Showing posts with label Dire Straits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dire Straits. Show all posts

Friday 30 November 2012

2am Driving Music For The City's Lost Souls

Another Emeralds review with and I quote 'a little more cruising the lonely cityscape at 3am' over at Tiny Mix Tapes. This time I suspect that this is perhaps a little deliberate baiting from Mr Parker. Pre-review I told him to add Dire Straits to their list of influences. He didn't know if I was joking or not, I wasn't. Otherwise it's a very fucking weird coincidence or he nicked it from that Wire writer. I'm going for the original idea. Anyway James didn't add the Straits alongside Ash Ra Tempel and Tangerine Dream in the similar to category.

Mark McGuire's favourite band?

*Just a side note on a completely different topic but still with Tiny Mix Tapes. Hey Ed Comentale was I supposed to read that whole Scott Walker review? I mean it was actually longer than the record!

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Emeralds - Just To Feel Anything


I've been meaning to write about Emeralds new LP Just to Feel Anything since I mentioned it in a previous post. I've had notes scribbled down for over a month now. Anyway my computer is playing up or is it blogger? Doing a post at the moment is quite frustrating. Anyway Emeralds are a group I thought were really going to push through some kind of sound barrier into something new, not just update the Kosmiche stylee. I think maybe they previously came close or did bring something new to the Kosmiche table. Perhaps it's my recent Back To The Future phase ie. re/listening to UK hardcore/Darkside/Jungle etc. that has put some things into perspective. In the early 90s the future was really actually happening.  This new Emeralds LP seems to be their most retro and least forward thrusting to date. I think they've added beats. Did any of the other LPs have beats? In my notes I have written (and this is from a while ago):

Nostalgia for Top Gun,
Nostalgia for Dire Straits,
Nostalgia for Harmonia,
Nostalgia for Arcade games,
Nostalgia for Pink Floyd,
Nostalgia for Cluster,
Nostalgia for Bruton Music's BRK series of library LPs.

Nostalgia for the future might be what I'm trying to project onto them. I mean this is nostalgia for the future but an older future. Not a future so much rooted in the UK early 90s so much as a 70s/80s vision of the future. If nobody is going into a new future can I value one vision of future over another? Who's being more cynical me or Emeralds?

Anyway having said all that it's another top record from Emeralds albeit one that's a little more guitar centric. Atmospheric, sad, uplifting and beautiful as usual. Nice. Is that enough?