ANIKA - new on invada/stone's throw

picked this up too late for it to make my album ballot, but damn. figured it/she deserved a thread. dubby, skeletal and deeply disaffected post-punk throb produced by some famous guy. lots of unrecognizable covers, plus a couple of matching originals. post-punk nico?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXstxFoayxI
"yang yang", yoko ono

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0UAqJWzsZE
"i go to sleep", ray davies

good cover of dylan's "masters of war", too, but i can't find a tube.

The cover of 'End Of The World' is mad upbeat but works very well...also 'Sadness Hides The Sun' is done in a great psych post-punk style. I can't help feeling it's a bit too samey overall but the individual tracks taken separately are often great.

yeah, i could see the samey complaint, but i like the way it sets and holds a vibe

brilliant dub basslines, too - secret weapon

ssssooooooooo goooooood

I was really excited for this and found it incredibly tedious. It had all the markings of something I would dig, but now. Very boring, disappointing even. Tracks all sound samey and rather plodding.

It took me a while to get into, I just wasn't feeling her voice but its really grown on me recently. The band have a wicked sound.

We put them on live last week and it made even more sense live. There were bigger dub and psych overtones to it live and it really nailed that post punk Velvet Underground and Nico vibe. Still love the album though.

listened to it a couple times last night after discussion. i think part of the problem is that a) portishead dude is involved, and b) the basic sound might suggest the xx, both of which set up pop expectations that it's gonna fall well shot of.

i mentally compare it to early P.I.L., or like an improved version of excepter. skeletal dub/funk jams, psychedelic abstraction, music teetering on the edge of noise and/or nothingness. a favorite thing atm.

It's a narrow remit but it's done pretty well with more excellent moments than you might expect given the remit and genre. Possibly. Heard it loud in a record shop the other day and almost impulse bought it there and then.

Will give it another listen...looks like she's doing a lot of DJ gigs stateside, no proper live shows. Assume she'll be at Portishead's ATP in New Jersey at least. Will listen with some of this valuable context in mind...

No mention of Beak>? Portishead drummer/producer guy's lo-fi dubbed out joy division krautrock whatever project. This is like the fun cover albums girl-pop version of that.

"fun"

Beak> are her backing band.

They were good fun live actually. The guitarist/soundscape guy - who was clearly out of his mind - went and played behind a curtain at one bit, started screaming at members of the audience, halted the gig so he could go to the dressing room and get a can of Kronenberg, much to the indulgent concern of the rest of the group was fun to watch. I overheard Geoff Barrow at the end saying, 'Yes, he's very Father Jack today isn't he?'

I thought it might have been put on but I saw him at the end of the night shouting about stuff on his own and punching pints of beer off the bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCH1IlOfDTM

xp do you mean this dude John?

http://sparror.cubecinema.com/mr_hopkinson/2005.01.29%20Esau/images/DSCF9862.jpg

Team Brick dude?

Oh fuck was it Matt? Shit, I had no idea. Christ he looks well different... I hope he's alright, maybe just having a bad night right?

This is right up my strasse. Love it! The Carpenters cover is especially affecting.

my jam.

photos from the gig with team brick. where was this? the croft? is he an official band member?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43777634@N06/with/4493813281/

I also learnt today that "I Go To Sleep" isn't a Pretenders original. Never knew.

Invada still has a few of the white vinyl version left...

http://invadarecords.bigcartel.com/product/anika-self-titled-white-vinyl-exclusive-lp

As of right now, this is my favourite album from 2010

love this album so so much

I listened to a few of her tracks the other day, as she's on the line-up for I'll Be Yr Mirror. Yeah, I think I could get into this.

I'm obsessed with Yang Yang. But the other track didn't impress me.

*tracks

Actually, 'No One's There' is great

i love the whole album except the last track

she has a new project called exploded view, album came out back in august - listening now, it's v. good

https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/collections/frontpage/products/sbr146-exploded-view-exploded-view

thx this is great

yah

thanks for the heads up on this one, i loved the anika record but this totally flew past my radar

on tour now and really, really great. she rules, as does her band. i highly recommend going if you get the chance.