WILTT - 29/08/11

TODAY.

Bombay Bicycle Club's album came out. And I don't get paid until Wednesday. I hate being poor and devoted to buying CDs, they aren't complimentary traits.

So I listened to more Bon Iver. Obviously.

And then I felt bad for all the other music, great music, released in 2011. So I reminded myself of another release I lauded approval upon earlier in the year, Noah and the Whale. Then 5 seconds into "Life is Life", suddenly something didn't feel right. After losing yourself in the warm valleys of "Bon Iver", a life-affirming stadium indie anthem suddenly doesn't fit.

So I looked back further, to something a little closer to the Bon Iver mould, and reminded myself of NATW's "The First Days of Spring". If there ever was an album that wallowed in more self-pity I've yet to hear it, because "The First Days of Spring" is an impossible listen unless you are willing to stomach songs with titles like "I Have Nothing" and lyrics like "Everything I love has gone away". BOO HOO. But I was in the right mood today, a sort of 'fuck everyone, I'm miserable', sort of mood. And for that mood, the record is perfect.



Opening trio, "The First Days of Spring", "Our Window", and lest us not forget rock-bottom anthem "I Have Nothing" are simple, pretty much 2 chord anthems with little metaphor, and brutal honesty, and a defeated, cracked delivery from previously chirpy Charlie Fink. It's the genuine hurt in Fink's voice alone that makes these songs believable rather than laughable, and touching rather than irritating. It's "Stranger" though, that really stands out. The guitar riff is unbearably sad, and Fink's lyrics step out of self-pity into something approaching self-loathing and despair, and it's a moment when this generally happy-to-be-sad record turns into something darker. The bleak descriptions of next-morning shame are uncomfortably detailed and honest, and even the warm closing lines of "I know in a year, things will be better" cannot shake the earlier confessions of "her leg still forced in between mine, sticking to my skin". As wonderful as "Last Night on Earth" is, "Stranger" is still probably the best thing Fink has written to date.

Also gave My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" an air. It really is one of the most stunning sounding records I've ever heard. The most irresistibly gentle and sunny melodies communicated through an almighty din of distorted, dissonant, feedback laden guitars, with barely audible drums and a scattering of cute synth lines to sweeten things up. The fact of the matter is, tracks as gorgeous as "I Only Said" and "Blown A Wish" could be played 3 times over itself, each track a semi-tone apart, and they would still sound adorable. In fact maybe that's what they actually did. I wish I could be 16 in 1991, just to experience the feeling this album gives me first hand.

"Blown a Wish" sticks in your head, makes you cry, gives you headache and soothes it at the same time.

BUT... Track of the day?

NOAH AND THE WHALE - STRANGER

FINAL COPPLESTONE EXPERIMENT PREVIEW - "THE ONE"

One week today (that's the 5/09/11!!!) you will be able to download my album "The Copplestone Experiment" in FULL for FREE from my website joecopplestone.bandcamp.com! But in the meantime, here's one final preview track from it :) Enjoy the bittersweet cheesefest that is "THE ONE".

 The One by JoeCopplestone 

WILTT - 28/08/11

TODAY.

I realised I have been so slack, no posts in 11 days! Erk. Anyway, as with every day, I listened to Bon Iver's "Bon Iver" and am delighted to say that it seems to be turning out to be what I call a "Kid A"... in that it reveals something new with every listen. And another similarity with that album is that the lyrics make no damn sense. But every now and again, you come across a lyric that you didn't make out before, a lyric that suddenly makes sense and becomes incredibly poignant and beautiful. And they are scattered throughout the record.

"Holocene" is a daydream put to words, but the phrases "And at once I knew I was not magnificent" and "I could see for miles, miles, miles" are all you need to understand the beauty outside of ourselves that the song is trying to describe. "Beth/Rest", despite it's Phil Collins musical exterior, is a bunch of gibberish until you reach the line "I ain't living in the dark no more, it's not a promise, I'm just gonna call it" which takes you completely off guard, and is just about one of the most emotional moments on the record. Anyway, I cannot see how any other album this year could top "Bon Iver", an opaque, weird, distant, yet peaceful record that is like nothing released in years. Enjoy the breathtaking "Holocene" video.



Lowering the tone somewhat, I came across this. Weebl goes all New Order.


And something from me. My musical friend Zak Palmer has returned to music, and so I thought nothing better than to collaborate. Enjoy. :)
Zak Palmer - Maybe Anyday Now (JC's Maybe Today Remix) by JoeCopplestone

Track of the day?
BON IVER - HOLOCENE

WILTT - 17/05/11

TODAY.

