Aces!

We held off on posting this for a while because we thought we might write about Natasha's album at the same time, but as it turns out, the new Bat For Lashes album is possibly her best ever work, so that'll definitely get a separate post and probably a year end best of, too.

The above video and song are great, but they're just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the great quality of songs on The Haunted Man (in all good stores now!). We always yearned for Ms. Khan to take the excellent but sparse haunting folk work she started on her debut album and go EPIC with it. Go MAJESTIC. Go PANORAMIC and ORCHESTRAL. We hoped her second album might bring the goods, but it didn't. As lovely and charming and complex as it was, it still felt like it was holding back, like it was taking too much pleasure in its subtleties and restraint.

Fortunately Natasha has now abandoned a lot of her seeming coyness and her new record features the kind of lush, open, expansive scope we knew from the start that she could achieve. Seriously. It could be her best album yet.

Cuckoo

Bat For Lashes is brilliant, we all know this, you don't need us to tell you that. Her new album campaign for The Haunted Man, however, doesn't quite seem to have the steam that a big Natasha comeback should have.

Never fear, for here is a new track that you can download for free from Amazon if you click on that link. The song which features a bizarre CocoRosie-style children's toy-esque breakdown of coos, bahs and cuckoos also has a big bangin' chorus with an ascending line wrought from epic euphoria. We like, we approve, now go download it. Do as you're told, fair readers.

OOP!

Naked Natasha is naked. Um... not entirely sure what else to say about this. Not quite in keeping with her previous album covers is it? But we like it nonetheless. It's bold, certainly. It signals a new direction, or something. Not One Direction. But a new direction. How does it hold up chronologically? Let's find out:


Hmmm... it looks ok. Maybe it'll all make sense in time?

That's not all there is to froth at the gills about, though. NO, our dearest pals. There's a music video below, for a single. It's called "Laura". It's... more Antony & The Johnsons than Florence + the Machine if you catch our drift. It's more... Tori Amos than Kate Bush. It's more... Elton John than David Bowie.

Basically it's got a piano featured very prominently. It's nice and dramatic and catchy though. We like. What do you think?

Shiny & New Turns 2: #13 "I'm On Fire" - Bat for Lashes

"Sometimes it's like someone took a knife / Baby edgy and dull / And cut a six inch valley through / The middle of my soul"

Not until around six months after my very first listen of this song did I learn “I’m On Fire” is not at all a Bat for Lashes song – it’s a Bruce Springsteen cover. Bruce Springsteen!? Moral is don’t underestimate the song writing skills of anyone, even if they’re an ageing dad rock idol. No matter, Natasha Khan’s re-interpretation of the song as an entrancing lament is incredibly superior to the original and gives a far more poignant and moving spin on Springsteen’s lyrics. Khan is an exceptional talent, and we have shared a whirlwind love affair with her since 2006’s Fur and Gold, on which “I’m On Fire” can be found. Not entirely dissimilar at all in style to the rest of the album, the strings carry the emotion of the song while the harpsichord gives a chilling, tense mood.

Bat for Lashes was one of the first acts which really hooked and threw me head first into a whole new world of music, after a couple of years locked in dull and boring indieland. It was in fact the NME which introduced me to the wealth of quality available, and while her follow up in 2008, Two Suns, is more than likely superior, Fur and Gold will always hold a place in my heart for stealing me away and leading me to discover a great deal of other artists who did very interesting things with more than a guitar and drum kit.

Albums of the Year '09!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's late! But 'better late than never' is what they say. So it's what we shall deliver. Here are our top 10 albums of '09. Twas a stellar year! Gushing and platitudes start here:

Blue Roses – Blue Roses
You may not have a clue who Yorkshire singer and multi-instrumentalist Blue Roses is, but if anybody can lay claim to Kate Bush’s ethereal, British folk throne it’s her. Her alternately wild, then almost classical voice and sound, contrasted with cut glass piano and spindly violin make for a debut album of authentic and sheer beauty.

