It's all about the music…
Courtney Barnett is back with a new solo single and news of her new 2018 album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, due out May 10th.
Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel
1. Hopefulessness
2. City Looks Pretty
3. Charity
4. Need A Little Time
5. Nameless, Faceless
6. I’m Not Your Mother, I’m Not Your Bitch
7. Crippling Self Doubt And A General Lack Of Self Confidence
8. Help Your Self
9. Walkin’ On Eggshells
10. Sunday Roast
The indie rock matchup of 2017 has finally revealed the first single and video with Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile releasing their new song ‘Over Everything’. It’s a stunning black and white video too, with swapped lip-syncing and some amazing scenery.
The album Lotta Sea Lice will be released on 13th October via Milk! / Matador and they’ve also roped in colleagues such as Mick Turner and Jim White of the Dirty Three, Stella Mozgawa from Warpaint and Mick Harvey to play on it.
Another year comes to a close and it’s time for the end-of-year lists to be revealed. Here at Doubtful Sounds we’ve had another 12 months deeply immersed in Americana music (alt. country & folk) so you’ll find plenty of albums from that genre on the list below. That’s not to say we didn’t listen to plenty of other styles of music. As usual we wrapped our ears around plenty of post-punk and indie rock with doses of jazz, electronic and psych rock. Read on to see what we rated as our favourite albums of 2015 and let us know what your top selections were.
1. James McMurtry – Complicated GameMcMurtry was a new discovery for me in 2015, despite Complicated Game being his tenth studio album. I was immediately floored by the storytelling, the vivid and heartbreaking prose that cut straight to the core of the story at hand and by using the fewest words possible he drew me into his characters, predicaments, heartache and troubled times. His closest contemporary is Willy Vlautin (Richmond Fontaine, The Delines) who he shares a fascination with the downtrodden and struggling. Complicated Game was the most consistent and exquisite example of songwriting, complete with restrained and emotive playing, that I heard in 2015.
2. Marlon Williams – Marlon Williams“Though this solo debut has been a long time coming he has toured and built a strong reputation as a live performer across Australia and NZ and that experience has filtered through on this superb album that never falters or loses its sense of wonderment across thirty-five playing minutes.”
3. James Thomson – Cold Moon“The balance and symmetry of Thomson’s writing is a standout facet of his music. From blues to country, folk to New Orleans flavours, through the positive vibe of love songs to the darker desolation of characters at the end of line he nails them all in mood and lyrical imagery”
4. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit“Barnett often gets pegged as quirky yet her musical approach ticks most alt. rock and indie boxes. The joy and achievement of Sometimes I Sit and Think… is how she has married that with her inimitable knack for lyrics that will draw attention from even the most staunchest of listeners who would normally pay little attention to words. Like a more impressionistic pop-art take on the skilful writing of Mark Kozelek, Barnett is leading the way in literate songwriting without any hint of pretension.”
5. Lost Ragas – Trans Atlantic Highway“That ability to hammer out a brisk honky tonk rhythm one minute and then craft a late night whisky-sodden ballad of heartache highlights the band’s magic. Combined with the way they apply tonality to their songs, both vocally and instrumentally, Lost Ragas have created an album of timeless quality, full of dark and graceful beauty.”
6. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015Spencer, Judah Bauer and Russell Simins get back to what they do best; incorporating no wave funk, rock ‘n’ roll, blues and garage rock into one hollering’ and testifyin’ primal groove soundtrack. This was a palette cleanser after all the generic psych rock and faux electro-soul that permeated the airwaves in 2015.
7. Bad Dreems – Dogs At Bay“This feels like an important album, a statement born of experience, countless hours spent in the practice room and driving to shows. It rocks in a primitive fashion and it takes up residency in your short term memory. It sounds like the country and people that it chronicles and it never loses sight of the power of simplicity in rock n roll.”
8. Gold Class – It’s You“Gold Class wear their influences on their collective sleeve yet they’ve corralled them into their own sound. The sheets of guitar, cold rhythms and that dark poetic howl are a breath of fresh air on this highly accomplished and compelling debut album.”
9. Protomartyr – The Agent Intellect“Primal rhythms with wire-brush screes of guitar and the distinctive disaffected howl and Mark E Smith-styled rant of frontman Joe Casey. The way they sonically blend beautiful and bruised sounds is what makes their music so appealing. It sparks and spits, Casey’s black humour lyrics are both catchy and provocative but above all, in 2015, Protomartyr are a breath of dissonant fresh air.”
Though mostly born from the same sessions as last year’s River Mirrors album, these nine songs operate on a different plane. More concise and song-based, yet with a broad range of moods and levels of intensity, the quartet conjure up caustic distorted storms of guitar over measured rhythms.
