The the old line about waiting for a London bus "you wait for ages
then two come along at once" can also be applied to Kate Bush´s
recording output this year.
After a 12 year gap between "The Red Shoes" and her last official
release, 2005´s under whelming "Ariel", earlier this year we saw the
release of "Directors Cut" (essentially re-recordings of tracks from
The Sensual World & Red Shoes periods).
Rumours then circulated that the new Kate Bush was a concept album
with Snow as the main theme and many´s a nerve jangled even amongst
her most loyal fans.
They have not needed to worry, as "50 Words for Snow" is a fine,
fine return to form from one of England's finest female artists of
all time.
Albeit a "loose" concept album with snow, cold & Winter as
central themes, with its sparse instrumentation and Bush´s unique
vocal style, "50 Words for Snow" is one of the most intimate, warm
and moving albums recorded in recent times.
Video segment for "Wild Man" (single released from the album)
The difficult second album ?
Far from it ! With "Ceremonials", Florence returns with the most assured
of follow up albums which oozes artistic confidence from start to
finish.
Apart from the epic and melodramatic sound of the album, the high
calibre of the writing and a big full production sound via producer Paul
Epworth (Bloc Party, Friendly Fires), the key element in the albums arsenal is undoubtedly Florence´s incredible and powerful vocal range.
There's a point (1.38) in the albums opener "Only If For a Night" when
she sings that she "did cartwheels in your honour", which re-assure the
listener that the quirky lyrics that made début album "Lungs" so
enchanting remain a key element of the fabric of the songs on
"Ceremonials".
Although the album is sonically a natural successor from "Lungs", with
its mix of...it shouldn't work but it does, danceable indie, stadium
rock, shades of goth, omnipresent big drums and harp solos, the end
result is a far more ambitious, complete and epic sounding album.
1st single from the album " What the Water Gave Me"
3 albums in 3 years is a pretty prolific output for any modern day
recording act especially when the end result is three albums of constant
high quality.
Following the folkier sound explored by the group on the 2010 release
"Flaws", "A Different Kind of Fix" sees the band returning to a more
eclectic, diverse and guitar driven sound.
The refreshing aspect for the listener is that the album, despite its diversity never loses its focus or coherency.
There's a nod to 90´s shoe-gazing sound on "Bad Timing", meanwhile "Your
Eyes" evokes the classic sound of James at their finest and "What You
Want" is classic 2011 indie pop.
Although quirky in places "A Different Kind of Fix" is a fine album of well composed and subtle but melodic pop rock.
Jesus Gallego presents the daily sports show Ser Deportivos on Cadena Ser, one of Spain's leading radio networks.
In the past few years Gallego has emerged as a leading taste maker in
the alternative rock and indie scene with his musical selections in the
Carrusel Deportivo show (the "Gallego on Fire" section).
Thanks to him bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, The Killers, Two Door
Cinema Club etc. have managed to gain some profile on Spanish national radio
whilst sadly traditional local daily music stations focus on mainstream
pop.
Apart from presenting his daily sports show Gallego can also be found in
the DJ cabins of many Madrid clubs and is a regular contributor to AS
& El Pais (Spanish daily sports and newspapers respectively).
We caught up with Jesus recently to get his answers on a few music and football related questions.
Q - At best the quality control applied to football related songs over
the years has been somewhat dubious !
What in your opinion has been the worst football related song ever
and what has been the best and why.
JG
- True, there have been some really dodgy songs, Waka Waka by Shakira
comes to mind.... even "We Are the Champions" by Queen has been
transformed.
The best, any Oasis track is perfect for football, but I don't think the best has been written yet !
Q - What was the first record (single or album) bought by the young
Jesus Gallego and the motivation behind it.
JG - Mmmm.. not sure
but it was pretty late on. When I was a kid, on a trip to Ceuta my folks
bought a cassette deck and I got a Beatles cassette.
Q - Over the past years Pep Guardiaola has
used the likes of "Viva la Vida" (Coldplay) and "Human" (The
Killers) to motivate the Barça team prior to each home match, if
you were a Primera Liga manager what song would you use as a
pre-match motivational tool in the dressing room?
JG - Muse, Uprising would work.
Q - What was the last album you bought or downloaded ?
JG - I recently bought the début album from Noel Gallagher, High Flying Birds. 12 Euro it cost me from the local FNAC
Q - You´ve
constantly pushed new music and championed and played many groups on
national radio, that are/were total unknowns for the average Carrusel
Deportivo listener. What track has generated the most interest and positive
reaction from the listeners ?
JG -
The
Killers, Somebody Told Me straight away generated a positive reaction. Same thing
with MGMT´s Time to Pretend. Even the listeners who weren't convinced
first time around ended up humming along to tracks that are now
considered semi classics.
