Courtney Barnett’s 2015 debut, Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit was a big hit with both critics and fans. Tracks like “Elevator Operator” and “Pedestrian at Best” treated audiences to Barnett’s witty banter mixed with early 90s guitar sound. Many tours later, plus a well-received effort with Kurt Vile, Barnett releases sophomore effort Tell Me How You Really Feel. After listening to the attention weary album, the title comes off more of an inward question than an outward one for the Melbourne artist.
First single, “Nameless, Faceless” features a jangly guitar melody until the chorus blows that away with distorted vocals singing the Margaret Atwood quote “men are scared women will laugh at them… women are scared men will kill them”. “City Looks Pretty” hits the ground running but slows down considerably half way in. Perhaps a metaphor for Barnett speeding through life then needing to rest. “I’m Not Your Mother…” is more harsh sounding and could easily have come straight from Nirvana’s In Utero.
Tell Me How You Really Feel is not as immediately likable as her debut. There is a tiredness to some of the tracks. “Charity” asks “You must be having so much fun/everything is amazing” before asking, “so subservient, I make myself sick/Are you listening?” The feature song here is album closer “Sunday Roast”. A sadness runs through until the uplifting chorus statement, “I know you’re doing your best, I think you’re doing just fine”. Barnett does not always make it an easy listen but one that reveals several gems through repeated listens.
8/10
Way back in the 90s Belle & Sebastian became a much loved band in the world of indie rock. Besides excellent albums such as If You Are Feeling Sinister and The Boy With The Arab Strap, the band released several coveted EPs. In late 2017 and 2018 B&S released three EPs one month apart which were then collected on one disc entitled How To Solve Our Human Problems. This idea recalls the 1997 boxset of three early EPs albeit in different packaging.
On various message boards, one constant thread is the struggle to follow new music while keeping up with ever growing physical and digital collections. It’s easier to keep up with a sliver of a niche than try to be everywhere but what fun is that? Meghan Remy’s cleverly named U.S Girls project is one of those that passed us by when she signed to 4AD in 2015 after 4 studio albums. The Illinois born, Toronto based artist’s second release on that prestige label caught our ear after hearing the excellent Citizen Kane inspired single “Rosebud” and In A Poem Unlimited started getting rave reviews.
Since 2015, the release schedule for the band Beach House has been many. Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars appeared within a few weeks of each in 2015 and this was followed up with a B-side and rarities collection last year. 7 is the Baltimore band’s latest release. For this listener, having those two 2015 releases come out so quickly muddied the waters and it was hard to commit to either.
On October 2nd, 2017 the world was saddened to learn that American rocker Tom Petty had passed away due to an accidental overdose of prescription pain medication. The surprising news came as Petty and the Heartbreakers had just wrapped up tour of the US that ended a week before his death. In recent years there have been two remastered vinyl box sets released of the band’s music but none of this on CD. With the first set hovering in the $300 range, to tide us over before investigating the early Petty records to add to our meagre Petty collection, we instead opted for the more economical Greatest Hits set.
The Light Appears 