Hola amigos,
Thanks for tuning in once again to this slightly Spanish-influenced blog, I'm sure you have noticed (title meaning - "News and music reviews"). So, I have been back in Blighty for a couple of weeks now, and have acclimatised to the real world. My States high has well and truly ended but has certainly left with me an indelible imprint: I am sure that the recent music that I have been listening to has, on reflection, been noticeably influenced by my three weeks over the other side of The Pond. Though this could easily be explained by the fact that I have been reading Pitchfork Media quite frequently, and heeding many of their album reviews. A combination of both probably.
Anyway, onto new music. Well, over the last couple of weeks I have discovered quite a few new albums, including Luomo's "Convivial", various albums by M83, Apparat's "Walls" and perhaps most importantly, Grizzly Bear's recent offering. So having read the recent PM review of Grizzly Bear's most recent album release, "Veckatimest", who gave it 9.0, I had to download the album. The band itself are Brooklyn based, and are actually on Warp Records, which was another reason I was drawn to them. Anyway, according to Wikipedia, their sound is categorised as "experimental rock, folk rock and is most dominated by the use of acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies". I concur. I would say that they sound a little bit like a cross between The Beach Boys ("Pet Sounds"), Fleet Foxes, Arcade Fire and Animal Collective. I am certainly digging the whole experimental, psychedelic, folky sound at the moment, particularly because it is quite chilled and downbeat (which is good for my current period of introspection). My fave tracks on the album are "Ready, Able", "Two Weeks" and "While You Wait for the Others", though on my second proper listen, the album is really growing on me. Anyway, as if not to big up the album enough, Fleet Foxes hailed "Veckatimest" as album of the decade, whilst Grizzly Bear are Jonny Greenwood's favourite band. Plaudits done. Go check out the album if you are into any of the above bands I have just mentioned and want something with beautiful vocal harmonies, amazing song structures, gorgeous orchestral arrangements and loads of depth.
The other band that I want to mention is M83. I was surprised to discover this band had been around for the best part of a deacde with quite a prolific back catalogue. This is especially since I am pretty into the whole shoegaze electronica scene. Anyway, the band is/was comprised of two Frenchman, Anthony Gonzalez, and formerly Nicolas Fromageau, and was formed in Antibes in 2001. M83's most recent album, "Saturdays =Youth" sounds more like avant synth-pop that any kind of shoegaze electronica, and I simply can't get enough of arguably the standout track, "Couleurs", which is this dance-floor oriented, epic, eight and a half minute synth-pop anthem. It's blatantly a little cheesy, but sometimes that's all you need and want. From reading reviews and one cursory listen, I imagine that M83's magnum opus is probably their album from 2003, entitled "Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts", which sounds like it would nestle in nicely between Ulrich Shnauss & Brian Eno. I.e. it is a beautiful, textured, soundscaped album with more than a hint of ambient eletronica. I defninitely need to spend more time on it.
Other albums I have recently been listening to include Apparat's "Walls", which is a lovely piece of mostly vocal-driven downtempo electronica, and Luomo's "Convivial", which is a very interesting and slickly produced house album. Kind of reminds me of German/French producers like Isolée and I:Cube, though I wouldn't necessarily put the album into the "micro-house" genre.
So, onto other affairs. Well, I recently received an offer from the LSE to study the MSc in International Health Policy which I am very pleased about. Have now accepted the offer, and am starting to make arrangements; think I will move back to London around mid-September, as the course begins at the end of the month, in effect. Am thinking of going for a flatshare with randoms in Hackney - this will hopefully be relatively cheap, easily accessible on the bus to Aldwych (LSE) and near most of my friends. Am obviously a little tentative that I will be living on a student's budget, but well, that will be part of the challenge. Anyway, I genuinely feel that I have reached a level of maturity where I will be able to take everything in my stride, and certainly have the drive to do such a course right now. Am also glad that my general boozing and hedonism is well under control! I think as an undergraduate (and even doing my first Masters) I was simply too pre-occupied with partying and boozing all the time. So there is no doubt in my mind that I will be going for a dictinction, and at the very least, a merit. We shall see.
I think the only other thing worth mentioning is the fact that I am intensely learning Spanish, courtesy of the Rosetta Stone programme, which I have recently acquired. After just a week's intense learning, I must say that I am extremely impressed, and had I paid the £350 odd for levels 1-3 (!), would probably have considered this value for money. In a nutshell, the programme teaches you Spanish in the way that you first learned your mother tonuge. I.e. by constantly making associations with pictures and objects, and by using clever patterns and cues. I am particularly enjoying the way that the programme starts with simple words relating to real-world objects and people, and then starts to build upon this, to form proper sentences. I am aiming to complete all three levels by studying an average of about one hour a day over the next two months or so. I will then hopefully be ready to enroll on the fast-track Modern Foreign Language course at intermediate level at the LSE (in conjunction with my main course). This will entaal 2 hours per week of teaching over 20 weeks, incorporating assessments throughout and at the end. As long as I am dedicated, I should be able to achieve this, and hope to be reasonably conversational come June next year. I am certainly very excited by this prospect, and will probably join the Spanish society, not least so I can converse with hot Spanish/Latina women!
Anyway, I'm all out of words, and my neck is starting to ache.
Hope you're all good in the hood.
Peace,
F.
