titles and saw songs like Let's Fuck, Insect Whore or Gash Wagon? Thankfully the lyrics for Let's Fuck aren't printed because I definitely don't want to be doing any explaining around that (I'll let you Google that one if you're not familiar with that particular slab of punk-rock).

This is the only Dwarves record I own. I knew roughly what I was getting in for and get some enjoyment out of it - Drug Store is actually quite a good song - but I very rarely ever think "yes, I want to listen to the Dwarves". There are many uneasy-listening hardcore records in my collection, and most of them are recorded better - the quality here varies from just about ok to appalling - Detention Girl is just a smudge of noise for the first half. On the other hand, it's a very short record, so at least you're not listening to it for long. I've definitely had £8 of enjoyment from it over the years, so I can't complain. On the other hand, I do worry my children will see it one day and judge me.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 11
Cost: £8 new
Bought: Spiller's Records, Cardiff
When: 03/06/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Brendan Canning - Something For All of Us

For a good number of years, All Tomorrow's Parties dominated my musical discoveries. 2008 was the start of that - Explosions in the Sky curated a weekend and had one of my favourite bands, The Paper Chase, playing. We saw some excellent bands that weekend, and went to the festival as often as I could for the four years that followed (and beyond, but they ran into actually-holding-the-event issues, which was a shit). That EITS weekend I saw Broken Social Scene for the third time. I'd been introduced to them by the song Ibi Dreams of Pavement on a mix cd I'd been sent from Australian Kate in 2006, and saw them play an incredible set at Pukkelpop that summer.

The ATP performance in 2008 has come to be my main memory of seeing them - they had musicians from so many other bands on stage with them and the set was just perfect. ATP later gave out mp3s of the whole set to anyone who became a "member", a paid-for privilege that I definitely got my money's-worth from - every so often they'd offer free tickets to gigs for members and I was living in London at the time, so went to a lot of shows. They also gave you advance booking, which meant I got to see Mogwai in the tiny Hoxton Bar and Grill. Anyway, all that means I'm very familiar with the set from the recording, but I also have distinct visual memories of seeing Explosions and J Mascis on stage with them, as well as seeing them play Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl, a song I absolutely love. I've seen them six times now, and they basically alternate between blowing me away and hugely underwhelming me - I think I tend to remember how great the last time was, build my hopes up to unreasonable proportions, get underwhelmed, then go in with very low expectations and get blown away again. The last time I saw them was great though. Broken Social Scene were a prime example of the sort of music my ATP-years involved, and I bought many albums from all the related bands from that Canadian Arts & Crafts scene.

In July 2008, Virgin Megastore was in a dire situation and closing stores all over the place. Loads of cheap stock was getting sent to the Cardiff store before it finally closed, so there were constantly cardboard boxes of random cds appearing. I spent more in those last few weeks than I did at any other time in a Virgin Megastore, which probably says a lot. One find was Kevin Drew's solo album, billed as a "Broken Social Scene Presents" album, which ticked by BSS / Arts & Craft box very nicely. He's clearly the member of the band that wants them to be a rock band, and the album is quite basic rock music, but enjoyable.

In December I found the second in the "Broken Social Scene Presents" series, Brendan Canning's Something For All of Us in Spillers. Brendan is clearly the member of the band that is the opposite of Kevin Drew. The intersection of these two albums is almost BSS in entirety, and the exact reason why they're so good. It seems that Kevin is pulling them in one direction, and Brendan the other and somewhere in the middle they meet and write excellent music.

All of this is a long way of trying to describe this album without actually committing to do so. The reason for that is that I'm struggling to find the words. Being a mathematician, I'm left with

BSS - "rock" = this album,

which is probably the closest I can get. There are songs on the BSS albums where it's just a bit of a soundscape and less of a song; there's a lot of that here. There's a 60's-ish, floaty feel to it all, which doesn't do it for me. I couldn't tell you of any highlights because nothing really stands out. Kevin Drew's album felt like it was made of traditional, simple songs, so it's easier to break it down and feel some sort of connection to it. I don't get that here. (It's worth noting that the Kevin Drew album isn't great by any stretch, but it has many aspects of good music that I'm missing here). This song is okay, Churches Under the Stairs, but I fully acknowledge that it's because it sounds like a perfectly average BSS song, the sort that sits between the good BSS songs that I suspect Kevin Drew had more of an influence on. There are some fun horns on Love is New, but I'd prefer it considerably as an instrumental song.

I hoped, as is often the case, that writing about this album would finally endear it to me more, but that hasn't happened. They can't all be winners.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 11
Cost: £9.50 new
Bought: Spiller's Records, Cardiff
When: 09/12/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Inventions - Inventions

Every now and again, I gamble reasonable sums of money on albums that I've not heard; this is one such album. Sometimes those gambles pay off, other times not so much. I always thought this album leant towards the latter, although listening to Flood Poems now I'm wondering if I haven't given it enough chances over the years.

In November 2014 I was in Cardiff and it's almost rude to go to Cardiff and not visit Spillers Records, so I did. It was the first time I'd been there since they moved location and was slightly sad to see that the quantity of stock was much lower than it used to be. Luckily, the quality was even better, so at least they downsized in a good way. The vinyl is/was hidden upstairs on a landing, but in the few boxes were many records I fancied buying. They had the newest Electric Wizard album, Time to Die, a very reasonably-priced copy of Shellac's Excellent Italian Greyhound which I'd been after for a little while and the double-cd best of The Ex; the latter resulted in a nice conversation with the staff about the fact they'd sold three The Ex albums in the last few days and how nice it is to meet other people who like that band. They were also very positive about this Inventions record.

