Romantic interlude

Little Birdy return this month with their third album Confetti and it’s an enchanting recoil to their original organic acoustic embellishments. I say this because I wasn’t the hugest fan of their previous offering Hollywood. It just didn’t seem to capture Little Birdy’s essence. Bursting onto the scene with an irreverent and exciting album Big Big Love way back in 2005 the band showcased not only their secret weapon Katy Steele’s ability for songwriting but they delivered a guitar onslaught. Hollywood as a follow-up appeared to diverge to a focus on keyboard and synthesized sounds and that’s not to say they didn’t win a huge following with that direction it just didn’t seem to fit the Little Birdy niche they’d created for themselves so beautifully.

Fears were allayed once opening track to Confetti got underway. ‘Brother’ shows what, good old fashioned guitar and brilliant lyrics can do for a song. As well, harmonica played by quintessential Australian-music man Paul Kelly gives this track something a little special.

In fact the band have utilised various instruments throughout the album: ‘Porcelain’, Simon Leach’s own contribution to the album is performed with piano backing but the layering of strings brass and even a theremin give all the tracks on this album many layers, of course supported by the lyrical wonderment of Ms Steele’s stories too.

If you’re looking for an underlying theme on Confetti, or genre of music, you might say it’s a bit country and a bit rock, but it’s also got some quite easily identified nuances towards Bacharach and Dusty Springfield. Title track ‘Confetti’, ‘Into my arms’ and ‘Hair Do’ help deliver this era in time.

My personal favourite though is ‘Stay Wild’. It’s described as a driving song probably for its meandering and winding journey. Of course there is a climax and it’s beautifully supported with some string accompaniment - a gem in the album.

One can only imagine that the studio quality of the songs is replicated ten-fold in the upcoming live showings of the band. Confetti is a beautifully crafted re-incarnation of the Little Birdy romance.

Confetti is in-store from May 8; visit www.littlebirdy.net.au for details.

Ruth Bailey

To see a film clip of ‘Brother’ from Confetti, click the play button below

Posted: May 5th, 2009 under ALBUMS.
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Ballroom blitz

When news was heard of new Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ album in the pipeline, my ears pricked up. It’s Blitz, released later this month, is precisely that: blitz.

Like their previous album (Show your Bones 2006) ‘It’s Blitz’ offers elegantly woven, edgy rock-infused instrumentation which will be well worn from overplaying, of that I have no doubt.

There is something intensely ethereal and mesmerizing about Karen O’s vocal application to her band’s songs. The ornately fragile ‘Hysteric’ is my stand-out track but don’t underestimate the reach of ‘Dragon Queen’ and the single of the moment ‘Zero’ for they remain imprinted on your memory long after listening.

Perhaps it’s the post-production abilities of TV On the Radio’s Dave Sitek this time around or the fact that the band spent time recording in a number of rural American studio spaces, including a dairy farm in Massachusetts which has bought the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to this point - precision.

A sure sign these Manhattan musical geniuses understand progression and maintaining a strong position in the market is their experimentation and enthusiasm to engage various techniques too. Guitarist Nick Zinner chooses to employ some beautiful vintage-synth which pays dividend in tracks like ‘Little Shadow’.

The band has fallen victim to leaking of this album prior to its scheduled release date, however judging by the strength of each of the ten songs I can see why whoever leaked it chose to, in doing so they shared with everyone what the entire music-listening fraternity needed to discover, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘It’s Blitz’ a treasure of an album.

It’s Blitz is distributed through Modular Records: www.modularpeople.com and Universal Music visit : www.getmusic.com.au

Ruth Bailey

Posted: May 1st, 2009 under ALBUMS.
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Smooth summer

Collaboration seems to be the name of the game at the mo, and you can’t go wrong really if you pick up an album which boasts the production credits of one Mr Kanye West , Mr Pharrell Williams and The Neptunes (N.E.R.D by another name) all working with one timeless urban artist at the helm - Common. That’s what you’ve got in Common’s latest EP Universal Mind Control.

Receiving saturated radio airplay currently is track three from it, Make my Day featuring super talent Cee-Low from Gnarls Barkley fame. It’s not any wonder, as throughout summer this up-tempo number sets the mood for Motown appeal.

Take another Inhale at track 8 and the fusion of percussion and some poetry in rhyme you’re chilling. Pick it straight back up with follow-on track What a World. All the elements at work here weave their way to a funky hip-shaking dance floor single.

Not solely featuring male voices one of the most memorable tracks of the album is placed at the end with little-heard lately Martina Topley Bird’s (some might recall her from Tricky trip-hop days) soothing vocals with an electro-synth, drummatic Everywhere.

Each song builds the overall tempo of the album from chilled retrospection to a postive, dancier summer-time feel, the New York production studios where this album was layed must have been rife with happiness.

Universal Mind Control can’t help but lift you up, it could possibly be one of the must-have albums for summer-time good times.

Universal Mind Control is available through Universal Music www.universal.com.au or visit www.commonmusic.com

Ruth Bailey

Posted: March 22nd, 2009 under ALBUMS.
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Posted: March 15th, 2009 under ALBUMS.
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