Kele - Trick

We can talk about Kele's sophomore album and confess it's a great dance effort. We can also talk about Bloc Party, his band, and comment that it was totally expected of him to record electronic tracks once again. Forget all that review shit, cause it's coming anyways. "Trick" is an album we can dance our asses off and - wait for it - have great sex listening to it. Cause it's so damn HOT.

Back to that review shit... I have to be honest, this album sounds like Burial producing songs for Delphic and Katy B. It's all about dark loops, house basslines, melancholic lyrics and strong, soulful vocals. But yet again it's a great pop album overall, so that anyone can appreciate it - from Bloc Party fans to dubstep freaks.

"Doubt", arguably the best song in here, combines the star quality and  the rock attitude of its performer, but still manages to be as dance as Kele is trying to sound, without damaging his indie persona. "Coasting" is all about Burial's dubstep tricks, while "Closer" makes it clear that everyone has a cheesy side that leads to a recording mistake. "Year Zero", "Like We Used To" and "My Hotel Room" are all about sexiness and sensuality. So let's focus on those, please (!).

Have I really mentioned the words "sex", "sexiness", "asses", "hot" and "sensuality" in a music album review? Oh well...

AnArtCalled... 8/10

Hozier - Hozier

From recording his first full-length album to performing live on SNL two weeks ago, Hozier has made a flying leap across the ocean, thus convincing the US audience to buy his songs. With soulful/bluesy vocals and lyrics inspired by the singer's some kind of pagan poetry, "Hozier" is a weird case of a crossover irish album you just don't expect it to work. But it works. And it works just fine.

His first single, "Take me to church", received much hype around the internet and Kiesza covered the song with her beautiful voice, but it wasn't until the singer appeared on the american television that changed everything. The album debuted at No 2 on Billboard 200 and Hozier became a star in half an hour.

Although he is an exceptional songwriter, some songs here are actually boring. But then again, that's not the case, because, as I wrote before, the album works just fine. Dark lyrics accompanied by guitars and gospel choirs, love stories and dramas, Hozier's countryside hometown, Wicklow Hills - all these are the materials of an album that could possibly give birth to a new music genre, the "Irish blues" or something (Kudos must also go to the producer, Rob Kirwan).

The best songs in here are loaded in the first half of the album ("Angel Of Small Death And The Codeine Scene", "From Eden", "Jackie And Wilson", "Sedated"), leaving the second half being responsible for the boredom factor. But the thing with Hozier is that even when you are bored, you can appreciate his musicianship and his ability to create his own vintage sound. That actually reminds me of Bon Iver, so applied mathematics (?) leads me to the conclusion that Hozier will win the Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category. Just guessing...

AnArtCalled... 8,5/10

Interstellar

We have watched many sci-fi horror films or sci-fi dramas or sci-fi action films or sci-fi movies in general the last decades. From "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Solaris" to "Apollo 13" and "Gravity", the ways the film-makers approach their scripts are so distinctive that you can identify their unique techniques every single time and the certain messages each and everyone is trying to pass along. But "Interstellar" goes beyond your expectations as far as only one thing is concerned - the unexpected sentimentalism of its creator.

Christopher Nolan is one of the most significant film-makers of our time. He might, in fact, be the new Steven Spielberg or something. And that's true, more or less. But it's also true that he has not been as sensitive with his characters in his movies as we would like him to be or as Spielberg, for example, has been in the past. This time, he outdoes himself and, more importantly, he outdoes the mediocre writing of the script (not the script itself) and creates a visual treasure that many directors can be jealous of (especially James Cameron, don't ask why, just because).

Let's talk about the script. It's smarter than everything you could possibly imagine. It's setting existential questions about life and beyond. But it's also vague a couple of times, while at other times it's being trapped by its own wittiness. You love it when it all comes down to a straight forward and clever storytelling, but you are confused and tired with all the scientific explanations, the countless times you hear the word "gravity" (irony), the way the hand watch is sending the Morse code (still a mystery) or the way the actors, especially Hathaway, are pronouncing "love" like William Shakespeare's heroes. The vagueness is in there, lost in space, but you overcome it, because it still is a great story and because Nolan's directing keeps being a piece of art, attributing some kind of poetic justice to the characters and their burdens.

