I believe we have the first review of the The Places Between Best of album. The Just Played blog has docuemented thoughts on the first listen..
Rest assured, the new tracks don’t stick out amongst the many highlights from the band’s first twelve years. ‘Blue Water’, a track that has been knocking around in the back waters of the internet for almost a decade, is a fine, fine way to kick off the second disc, the swaggering ‘Drifter‘ then appears smack in the middle of the disc. The former shuffles along with that wonderful stuttering drum pattern so well deployed on ‘Here It Comes’ and ‘Drifter’ features overlooked talent Simon Aldred, of Cherry Ghost. While both new songs on disc two are fantastic, it’s worth pausing to note the quite brilliant sequencing of the songs, as undertaken by the band themselves. It actually hangs together like a proper record, with the same ups and downs in mood and pace that we’ve come to expect from a typical Doves studio outing.
The decision to include a small number of album tracks seems at first to be an odd one, but the choices have clearly been made carefully and I can’t really see any harm in a couple of these beauts slotting in across the disc when, without them, it would just have had less tracks on it.
Those of you who have followed the blog since last April may recall I set up a poll to find out your favourite track from Kingdom Of Rust. The poll ended January 1st..
With 730 unique votes, the winner is the title track Kingdom Of Rust by four votes! Closely followed by 10.03 & The Greatest Denier which were seperated by one vote. You can see the results in full below.
Jetstream
87 (11%)
Kingdom Of Rust
140 (19%)
The Outsiders
41 (5%)
Winter Hill
115 (15%)
10.03
136 (18%)
The Greatest Denier
135 (18%)
Birds Flew Backwards
17 (2%)
Spellbound
59 (8%)
Compulsion
100 (13%)
House Of Mirrors
42 (5%)
Lifelines
43 (5%)
Votes 730
The new poll once again on the right menu asks what is your favourite doves album. The poll will once again run til the end of the year.
A reminder, if you have not voted in the Your Favourite Doves Songs poll, then please do so. The poll will stay open indefinitely, but I shall post results as they stand once the best of album is released. So far over 1000 of you have voted! Thanks so much.
Woke up to some good news today, via the latest Cherry Ghost MySpace blog posting. Simon Aldred says the album was finished (recording at doves barn) Christmas eve and predicts a May/June 2010 release.
View the Myspace post to see the not in order tracklisting.
I don’t do this very often, once every couple months I guess, But I think its healthy to put the spotlight on a band not called doves.
Narrowly beating Kingdom Of Rust so far for my album of the year is the new release by Le Loup. Their second album Family, was released yesterday on Hardly Art (Sub Pop). I’ve been listening to a not so legit copy for a couple weeks, until my CD arrived in the post today. I doubt this will be leaving my CD player anytime soon, at least until I see them here in Chicago next month.
Was first introduced to these guys just over a year ago when they were supporting Stereolab on tour. One of the best support slot sets I’ve ever seen. Their debut lp The Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nations’ Millennium General Assembly is stunningly beautiful. I’m pretty sure doves fans will love these guys.
Here’s a review of the new album Family by Jenny Charlesworth of straight.com:
They say that if you listen closely, you can actually hear the sound the sun makes in those last seconds before it slips beneath the horizon and twilight engulfs the sky. If you’ve never experienced that first-hand, the otherworldly notes on Le Loup’s sophomore album, Family , are a good approximation of what fills the air in that brief, magical moment.
Often described as either freak folk or tribal rock, Le Loup’s hypnotic soundscapes are as difficult to categorize as they are divine. From the Enya-esque incantations featured on “Go East” to the meditative rhythm of the disc’s title track, the Washington, D.C., outfit has produced a record that is often astonishing, and not just because many of the songs were recorded in a Maryland basement. The material feels more akin to a sacred tribal ceremony in the high desert than to a product of disenchanted suburban America.
By casting aside the synthesizers so heavily featured on its debut (the ostentatiously titled The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly ), Le Loup creates a more organic sound on Family . Don’t be surprised if you need a couple spins to fully grasp the ingenuity of the band’s celestial folk opera. Once you do, it’s something to cherish—just like the quaint idea that if you listen hard enough, you can hear a sound when the sun sinks beneath the hills in the distance.
If you feel compelled to check them out. You can download two singles from Family at their website for free. They go out on tour in a few weeks playing tons of shows across the US. Hopefully they make it back over to the UK.