Ellipse – Imogen Heap
We can’t think of another album we have waited as much for as this one. A mixed bag of emotions and moods like it’s predecessor, Ellipse brings us a song titled “Swoon” which somehow makes us actually swoon, a song named “First Train Home” which actually makes us want to go home and a track entitled “Canvas” which while having nothing to do with canvases, takes us to an Ibiza beach round about sunset, mojito in hand. Bliss.

Fever Ray – Fever Ray
Karin Dreijer Andersson has stated that this may be the first, last and only album she’ll release as solo witch doctor-cum-electro warrior Fever Ray. If it is, then what a rare and troubling treat. Ms. Andersson had always made music as beautiful as it was horrifying as one half of The Knife, but here she did it alone, and created a unique and wonderful soundscape in doing so.

Lungs – Florence + the Machine
We began the year with a poisonous dislike for Ms. Florence due to a certain “Kiss With a Fist” being a pile of utter shite, but that was easily mellowed into a blossoming, ever-growing (even to this day) affection for what a million and one people have already termed “the new Kate Bush”. Plucking away at our heart strings with the same ease she shows with her harp, Lungs can do no wrong. A genuine classic.

Music For Men – Gossip
While the year may have seen a rollercoaster in terms of how popular Gossip stand with your S&N writers, this record is undoubtedly a step in the right direction and completely their best work yet. Whoever’s idea it was to bring synthesisers, house pianos and just a tad of disco into the mix deserves a big sweaty motorboating on Ditto’s tits.

Rated R – Rihanna
Thought you were left reeling in shock at Rihanna’s transformation from just-another-R&B-label-puppet to world’s biggest and bestest popstar in 2007? Well how about when post-trauma and publicity whirlwind, she came out with an album brooding, dark, cohesive, challenging, clever and still unmistakeably her?

Speech Therapy – Speech Debelle
Say what you will about Speech Debelle, but any woman willing to rap so candidly about trouble and angst against a backdrop of baroque strings, shuffling cymbals, sugar-spun guitar and haunting piano without ever bragging about or glorifying gratuitous sex or violence was brave and brilliant indeed.

xx – The xx
Minimalist name, minimalist album. From reading their influences (Aaliyah, Mariah Carey, Ginuwine) you’d be forgiven to think they would be bordering on N-Dubz territory. Couldn’t be further apart. A sparse, sweeping landscape of blips and beeps, contrasted with two hauntingly beautiful and moving voices make for a prime revision soundtrack and the finest companion of 2009 to fall asleep with. That’s a compliment by the way.

The Bachelor – Patrick Wolf
There are those who would have you believe that it doesn’t matter what an artist does in their private life, if the music is good, it’s good. And there are others who would have you believe it’s impossible to separate an artist’s body of work from their lifestyle choices or shenanigans. If you’re going to enjoy Patrick Wolf’s work you’re going to have to be firmly in the former camp. Mr. Wolf has made it increasingly difficult to like him over the past year or so. Fabricating stories for attention, showing his bare bottom in seedy and unsexy S&M videos, throwing multiple hissy fits, and lobbing heavy electronic equipment at music professionals in a seeming attempt to create an air of rebellion. Erratic and confounding behaviour.

Despite this The Bachelor is Patrick Wolf’s most coherent, lush and exciting album. From the pulsing, fluttering strings on energetic “Hard Times” to the exotic and glittery sitar on “Theseus” there is delight and cloudless beauty on almost every track. Tilda Swinton’s spoken interjections have not been to everyone’s tastes, but are chilling and reminiscent of Kate Bush and Eliza Carthy’s husky raucous cameo is both exhilarating and wonderfully pitched. Wolf may have parted ways with his major label for this work, but you wouldn’t guess. Here the string arrangements are thicker, deeper and more evocative and the songwriting more inventive and sophisticated. You may not see eye to eye with Patrick, and increasingly even his fans do not, but you can’t argue with an album so perfectly wrought and aesthetically stunning.