Heard that new Jessie J number today "Domino". VERY US-oriented; no surprise, it's her second single over there. I have a love-hate relationship with that woman (just 2 months older than me), I either love or hate her music depending on my mood. I initially embraced the cocked pistol of a melody and boom-thwack-pow powerpop backing, courtesy of "Abracadabra" producer Dr Luke, but I was put off once I realised the similarity to "Last Friday Night", also produced by the Dr... Christ, just change a couple of chords at least, don't make it THAT easy to sing said Katy Perry song over the top. I mean it's still pretty feel good, and I think Jessie's presence and trademark flailing vocal is just about enough to salvage it from being throwaway, but what do you think?

Anyway, in main news, my faith in modern dance music was restored when I finally, fully ready for disappointment, sat down to listen to Nero's "Welcome Reality". You would be forgiven for expecting 11 (or more if you go DELUXE!) throwaway, Pendulum-sounding OTTstep fillers, around the decent singles, with one real highlight in the spectacular "Innocence".

HOWEVER, I am pleased to report a sufficiently varied bag with enough oomph and kick-ass moments in most of the tracks to allow me to declare "Welcome Reality" a full-length success! At least in comparison to the dire latest efforts by Chase & Status and ugh, Pendulum. Non-single highlights include probably-soon-to-be-single "My Eyes", where subdued bass chugs alongside a sort-of dubstep waltz, as the standard female voice lures us in with the standard mysterious lyrical cliches (somehow it works), and "In The Way", which works similarly now I think of it, but sees the spiralling rhythms of "My Eyes" and raises it a bumblebee monster of a throbbing bass.



However, I also gave Azari & III's self titled debut a listen as well, and as far as dance records go, this goes well and truly beyond what I am used to. Take 80s electronic dance revivalists Grum, and their record "Heartbeats" from last year... great sounds, but a limited palette of them, the big synth chords, cheesy R&B vocal samples and happy-clappy beats grated before halfway.

Azari & III take their influence from alternative dance legends of the 90s; Underworld and Future Sound of London for example, to whet your appetite. And they have a knack for creating minimalistic future-house numbers that have rarely worked this side of 1999. And its good to see someone bringing back the atmospheric, dark side of dance music, just check out the Vangelis' esque outro of the hypnotic "Infiniti", the trippy downtempo rhythms of "Manhooker" and the dissonant synth programming of "Tunnel Vision". Whether you liked their poppier singles "Into the Night" and "Hungry for the Power" or whether you miss industrial sounding house, Azari & III's record doesn't disappoint.



For those of you wanting something a little more obnoxious, check out this irritatingly infectious mix by electro house DJ Calvertron of 1989 dance number "My Love is Right" (I'd not heard of it either). Its sit-on-your-face bass breakdowns quite irresponsibly prompt thrusting in your seat.

 Champagne - My Love Is Right (Calvertron's Cristal Ball Mix) by championrecords

Track of the day?

There have go to be 2. The new discovery...
AZARI & III - UNDECIDED

And the reminder of something amazing.
NERO - INNOCENCE

30 seconds snippets from "THE COPPLESTONE EXPERIMENT".

CLICK TO PREVIEW THE WHOLE ALBUM!

05/09/2011

WILTT - 15/08/11 + Popdar #30: Hiatus & Shura

TODAY.

I had a bit of a binge on Balearic 80s fetishists Classixx. I'm sure I've already raved about their utterly spectacularly good takes on Phoenix's "Lisztomania" (sunkissed synth chords and leisurely beats) and Active Child's "When Your Love is Safe" (UTTER EIGHTIES POWER BALLAD CHEESE). But today I discovered not only more great remixes (Ladyhawke's "Magic" becomes even more magical in their hands) but that when left to their own devices, they can create some equally lovely pieces of blissed out electrofunk. Check out the slap-bass happy early-Madonna thwack of "I'll Get You", with a hypnotically catchy chorus refrain of "Do you like bass, do you, do you like bass?".



But check out the remixers getting remixed below! Julio Bashmore recruits irresistable 90s piano stabs reinvent Classixx's "Into the Valley" with effortlessly chilled yet funky results.



But there's more...

POPDAR ALERT.

It's not often a little voice can stop me in my tracks, but UK singer Shura, backed impressively and effectively by the shuffling Burial-esque beats and sparse atmospheres of her producer Hiatus, doesn't have to say much to give a haunting and arresting vocal. Carried along by a windswept guitar line, Shura whispers cryptically through a verse before unleashing her vocal chords ever so slightly to let her voice ride the breeze. Hiatus provides just enough Massive Attack trip hop punch to keep the song above water, whilst Shura's soft siren calls suggest an urge to swim. It's a wonderful partnership, and one that quite frankly threatens to usurp all her happily seated peers.

Follow @weareshura and @hiatusmusic on twitter.

*MY* cover of Robyn's "Dancing on My Own"

If you haven't heard it, I've gone a bit 90s dance on its ass. Enjoy.





(Psst... when you download the Purgatory EP from my BANDCAMP page, you get this as a bonus track!)

