2008 archives

Portishead: Third
11.03.
As you see, we took our time reviewing the third album of Portishead, the band influenced by the legendary  Wurzels. The reason is that we admire the previous two plus one albums, and we thought that there's something wrong with the cd copy that we received. But no: 'Third' really contains only 5 good (not great) songs: 'The Rip', 'We Carry On', 'Machine Gun', 'Small' and 'Magic Doors'. The other 6 songs aren't finished yet, they are just sketches recorded in the Portishead studio. The Emperor's naked, 'Third' is the first disappointment of the year.

Two Loons For Tea: Nine Lucid Dreams
11.03.
Fall is the time when things just happen: the sun is fading, clouds are passing slowly by, leaves are falling and Two Loons' cd is playing in the car. 'Nine Lucid Dreams' is Sarah Scott's and Jonathan Kochmer's best work to date: perfectly composed tracks with great sounding guitars and soul-deep melodies. From Gotan Project-styled 'Consuela' through the dynamic 'Monkey' to the fantastic 'Eyebrows Are Nature's Makeup', you'll find very different moods on the album - but somehow the tracks are working well as a whole. The songs are greatly produced (and sometime courageously, with 'Dixie It Up!' sounding like it was recorded 90 years ago). Just a little bit more spice is needed, and you have the perfect dish.

Punjab Kabab House: Superman-girls from London
08.05.
Punjab Kabab House pretends to be "the leading manufacturer of ethnic electro beats" - that said,  their neon-styled website and their preview songs on their MySpace page shows that there is definitely some mad science at work in their musical laboratory. 'Superman-girls from London' is an album full of originality, an excellent mix of rock and electro ('Oomph', 'Superman-girls from London'), triphop and acoustic ('The Lovable Fragrance', 'Opening Hours') and effective electronica ('Urban Magic Rework', 'Dangerous Flies'). With no fillers, the album is top-notch from the first second to the last - one of the best this year.

Morcheeba: Dive Deep
04.12.
Okay, we're huge admirers of Morcheeba, especially for 'Big Calm' and 'Who Can You Trust'. We also respect them for making an album like 'The Antidote' without Skye Edwards (how many times will they hear her name from the press). We also understand that after so many albums they don't kick ass that much - but hey, anyway downtempo isn't about that. Dive Deep is the ultimate album for driving long ways (drive deep, in fact), having great moments like 'Enjoy the ride', 'Run Honey Run' or 'Gained the World'. Don't expect any surprise from this album: Dive Deep is a Morcheeba B-sides, which still is quality downtempo music.
They're touring across Europe, check the tour dates, be their friends on their MySpace page. Attention producers, they also have some original high-quality acapella samples for remixing here - Morcheeba invites you to contact them in case you have a great remix.

Temposhark: The Invisible Line
02.03.
It's easy to write music - if you really have something to say. Well, singer/songwriter Rob Diament and producer Luke Busby definitely had on their debut album The Invisible Line, which will be released on CD and digital download from April 2008 (UK on Paper and Glue) and 25th March 2008 (USA/Canada on Defend Music via Ryko). We received a CD prior to the release from Two Sheps That Pass and we are delighted by all 12 tracks - no "fillers", no "B-sides", all tracks are great compositions greatly produced.
A very clean mix of electronica and guitars found Rob's sweet vocals, surrounded by a multitide of arrangement tricks and ideas. From the dynamic 'Joy' or 'Knock Me Out' to the slower and feathery 'Better To Haved Loved' or 'Battleships', the album will be played again and again in our player - should be too in yours.
Give a click to their site and become their friends on their MySpace page.

Goldfrapp: Seventh Tree
02.03.
Our ultimate joy for 2008: Will Gregory and Allison Goldfrapp are back. Our ultimate disappontment: their new album 'Seventh Tree' is neither a new 'Supernature', nor a 2008-'Black Cherry'. And seeing our electronica diva dressed as a clown is more than confusing. As the album is not yet released and the tracklist list is a bit hard to find, but here it is: Clowns, Little Bird, Happiness, Road to Somewhere, Eat Yourself, Some People, A&E, Cologne Cerrone Houdini, Caravan Girl and Monster Love. All tracks are slow and calm, nice (a bit boring) and complex (difficult). It's another kind of music, but still with the same high-quality.
The album is out February 25th on Mute Records, and you can stream Seventh Tree's first single ,'A and E' at their MySpace page.

Black Era: Then
07.29. 
Argh! It seems that too few time went by since their previous release "The Point of No Return" - such a huge Black Era fans that we are, we wanted so much more from a new album. The concept is still very clean and the sound still very dirty, the grooves are still superb (with extremely well-recorded drums) - people, this is A-quality triphop. And here comes the but: the vocals aren't keeping up. In fact, they are annoying, following the same boring pattern and mistakes on every track. Don't miss a spin for 'Fulcrum' with its great piano line, 'Vicious Flag' with Ronn's great rap and the very moody 'Noam'. The album is out now on A Quiet Bump for free (unbelievable), so you won't risk a penny if you download it!