Two Suns – Bat For Lashes
From the moment you are introduced to this record with blood-chilling, mesmerising verse and lead into a trail-blazing, hairs-standing-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck inducing rollercoaster ride through all manner of instruments and vocal contortions, you will be in love with Natasha Khan and her two suns. “Moon and Moon” is a three minute lump-in-throat moment through and through, “Siren Song” is desperately gorgeous and “Daniel” is officially the most fabulous 80s throwback of 2009 – and we all know 2009 was the year of 80s throwbacks. The video for “Pearl’s Dream” has to be one of the fiercest pieces of celluloid put to music of the decade – that blonde wig, that snarling wolf... ooh it always gets us going! – and “Sleep Alone” is leering, intimidating and gorgeous in all the right places.

There seems to be this magical crossing of wires between Khan’s ethereal elfin voice, the vast array of intricately played instruments utilised and the lyrical atmospheres effortlessly evoked with ease. Her 2006 debut Fur and Gold presented an undeniably interesting character – an artist with a bag of tricks which seemed to show promise for many further, better creations. Two Suns can only be a step in that impending process. In the wake of Kate Bush’s departure from our musical landscape (ignoring for a moment her recent fabulous “comeback”) we were presented with countless ‘quirky’ individuals clawing for a piece of her crown. Bat for Lashes is no Kate Bush – she seems to be in a league of her own. She has complete control of the music she creates and it seems to be coming from a genuine, entrancing place – she isn’t being ‘weird’ for the sake of being weird, Natasha Khan is a weaver of the most delicate tapestries, pieces of art which can take you from your desk chair or your train seat and push you through a tunnel of breathless emotions.

Two Suns is not only one of the finest albums of 2009 but of the decade, and we are pleased to say it seems the British public have recognised this with the success the album found upon release. We can only hope this provokes further, what we can only term as, genius from Bat for Lashes. We await eagerly.

Shiny and New Family Outing!

All three of your favourite S&N-ers paid a visit to the cavernous and sticky Manchester Academy (mere metres from our Manchester "offices") last night in order to pay our dues to the pretender to the throne of Kate Bush, aka the artist in every other decade who is actually really nice and normal in day to day to life but suddenly inhabits this magnificent, grotesquely beautiful character through their enveloping and breathtaking musical and visual art. Maybe we need to take a few classes in "Breaking up your paragraphs with that old nut, the comma".

As you may see, her stage show was beautifully atmospheric, helped along by actually very well done lighting - so many acts utilise painfully bland lighting these days - and lots of light boxes of sorts which illuminated large, gorgeous photos presumably from the same shoot as the cover of the new Two Suns re-release. Think lots of joshua trees, deserts, sunsets, silhouettes. Gorge gorge. At varying points in the gig certain aspects of the light boxes illuminated, so at parts you would only see the outlines of the jagged joshua trees, and at other parts you were would just see the sun setting on an American desert. The one minor let down, as agreed by all of us, of the entire gig was what Miss Khan was wearing! She has spoilt us too much with the ridiculous outfits she has worn in the past, so one can only describe the cute little Suri Cruise dress she was adorned in last night as 'disappointing'.

If you are a Bat For Lashes fan (which we hope you are, or you're doing yourself a massive injustice) you will already know how rich, layered, deep and immersive Natasha's music is, which was genuinely excellently replicated on stage. In fact, it was improved upon, which may possibly be a requirement in order to fully project the varying degrees of strength, vulnerability, emotion and power in her music upon a live audience. We were treated to the full potential of Natasha's voice - at one point we were surprised to find that what we formerly believed was a very high pitched synth was in fact air escaping from her lungs - and the full array of diverse and exciting instruments used during the recording of both of her albums to replicate the sounds and feelings the listener experiences. We are over the moon that we finally got a chance to see Bat For Lashes - we were at the very back of the audience at Latitude Festival after rushing from the Pet Shop Boys to see her, so we didn't actually see her, and the time when we actually won tickets to see her perform at the Camden Roundhouse we were... at Latitude Festival. So it's been a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait.

Bat For Lashes played;

1. "Glass"
2. "Sleep Alone"
3. "The Wizard"
4. "Siren Song"
5. "The Bat's Mouth"
6. "What's a Girl to Do?"
7. "Daniel"
8. "Good Love"
9. "Trophy"
   
10. "Tahiti"
11. "Horse and I"
12. "Pearl's Dream"
13. "The Big Sleep"
    
14. "Wilderness"
15. "Prescilla"
    

It has new artwork...