The visual "Interstellar" is science fiction at its best. If Alfonso Cuaron won the Oscar for Best Direction, I can imagine Nolan already preparing his Academy Award acceptance speech. His images give great aesthetic pleasure but with a sense of wisdom in them, thus letting you think hard about all the questions he wants to put out there along with his brother, Jonathan. At this point, the writing process is a success. I wrote it before - the script itself is great, the writing (or maybe the editing) is not.

"Interstellar" is jaw-dropping in many aspects. The cast is brilliant, especially McConaughey and Chastain. Hans Zimmer's score will probably give him his tenth Oscar nomination and maybe a second award, twenty years after "The Lion King" (!). Hoyte van Hoytema's cinematography is extraordinary and the visual effects are actually close to something you can call reality. At the end of the day, it's a must-watch movie for the avid cinephiles, a piece of art for the aesthetes and an audiovisual masterpiece for the blockbuster suckers.

AnArtCalled... 9/10

El Buho - The First Heartbeat (Single)

El Buho (a musician and scriptwriter based in Athens) has listened to a lot of pop music as well as film scores in the past. So it's almost obvious that he is trying to combine his two favorite music genres into an ethereal piece of music - his single "The First Heartbeat". That could seem and sound weird as far as the continuity of the production is concerned, but on the other hand it feels like he knows what he is doing.

Many songwriters, producers and arrangers in the past have combined different styles of music in their work, from Air and Daft Punk to Craig Armstrong and Trent Reznor. Electronic pads and drums, concrete music, strings and orchestra ensembles, vocals and guitars - the tools can be countless. El Buho has wisely used here his mentors' flexibility in music creation and has produced an ambient track that showcases his ability to flirt with a good melody and his age of innocence, thus creating a landscape full of childhood memories in a shiny day. Well, that's my visual utopia listening to "The first heartbeat" and that's the actual thing here - listening to it, you can create your own images.

Minus: Too much reverb, which he actually likes and always uses. So, maybe, it is somekind of signature.

AnArtCalled... 8,5/10

Links:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/elbuho
http://open.spotify.com/track/3xjK31GMrnmlTYQhmDJKkD
https://itunes.apple.com/gr/album/the-first-heartbeat-single/id926016164
https://soundcloud.com/buhomusic 

Ben Howard - I Forget Where We Were

- Ben Howard is a folk artist.
- Think again.
- Ben Howard is a rock artist.
- OK, think a little harder.
- Ben Howard is an indie rock artist who actually loves electronics, not only acoustic guitars and drama.
- That's my boy!

I think the intro-dialogue, which played in my mind a few hours earlier, is simply the best way to explain my surprise, after having listened for the very first time to Ben Howard's new album, "I Forget Where We Were". It feels like Radiohead having produced a new Bon Iver album and yet, it's not that at all. He doesn't play safe, so that he can win another Brit Award or the Mercury Prize. He produced the album himself along with his drummer, Chris Bond, and he literally forgot where he has been in the past.

The first track, "Small Things", reminds me of another opening song - "Closer" by Kings Of Leon and their 2008 release, "Only By The Night". And that's the feeling of the whole album - it's dark, it's sexy and it's totally unpredictable, something that makes it even more interesting. Sometimes, you can listen to his strangle to be faithful to his new sound and at the same time not to forget his folk artistry. But, somehow, Howard manages to be a sophisticated rock artist ("Rivers In Your Mouth", "I Forget Where We Were") and a folk songwriter ("End Of The Affair") as well, without destroying the songs' cohesion.

"I Forget Where We Were" is one of the biggest music surprises of 2014, not only because it showcases another part of Ben Howard's talent, but also because it confirms that when an artist is not attached to his success, he can go beyond his control and thus create beautiful things.

