Chimpomatic

The Electric Soft Parade

The Human Body EP

The Electric Soft Parade were filed in my mind alongside Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Cooper Temple Clause for some reason - which was not a good spot. I think a 2003 Q Compilation / Rant may be to blame.

I've since done some vague research, and the fact that Brakes is a side project from these guys and British Sea Power's ex-keyboardist is of mixed surprise. British Sea Power are dissapointing, Brakes are great. This EP goes some way to reposition Electric Soft Parade somewhere in between, with a great opening sound for the track A Beating Heart. Thumping drums build up nicely with mathematical sound, semi-mysterious lyrics and a nice keyboard. They can certainly play a nice bassy groove, and would probably have a good live sound... must remember to bother to see them sometime. Maybe they could support Brakes. The Captain and Kick In The Teeth also stand out, but no track quite hits the right finale... mainly as they tend to leave the rock behind and take a short cut to noodle town.

The songs all have a tendency to veer a bit to close to 70's Genesis or 10CC in places, but with a bit of self-control and a stripped down production they could certainly surprise me. In the current climate of major labels wanting 70's modish sounds from the likes of Arctic Monkeys, there's certainly some space for 70's prog sounds from the likes of these guys. Although as Jello Biafra says "I like short songs."

#Music
#CSF

15th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The View

The View E.P.

Following in the footsteps of several recent cheeky scallies comes this EP from Dundee band The View. Comin' Down is a raucous rock n' roll song, along the lines of early Who, or Touch Me by The Doors... Face For The Radio is a nice acoustic number, and there's definitely lots of promise in these guys - with an easy going attitude and seemingly casual sound.

They just signed to to James Endecott's 1965 Records, so are currently holed up in a studio with the producer of the first Oasis record - Owen Morris. And they're playing at Brixton favourite The Windmill on June 3rd.

#Music
#CSF

15th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Morrissey

London Palladium

Due in part to my near death experience during the last Morrissey gig at Alexandra Palace two weeks ago I felt a bit cheated and wanted to see him properly in a smaller, more intimate and civilised environment. The Palladium fits this description perfectly and was a specific request by the man himself as a venue to perform the last 3 shows of his tour.

It all started off so well. Our seats were in the Royal Circle and we had a perfect view. As is customary on this tour a version of You'll Never Walk Alone is played at top volume to signal the imminent start to the proceedings. Hands were already in the air and I could barely contain my excitement. As expected, the reception was rapturous and the show kicked off in style. A few songs later came the riff heavy How Soon Is Now, which was greeted with utter delight and simply rocked. Morrissey seemed to be really enjoying himself - indulging in plenty of banter about how Radio 1 refuse to play his single and that The Palladium felt like home to him as he played here 20 years ago. However, it soon became evident that he was experiencing some difficulty with his earpiece and started to not finish songs, saying how terrible the sound was - despite us telling him it sounded fine. At one point he even asked the crowd "please someone, say something encouraging." The sound problems really seemed to be rocking his confidence and it soon appeared like he was just going through the motions and wanted to get off the stage as soon as possible. As a result he decided not to come back on for the encore and the disgruntled crowd booed as they left the venue.

Despite the great start and an excitement that is rarely found at live performances I left with a deep feeling of disappointment. The sound problems were clearly not his fault and were a cause of some distress to him but I would have thought a performer of his magnitude and experience could overcome this and not give the audience the impression that he was bored and we weren't doing enough to entertain him. After what I thought was a fantastic version of Life Is A Pigsty he asked us why we were clapping. I thought the sound was fine. Vocals are often an element that can get lost at rock gigs but his voice is always so clear and this was no exception. The crowd's excitement was killed by the obvious look of frustration and anguish coming from the man we had paid a lot of money to see. I guess he can just chalk it up as a bad day at work, but for the two fans I spoke to in the pub afterwards who had paid £190 per ticket it was a disaster. I haven't given it a rock bottom rating as the first 45 minutes were awesome and the venue was fantastic. I also have a new favourite track; Ganglord. This B-side to the new single is a classic in waiting.