Lovely. We like that they included 'Special Edition' on the front, in case you thought it wasn't special. It's special, like a snowflake.

The world's gone 'Deluxe' mad...

Do you remember when albums weren't released twice, thrice or even four times? Do you remember when they were released once, with one cover, and then never again (perhaps with a reissue 20 years down the line... or a 'remaster'... or you get the picture). Well they aren't anymore. Nowadays, if you're releasing an album, you need to simultaneously release a 'Deluxe' version complete with at least 2 bonus tracks, preferably 4 if you've got some dodgy old demos lying around, or 6 if someone's done a half decent remix.

If you're really, really big you might have a Platinum Edition with a second disc of videos, or maybe a Bonus Ultra Delusional version that comes with a live disc, a live DVD, a set of videos, a set of remixes, a set of unreleased demos, a set of remixed videos and the entire album remixed into one long continuous track with accompanying screensavers, desktop wallpapers and special code to unlock bonus content online, which in turn features 3 more dodgy remixes, a certificate that entitles you to a limited edition USB pen dressed up as a glowstick and a low quality limited edition fan tshirt.

Well, some of that shit is astoundingly unnecessary, but in the case of artists we not only LOVE but also RESPECT DEARLY, like the wonderful and outrageously talented Bat For Lashes, we can make an exception. Below you will find the tracklisting for the new repackaged version of her 'sophomore effort' Two Suns and its 2nd disc:

1. "Glass"
   
2. "Sleep Alone"
3. "Moon and Moon"
   
4. "Daniel"
5. "Peace of Mind"
   
6. "Siren Song"
   
7. "Pearl's Dream"
   
8. "Good Love"
   
9. "Two Planets"
10. "Traveling Woman"
11. "The Big Sleep"

1. "Wilderness"
2. "Sleep Alone (909s in DarkTimes Mix)"
3. "Daniel (Lo Fi)"
4. "A Forest"
5. "Use Somebody"
6. "Good Love [Live]"
7. "Daniel [Live]"
8. "Lonely [Live]"

To be honest, as much as we love Bat For Lashes (and we love her a lot) it's not the most exciting set of 'new' tracks ever. "A Forest" was floating around before Two Suns was even out and released officially as a B-Side to "Daniel, and "Wilderness" has already been a Two Suns bonus track. The "Sleep Alone" remix and the live version of "Good Love" have also been released as B-Sides to "Pearl's Dream"... and so we say: not the best bonus disc ever.

HOWEVER:

This is Bat For Lashes we are talking about, a woman who does not look like she would short change you. And alas alack (!) she is including a 48 minute documentary for your enjoyment and delectation, all about the making of her album. There is a trailer, below:


So you can see, that this new packaged version of Two Suns will be unlike any other paltry so-called 'Deluxe' versions in that it will include what looks like a fascinating almost-feature-length documentary. (Please GOD let there be exciting new artwork).

More 'Glasto'...

Both Bat For Lashes and Regina Spektor played beautiful and glorious sets at Glastonbury. How do we know? Were we there, sipping organic champagne and dining on gourmet squid sushi backstage in the press area?

No. We just watched it online. If you want catch a whiff also, go here and here (respectively).

This Woman: Amazing.

Natasha Kahn (a.k.a Bat For Lashes a.k.a. Batty Lashiz) really really reminds us of Kate Bush. "Why?", we hear you ask? Well, not just because they're both startlingly talented ladies with a knack for otherworldy popfolk, not even because if Natasha does her homework and continues to put the effort in, she could be as great and legendary as Kate Bush... no. Although the above are true, it's because Batty Kahn, just like Katharine Bushles before her, despite creating an image of herself as a wispy dryad of the moors, when speaking in her ordinary voice sounds like somebody's kindly mum down the village fête. Amazing!

As if you needed any more proof that Bat For Lashes is God...

Natasha Kahn shows the n00bs how it's done!

Oh we do love Batty Lashiz

COVERART WARZZZZ! Part #2

It's Patrick Wolf vs. Bat For Lashes (a.k.a. Natasha Kahn)! Let's get this violent battle on the road (oh dear).



