Led by vocalist Cerys Matthews and guitarist/vocalist, Mark Robots, Catatonia's blend of low-fi indie guitar rock and jingling anthem-esque late 80s alternative rock made its first impact on the release of the band's second album, 1998's International Velvet, the album that spawned the hits, I am the Mob and Mulder and Scully. The success of the band's 1998 album proved a one off, however. And while the band went on to play sellout tours of the UK and headline at some of Europe's leading outdoor festivals sales of 2000's Equally Caused and Blessed and last year's Paper, Scissors, Stone remained moderate at best.
The lack of Catatonia's album successes, however, doesn't tell the whole story and should by no means be misinterpreted. Catatonia was a great band that had a lot of original and tuneful ideas. The band simply weren't an album band. For every couple of corking tunes there was always a guaranteed dud, which, although sounding pretty negative, is actually what makes this Best Of such a gem.
There's no need to reach for the FF button. From the album's opening tune, the hit Mulder and Scully, to the very last, Bleed, Matthews' slightly off-key bubble voiced vocals and Robots' jangling guitar make the sound system hum.
The album also includes the band's lounge-loaded ode to Wales's first man of music, Ballad of Tom Jones, as well as the fantastic, almost kitsch disco tune Karaoke Queen. Also included are the mellow alternative rock-styled tunes Lost Cat, Dead from the Waist, Strange Glue and the rocking self-parody, Sweet Catatonia. All of which just goes to prove that while Catatonia was cursed, it thankfully blessed the rest of us with some great music in its short lifetime.
Urna
Hodood
TMCD
Though born into a family of peasant farmers in the Ordos region of Inner Mongolia, Urna and her voice have traveled far. Her haunting vocal and percussion-styled music has been allowing armchair travelers to conjure up images of the Mongolian Steppes from the sanctuary of their own homes since her debut album, Tal Nutag, hit record store shelves almost seven years ago.
Since then the Mongolian singer/songwriter has become one of the most in-demand world music artists around, performing at many of Europe's larger outdoor world music festivals as well appearing at some of the world's most renowned concert halls.
Local label Trees Music has recently re-released Hodood to coincide with the Mongolian songster's upcoming Taiwan gig set to take place at Taipei's Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in October.
She might have become somewhat of an international celebrity, but Urna remains lyrically close to home. All of her tunes tell of life on the Steppes with high-spirited shepherds, milking cattle, flowers of the Steppe and life beyond the Chiwga Hills just a few of the topics tackled by Mongolia's only new age star.
Although you may not understanding a word Urna is singing, the material on the album is absorbing. It's when the CD is played on a kick-ass stereo system, however, that the album's mind-blowing atmospherics really come into play.
RSS