Blonde Redhead – 23 (2007)

Do you know the feeling when you've just discovered a new great band and they release a new album that turns out to be even more amazing than all of the stuff that had come out from them before. This doesn't actually happen that often, but it did happen with this album by Blonde Redhead. I had just discovered the band through a friend of mine, who played their previous album Misery Is a Butterfly to me and I was sold. Then 23 came out and it was something else. In addition to melancholic dream ballads that appeared on the previous album, there were high-tempo songs with amazing melancholic and dark sounds. This album is the band's peak. I don't think they ever manage to make something this magical ever again. I bought this album on vinyl and I'm glad I did, because the strange album cover with a four-legged woman looks great in a larger print.



I was also lucky enough to see the band live after this album came out at Tavastia, the most legendary rock venue in Helsinki. The high and dreamy voices of the lead singers sounded just as great as I had imagined live as well. I lost my company on the gig, but I couldn't try to find them because I was so mesmerised by the going-ons on stage.

The band consists of a Japanese born lead female vocalist Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace who look exactly the same. The men in the band also have very high and airy vocals and they play really well together with Makino's otherworldly sound. This is even further improved with echoey sounds from the guitar and piano. This is much more melodic than shoegaze's early bands in the 80's and I, for one, really like this more.

I have so far always added a music video with my posts, so I want to honour this tradition even though I'm not too familiar with Blonde Redhead's music videos. I'm linking the music video for the title-track 23, because it's a great song. You can also get a feel of what these guys are like on stage from this video.

In addition to the title-track, I really like the beautiful Dr. Strangeluv and almost aggressive high-tempo Spring And By Summer Fall. The echoey guitars are really describe the time when this album came out. Many other 00's bands used similar echoey and melancholic sounds. the first comparison would be the Swedish band Kent's album Du Och Jag Döden which I also listened to a lot at the same time. Even though I highlight these favourite songs of mine here, the album is actually very good in  its entirety. Songs sound fairly the same to be honest, but at least the whole album has a similar mood.

I love how Blonde Redhead's sound is a mixture of different types of retro genres. There's some post-punk, some shoe-gaze, some art rock from the 90's (I'm talking about Radiohead here) and some original otherworldly sound.

Album on Spotify.