Suche nach: me and that man
"Comparing me with Frank Sinatra? You must be joking. To be mentioned in the same breath as him must be some sort of high compliment. As far as touching him goes, nobody touches him. Not me or anyone else." schwärmt Dylan über Ol’ Blue Eyes. 'Shadows in the Night' ist folgerichtig eine regelrecht demütige Verneigung vor der Frühphase Sinatras geworden.
Wem die elfenhaften Songs von Joanna Newsom immer schon ein wenig zu affektiert waren, dem könnte Jessica Pratt zumindest aufgrund der sehr ähnlichen Stimmfarbe unaufdringlich entgegen kommen. Aber nicht nur all jenen schenkt sie 'On Your Own Love Again' - ein absolut klassisches, zeitloses Folkalbum, wie es heutzutage kaum noch jemand schreibt.
Ein Da Capo für den puren Missmut: 'You, Whom I Have Always Hated' macht nahtlos dort weiter, wo 'Released from Love' im letzten Jahr die bitterböse Maßstäbe für unheilige Crust/Doom-Alianzen setzte. Das Doppel aus Thou und The Body zersetzt dabei abermals jeden Funken Freundlichkeit mit einem speienden Schwall aus schleppendem Hass.
With Black Map, Mark Engels rediscoverd his joy in pure rock – as much is clear on every second of '…And We Explode': snappy riffs, a tightly fitting groove, and theoretically always in spitting direction of bombast.
It is known that there might be up to six years between records by The Notwist; also that each and every second of waiting time between them is probably worth it. 'Close to the Glass' is another demonstration for this, by not only being a prime example for all their strenghts, but also being their most diverse and layered work to date. This isn’t the only thing that is nourishing for the next few years, The Notwist stay present even outside of their album: the so far limited edition only collection '[amazon_link id="B00QG15R6Y" target="_blank" ]The Messier Objects[/amazon_link]' gets a regular release soon, and on top of that there’s another tour pending (including a visit to Graz on March 25th 2015). Meanwhile, Markus Acher tells us his recommendations of the past months for the Heavy Pop advent calendar.
Thanks to Carla Bozulich her workshops and frenetically celebrated concerts Graz will remember 2014 as a great year. And of course there was 'Boy', her most accessible - and probably best – work to date. An impressive, skin-crawling spectacle in any case, which blurs the lines between avantgarde and pop (!) in an intense way. For day 22 of the Heavy Pop advent calendar, Bozulich told us which records left a similar impression to her.
"We once were another band, and now we're a better one". That’s what it reads on Cult Leaders Facebook page. No empty words, as 'Nothing For Us Here' makes clear in merely 18 minutes. While the debut EP of the Salt Lake City four piece could have happened in the shadows of the almighty Gaza all too easily, the six songs effortlessly demonstrate that Cult Leader will have no troubles leaving the precursor band in the rearview mirror. So their first full length can't come soon enough. In the meanwhile Cult Leader told us which records left their peers in said mirror in this past year 2014 for the Heavy Pop advent calendar.
Melt-Banana did not promise too much: with 'Longhena' Gridlink released the best grind record of the year, and maybe also the last act of their peaking carreer. Jon Chang not only found the time to tell us about his favourite records of this past year 2014 for the Heavy Pop advent calender, he’s also giving out presents left and right: countless demos from all phases of Gridlink are on his Dropbox – and his Facebook page is always worth a look.
Toby Driver already has an idea where the next album will bring his band. Listening to their last album 'Coffins on Io', the most headstrong pop album of 2014, which Kayo Dot used to invent themselves anew, to expand their horizon over to spacestations floating trapped in an 80s timeloop, one hast o think: anything is possible. Until then Mr. Driver tells us which records accompanied him through the year 2014 – and we hope to see him and his band in Europe in 2015.
Whoever thought Oozing Wound needed to regenerate after last years raging effort 'Retrash' could not have reckoned with the overflowing energy of the Chicago three-piece: not only did the jewel in the crown that is Thrill Jockey shine with an incredible split with Black Pus and a mean Adult Swim single, 2014 also saw an added ounce of heaviness behind the glorious Artwork of their second album 'Earth Suck'. Oozing Wound don’t leave much to be desired, except for maybe the one thing of being able to see them taking apart European stages.
