The King of Luxembourg. Valleri (1988).

Video of a Monkees cover by cult artist, The King of Luxembourg, recorded on cult label él, from the 1988 album, Royal Bastard, posted by cult pop duo, Bad Dream Fancy Dress, as a tribute to cult actress Valerie Leon.  Mind-bending camp.  There’s enough cult action here to get you bombed by the FBI.

Deee-Lite. Groove Is In The Heart (1990).

In the early 1990’s you were probably listening to Shoegaze  (like me), Grunge, or something like this:



When this came out I thought it was pure junk.  Twenty-three years later I think it’s pure genius.   What’s happened to me!??  It’s ridiculous kitsch, but totally fabulous.  I’m nostalgic for music I didn’t even listen to at the time, like Lisa Stansfield.  I just bought Affection, which came out in 1989, but it sounds close that era, and I’m loving it.  I bought all of Deee-Lite’s albums last week and I’m finding their music was not only fun, but also surprisingly deep, and ahead of it’s time.  New York Magazine just ran a story on how 1993 was the year that changed the world, so maybe it’s just something I’m picking up unconsciously from the ether.

Miss Lady Kier wore a Pucci catsuit in the above video, so when Emilio Pucci  won the CFDA  lifetime achievement award in 1991, she was asked to honor him at the tribute with a song and video.  She came up with this, which is a special treat:



Here’s a little documentary about the band just before they hit the big time (they’re so cute and nervous!):



More 90’s nostalgia (seems like just yesterday).  Remember Mary, the librarian?  This movie was quite naturally a huge deal among my library colleagues:

The High Llamas. Bach Ze.

The High Llamas is one of the few, maybe one of the only bands I can think of whose sole raison d’etre seems to be the creation of ineffable moments of mysterious beauty.  This track, Bach Ze, from Snowbug (1999) is, for me, essential.

Favorite Music of 2012

2012 was a great year for intelligent, musically adept pop music. I didn’t even post a list of favorites for 2011, I just listened to Broadcast, and The Focus Group, all year. Although Psychic Life from Julie Campbell and Jah Wobble definitely caught my attention towards the end of 2011, as did Cinderella's Eyes by Nicola Roberts. 

Here’s what I most loved in 2012, in no particular order, (Happy New Year!): 

Jessie Ware - Devotion. 

Coming pretty much out of nowhere, this album was deep and absorbing, an instant classic.  

Icona Pop - Iconic ep. 

These two Swedish girls are former music students and it shows in their songcraft - musically literate but with a punky edge. I love them to pieces.  

Ultraista. 

It’s almost impossible to create a new genre of music, and Ultraista may not have done that exactly, but they sound like nothing else out there.
 
Kylie - Timebomb. 

After 25 years in the business, she may be at the top of her game. This single is simply genius.
  

Saint Etienne - Words and Music. 

My favorite band created this album to celebrate how we make meaning from music and how it affects us at different times of our lives. Probably their slickest album yet, but it’s gorgeously arranged and recorded.
  

Little Boots - Headphones. 

Little Boots hasn’t released a full length album in over 3 years. This single will have to do for now, but it’s very promising.
  

Johnny Marr -The Messenger. 

Johnny has finally decided to do a solo debut. From the sounds of this preview single, it will be a timeless, age defying classic.

Roisin Murphy. Let Me Know (2007).

A propos of nothing, I wanted to share this video by the lovely oddball, Roisin Murphy.  Roisin's last full-length album, Overpowered, was 5, almost 6, years ago.  Since then she has made a couple of babies and a few singles with a variety of collaborators.

File away this little piece of advice - if you're ever having a bad day, just watch this video and, I promise, you will feel so much better.



There are a bunch of quirky girls out there and I enjoy their work; you've got your gagas, katys, nickis, and bjorks, what have you.  I feel Roisin is a bit more down to earth and at the same time more inscrutable.  The signs and symbols she presents seem more difficult to read.  Whereas the others are clearly extroverts that are more than happy to explain themselves, it seems as if Roisin is an introvert who makes you work a bit harder to interpret her.  Her Myface and Spacebook are like ghost towns and her last tweet is years old. RosinMurphy.com is in Japanese.  And a Blogspot fan site hasn't been updated in almost a year.  A mysterious enigma.  