Roll back a few minutes and I was making some very tough choices about what records to take downstairs to the counter. I made a fairly long short-list going through the racks and left behind some albums that I'm sure would have been very welcome in my collection (including Run the Jewels 2, an album I already loved but hadn't yet bought a copy of, something I later rectified). A curious addition was this record. I was on a huge Explosions in the Sky trip at the time (and still am, to be fair), so a collaboration between one of the guys in Explosions and Eluvium (who I didn't really know at the time - I've since become a fan after hearing Shuffle Drones (in endless different ways)) sounded quite interesting. Spillers have always been great at writing little reviews on the sleeve and this was very positive. £20 was a lot to gamble on an unknown, but the review was very convincing and I choose this record to add to my pile of records, at the expense of at least one other.

Now having listened to a bit of Matthew Cooper's music as Eluvium, this album sounds exactly like what you'd imagine a collaboration between Explosions and Eluvium would do. It has more in common with The Wilderness and their soundtracks than it does the earlier EITS albums, but that experimental edge is very welcome. Compared to Eluvium, there are these very EITS-esque guitars just floating somewhere in the background, occasionally coming forward, that really make it work (not to say Eluvium is difficult, but it's certainly not music you could put on in a crowded room). Peaceable Child is a perfect example to what they do and well worth a listen.

I'm enjoying Inventions far more right now than I ever remember doing so before; I possibly wrote them off unfairly. In my defence, Hugh gave me a copy of Nils Frahm's excellent Spaces that weekend, so as far as neo-classical/ambient post-rock music goes, it was up against a truly stunning album. On top of that, Time to Die ended up being number 3 in my top ten that year, and Excellent Italian Greyhound has The End of Radio on it, so competition for my ears was tough around that time. However, the point of this blog was always to rediscover and re-appreciate hidden gems in my collection, so this last 45 minutes has been very productive - I'll be playing this one much more often.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 8
Cost: £20 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 15/11/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Palace Brothers - There is No One What Will Take Care of You

In 2006 I bought I See A Darkness by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, which was the perfect introduction to his work - by complete chance I started with one of Will Oldham's best albums. Over the years that followed I continued to buy albums of his pretty much at random. The second album was this one, his first and recorded under the name Palace Brothers.

It was the sixth week in my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers week and the week before I'd just heard In the Aeroplane Over the Sea for the first time, so we were on a good roll. I can't remember much of what the description on this sleeve said, but it would have mentioned that it was a Will Oldham album and probably said some other things that drew me in. I was certainly keen to hear more and £9.50 now sounds ludicrously cheap for an LP.

I struggled with this album a lot at the start - there were moments I really enjoyed but it didn't hit anywhere near as hard as I See A Darkness. It's a difficult listen, and I strongly suspect that's intentional. There are simple-sounding songs that remind me of Daniel Johnston (like (I Was Drunk at the) Pulpit and I Had a Good Mother and Father) but I always thought Will was trying to create that persona of naivety and simplicity rather than actually having it; the fully rounded songs like Long Before, the title-track and King Me fly in the face of that, and are some of the stronger moments.

A while later I bought the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Sings Palace's Greatest Hits cd, which was the nail in the coffin for the Palace albums for me. I really should try the others properly (Days in the Wake has some songs that I know to be great from other records) but it's not happened yet. My scatter-gun approach to his back-catalogue has been more miss than hit, but that could be bad luck. It's been fun dabbling though.

When I was buying a record every Tuesday from Spillers, I made an effort to record them all onto cd to play on the kitchen hifi - that stack of cds ended up in my car and I tried to play this one recently. I don't think we made it to the end of Idle Hands before my wife suggested we listen to something less abrasive.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 12
Cost: £9.50 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 12/02/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: None

The Desert Sessions - Vol V. Poetry for the Masses (Sea Shed Shithead by the Sea Sore) / Vol VI. Poetry for the Masses (Black Anvil Ego)

I started writing about this record last year when I wrote about Volumes 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 but completely forgot to finish it off. Volumes 5 & 6 are a strange bag of things, Vol 5 features a huge opener in the form of You Think I Ain't Worth..., full-on punk-rock on both I'm Dead and an early version of Punk Rock Caveman which found greater fame as a Queens song. But the problem with Vol 5 is that they ruin it with Letters To Mommy, a terrible joke song that doesn't even stand up to being a hidden track on the end of an album. Not only is it shit, it goes on far too long too. I get that they were probably high when they thought it'd be worth including but it just ruins the flow entirely. Goin' To a Hangin' is nothing to get excited about either.

Vol 6 similarly has its highs and lows; A#1 is just a classic stoner tune and Like a Drug might be my favourite across the whole series. It's smooth and unlike anything else - if all the experimental songs sounded like that I would be very happy. Rickshaw is quite fun too. But then there are songs like Take Me To Your Leader, which the series would be better without.

One of my complaints about this series of, admittedly slightly shitty, bootlegs/reissues is that the sleeves are paper thin. I've never seen an LP on such flimsy cardboard. However, my copy of Vol 5 & 6 has a further annoyance in the form of a large defect in the vinyl at the start of I'm Dead - it looks like a bit of something got caught in the pressing and has left a dent in a few grooves (see the picture below). It's a shame it had to be there, and not a few millimetres further out and ruined Letters To Mummy instead

If I had to sum up the six volumes of the Desert Sessions that I'm familiar with, I'd say that there is a lot of shit that could be culled easily but you'd then be left with one (long) album of incredible songs; the good songs are so good its a shame that they're surrounded by some really bad ones. The problem is, of course, that on vinyl it's not so easy to skip the bad songs (especially when you're already changing the record so often) so I basically don't listen to these records very often. It's a shame because there really are some great songs and I don't give them the time I should.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 10
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Spillers
When: 04/11/08
Colour: Blue
Etching: None
mp3s: no