A music blog dedicated to my ever-expanding tastes. A musical journey with endless pitstops along the way. Bringing you the best of what I see and hear.
Since the release of her debut full length DIAMONITE back in 2011, BELL aka singer/pianist Olga Bell has meandered a bit away from the direct spotlight. Joining forces with Dirty Projectors, she's been lending her talents to the harmonious Brooklyn collective for the better part of the year and been tinkering away on her own material more or less in secret. Until now. Olga Bell's return isn't that of BELL but rather a collaboration she began with London multi-instrumentalist Tom Vek under the name Nothankyou.
The trans-atlantic collaboration birthed two tracks, one of which - "Oyster" has a starkly beautiful video. In it, Olga Bell is the only focus. Taking at least part of its influence from the 90s Calvin Klein ads, the video is black and white and features a bare Bell singing directly to the viewer while also impersonating Tom Vek who directs the sort of chiding answers back to herself. Maintaining the illusion of an commercial set, there's a brief moment where Bell breaks, removes a donned pink wig and sips an oyster before turning that too into a commercial moment with a coy wink to the camera. It's a simple but elegant video that relies mostly on the song itself to provoke an actual response.
You can nab Nothankyou's debut 7" either on limited edition vinyl or download from Moshi Moshi Records.
It's hard to believe it's already been a year since the release of BELL's debut record DIAMONITE but it's certainly has been. Since it's release, Olga Bell parted ways with the rest of her assembled band and decided to go it alone. I saw her live briefly and I know that her new setup involves a nifty key-tar with samples loaded into it.
For the release of her brand new single "Dialtone" off DIAMONITE, BELL's gone a particularly different route. Going full on acoustic and putting her piano chops to good use. She's also enlisted the help of her singer/songwriter friends Aoife Donovan and Kristin Andreassen for a slower, more melancholic take on the originally upbeat dance-y track.
The single also comes with three remixes as well as the original, which you can grab from BELL's Bandcamp.
This year I got more in sync with music than I think I ever did, with follow ups from established acts like Blind Pilot, Bon Iver, and Feist, the majority of my favorite came from bands and artists I had little to no knowledge to in years prior (with some noteable exceptions). Below are some of my favorite releases of this year that I feel really took the concept of an album to heart.
9) BELL – DIAMONITE
Despite my fastidious allegiance to the format of an album as a means to tell a story, there comes a time when an album can just be a collection of songs and still be okay in my book. This works in the case of BELL’s debut album DIAMONITE based on the cohesive nature of the tracks. Each of Olga Bell’s tracks contain a similar quality that makes them fit together like perfect puzzle pieces and even when she goes off in zany unexpected directions, like the folksy interlude in “Charlie”, they manage to remain a part of the sound and feel of her other songs. Those random moments where she zigs instead of zags breathe life into the album and keep things from getting too stale (not that they were all that much of danger of that to begin with).
8) The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart
The Seattle sextet’s debut album has all the making of a great album, that I was kind of surprised not to find it on more best of lists. From the slowly unfurling intro of “Cats and Dogs” that incorporates each member of the ensemble before a heartwarmingly grand unified tutti moment, to how that track leads directly into “Coeur D’alene” there’s no shortage of great musical moments. There’s a wealth of talent contained within the band’s ranks and on the debut each member gets their moment- violinist Charity Rose Thielen often sneaking up on you with brazenly soulful solos that manages to surprise you no matter how much you listen, guitarists/vocalists Jonathan Russell and Josiah Johnson trading off seamlessly, and Kenny Hensley mind-bending piano chops. It all comes together into The Head and the Heart’s folk pop gumbo alongside a smorgasbord of resonating lyricism that doesn’t try too hard. The Head and the Heart - Lost In My Mind by subpop
7) North Highlands – Wild One
There’s a major different between a lot of the albums on my list and North Highlands’. The wide majority of them made an impact due to stellar lyricism, North Highlands didn’t do and that’s fine. Wild One is an example of a more “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it” approach that doesn’t get nearly enough love. Brenda Malvini’s delivery is part of what makes Wild One such a treat. Repeated lyrics empowered like a command or chant and no matter how many times she repeats a phrase or word – it doesn’t get old. But Malvini’s isn’t the band and it’s due to the effort of the whole that Wild One is the success it is. The group’s playing is tight and diverse, swaggering and bustling to create an enjoyable romp that lasts the whole album – even in downbeat numbers like “Fre$ca” and “Best Part”. North Highlands might keep you emotionally at arm’s length but in doing so they make sure you have plenty of space to listen and more importantly to dance.