AnArtCalled... 8,5/10

You+Me - rose ave.

Well, many times I have thought in the recent past that Alecia Moore (aka P!nk) is a capable blues singer. There's something special deep in her throat that reminds me of the great female rock vocalists of the past decades, like her all-time favorite Janis Joplin. Ok, she's not Janis, clearly, but she never intended to be either. She has released some of the biggest pop, pop-rock and pop-r'n'b singles of the past 15 years, she has made some kickass collaborations with A-list producers and vocalists (William Orbit, Dallas Austin, Babyface, Missy Elliott, Tim Armstrong, Herbie Hancock, Butch Walker, Linda Perry, Greg Kurstin) and she has sung blues, hard rock and even punk-pop tracks, like "Trouble" and "The one that got away". So, if someone is a fan of her music, as well as her persona, he/she can understand that it has been somehow a matter of time for her to release something like the "rose ave." album. Because she obviously needs a break from pop stardom.

The other half of You+ME is Dallas Green, a Canadian artist. Together, they sound as one and that's the best you can have, when you have created a folk music duo. Their harmonies are smooth and aggressive at the same time and Alecia gives enough space to Dallas' voice to showcase its power, although she is the powerhouse here.

The songwriting is simple and essential. Acoustic guitar chords, some pianos, lyrics about love and a great Sade cover, "Ordinary love". "You and me" serves as the first single, while tracks like "Capsized", "Unbeliever" and "Open door" sound like Mumford And Sons/Laura Marling collaborations or duets you could listen in the "Inside Llewyn Davis OST". The country/blues genre fits perfectly here, that's why "Love gone wrong" is without a second thought the best song in the album.

It's interesting that P!nk did not choose to release "rose ave." as a solo artist. She knows the games of this business and she's smart enough not to put her pop image in danger. This effort is flawless, as far as the artistry is concerned. The only thing I'm not sure of is how the folk lovers will respond to a pop diva singing folk music. Oh well, who gives a crap!

AnArtCalled... 8,5/10

Jessie Ware - Tough Love

Jessie Ware is not a pop artist. But she is not a soul artist either. Mainstream audiences have not yet embraced the "Devotion" album as they were supposed to do (except for her crossover hit "Wildest Moments" of course). But, let's face it, she is not an alternative artist either, such as other similar acts in the UK (FKA Twigs or Lianne La Havas). Actually, that's the beauty of her music. It's soulful/electronic pop music that anyone can listen to - from GaGa and Aretha fans to Blood Orange and SBTRKT lovers.

The sophomore album for the singer is her effort to be more radio-friendly and, obviously, to sell more records. That's not bad, of course, considering that the songs are actually good. The unfortunate thing with "Tough Love" is that it's like a mirror with two faces. Half the songs remind you of the reasons you have loved her voice, her melodies and her electronic soul touch and the other half showcase a new artist that collaborates with Ed Sheeran and Miguel, in order to produce hit singles. Sometimes, as she sings, you forget all that crap. But if you listen to it over and over again, you can easily guess that in two years time she will release an Adele-esque album to pursue a diva career. Well, ok, maybe not.

"Say you love me", the second single from the album and the most successful one for the singer to date, is co-written by Ed Sheeran, so that the "Wildest moments" song would be jealous of its sequel. The first track with Miguel, "You and I (forever)", is something you could expect from her as far as the production is concerned, but the second one, "Kind Of...Sometimes...Maybe", is definitely something Miguel had planned to record himself and he didn't for some reason. "Want your feeling" and "Keep on lying" are probably the best tracks here, vocally and musically, while the power ballad "Pieces" could and should be a part of a Mariah or a Celine release - too much drama.

It's unfair to believe an artist is willing to repeat something he or she has done in the past, in order to play safe. And it's also unfair not to appreciate this album, cause at the end of the day it's all about good music. So maybe I have given Jessie some tough love with what I have written so far. Actually, me likey the album, even though there are two of them in here.

AnArtCalled... 7,5/10