Okulus Anomali: Katharsis
07.28.
World-traveler artist Okulus Anomali is pretty much mixing all cultures on his debut album 'Katharsis'. In his press material stating "he brings a global perspective into his art, with concepts that are rich in history, culture, philosophy, spirituality" - maybe, but for us bringing all this together was too much. The sound is very clean with decent mixing, but the tracks are sounding like a collection of ethnic samples, with no original musical ideas. It's a pity, since Okulus Anomali's compositions The Sound
are including his performances on acoustic Guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, tablas, and dumbek. Maybe the too thick concept or this multitalent approach are covering the powerful musical layers. The album is out now on Sweet Rain Records (NYC), check four tracks at his MySpace page.

Mizantrop: Someone at the Top of the Trees
06.24.
Newcomer hungarian band Mizantrop puts down massive music on its first album 'Someone at the Top of the Trees'. Something's gone really wrong if so dark music comes from baby-faced teenagers nowadays - but hey, more good tracks for us, triphop-heads. The album starts with a Massive Attack-influenced track, somehow linked to the seventh song 'Root', with MA's lyrics perfectly fitted to breakbeat backings. But so much for influences - the other instrumentals and vocals are harsh, fresh sounding and what's more important: with great distinctive songline. Our favourite is the superb 'Urban Magic', the absolute hit of the album. You can stream all nine tracks at their MySpace page - click now! Someone at the Top of The Trees 'just' got a 4 really because of some production and mixing issues. The guys and girls rock!

Dub Pistols: Speakers and Tweeters
04.09.
The new Dub Pistols album 'Speakers and Tweeters' is out on Sunday Best on April 12th 2007. The new album features vocals by Terry Hall, Rodney P, Blade and T.K and JMS as well as sleeve notes by Howard Marks. Less dub, more hiphop, the album is an excellent listening for this summer. The easy raps are surrounded by nice acoustic instruments and electric guitars - with our absolute favourite tracks 'Speed of Light' and 'Something to Trust'. The Dub Pistols will be touring to promote 'Speakers and Tweeters' - they sure will rock on throughout all festivals this summer. Check out their MySpace page for dates and a preview stream of the album.

GusGus: Forever
03.14. 
Okay, it's no downtempo - but we just can't help ourselves with these wicked guys from Iceland. According to them, on their 5th (!) studio album 'Forever' "GusGus continue exploring the rivers of electronica but this time around bypassing the brain; heading straight for the heart. Scientifically grooved and tailored to hit where it hurts." - just how can you say no to this? The pure electronica molded with strange machinery, smoothed with vocals really goes straight to the heart. Tracks like 'Moss', 'Need In Me' and 'He Is So Hot' (which you can download from the link above) are Royksopp-styled four-to-the-floor, easy but intelligent tracks to shake on. Shake on!

Ror-Shak: Deep
03.14.
We had to wait four months for another 'triphop.hu A-ranked' release - at last, here it is: all hail Ror-Shak, with its new album 'Deep'. Ror-Shak is DB and Stakka, two producers based in NY and they put a really great album together featuring not less than five vocalists. The style is mainly breakbeat, with drum'n'bass and downtempo flavours. The extreme simplicity of the tracks catches us immediatly, with poppy melodies, but without being too cheesy. 'Lisa's song', 'Fate or Faith', 'Golden Cage', 'Love & Pride', 'Heist' and 'I Don't Want' are our absolute favourites - but hey, it's almost the entire album. Gorgeous recordings, no wonder that it's very highly-rated on iTunes. Go, buy it.
The sublime artwork is just the cream on top, credits to Stefano Dembro.

Karmacoda: Illuminate
02.24.
Five-years old american triphop-band Karmacoda (yeah, we've discussed the name once) is back with its third album, 'Illuminate'. Except from vocalist Heather Pierce getting sexier, there is not much evolution in the music - it's really unfortunate, because we do like Karmacoda very much. They had a very good balance between dark triphop and enjoyable melodies on the previous albums, with tracks like 'All that depth' and 'Motion picture'. Illuminate's 'Something', 'Hope over hope' and 'Spectre' are definitely worth listening to time and again, but most of the tracks are sounding like fillers on the 2007 album.

The Good, the Bad and the Queen
01.21.
The Blur-Gorillaz guy Damon Albarn is back with The Good, the Bad and the Queen, regrouping his mates Tony Allen, Paul Simonon and Simon Tong. Their first record is more interesting, than good - Damon's capability to blend styles could be very exciting for ears tired of mainstream-music. TGTBTQ is more like friends sitting at the fire, grabbing guitars and entertaining themselfs, but track like 'History Song', 'Behind the Sun' and especially 'Nature Springs' are worth listening to again and again.

albums you might missed in 2007 >