Ultraista (2012).

Nigel Godrich has formed a trio with Joey Waronker and Laura Bettinson.  Godrich and Waronker earned credibility from having knocked around as producers and collaborators with Radiohead, McCartney, REM, and Beck, to mention only a few.  Bettinson, having been associated with somewhat lower profile projects like Dimblebly & Capper, Femme, and Eckoclick, is significantly less renowned, and half the age of the other two in the band.  However, the secret weapon here is, in fact, Bettinson.  She provides the focus and, as the voice of the band, she sets the tone, which is effortless, and slightly detached, but not without joy.  

The album sounds like a bunch of immensely talented friends jamming together over a weekend. The overall sonic palette throughout the project is comprised of deep bass, lush and fuzzy synth parts, the syncopated and off-kilter accents of the tasty percussion, and occasional retro noises.  Godrich sticks to a limited choice of synth sounds, providing a bed of cohesion.  He seems to have a thing for a fizzy timbre that recalls, to me at least, the Korg Poly800 from 1983.  Waronker always finds inventive, dancey, catchy patterns that often achieve the level of “the hook,” even before the vocals begin.  With great taste, he knows that interest is often created not by adding more stuff, but by dropping things out at the right time.  Bettinson is the anchor with her elusive words, the smart, pop melodies and that just-got-out-of-bed, slightly dazed, vocal delivery. Without her, the band would still be pretty good, but very different. With Bettinson, the trio has created an intriguing and appealing whole that works like a dream.

Static Light:


The songs dwell in the land of loops; repeatable fragments with ongoing variations that keep things from becoming too predictable or robotic.  It’s at once hypnotic, droney, dizzying and invigorating.  There’s a nice sense of spinning in each tune.  Every song sets up its own percolating system, starts rolling, and it just pulls you along.  The temptation would be natural to stretch any of these tunes out ad infinitum and just keep playing with the details.  But they brilliantly decided to keep the tracks brief, so you will probably find yourself going back to the beginning of this collection, over and over.  The album has a feeling of “rightness,” and is certainly one of my favorite efforts of 2012.  Their Tumblr is pretty awesome too (it's actually Laura's tumblr; and she seems to have a knack for finding the most overheated and outlandish things on the Web).

Jessie Ware. Devotion (2012).

Oh, this is good.  Some are thinking of Jessie as the new millennial Sade in the way she melds cool and sensuousness.  Solid songwriting wrapped in electronic adornment, with live guitar provided by Dave Okumu, which is very welcome.  

Not really electronica, or straight pop, or nouveau R&B, Devotion takes elements of all of those and makes something very personal from the combination.  I’m reminded of Bryan Ferry’s solo albums, in that it dwells in darkness and space, with fine details that glint from the shadows.  There are many enticing details that emerge on headphones, but it’s never messy or random.  Like Ferry, Ware works a catch phrase, such as on No to Love, and weaves atmospheric magic from its repetition.

110% is light and lovely, but not entirely representative of the album, which is pretty dark, filled as it is with a taste for deep heartbreak.

110%:


Jessie’s voice is usually chill, with just a hint of soulful aura. Unlike many singers, who oversing to the degree that it’s a relief when they pull back, JW rarely seems to flex a muscle. But when she does, as on Running, or Taking In Water, it’s a real thrill.  On Something Inside she sounds like an angel.  

Devotion has the potential of becoming a classic, it’s contemporary but not trendy.  I can imagine people putting this on 15 years from now and saying, “I still love this.”  It was announced this month that Devotion is up for the UK’s Mercury Prize.

Here’s a live version of the title track.  It’s only based on two chords, D Maj going to F# Maj with the third in the bass, but they’re a major third apart, which leaves the tonality uneasy and ambivalent (Hey, that’s the Coltrane change!).  I love the focus and precision of her band in this performance.

Devotion:


Much more than a great debut, it’s feels like a career making record.  It makes one ponder how she could possibly create a stronger follow-up.  This album is so chic, I feel like I should dress up to listen to it.  Could be album of the year for me.