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Release Date:
2007-10-07
Label: Exercise 1 Records LAP
Formats: LP
Studio/Live:
Various
Guillemots chose favorite tunes for an LP
compilation:
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1. Sonic Youth - Providence
2. Roots Manuva - Witness (1 Hope)
3. Fourtet - A Joy
4. Joan As Police Woman - The Ride
5. Esther Phillips - And I Love Him
6. Daniel Johnston - Speeding Motorcycle
7. Kenickie - I Would Fix You
8. Tartit - Eha Ehenia
9. Bjork - All Neon Like
10. Amon Tobin - Reanimator
11. Charles Mingus - Tensions
12. The Supremes - My World Is Empty Without You
13. Liars - The Other Side Of Mt. Heart Attack
14. Cartola - Preciso Me Encontrar
15. Raphael Saadiq - Still Ray
16. Buffalo Springfield - Expecting To Fly
17. Sandy Denny - No End (Solo Piano Version) |
Guillemots: Back to Mine (Volume 27)
Monday, 08 Oct 2007 11:08
DMC, out October 8th, 2007
In a nutshell...
After-Hours Grooving, Chilled, Eclectic
What's it all about?
It's the turn of the Guillemots to pick their favourite tunes for
the acclaimed Back to Mine series. Following in the footsteps of
acts such as Bugz in the Attic, Royksopp, Mercury Rev, Underworld
and Groove Armada, the Guillemots have chosen 17 tracks for this
after-hours session. Picking from personal favourites, influences
and sentimental tunes, the album offers a vast array of differing
tracks covering pretty much every spectrum of music possible. The
tracks include an eclectic mix of thumping dance tunes, Brazilian
flamenco guitar and 1960s Jazz. There is music by the legendary
Supremes sitting side by side tunes from 90s indie band Kenickie,
contributions from Hip Hop artists such as Roots Manuva and
experimental inclusions from Sonic Youth and others. This a
collection of songs aimed at both winding your evening down and at
the same time keeping the party going through the night.
Who's it by?
The Guillemots formed in 2004 and their debut album, Through the
Windowpane, was released in July 2006 to critical acclaim. The album
was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize, eventually losing
out to the Artic Monkeys while the band was nominated for Best Live
Act at the 2007 Brit Awards, losing out to Muse. The band consists
of four permanent members, Fyfe Dangerfield, MC Lord Magrao,
Aristazabal Hawkes, and Greig Stewart and are currently signed to
Polydor Records. The Guillemots are renowned for their quirky,
experimental music and enthusiastic live performances.
As an example...
"Speedy Motorcycle, don't you drive recklessly/Speedy motorcycle, of
my heart/Many girls have taken you for a ride, cut you deep
inside/But you never slow down' - Daniel Johnston: Speedy Motorcycle
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Fans of the Guillemots will be intrigued to discover what tracks the
band has chosen for the after-hours compilation whilst for hardcore
collectors of the series, it's a must. The album probably won't find
mainstream success but don't be surprised to find it being played at
the next house party you attend.
What the others say
"Another band get round to showing us how cool their record
collections are. And let's be fair; while Guillemots themselves may
be a distinctly middling outfit, if this is an accurate
approximation of what they actually listen to at home, then we're
very impressed." – NME
"All in all a really interesting listen – even if you're not
bothered about listening to Guillemots, let alone who influenced
them, this CD will expand your musical knowledge and listening
repertoire without doubt." - StudentDirect
So is it any good?
In the album notes of this 27th volume of the Back to Mine series,
when describing the inclusion of a Liars track, the Guillemots claim
"They experiment, they look in different directions, pushing
themselves to create new sound that are not genre specific". This
not only totally sums up the outlook they themselves have on music
but is quite obviously what they have tried to produce in this
compilation. The series is based on artists' favourite post-night
out tunes and it would appear that the Guillemots like to listen to
a hugely varied spectrum of music when they get home.
There is some extraordinary music here and definitely songs that you
will never have heard of before. The band have chosen from all
corners of the globe with music from Tarit and Cartola as well as
more popular artists such as Bjork, Fourtet and Roots Manuva and
they've even had time to pick a tune reminding us that Lauren
Laverne actually helped produce some pretty impressive music back in
the 90's before she started snuggling up to teenage bands on sofas
for late night television.
The album gets off to a fairly heavy and electronic start before
been calmed right back down with the fantastic Joan as Police Woman
and the beautiful voice of Esther Philips covering the Beatles And I
Love Him.
Daniel Johnston's Speeding Motorcycle is almost indescribable and is
a marked contrast with everything else of the album. The song is
totally amateurish but utterly engaging. It is quite unbelievably
innocent and actually sounds like something created on a �10
keyboard by an 8 year old in their kitchen, however it totally works
and it fits brilliantly into this compilation. The song is truly
bizarre but its inclusion is no surprise coming from a band as
experimental as the Guillemots and is probably the most telling song
on the album, a perfect example of a song you're likely never to
have heard of.
The quieter tunes in the compilation outnumber the heavier tracks
quiet considerably and had the band gone all out with the come-down
music and excluded Fourtet and Amon Tobin for example, the album
would have been a definite success as a chill out collection.
However the Back to Mine series are all about 'after-hours grooving'
and so we end up with a few loud aggressive tracks sandwiched
between interesting, eclectic and fascinating music spanning decades
and continents. The listener's experience of the album will totally
depend on their musical preferences, there are tunes here that will
captivate most, but the collection is so varied you may find
yourself skipping over tracks you truly can't stand to find
something more to your taste.
That unfortunately is the problem. The mark of a good album is the
fact that you are never tempted to skip any track to find the songs
you like and regrettably the complication suffers from this problem.
The tracks are ultimately too diverse to come together in a neat
cohesion. The Guillemots appear to have been stuck in two minds
whether to create a mellow chill-out compilation or a collection of
tunes to keep your party going through the night.
The album is a collection of songs that have inspired, excited,
intrigued and carry some form of sentiment for the Guillemots, there
is some fascinating music here, just be ready to skip the next song
when it clashes with your mood. |
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