REVIEWED: Let England Shake by PJ Harvey



There was something infinitely liberating seeing raptors flying across the sky as they continue on with their journey northward, leaving their temporary makeshift nest on a small island just outside Port Dickson on a bright sunny Saturday. I could only bade a longing farewell with an amazed stare. This is perhaps the only most precious thing that I can gather from my last weekend's excursion at an event called Raptor Watch; that and apart from the delight of seeing secondary school students learning a lot about the forest, thanks to a guided trail walk by me.

I wouldn't already consider myself a 'seasoned' forest guide from my rather brief experience of doing so but my, I can already spot certain types of tree from miles away, and rather accurately. It largely goes to the shape and the surface of the tree trunk, which to any untrained eye, it all looks just the same. Not that it's a bad thing because I thought of the same thing as well before this. You'd be surprised actually to see how the forest, despite of its' uniformed color scheme, are made up of large variety of individuality, and each of them are almost not alike with one another. I'm probably splitting hair here (and to be quite honest, who gives a flying fuck about it anyway innit?) but the subtle art of subtlety is something that one must be acquainted and familiar with in order to fully appreciate something like PJ Harvey.

I've mentioned this before in regard to PJ Harvey's materials and I'll mention it again here - PJ Harvey's songs have always been, and will always be, about musical styles and notion rather than its' lyrical content. Not that they're unimportant but because one needs to really appreciate what a highly talented songwriter Ms. Polly Jean is, something else has to take a backseat, and that naturally goes to the sung words. Or was, because now that her 8th studio album is already out, entitled Let England Shake, the rule book has been rewritten.

We're not going to dwell at a much further length about what this album constitutes, were made of, and what it made us feel as the disc spins because for certain things, the lesser you knew about it, the better. Let England Shake certainly is a very political album in its' stance and its' voice, but it is not of a discontented anger, or straight-up revolt like Rage Against the Machine. It is not angry in a way, but rather pretty poetic about it - brutish honesty kind of poetic. It is not the kind that will stand in front of baton-wielding riot police in arms, but rather is more at home sitting on a rocking chair with a cup of tea and sprouting quotes of Descartes and Proust. If all these fails and you still find yourself scratching your head, let's just say it is a very subtle album. And it is the type of subtlety that you just have to pay attention to.

What we dare to say is that with the Arab region still in political turmoil and general realization and zeitgeist reaching wide acceptance, this album could possibly be the Dark Side of the Moon of the current age. Quite a statement? For such an album, it totally deserves it.

Very Grammatic - Watch Raptors Shake England



Yeah - last year was pretty exciting, though I was only manning the Games counter, and the Thai Royal Birdwatching Society's (or something) booth. Hundreds of people flocked onto the open field of PNB Ilham Resort, watched raptors flying pass through (the binocular & telescope booth was a big hit around that time), and basically had a great time there, pricey food notwithstanding. This year though I'll be in with the Nature Guide team, which is excellent (I'm all for nature walks). Training is on this Saturday, the whole shebang is on the following weekend. Will come up with a report of this Saturday's excursion if anything interesting took place. In the meantime, PJ Harvey's Let England Shake is still giving me a hard time for me to properly digest it. Let me just say that for now, it's still pretty... rancid. From what I gather, this album has a very dominant political theme to it, which kind of explain the 'angry' sound of this album, and great timing as well with the current political turmoil broiling in the Arab countries, the songs resonates very well with the spirit of the time. We could be looking/listening at the soundtrack of the current time here - the stylistics though is another matter which we're still getting acquainted with. This is angry time for all of us.

LISTED: 30 Best Albums of the Last Decade (2000 - 2009)

*As the year 2010 is about to draw its curtain close, it is the time of the year (of any year) for many music sites and blogs to come up with a top list of albums of the year. Yes indeed the year 2010 has seen many interesting releases worthy of at least a top 20 list. But here at The Genuine Mind Zine we decided to do things a bit different and take a look at some of the best (of the best) releases throughout the last decade. This may not be the most comprehensive list around, lack of hip hop records for one, but all the albums listed here are indeed the most precious of last decade's precious gems.

5. PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea (2000)


I always have this minor problem every time someone come up to me and ask: "where do you come from?". Not that it is a tricky question, but it is. I was born in the town of Kuantan in Pahang, in the East Coast of the peninsula; then we moved to Subang Jaya where I spent my entire childhood, my primary and secondary school years and up until I was in the university, there, which is so far the biggest part of my entire existence; then my parents moved again to the relatively secluded Sungai Buaya whereas for me I was stationed first at Petaling Jaya, and then Gombak; and finally now working, I'm in Bangi. So when someone popped that question, I wasn't quite sure whether the "come from" part refers to where I was born, or where I grew up, or where I had my school, or where I'm currently staying. But irregardless of that confusion I instantaneously knew that there is only one definite answer to that: Subang. It is the place -it is the only place - where I left my heart at.

The reason why I am reminiscing my Subang years for this entry is simply because of this album at number 5: PJ Harvey's Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea. The reason why I am reminiscing my Subang years for this album is simply for two reasons: one, I used to listen to this album religiously every time I'm on the Metrobus riding back and forth between Subang and KL, between my house and my usual stop at the Central Market, and it was the perfect soundtrack for me at the time; and two, because this album was written as an exclamation of Polly Jean's love towards New York during her brief stay there. Call it anthropomorphic or whatever else that you like, but I think I understand when someone is deeply in love with a particular city or town - irregardless of the huge difference between the Big Apple and the UEP-developed township.