The Killers - Somebody Told Me -
MGMT - Time to Pretend -
Ok, a few football related questions -
Q - Given that the 1st and 2nd places are foregone conclusions in the
Spanish Primera Division, who do you see securing 3rd and 4th
place this season?
JG - Valencia will certainly be there and I´d say Malaga too.
Q - In recent times the battle to avoid the drop from La Liga has been more
exciting than the title race, who do you see occupying the bottom
3 positions this season?
JG -
Its going to be incredibly tight. I think we´ll see Racing, Zaragoza,
Mallorca, Real Sociedad and Granada all in the battle. Others like
Getafe, Betis and Rayo Vallecano will also need to be careful.
Q - Finally .... 80´s indie band Half Man Half Biscuit immortalised
Czech side Dukla Prague with their track "All I Want for Christmas
is a Dukla Prague Away Kit", without the assistance of Google or
Wikipedia, a guess as to what colour the Dukla Prague away kit is
?
JG - Is it Red ? Let me check, close .... Red & Yellow !
Follow Gallego on Twitter@JGALLEGOSerfor his news and views on sport and the best in new music.
When Cypriot league champions Apoel Nicosia were paired with FC
Porto, Shaktar Donetsk and Zenit St Petersburg (respective champions
from Portugal, Ukraine & Russia) their odds to make the knock-out stages were 35/1... i.e. highly
unfancied.
A win in their last group match on December 6th against a Shaktar Donetsk
side with nothing to play for will ensure that, as group winners they
will avoid European heavyweights such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich etc. in the knock-out stage.
The Apoel story is certainly the biggest Champions League
footballing fairytale since Uefa started with the current format of
the competition.
Over the past years the competition has lacked sparkle with the same
teams classifying with a monotonous predictability and with the
lesser seeded teams aiming for, at best a consolation spot in the Europa
League.
The key to Apoel´s success is simple according to their Serbian coach
Ivan Jovanovic. Tactical discipline, a mean defence and great team
spirit are cited as the reasons for the teams progression in the Champions League despite having the smallest budget of all teams in the group
stages (€17 million).
So whilst the final round of CL group stage games could potentially see the exit of footballing heavyweights such as Chelsea, Manchester United, Valencia, Manchester City...the Apoel story re-affirms that the game of football for all its business and marketing, brand presence etc. is a game of eleven sportsmen against eleven sportsmen and thankfully for its very own future, occasionally, very occasionally David does get to beat Goliath.
If the sounds of Fleet Foxes, Air, Damien Rice, Kings of Convenience do
it for you, then look no further then new band, High Highs.
The Brooklyn, via Sydney trio of Jack Milas, Oli Chang, Zachary Lipkins
have been generating massive critical acclaim in the US where they
recently supported Jose Gonzalez.
The NME also recently included High Highs in their "Best New Bands of 2011" list...not sure if that is such a good thing ....
Anyhow, check out the fabulous scenery of New York City & Long
Island in the video for the début single "Open Season" for 3 minutes and
49 seconds that are pure "sonic sunshine".
High Highs début release "High Highs EP" is out on November 21st.
For those in UK, the band play an intimate show at the Old Queens Head (N1) on November 24th.
Antonin Panenka was possibly the most famous Czech footballer of all
time. It was he who, in extra time of the 1976 European Championship
famously chipped Sepp Maier to win the title for Czechoslovakia.
Panenka, consequently later dubbed a "poet" by a famous French
journalist was the style of nonchalant "chipping" style penalty (as
epitomised by Zidane in the final of the World Cup v Italy in 2006)
Now Panenka has also lent his name to Spain's latest football
publication. With a nod to high calibre football & sports journalism
prevalent in other European countries (England - "When Saturday Comes"
& "The Blizzard", Germany - "11 Freunde" & France with "So Foot"),
Panenka comes as a breath of fresh air in an area where the dominant
football correspondence spends more time dealing with Cristiano Ronaldos
new hair style or Messis new personalised boots.
Put together earlier this year in Barcelona by a group of journalists
who realise that football in Spain and in the world does not simply mean
just Real Madrid & Barça, after a successful launch with an issue 0, the
publication has just launched the Issue 2.
This second issue features an
in-depth interview with the colourful manager of Sporting Gijon, Manuel
Preciado, a feature on the Tibetan national team (a national team not
recognised by FIFA), politics in football, and a feature of 2B team Mirandes
and many other interesting well written and diverse articles dealing
with the wide world of football.
With physical copies starting at €5 and PDF downloads as little as €1
this magazine is perfect for all football fans interested in all aspects
of the beautiful game and even a fun way to learn Spanish.
Sorry, Super Furry Animals, Lost Prophets, Stereophonics and even
The Alarm !