6) Marissa Nadler – Marissa Nadler
Considering how recently I got into Marissa Nadler’s latest album, her self-titled sixth, it’s kind of surprising that the album can be one of my favorites of the year and yet it is. Marissa Nadler has managed to positively consume my life from the first listen, no doubt due to Nadler’s crystalline vocals, delicate intricate arrangements resulting from Nadler’s arresting attention to detail, and poetic storytelling.
5) Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know
While a bit of a far-cry from her sophomore I Speak Because I Can in terms of emotional intensity and rich moving narrative, Laura Marling continued with her more mature, less conventional songwriting style that revolved around a single driving theme. While I Speak focused on responsibility and womanly duty, A Creature I Don’t Know explored the intense dark emotions that her previous album mostly hinted at. And while album centerpiece “The Beast” falls a bit flat (or needs more time to properly digest), Marling still manages to put together a stunning batch of songs that work exceptionally well together. Marling’s most remarkable tracks are in fact the ones with seemingly the least amount to say “Don’t Ask Me Why”, “Salinas”, and “Sophia”. Rather than trying to drive home her themes like “The Beast” or “All My Rage”, the other songs are small peeks into the mind and psyche of Marling’s characters. While it’s never quite explained why they do what they do, that’s somehow okay. With the exception of “My Friends”, Marling doesn’t ever try to make them accountable for their actions merely to present them in a rich and engaging manner in which she earnestly succeeds. Laura Marling - Sophia by ListenBeforeYouBuy
4) Sondre Lerche – Sondre Lerche
Every time Sondre Lerche reemerges from a recording-related hibernation I know the result is going to be something special and dear to my heart. Sondre Lerche’s eponymous sixth album was no different. While not quite as near or dear as Heartbeat Radio (most likely due to the time I’ve spent with the latter), Lerche certainly brings his a-game and manages to both Lerche’s jazzy-pop rock stylings and also tread new ground. It’s an album brimming with brilliant songcraft and arrangements but also Lerche’s exceptional lyricism. On his self-titled, Lerche combines elements from his previous albums like Phantom Punch’s hard rock fizz but takes things to riskier level when Lerche steps out of his comfort zone of singing pseudo-confessional type songs and embraces a broader songwriting style that still manages to sound personal and engaging. Go Right Ahead by sondrelerche
3) Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi
Anna Calvi’s self-titled debut beginning strains transports you to a smoky, dark cabaret club and there you remain until “Love Won’t Be Leaving” fades out gingerly. Anna Calvi lays all the cards out on the table: ninety percent of the album’s songs are about sex or of a sexual nature (“No More Words”, “Desire”, “First We Kiss”) and yet Anna Calvi presents it in such a classy refined manner that you can both relate and appreciate and enthusiastically share with others. Her passion is felt more than stated, her vocals practically exploding from her at precise the perfect time to make its effects most immediate. While Calvi’s exploration of the primal is nothing new, both Wild Beasts and Laura Marling releasing albums doing that same thing this same year, what catches is Calvi’s total allegiance to the world she creates in her exploration of sounds and textures. Anna Calvi 'Anna Calvi' by Anna Calvi
2) Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
I could go on and on about how Fleet Foxes almost didn’t release this album and how we’re all lucky to be able to it and that’d be true. But Robin Pecknold’s neurotic perfectionism has resulted in one of the single most beautiful albums of the year. If an album has a weak track or two, that’s expected and not really cause for alarm but what do you do when an each and every track on an album is utter perfection? It’s something to be celebrated. That’s no easy feat and Fleet Foxes have managed to do this on their sophomore record and with an effortlessness that belies the frustration its member most likely felt making it. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues by subpop
1) ARMS – Summer Skills
In a year where I found several eagerly anticipated follow up albums to be flops, ARMS is one of the few bands that not only delivered but exceeded all my wildest expectations. Summer Skills, with its supernatural break up album concept, delivered not only a boldly innovative idea but presented it in a way that was exceptionally mindful of itself and charmingly catchy. Todd Goldstein achieves an elegant balance between grizzly detail and imagination-fuelling vagueness in his songwriting that only helps to enrich the album’s miscellaneous stories. Each song pits the two main characters in a new predicament which Todd Goldstein’s deft songwriting and the band’s startlingly precision underscore and navigate you through. Summer Skills is labyrinthine and yet wholly accessible, an album with nearly as many instantaneous rewards as its hidden treasures.
