albums of 2012 - 41. - The Chromatics - Kill For Love

41. THE CHROMATICS – KILL FOR LOVE

“Okay here in my lecture I’m going to talk about active and passive listening with music. Active listening is when you stick on an album and are all over the songs like cream is all over blancmange. The listener actively talks about his favorite songs to others. There are peaks and troughs and a load of sauce, think Action Bronson, the chef turned rapper who you’ll see feature elsewhere on this list.

Passive listening, on the other foot, can be applied to this album by The Chromatics. They have a Drive mentality, as per the movie. Long journeys. Comfort in sound. If it was a dessert it would be a massive bottle of water. Maybe not particularly memorable, but vital to get you through the day and night. In fact it’s so coherent, a bit like this speech. Think electro and slow ballads and many orchestral moments over a 90 minute cruise down the road. Captivating. Like a semolina."

Professor Bolognese ---December 2012---

BEST PLAYED: When driving .

Albums of 2012. - 46 - Frankie Rose - Interstellar

46. FRANKIE ROSE – INTERSTELLAR

A darling of an album. Derived from Italodisco and synthy treats.  It starts with an absolute trembling, walloping opner in “Interstellar” – the title track starts off with a wallop and a tremble. To be honest, from there on in you think you’re gonna here the perfect album of all heaven and it doesn’t do it. But what Interstellar does do is get some focus and momentum, it’s the first track that jumps off the cliff and the rest of the album that feels like it’s learning to fly. It doesn’t seem to make any sense at all but I think it’s about escapism. Some albums could have better track sequencing and this is one of them, but nevertheless they hold up and who fucking cares really. I’m not here to analyze the shit out of tracks,just when she sings: “All that I want is a pair of wings to fly”- I'm sold and I hope that she can make an even better album that really soars into the sky but still this is mega. Mega heaven. Did I just say that?

BEST PLAYED: When jumping off a bridge.