The February Long List

Welcome back my friends (“...to the show that never ends”)…

January’s long list pretty much chose itself – I already had five albums in mind before I started the blog.  There’s always a ton of oldies I want to listen to (off the top of my head…a couple of early Robert Wyatt “solo” albums, a compilation of the Tangerine Dream Virgin albums, recent reissues / compilations from dub reggae masters Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Scientist, the early Mothers of Invention albums, the first album by Deuter and a bunch of “krautrock” albums from Popol Vuh, Cluster (them again!) and Amon Duul II blah blah blah!) so that’s never a problem, but I couldn’t think of anything new worth investigating for February.  So I took a look around and at first pass wished I hadn’t – there is so much new stuff, but hang on - half the albums I’d like to hear aren’t released until mid- to late-February and so aren’t available to hear online yet! Suddenly the prospect of a very long March long list emerges along with the problem of a shortage of new material for February.

Albums I’d like to have considered but which won’t be released in time for February’s list include the latest from Toro Y Moi, Gruff Rhys, Lykke Li, and the Drive-By Truckers.  The album I most wanted to listen to was described by Rob Fitzpatrick in Word magazine (February 2011) as “exquisitely sludgy, folk-fronded, book-learning, stoner jazz-metal”: namely ‘The Gathering’ by Arbouretum. The description alone was enough to encourage me to search out the two tracks from the album which are already on the net – I have not been disappointed.

So, without further ado, welcome to the February 2011 long list, usual format:

Dagger Paths - Forest Swords

Ventriloquizzing - Fujiya & Miyagi

Cement Postcard with Owl Colours - Phantom Buffalo

White Noise Sound – White Noise Sound

Rolling Blackouts – The Go! Team

The Virgin Years – Tangerine Dream

This Nation’s Saving Grace – The Fall

Sound System Scratch – Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry

Seasons of My Soul - Rumer

The list includes three oldies – those by The Fall, the Tangs and the mighty Upsetter – though in the interest of balance the Tangs compilation (‘The Virgin Years’) is already pretty much ruled out on the basis that Cluster was last month’s oldie and this experiment is not just an excuse to further extend my ever expanding collection of German music. Wonderful though that would be, of course.  I’m not that happy with this trio anyway – not that they are not fine choices – more that I’ve heard loads of stuff by all of them, so would rather find something by someone I knew nothing of. Watch this space!