That's Entertainment - Albums of the Month (03.2009)

Let's start April in our traditional way, by presenting the albums and songs I've listened to the most during the past month and which, of course, led me to  exclaim: That's entertainment!

The album of the month for this column, as our regular readers could expect after reading last week's feature, is «Fantasies», the excellent fourth long-player by Canada's Metric.

Another release from a Canadian band is the next entry in our album list. It's «Face Control», the second album for Handsome Furs on Sub Pop. The group consists of the husband and wife duo of Dan Boeckner (also a member of Wolf Parade) and Alexei Perry. Their idiosyncratic rock sound has  become more accessible here thanks to the electropop elements creeping in their music and the influence of New Order («All we want, baby, is everything» is actually based on the Mancunians classic «Temptation»).

 
The Top 4 is completed by two albums coming from Scandinavian bands:  «Futuro», the fourth release by Low Frequency In Stereo from Norway, and the self-titled debut of Fever Ray from Sweden, a name behind which hides Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife.

Low Frequency In Stereo started their recording career at the beginning of this decade as another post-rock band, but gradually expanded their sound with krautrock and dream pop elements, giving us this year their best but also most accessible work to date. On the other hand, the word «accessible» is certainly not applicable to Fever Ray's work. Only those already familiar to the strange, dreamlike world of The Knife (the group consisting of Karin and her brother Olof) will feel at home to the otherworldly, haunted sounds of Fever Ray. But if this is your first introduction to Karin's world, it will probably take several listens before surrendering to these seductive electronic nightmares. Like the strange cinematic world of David Lynch, this record is certainly not for everyone but it is definitely worth a try for an experience unlike any other.

 

Top 16 Albums

1. Fantasies - METRIC
2. Face Control - HANDSOME FURS 
3. Futuro - THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO
4. Fever Ray - FEVER RAY
5. High Places - HIGH PLACES
6. Alight Of Night - CRYSTAL STILTS
7. Radio Wars - HOWLING BELLS
8. Middle Cyclone - NEKO CASE
9. Fortress' Round My Heart - IDA MARIA
10. Hush - ASOBI SEKSU
11. Dark Was The Night - VARIOUS ARTISTS
12. The Century Of Self - ... AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
13. Love Hate And Then There's You - THE VON BONDIES
14. 200 Million Thousand - BLACK LIPS
15. Dear John - LONEY DEAR
16. Grace / Wastelands - PETER DOHERTY

Top 20 Tracks

1. Help I'm alive - METRIC
2. Texas fox - THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO
3. Treasure hunt - HOWLING BELLS
4. When I grow up - FEVER RAY
5. People got a lotta nerve - NEKO CASE
6. I'm confused - HANDSOME FURS
7. Departure - CRYSTAL STILTS
8. Young adult friction - THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
9. Me & Mary - ASOBI SEKSU
10. From stardust to sentience - HIGH PLACES
11. Temporary famine ship - INDIAN JEWELRY
12. Troubles like mine - GUN OUTFIT
13. Oh my God - IDA MARIA
14. Pale bride - THE VON BONDIES
15. Short fuse - BLACK LIPS
16. Bells of creation - ... AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
17. Black balloon - THE KILLS
18. Last of the English roses - PETER DOHERTY
19. Walking on a dream - EMPIRE OF THE SUN
20. Everything turns to you - LONEY DEAR

Song of the week : Taken from the album «Face Control» by Montreal's Handsome Furs, it's the track «I'm Confused» - for the mp3 visit Sub Pop's site:

Handsome Furs - I'm Confused

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