An article featuring Lost Souls found at examiner.com
Doves –Lost Souls (Astralwerks 2000)
Atmospheric with a groove, The Doves were originally a trance group who luckily took to rock instruments. Sounding like a funkier Radiohead combined with the bells and whistles of The Beatles, the band put together a spacey opus with Lost Souls. Opening with an effects-laden instrumental “Firesuite” which segways into an organ heavy, Snatch-like “Here It Comes” the Doves lead the listener on an interstellar journey of sorts. “Catch The Sun” however proved that the band was capable of writing some fine straight ahead rock (This song would later be covered by Jamie Cullum). Never huge in the US, Last Souls was a dreamy slab of shoegaze rock gone right that far too few heard.
Whilst the nominations for the Mercury Music Prize are not announced til late next month. Doves have already been installed joint favourites to win along with Little Boots. So that’s that then!?
The prize is scheduled to be awarded on September 8th in London. Rumour has it, the Silver Fox fan club already have a winners party booked. More as we have it!
Instrumentals Of Rust is released today in the UK, as a download only. Both Amazon & iTunes have it available for purchase. The album is released in the US tomorrow, on the same download platforms.
An instrumental version of Doves’ Kingdom Of Rust album, named (appropriately enough) “Instrumentals Of Rust”, will be released on June 15th in the U.K. and June 16th in the U.S.
This isn’t the first Doves album to have been mixed with no vocals; but it is the first to be released commercially.
Only Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk’s MP3 stores currently have any information online regarding the album, so it’s highly probable that this may be a download-only release.
We’ll post more information as soon as we know more.
Few bands have come to the world’s attention on the strength of a debut like Doves’ Lost Souls, an album that set an almost impossibly high standard. Nine years and three albums later, the band still have an awful lot to live up to.
Like its two immediate predecessors, Kingdom of Rust falls short of greatness but it is mostly a strong and accomplished album. The basic elements are present; tightly structured songs, great hooks, singalong choruses and immaculate production. The success of this formula is exemplified by ‘Spellbound’, which charges and soars like clockwork. This is hearty music from a group who are, by now, thoroughly comfortable in their collective skin. Indeed, you could be forgiven for mistaking comfort for complacency; it is hard not to suspect that a lot of these songs have been written and perfected before. For that reason, album closer ‘Lifelines’ comes as a welcome surprise. Sounding quite unlike anything that precedes it, the track is a thumping tribute to perseverance in the face of adversity. It is fresh, invigorating and sincere and may just be one of the first great pop songs of 2009.
IT’S ALWAYS tempting and somewhat lazy to compare bands with other outfits within their genre.
Doves however somehow defy that style of reviewing because they are extremely hard to pigeonhole (absolutely no pun intended).
They just do what they do very well.
There’s nothing at all rusty about this album despite the title.
It just does what it says on the tin. Pop music that’s had a wee flirtation with indie but decided that they probably weren’t compatible.
The intro to title track Kingdom of Rust is reminiscent of The Devine Comedy (the band, not Dante’s magnum opus). There’s a superb locomotive of a rhythm and a sweetheart of a chorus that singles this one out as, well, a single.
You may be tempted to stick this one on the stereo on returning from a night out as a wind down from clubbing album given the vibes in the first two tracks.
Don’t go there because there’s a curveball coming that will hit you square in the guts which reminds you just why this lot have sustained.
Winterhill is a get your lighters aloft anthem. It’s what festivals were made for.
Catch Doves at T in the Park where they will confidently showcase this gem. This is Coldplay for happy people.
The likenesses between British indie rockers Doves and megastars Coldplay are obvious and expected as the two groups share similar backgrounds, influences and styles. But while the latter have spent the last several years chasing glamour by the tail, the former have opted to sit thoughtfully back and observe the world; a quality which has added a richness and legitimacy to their music.
Doves’ fourth album, Kingdom Of Rust, is an adventurous exploration of all the areas that lie directly outside of their Radiohead-inspired, ethereal and digitally-aided brand of indie rock. From the beautifully atmospheric sci-fi vibe of “Jetstream” to the country/western colored title track, Doves swell in and out of a multitude of different soundscapes, while retaining their inherent sound and integrity all the way through this eleven-track pleaser of the senses. Arranged by The Chemical Brothers’ Tim Rowlands, “10:03″ is among the album’s most innovatively mesmerizing tunes, while Doves’ look backwards to the likes of New Order and Queen for the upbeat and interesting “Compulsion.”
Lacking a single dull or poorly-written moment, Kingdom Of Rust is as honest and tuneful as any album out there today, and one that places Doves miles ahead of their counterparts. Records like this should simply not be ignored.
Check out the new poll on the right. The poll shall stay active until the end of the year. Feel free to answer as often as you like. I’m finding with this album that my favourite track changes almost daily. The results should be interesting viewing at the end of the year. So get voting!
We are considering opening up a guitar tabs section. This will depend largely on reader participation. So if you know your doves guitar tabs and would like to contribute to the section, get in touch. Either leave a comment, or email me at the address listed on the right.
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