Category: Playlists

Hi everyone, and welcome to another addition of Tomorrow”™s Sounds Today where we at Spotisfaction Incorporated fire up the kettle and brew a hot steaming mug of the best music picked from the recent additions to the “What’s new” section on Spotify. This week I’ve come up with the provisional tagline “October 2010: So you can teach an old dog new tricks!” as it seems to be a significant number of the big releases this week are new works from artists of the past which in some cases we had feared were gone for good.

Robert Plant ”“ Band Of Joy – Earlier in the year we reviewed “Angel Dance”, a new single from Robert Plant, and it was well received. Fast forward a few months and we now have Band Of Joy which is thankfully as good as the single which preceded it. It”™s been some time since we”™ve seen some work from Plant, the last piece being a duet with Alison Krauss back in 2008. I am pleased to say this album ticks all the expected boxes and doesn”™t disappoint. It is clearly a solo effort but it does have that unmistakable Zeppelin flavour running throughout a number of tracks, and it manages to not sound like a weak, watered down solo Zepp or some sort of strange pastiche. Kudos.

Manic Street Preachers ”“ Postcards From A Young Man – A welcome return for Blackwood”™s favourite sons, and something strange seems to have happened… the Manics seem to be happy?  I”™m not saying every album of theirs is a wrist-slitting emo depress-fest, but there is an unmistakable positive energy to this work compared to some of the previous angst-writhen or politically charged pieces. It is not surprising, then, that in some of the music press both Mr. Wire and Bradfield have said they are shooting for this album to be more radio focused in order to gain airplay. With some heavyweight guests in the form of John Cale, Duff McKagan, and both Ian McCulloch and Tim Roth on the cover, the pieces are in the right place and the album doesn”™t disappoint.

Neil Young ”“ Le Noise – At a scant 8 tracks long I”™m not sure if this should be classified as an album or an EP.  With that in mind the tracks are a good length so overall there is meat on the bones. Whilst at its core the music is classic Young, the title of the piece is not just lip service – there is a definite “noise” element to the production without breaching into genres that his vocals are perhaps not suited to. At times the split between low tuned, distortion heavy, almost grungy guitar acts as a little too much of a difference to the high, soulful but almost reedy vocals, but thankfully this never ultimately detracts from the music.

Hi guys. Welcome to another edition of Tomorrow”™s Sounds Today, where we at Spotisfaction Towers give you all the killer and none of the filler from the last fortnight’s additions to the “What’s new” section of Spotify. It has been a truly bountiful fortnight and there is so much content that I couldn”™t possibly fit it all into review and remain meaningful – apologies in advance for not covering it all! As always, you can find the things I couldn’t fit into this piece in the TST playlist after the break. Now, on with the show!

Royksopp ”“ Senior – Our first choice this month was a no-brainer – the latest piece from the top Norwegian electro kings. It is an album which has had an uncommon effect on me in that I don’t want to force unnecessary blurb out about it. Its great, its really great, go listen. That is all I feel it needs.

Atmosphere ”“ To All My Friends, Blood Makes The Blade Holy: the Atmosphere ep’s – Our next choice this week is a new artist on me and in one I feel sadly remiss I had not discovered earlier. Having played through the album a couple of times (with increasing joy), I felt compelled to go over the back catalogue and I have to say, hand on heart it was one of those days I thank the gods of the Internet for creations like Spotify. There is no way I, in old world music behaviour, would have gone out and bought a back catalogue… but I digress. A great choice for you hip-hop lovers, phat beats, great rhymes with some meaning and edge. A positive voice in questionable times who clearly draws from life rather than faking it.

Skunk Anansie ”“ Wonderlustre – Rather than being known for genre busting, I swear the latter part of the current decade will be known as the time all the old bands reformed! Week in, week out, I see a new band from the past come together to have another punt. Did they iron out their differences or just receive an inordinately large gas bill? I don”™t wish to sound ungrateful, in many cases this is a really good thing (the new Soundgarden for example). In other cases it is just a shameless cash in, doomed to failure.

I”™m on the fence about the Skunk Anansie reformation. I loved them the first time round and I”™ll be honest and say I know little of the drivers behind the reform but how is the sound? Just as good as it ever was and whilst for some the lack of change might not resonate I think it’s an album worthy of note.