Big overall epic sense of doom
Patrick: 8/10 (Camping trip turns apocalyptic)
Natasha: 8/10 (Candle shop turns out to lead to watery Narnia)

Ye Olde Font/Logo
Patrick: 6/10 (Amateurish font strangely looks ok)
Natasha: 5/10 (Too small and a bit H&M accessories logo)

Sense that artist is ridiculously important
Patrick: 9/10 (Cavalry soldier is secret sorcerer with flashy powers)
Natasha: 10/10 (Natasha Kahn is Mother Earth/Nature/Goddess)

Overall big sweeping impact
Patrick: 7/10 (Quite good, silly, epic artwork)
Natsha: 8/10 (Messy, but looks like no other artwork we've seen)

And the winner is...
Bat For Lashes!

*History in the making*

Oh HELLO, Sailor!

The single sleeve for Bat For Lashes' geeenius new single, Daniel, features her naked on a beach with some fella painted on her back.

It's a lovely picture. We don't have much else to say except... int she fit?

A rather ruddy good Bat For Lashes video...

This is for Daniel, one of the best songs off her new album and the video involves writhing about in slow motion with people who look like they're doing catwalk for Gareth Pugh. If you don't know who Gareth Pugh is you are uncultured about fashion (THIS IS A LIE).

If you don't know who Gareth Pugh is you probably have a rich and full life and have better things to do than flick through amazing/pointless fashion mags with a million pages (THIS IS TRUE). Anyway it's very good although we dont' know why Natasha 'Batty Lashes' Khan goes for a drive at the end to see her boyfriend. FAIR ENOUGH, though.

BEST OF 2009 SO FAR

It's only FEBRUARY (YES... FEBRUARY!?) and already there have been some brilliant and gorgeous musical offerings this year. These six albums are all uniquely interesting and very special and if they're not in our top 20 albums of 2009 it will have been a VERY VERY VERY good year for music.

Clockwise from top left we have:

• Bat For Lashes' second 'LP' is a rich and varied departure from her more folksy first album.
• Alela Diane's To Be Still is about as achingly lovely and evocative as acoustic folk can get.
• The Crying Light by Antony & The Johnsons is a brutally gorgeous orchestral paean to nature.
• The Yeah Yeah Yeah's third album sees them embracing an epic, synthier sound.
• India.Arie's second instalment of her 'Testimony's is an exotically woven musical tapestry.
• Vienna Teng's 4th album sees her departing somewhat from her piano into more adventurous territory.

AN EXCITING FEW HOURS IN MUZAKLAND

As mentioned earlier, we (might) have gotten our greedy hands on a copy of Two Suns earlier, the MUCH CRAVED follow-up to Bat For Lashes' debut masterpiece Fur and Gold. Although it came out in 2007, we only discovered the album last year, and were immediately engrossed Natasha Khan's sexy, dark and enveloping lyrics - her second LP only holds more. We really are greatly impressed with it, and after listening to it in full twice in a row, can easily declare it as 2009's best offering yet. Thank God we didn't have to bloody wait until April!

Secondly, and more importantly... GAGA'S NEW VIDEO CAME OUT. "LoveGame" is GaGa's fourth - and presumably final - offering from The Fame, and we are still struggling to comprehend exactly how fierce it is. We've seen this bitch live, but even that didn't compare to the fabulosity on a plate that is the "LoveGame" video. Okay, I take it back about seeing her live, that will never be topped, BUT YOU GET THE PICTURE. Anyone who can pull off a chainmail hood and shoes with the Chanel logo for heels is welcome in our abode any time. Gorgeously shot, amazing choreography and a brand new video mix of the song. For fuck's sake, seriously. How will she top that?

We can't bloody wait to see!

Watch "LoveGame" here, and buy Two Suns here from April 6th.

FYI

Downloading music illegally without paying for it is not only WRONG but illegal and we do not encourage or condone it on any level.

Now that we've got that out of the way, Bat For Lashes 2nd album, Two Suns, just might (possibly) be amazing (allegedly)...