Honorable Mentions:
The Antlers - Burst Apart
Caveman - CoCo Beware
The Deloreans - "American Craze" Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers - On Being
Seems like only yesterday Brooklyn based foursome BELL were releasing their debut album DIAMONITE. And now today BELL premiered their debut music video for the lucky folks at Disco Naivete. For their video they choose "Chase No Face", which they got to have a little fun with. You see, the video for "Chase No Face" focuses on the face, particularly that of BELL front-woman Olga Bell. A bunch of fancy light effects take place on or around her face and...well that's pretty much it. It sounds pretty boring but it's worth it. Good track plus a smiling Olga Bell turns out to be winning video formula. Watch the video for "Chase No Face" here:
Today marks the official record release of Brooklyn based band BELL's debut album DIAMONITE. You might remember that just a few days ago they had their CD release party and now you can actually get your hands on it. And after being teased with only 2 tracks from the album, you can now listen to the whole thing via their Bandcamp.
DIAMONITE certainly is a busy album. Not quite glitch-pop and yet far from fluid, the whole album is characterized by layered sounds of nearly every sort, pulsating drum beats, and Olga Bell's sultry vocals. Not only does each track manage to differ from the ones surrounding it but there's also massive changes within the tracks themselves (Most notably in "Magic Tape" and "Charlie"). It's an album that reinvigorates itself before the need ever arises and yet does so so artfully it doesn't come off like they were just scrambling for ideas. The album manages to be both organic and methodical in a way that would be utterly perplexing if it wasn't done quite so well. It's an album where every track has a standalone quality and yet fits well within it's context.
DIAMONITE is an album positively packed with great musical moments. Dance-y, poppy, and yet not exclusively either; DIAMONITE is an album that can be enjoyed in any setting: A quiet night at home or crowded club. It manages to conjure various soundbites and clustered soundscapes into sparse, spacious pieces liberally sprinkled with emotional intensity. Definitely an album worthy of a listen or five. Give it a listen at BELL's Bandcamp.
In my pursuit of all things ARMS-related, I stumbled upon BELL. You see, the fellows of ARMS are playing a show with them tonight. A CD release show for BELL's upcoming album DIAMONITE that's out next week. BELL is a Brooklyn based foursome composed of Olga Bell, Jason Nazary, Michael Saltsman, and Gunnar Olsen. Different than my standard fare, BELL is no doubt infectious and it's not hard to see why they won me over so quickly. There's only two songs from their upcoming album available for listening and yet, that's all you really need.
I'm still not entirely sure each member's duty besides Olga Bell's heady vocals but you'll find that once you hit play, it doesn't really seem to matter.
"River" has this sort of majestic grandeur, not present in "Dialtone". Both have this large, sprawling quality but "River" with it's multiple tempo changes and driving drums pump you up in a way that "Dialtone" just can not. It's a good thing that "River" comes after it on the album otherwise you might feel a little gypped. But it's not a competition and both tracks are amazing in their own way.
Get to know BELL with a few tracks from their upcoming album DIAMONITE which you can preorder on their Bandcamp. And if you just so happen to be in NYC with nothing to do tonight, go see ARMS & BELL at the Knitting Factory for what's sure to be a night of awesome much.