11. Nadia Reid – Listen to Formation, Look For The Signs
12. Royal Headache – High
13. Houndmouth – Little Neon Limelight
14. Father John Misty- I Love You, Honeybear
15. Blank Realm – Illegals In Heaven
16. Tami Neilson – Don’t Be Afraid
17. Kurt Vile – B’lieve I’m Goin Down…
18. Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love
19. Destroyer – Poison Season
20. Twerps – Range Anxiety
21. Ryan Bingham – Fear And Saturday Night
22. Lindi Ortega – Faded Gloryville
23. SJD – Saint John Divine
24. Faith No More – Sol Invictus
25. Bob Dylan – Shadows In The Night
26. Pokey LaFarge – Something In The Water
27. The Holy Soul – Fortean Times
28. The Phoenix Foundation – Give Up Your Dreams
29. Ryley Walker – Primrose Green
30. Perry Keyes – Sunnyholt
31. Tame Impala – Currents
32. Raised By Eagles – Diamonds In The Bloodstream
33. Lucero – All A Man Should Do
34. Jason Isbell – Something More Than Free
35. Sam Hunt with David Kilgour & The Heavy 8s – The 9th
36. Bill Ryder-Jones – West Kirby County Primary
37. Neil Young + Promise Of The Real – The Monsanto Years
38. John Moreland – High On Tulsa Heat
39. Kamasi Washington – The Epic
40. Beach House – Depression Cherry
41. Sleaford Mods – Key Markets
43. Moon Duo – Shadow Of The Sun
45. Mark Lucas – Little Town Blues
46. Malcolm Holcombe – RCA Sessions
47. Django Django – Born Under Saturn
48. Jamie XX – In Colour
49. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
50. Chastity Belt – Time To Go Home
2014 was the year that Courtney Barnett, the unassuming Melbourne resident, went overground in a big way. With multiple international jaunts, appearances on radio and TV shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and many of the top international music festivals. All of that was on the back of two killer singles (‘Avant Gardener’, ‘History Eraser’) and the subsequent The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas. Now, finally, her debut album has arrived and in no uncertain terms it confirms her status as one the finest songwriters to emerge from the Antipodes in recent years.
Sometimes I Sit and Think… picks up from where her EP left off and that now familiar style of deadpan vocals intoning stream of conciousness, hyper-observational rhyming couplets. The history of popular song from nursery rhymes to Dylan and even the cadence and wordplay of hip hop inform her lyrical dexterity as she weaves humour and pathos into her songs.
Musically the album casts an ear back to sounds of the past, from The Pixies to Redd Kross, You Am I to Nirvana, Liz Phair to The Breeders. It all combines to form a sound that perfectly complements her songs. ‘Small Poppies’ shimmers in a wonderful woozy haze before ‘Depreston’ wrings more heartache and wistful melody from her pen than any song about flat hunting should have to right to do. ‘Aqua Profunda’ is a rhythmic, new wave and power pop tag team that reinforces how important great riffs and dynamics are in Barnett’s songs while ‘Kim’s Caravan’ switches between aqueous languid verses and an extended eviscerating hailstorm in the vein of Crazy Horse and The Drones.
Barnett often gets pegged as quirky yet her musical approach ticks most alt. rock and indie boxes. The joy and achievement of Sometimes I Sit and Think… is how she has married that with her inimitable knack for lyrics that will draw attention from even the most staunchest of listeners who would normally pay little attention to words. Like a more impressionistic pop-art take on the skilful writing of Mark Kozelek, Barnett is leading the way in literate songwriting without any hint of pretension.
Chris Familton
this review was first published on undertheradar.co.nz
Courtney Barnett has had a crazy last couple of years since she first started building a fan-base on the back of the ‘History Eraser’ single. The 2 x EP The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas cemented her reputation as a quirky songwriter with the ability to pen deadpan lyrics laced with humour and wry observations on life and she backed up the groundswell of interest and critical praise she made a number of trips to the USA for headline shows, multiple festival appearance plus a raft of shows at home in Australia.
Now Barnett has announced that her debut album Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit (recorded in 2014 at Head Gap studios in Melbourne) will be released in Australia on Friday 20th March 2015 via Milk! Records / Remote Control Records. The first single to come from the new album is ‘Pedestrian At Best’. Album pre-orders are available HERE.
It’s always a mighty challenge to narrow down all the songs you’ve heard in one year and slot them into order on a nice tidy list of 20. I’m sure I’ve missed a handful of gems but these are all songs that have either captured my imagination, feet, ears or all of the above and made me think “damn that is a great song”.
1. Courtney Barnett – Avant Gardener
2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Jubilee Street
3. Houndmouth – Penitentiary
4. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – So Good At Being In Trouble
5. Bad//Dreems – Caroline
6. Wooden Shjips – Everybody Knows
7. Kirin J Callinan – Victoria M
8. Ooga Boogas – Sex in the Chillzone
9. Ducktails – Under Cover
10. TV Colours – Beverly
11. Popstrangers – Heaven
12. Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys – Any Day Now
13. Eleanor Friedberger – When I Knew
14. Sharpie Crows – Thanks You Ladies For The Spread
15. Bill Callahan – Small Plane
16. Neko Case – Night Still Comes
17. Guy Clark – My Favorite Picture of You
18. Arcade Fire – We Exist
19. Suede – Barriers
20. Depeche Mode – Heaven
Courtney Barnett – Avant Gardener
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Jubilee Street
Houndmouth – Penitentiary
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – So Good At Being In Trouble
Bad//Dreems – Caroline
Wooden Shjips – Everybody Knows
Kirin J Callinan – Victoria M
Ooga Boogas – Sex in the Chillzone
Ducktails – Under Cover
TV Colours – Beverly
Popstrangers – Heaven
Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys – Any Day Now
Eleanor Friedberger – When I Knew
Suede – Barriers
Sharpie Crows – Thanks You Ladies For The Spread
Bill Callahan – Small Plane
Neko Case – Night Still Comes
Guy Clark – My Favorite Picture of You
Arcade Fire – We Exist
Depeche Mode – Heaven
One of our favourites of the last year, Courtney Barnett, has released the video for her excellent Avant Gardener single. The track comes from her LP The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas due out October 15th.
On the back of one our favourite songs of 2012, History Eraser, Melbourne’s Courtney Barnett has issued the new track Avant Gardener that relates the onset of an allergic reaction amid the mundane chores of day to day life. Lyrically Barnett does amazing things here and on her other releases with her mix of observation and wit and it sets the bar high for an album hopefully on its way soon. The song also features Dan Luscombe (The Drones) and Jen Cloher among others. Check the moment at 4 mins where the song soars into a melodic chorus of oohs and aahs – totally ace.
You can download/buy Avant Gardener HERE
