ALBUMS OF THE MONTH:
Shearwater - Rook
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Rook is amazingly the fifth album by Jonathan Meiburg’s solo project Shearwater, a band so under the radar they had pretty much gone unnoticed here in the UK, apart from a small feature in the much missed independent music magazine, Comes With A Smile, way back in 2004. Even in the US it was only really with last year’s Palo Santo that the band garnered wider recognition, with the album acquiring enthusiastic reviews from the likes of the New York Times, Pitchfork and US music magazine Magnet; and provided the first indications that this solo project could outshine the music of his other band, Okkervil River, which he has only recently quit. Shearwater were formed in 2001, as as an outlet for the quieter and more introspective songs of Meiburg and Okkervil co-founder Will Sheff, with both bands running simultaneously for much of this decade. Sheff shared the vocals on the bands first three albums, up until 2004’s Winged Life, but has since taken more of an ‘instrumental’ back seat in the band.

I only really sat up and took notice of Shearwater’s music last year, via a review in Plan B magazine of Matador’s expanded and remixed reissue of their excellent Palo Santo album, which hinted at something akin to late-period Talk Talk, Radiohead, David Sylvian, and possibly even Jeff Buckley.

Rooks clocks in at a meagre 39 minutes, but boy, what a 39 minutes. This is some of the most dynamic, atmospheric and exquisite music I’ve heard in a very long time. Opener On The Death Of The Water, starts in quiet hushed tones with just Meiburg, his piano and a gently-plucked harp, but then explodes as Neil Young-esque overdriven guitars, brass and pounding drums burst into the mix, and then disappear almost as quickly as they arrived. The track is only just over three minutes long but feels like you’d been listening to an 8-minute epic. If there is a criticism of this album, it is that you keeping wanting more from every single track!

Much has been made in the past of how much Meiburg’s vocals are in debt to Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis. With this albums subtle use of strings, woodwind, percussion, harps and glockenspiels, his music is also now hauntingly reminiscent of Talk Talk’s stone-cold classic Spirit of Eden. Just check out the beautifully majestic The Hunter’s Star, which closes the album, for a brief reminder of why Hollis and his music is so sorely missed, and why Shearwater have so ably stepped up to fill that hole.

So is this record more than just a very good facsimile, or does it stand up in its own right? You can’t escape from the reference point, but this is a beautiful record that definitely deserves the applause that it has been receiving from some of the top US webzines. PopMatters claims, “Not only is Rook destined to be named one of 2008’s favourites, but it could be one of the best albums for years to come”, while Delusions Of Adequacy stated “With Rook they have fashioned an album that is melodic, tender, outstanding but above all, captivating. One thing is for sure, this is one of the best albums of the year.” You bet it is.

You may remember me enthusing about Fleet Foxes Sun Giant EP, back in March. Well it has been swiftly followed by an LP, which has rightfully snagged rave reviews almost everywhere, including an ‘Instant Mojo Classic’ award, a rarity for a debut album. And once again the thing that draws you in are those voices, those intricate and deft harmonies, with both Simon and Garfunkel and Crosby, Stills and Nash obvious influences - particularly Crosby’s much-misunderstood classic If Only I Could Remember My Name - but so is the music of both Brian Wilson and 60s sunshine pop legend Curt Boettcher (who worked with The Association, Gary Usher, The Millennium, Sagittarius, and The Beach Boys, amongst others). If you are looking for modern contemporaries you don’t have to stray to far from the likes of Iron and Wine, My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver, Samamidon and Mark Kozelek’s bands Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters, for viable reference points. But again you keep coming back to those heavenly almost church-like voices, made even more resonant by the use of reverb that sounds like the record was recorded in some ancient European cathedral, not a recording studio in Seattle. So a real joy to behold, and a great record for any season.

NEW BRAZILIA:
CéU - CéU
3 Na Massa - 3 Na Massa

I’d be tempted to make Maria Do Céu’s debut, album of the month except to my shame this record is not strictly a new release, but three years old. However it has just received its official UK release in April of this year, making me feel slightly less out of touch! Originally issued in 2005 on the São Paulo-based Urban Jungle label CéU’s album was picked up by Six Degrees and Starbucks/Hear Music in the US, leading to a couple of Grammy nominations, followed by plenty of accolades in Canada, France, Holland and Italy. With the success of the likes of Bebel Gilberto, Smoke City, Suba and DJ Patife at the turn of the noughties, as well as a reinvigorated interested in the Tropicalia sound of the 60s and 70s a few years back, it seemed to signal a growing interest in contemporary Brazilian music. But sadly that rise seems to have stalled, even though labels such as Mr Bongo and Far Out are trying their damned hardest. I’d like to think this album could provide a catalyst, if only it had an outlet to get heard beyond the usual and very limited channels for ‘world’ music. The album in a blink goes from classic Brazilian melodies via sambas, bossa novas, afro-beats, hip-hop rhythms and the sort of jazz and dance music appreciated by fans of the Sonar Kollectiv label and Jazzanova. It even features a lovely cover of Bob Marley’s Concrete Jungle sung in English.