Popdar #29 - My Plastic Sun

In a year seriously missing really classic ethereal dreampop albums such as last year's "Halcyon Digest" by Deerhunter and "Teen Dream" by Beach House, My Plastic Sun, though unknown, show immense promise to fill the void in 2011. Describing themselves as the missing link between Burt Bacharach and Beach House, the band have a sense of rock 'n' roll tenderness that recalls Blur circa 1999 and dare-I-say The Beatles. Quite frankly, the heartbreaking "Give it All Away" is simply that good. Don't believe me? Listen for yourself.



You can download their EP here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/myplasticsun or alternately on iTunes :) "Give it All Away" may be the showstopper, but the other two tracks, chirpier, poppier, most certainly do not disappoint either.

ANOTHER Copplestone Experiment preview.

Ok, I got an itchy SoundCloud finger, so here's something else from "The Copplestone Experiment".

On the 28th I'll preview y'all "The One"...
and then on the 5/09/2011, you can DOWNLOAD "THE COPPLESTONE EXPERIMENT" FOR FREE on joecopplestone.bandcamp.com! 

IN THE MEANTIME.

"FOREVER LOVE IS GONE"

 Forever Love is Gone by JoeCopplestone 

WILTT - 08/08/2011 + Popdar #28: Lana Del Rey

TODAY.

I've been a bit slack with new music these past couple of weeks, being all self-absorbed in my own projects y'know. BUT, the start of 2 weeks holiday and things are about to change. I had a pretty satisfying NEW MUSIC session today, and made some interesting and pleasing discoveries.

In obvious news, Bombay Bicycle Club's latest single "Shuffle" is irresistible, an indie dancefloor instant classic, with a fuzzy piano hiccup being new sample-tastic ground for the band. I have a feeling "Different Kind..." is going to be something very special.



Something less obvious: Olly Murs' single is actually pretty "current" sounding as Simon Cowell would say, and actually rather good, riding a stoned 90s house rhythm even with flecks of 2 step here and there... the british Bruno Mars? Maybe once, but now I'm not so sure. Come on Murs, impress me.

Olly Murs-love is a surprise enough, but today's biggest surprise for me is how affected I am by Will Young's new single. Now as much as I like Sade, and although I grew up with so much Lighthouse Family that I became conditioned to it, the kind of easy listening mum-pop that Will Young has stood for over the years has been occasionally pretty, but often too dull for me to give a second glance. However, new single "Jealousy" has a melancholy synthpop pulse to it that Robyn would be proud of. In fact, although it owes probably a bit TOO much to the seminal "Dancing on My Own", the similarity actually aids the message of yearning, insecurity and loneliness. He has a new album coming out soon, could Will Young become the British male Robyn? Also, for any gay male reading, the video is knowingly poignant.

Never thought I'd dedicate a paragraph to Will Young, note to self: mustn't ever write people off! What else? Oh yea, there's a great track by a new indie dance band called Fixers, you may have heard of them, and I was blown away by "Swimmhaus Johannesburg", a bludgeoning 90s dance beat, tacky piano chords and an impossible-to-shake melody. Think Bloc Party's "One More Chance" given an further injection of nu rave energy. I almost gave this'n a popdar mention today, BUT, sorry guys...

POPDAR ALERT.

...there's a new girl in town and she's prettier than you. Lana Del Rey is the ever so pretentious alias of New York songwriter Lizzy Grant (not quite as glamorous), and she's got a voice that emerges from those luscious lips to match the looks. "Video Games" is a sad, cynical anti-love song, one that would sound tired from most other current female crooners (Adele would fall flat on this one), but 'Lana' has a sultry, unimpressed and effortlessly sexy tone that drips with 60s authentic cool. "I heard that you like the bad girls, honey... is that true?" PURE SEX.

Popdar #27: Natalie Ferrol.

It's done. The first EP is completed. Written by Natalie and produced by myself (as well as featuring a few cheeky backing vocals of mine also), Natalie's first EP from the "Love Conquest" series, entitled "Recent Events" will be available in September (around the same time as "The Copplestone Experiment" I would like to add).

Natalie's R&B background gives a bit of swagga and soul to my electronic-tinged drama-pop proceedings, and her massive voice gives me the freedom to not only make tracks as big and bombastic as I like (see "Hunting Season" and "Great Wall of China") but also create sparse soundscapes that allow her voice to breathe (see "Commit" and "Closer (All I Wanna Do)".

I frankly think we've done a bloody good job.

Check out the artwork and tracklisting below.

You can also listen to and download (for free) the first single from the EP, "Hunting Season" below as well.

Please download and SPREAD THE WORD! :)

Natalie doesn't give up. It's useless resisting.

Follow and support her:

twitter.com/alovelyconquest

alovelyconquest.tumbler.com

natalieferrol.bandcamp.com