PJ Harvey has always been a difficult case, either musically or personally. When she first broke through with the debut Dry in 1992, it was a sparse, raw and unforgiving record reeking of the Riot Grrrl spirit of Bikini Kill with its punk-ish kick-you-in-the-face attitude. I'm a little terrified to label her as feminist because the term has been so widely used, it kind of lost its real meaning and purpose; and besides, her materials has mostly been of personal taste rather than a revolution-for-a-purpose type, and the other reason is one which I will reveal a few lines down. When the second record was released the following year, her 'harsh' sound was given an even grittier touch thanks largely to Steve Albini on stewardship, which resulted in Harvey sounding a lot 'troubled' than what she was really on about. By the time her third album was released in 1995, a trend has emerged, and in which Harvey herself has admitted vocally - with each releases she refuses to repeat herself.

I'm not quite sure whether this is intentional or not, but when it comes to female artists, people always tend to look at the emotional depth angle of their materials, usually through their lyrics and the behaviorism or the mannerism of their delivery of the songs. There must always be a message encrypted in their songs - always. PJ Harvey though, as how I suspected, is not as much on the encrypted message or the emotional aspect of her lyrics but more on her musical leanings at every releases. This is in a way to say that Harvey's output has always been about musical style rather than message in the lyrics, furnished by the music. If that is still a little confusing, then try to listen to her music while ignoring her lyrics. For a brief moment, think of her lyrics as unimportant, and just focus instead towards the music, and you will start to realize what PJ Harvey is really about. She is like the singing version of Explosions in the Sky - it is always about the music, about the songs, about the style, about the genre.

The reason why I chose Stories as not only her best work as of last decade, but also for her entire career, is because it is a very stylish album, musically. And since this album is an exclamation of her love towards New York, it feels romantic. For all her other releases past and post Stories, the music has always felt personal, and alienating. and troubled, and gritty. But in this 2000 release though, it sounded unrestrained and free - it feels huge, like an occasion of some sort. And that occasion is no other than a celebration of love, like screaming on top of a top building, revealing your most intimate feeling towards the whole world, unashamed. It is the sort of occasion that makes you feel relived because you have just let out a huge burden, and it feels empowering and reviving. No wonder people say that love is a great thing - it makes you feel alive. It makes you realize that you're alive. And all the above-mentioned emotion you can experience it in this album. You might have not been to New York yet so you don't know how great that city is, until you've listened to this album and feel the groove of life in that city that is contained within this album. I kid you not, I could feel New York in me when I listen to this album, and I've never been there.

If I were PJ Harvey then this album would have definitely been about Subang - but it might have been rubbish compared to this.

One Day Holiday - Along Came Polly

*One Day Holiday is an unscheduled, published-whenever-I-feel-like-it column for Hafeez, a resident blogger for this blog. This column are centered mostly around music and random stuff that ranges from the coherent to the absolutely absurd.

Just a few days ago, I opened my long forgotten CD case (or was it called wallet?) which at one point in my life was utterly proud of it. It can hold an amazing number of 20 CDs. Sounds just as amazing as like having your romantic candlelight dinner in Pantai Dalam. Amazing it is because in those days, mp3 is still relatively a new phenomenon and buying CDs are still the way to go, for most people. In those days, my CDs are my most expensive possession.

At the time (yes, we're still in flsahback mode), 20 CDs for me was a HUGE collection. I had, among other, such rare, exotic, unknown, and possibly unwanted crap CDs from bands like A Silver Mt. Zion, Stereolab (their difficult second album), Flying Saucer Attack, and Hawkwind. The latter two I bought at a used CD shop for roughly about RM20 a piece. Which should cement its status as an unwanted crap. Anywhere I go, if possible, I would brag about how genuinely awesome my CD collection was to my mere handful collection of people whom I know who actually listens to what I say. Then iPod came about and the CD wallet was nowhere to be seen near me again for the next gajillion years. CD collection is then, now, as sexy a collection as Adibah Noor in two piece besides Marion Caunter in a rice sack.

Of the 20 CDs that is in the wallet, one CD though grabbed my attention that fateful night. It was PJ Harvey's Uh Huh Her. It was her follow-up to the amazing Stories album, released somewhere in early 21st century. I could not recall when was the last time I listened to the album, and I believe it is a very grave injustice for me for ignoring this album for such a long time because, running out of superlatives now, it simply kicks ass. When the album Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea made it into Tone's list of best album of the year 2002 (if I'm not mistaken), I was sold. I bought the album, listened to it a couple of time, and loved it very much. After that Tone was pulled out of print. Their untimely death was as surprising as a light drizzle in the afternoon.

Uh Huh Her, released in 2003, was nothing like Stories. It was raw, totally stripped bare to the bone, vicious, angry, savage, fighty, shouty, bitchy, and a good dose of awesomeness. If a men-hating feminist group somewhere wanted a soundtrack to go with their daily street protests, this is it. Just a few days ago an Iranian scientist announced that he had successfully created an artificial sperm from bit parts found in a dumpster behind the shoplots in Haarlem. Two days later, newspaper all over the world ran articles debating whether humanity ever need men again. Well, this is album is the soundtrack for that moment. (And I'm saying this without really paying attention to what Polly Jean Harvey was actually singing)

The other reason why I'm highlighting a backdated album in this column today is because it kind of makes some sense with Sonic Youth's recently released The Eternal. The both mentioned album was made for one very simple but specific purpose: to kick someone in their behind real hard, piss in their face, and say "fuck you douchebag". In these times of women's advancement in just about every field available in life, it is probably about time (and it is the best of times) for women to kick all men in their nether region, piss in their face, and say: humanity does not need your type anymore.

That is my perfect rendition of the word 'kickass awesome'.