Next week sees the release of a new career spanning best of
"National Treasures - The Complete Singles" (Sony) which pulls
together the 38 singles the band have released since 1992.
Rarely has a group been able to maintain critical acclaim and
commercial success for such a sustained period of time and much of
this in the face of adversity. Following the well documented disappearance
of guitarist and songwriter Richey Edwards in early 1995 the band even deliberated about
disbanding.
This followed the release of one of the intense and bleakest (and most brilliant)
albums of all time "The Holy Bible"
A quick scan at the track list of the new collection reveals genuine
anthems that have become soundtracks for a generation (or even two).... Stay
Beautiful, Motorcycle Emptiness, A Design for Life, If You Tolerate This...
OK, so there may have been a slight creative dip in the early
2000´s but the album is a testament to one of rock & rolls ultimate
survivors, a true reflection of their origins, influences, progression
and ultimate determination when may of their peers had long given up.
For me, the long lasting memory of the Manics will always be their show
at London's Astoria Theatre in December 21th 1994.
After a set that
drew heavily from material from
"The Holy Bible", upon completing the last song of the evening
("You
Love Us" ) the group proceeded to thrash and destroy their instruments
with an intensity that left the entire audience with an eerie
sensation that something was amiss within the band. This would be the last
time the Manics would ever play together with
Richey Edwards.
Manic Street Preachers cover Rihannas Umbrella (audio only)
Ticket stubs from the infamous Astoria shows in December 1994
Imagine a 21st century Marvin Gaye, inspired by the "Mezzanine" Massive
Attack era, fused with austere dub of Burial, and the intensity of
Tricky´s "Maxinquaye", throw in some Siouxsie and the Banshees &
Beach Boys samples and you have one of musics most exciting new
propositions.
Little is known of The Weeknd... they hail from Toronto
and are fronted by 21 year old Abel Tesfaye and have released two
exceptional albums this year with a 3rd scheduled to drop before year
end.
Both albums are available as free downloads from - http://the-weeknd.com/
Heres track one (audio) from "Thursday" (the new album)
Anticipation is building for one of the most eagerly awaited albums
of the year.
Coldplays "Mylo Xyloto" is the bands 5th studio album and gets it
worldwide release on Monday October 24.
Brian Eno once again collaborated with the band and it has even been
alluded by Chris Martin that it may even be the last Coldplay album ever!
So what to expect ? From the tracks that we've been able to hear
prior to its release, the album certainly is aimed at pleasing the
traditional Coldplay fan with few creative risks being taken.
Stadium friendly sing-a-long choruses abound with obvious examples
being the two singles "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" and "Paradise".
The hype machine will kick into overload with the album release next
week and an exclusive show being directed by Anton Corbijn at
Madrid´s Las Ventas bullring (on the 26th) and set to be simulcast live on you
Tube /Vevo.
Here's the recently completed video for "Paradise" which features
the band dressed in elephant costumes!
If you look up Levante in any Spanish-English dictionary, you are
informed that its...a masculine noun and that it refers to the East
Coast or the East Wind.
The Levante currently in 2nd position in La Liga (equal on points
with Barça) are indeed from the east-coast, hailing from Valencia,
having endured an eternity in the shadows of their wealthier city
neighbours Valencia CF and this season have generated plenty of
their own "footballing east wind", this weekend blowing away the
nu-rich on the block, Malaga 3-0.
To fully appreciate what this team full of football journeymen,
astute signings and old cast off's has achieved in the opening 7
fixtures, here are some statistics that give their amazing early
season achievement some perspective.
They have an annual budget of €22 million (2nd lowest in the
league), this overshadowed somewhat by the €461 million of Barça and
€450 million of Real Madrid.
Their back four on Sundays game v Malaga had a combined age of 137.
They have the best defensive record in the league having just
conceded 3 goals (Barça & Sevilla have both conceded 4)
They are the only team this season to beat Real Madrid in La Liga.
Aiser del Horno (ex Chelsea) plays for them !
The groundwork to their success was laid last season by ex coach
Luis Garcia, who left Levante in the Summer with a move to the
capital at Getafe. He was replaced by Juan Ignacio Martinez who has
got the team playing effective and practical football. Lightning on
the counter attack, rock solid defence and evident great team spirit
are the keys to this early season fairy story.
In a day and age when most of Europeans major leagues are now
starting to look a little over predictable with the usual names
dominating, time will tell whether Levante have the wherewithal to
stand the pace. Logic and lack of deep pockets would suggest not,
but for the past weeks Levante have been gathering acclaim and
winning over neutrals, the media and even "Bah-Humbug" Jose Mourinho
reluctantly praised them after Real Madrid´s 1-0 defeat calling
their style of play as "shrewd".
Levante play away next weekend at Villareal on Sunday (23rd) night
at 2200 (CET).