3 Na Massa have a connection with CéU, who guests on one track here, but with an even more sample-heavy mixture of bossa nova, hip-hop, reggae and electronic grooves. The albums producers are made up of the rhythm section of Brazilian manguebeat pioneers Nação Zumbi and Rica Amabis, leader of the São Paulo production crew Instituto. The vocals on the album are from some of the top female artists in Brazil including CéU, Nina Mirada ex-Smoke City, and actress Alice Braga from the City of God film. The tracks are apparently inspired by the erotic comic books of Italian artist Milo Manara, but you don’t need to know anything about Manara or to speak Portuguese to enjoy this album! This record gets the hips moving and the heart singing. A wondrous record that a few European dance producers could do with studying, this is vibrant exciting club music at its best, and a million miles away from the sort of soulless dance music that seems to dominate our clubs these days. Definitely two great albums for the summer.

GERMANY CALLING:
The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
Get Well Soon - Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon

The Notwist must be up there with the Blue Nile, in-terms of productivity, or lack of it. This is only the third album under their own name since 1998. The band from Weilheim in Germany started out as a metal band in the late 80’s, but by 1998’s Shrink their sound had become an interesting mix of classic indie-pop, post-rock and glitchy electronica that was not dissimilar to where contemporaries Radiohead were heading. No surprise then that Colin Greenwood is a big fan of Notwist offshoot Lali Puna. The real breakthrough for the Notwist was 2002’s Neon Golden which got unanimously great reviews everywhere, but sadly didn’t sell in the same quantities as Kid A. It’s taken them six years to produce a follow-up, but if their mix of indie and electronics doesn’t sound quite as fresh or unique as it once did, it is still worth your time and investment, especially if In Rainbows ticked all the right boxes for you.

Get Well Soon are one of the first signings to Saul Galpern’s reinvigorated Nude Records (once home to Suede), who managed to escape being swallowed up by Universal Music when they purchased V2 records last year. Get Well Soon is 26-year-old German Konstantin Gropper, and Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon is his debut album. And what a record. The ambition of this album is truly stunning, melding a heady mix of Mark Eitzel’s American Music Club, Berlin-era David Bowie and Iggy Pop, Arcade Fire, OK Computer era Radiohead and Calexico, into a cinematic stew, that recently got him a gig to provide two tracks to Wim Wenders latest movie, The Palmero Shooting. Gropper isn’t afraid to mix it up, ‘If This Hat Is Missing I’ve Gone Hunting’ sounds like Go Team having a crack at the Sister’s Of Mercy , while his cover of Underworld’s classic Born Slippy, is truly inspired, giving it a Kid A style makeover. If you are looking for a halfway-house between two of the finest records of the last 12 months - Radiohead’s In Rainbows and Nick Cave’s Dig!!!Lazarus,Dig!!! - this is the perfect record for you.

OUT THERE:
Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukist
Au - Verbs

Paavoharju come from Savonlinna, Finland and were founded by Olli & Lauri Ainala with some of their friends. Paavoharju’s music is “the outcome of long time, intense study of art and literature, dreams, religious despair (they are ascetic born-again Christians) and living in dark abandoned places.” The band emerged a few years ago on the excellent Fonal records, a Finnish label responsible for a bunch of wonderful records from Kemialliset ystävät, Islaja, Kiila, and my favourites Es. Laulu Laakson Kukista is the bands second album, which once again brings together their strange mix of church hymns, esoteric folk music, wonky pop tunes, dubby electronica, ambient drones and found sounds in a free-form stew that is both entrancing and engrossing. Their music is unlike anything you’ve even heard on this planet. If you really want to try something truly different, this is a great starting place.

Au (pronounced ‘ay you’) come from Portland Oregon, and make music that is also pretty out-there. Luke Wyland’s band can be happily compared to everything from the wierd-pop and free-folk of fellow American’s Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear, but also to the circular meditations of minimalist composers such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley. Key track ‘rr vs. d’, for example, could be a carnival-esque mix of citizensound faves El Gunicho, with a little help from Philip Glass reinterpreting a John Philips Sousa march in a New Orlreans stylee. A tad unconventional, but a real joyous record.

Ladytron - Velocifero
I was moaning recently about Liverpool bands, and how stuck in a timewarp they seem to be - it’s almost as if the Coral, Zutons and Rascals have never heard anything made after 1972 . But I plainly forgot about Ladytron. The band formed in Liverpool in 1999, releasing their debut album in 2001 just in time to be cash in on the emerging Electroclash scene (anyone remember Fischerspooner?). After an excellent second album Light and Magic, they were signed by Island Records for 2005’s Witching Hour , but managed to get themselves dropped pretty quickly, even though the record received some great reviews, particularly in the US. With the aid of Nine Inch Nails keyboard player Allesandro Cortini and electro artist Vicarious Bliss (from the Ed Banger label) as producers, the band are still mixing up the best bits of the Human League, Gary Numan, Kraftwerk and John Foxx, but with a smidgen more Electro and dirty Techno. The highlight of the album is first single ‘Ghosts’, which gets thoroughly down and dirty with Goldfrapp’s glitterstomp. If you enjoyed the recent Crystal Castles album, this could be right up your street!