#Music
#Gig
#BC

15th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Them / Themselves

Them

This is underground hip hop at it’s finest. One of the strongest offerings on the ever expanding and boundary breaking Anticon label, Them is Doseone of cLOUDDEAD fame and the mighty Jel on the beats. This is a faultless combination and one that has been tried and tested many times, the most recent being Subtle’s awesome album A New White.

Anticon was started by Sole (Tim Holland) and Pedestrian (James Brandon Best) in 1998 and was born out of a love of poetry and the more traditional side of Hip Hop. Since then these lonesome travellers have stopped for any hitchhiking art school dropout or beatnik poet they deemed suitable for the Anticon belief system. Two of the first to join were Jel (Jeffrey Logan) and Dose (Adam Drucker.) Their first collaboration was on the 1998 self titled album Deep Puddle Dynamics. This was basically every one from the early days of this label and this is how they intended to proceed, with every one contributing to eachothers work. And so they did and have fast become one of the most prolific producers of challenging and inspired poetry driven Hip Hop around today.

I can't think of a single release not worth a listen and this semi-self-titled album released from 2000 is one of the strongest. It nods towards the more traditional hip hop more than most of the labels' albums, by this I mean it has beats. But they are intelligent and deep, organic beats that never over do it. Dose's vocals are as always pure, surreal and totally screwed-up genius. In one of the strongest tracks Death O A Thespian, Dose admits, "I don’t believe in Zeus but I’m scared stiff of clowns," and if you hadn’t seen him his voice would conjure up similar disturbing clown related images or even gnarled, jaded pixies that lurk in dark nightmarish places muttering incomprehensible words of wisdom. The clown theme is continued in another fantastic example of this partnership, Another Part Of The Clown.

The final track ends with the words, "You know when energy is flowing, teach yourself to write and let Them buy the album." This seems to be the exact thing this bunch of modern-day visionaries did, and my gratitude pours forth.

#Music
#BC

12th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

cLOUDDEAD

cLOUDDEAD

In 2001 artsts Doseone, Odd Nosdam and Why? Put out an album that would truly erase any label or genre they and their collective had been previously assigned. cLOUDDEAD's self titled debut is a collection of 10" singles comprised of six different movements each featuring a guest vocalist. This probably sounds pretentious and it so easily could be but the group navigate the rocky ground between up-your-arse, self indulgent, clap-trap and pure genius with expert ease and always remain on the right side. It is impossible to pick out tracks as the whole thing is one big murky bog of samples, atmospheric beats and textures that see Dose and Why? emerge every now and then with vocals that defy imagination and conjure up worlds only visited in dreams or nightmares.

It is so hard to describe this piece of work. There are no comparisons that can be made. It is one of the purest things I have ever heard. More than any other album from the Anticon collective this epitomises the ethos of this group, and that is one of limitless expression and the constant commitment to genre defying art. They have never topped this album for me, but have come exhilaratingly close many times. Genius.

#Music
#BC

12th May 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Buck 65

Secret House Against The World

Buck 65 could read a shopping list or even my last rights and I would love it, so I guess I am not the best person to write a review of his music. I think this is his eleventh album (I lost count ages ago) and it sees a real departure from the previous works. He is known for his hobo like musings about life, love, shoe-shine and just about anything -and all this over self-crafted beats and soundscapes. But here we see a new musical injection that at first jars, as it is not what we expect from Buck, but then we realise that the very thing we love about this guy is his freedom from any genre, collective or type and we are right back loving him again.

There are some sublime moments of real beauty here and most of them come with the new inclusion of a female voice that sits so pretty next to the Waits style growl of Buck. We first see this new combo on ‘The Suffering Machine, ‘ a gentle, acoustic led song full of heart wrenching sadness about a lost soul ambling aimlessly from place to place with no friends and waiting for the “Black angel,” to carry him down. On his web site, Buck reviews his own albums. He says that this album has what was missing all along and that is melody, female voice and lushness Well this song has all of that. I never thought a hip hop song could bring tears to my eyes but The Floor does just that. You listen with open mouth as he tells the story of his abusive father coming home and throwing "the goldfish to the cat on the kitchen floor" while his beaten and down trodden mother just smiled "the saddest smile I’ve ever seen in my life."

Buck has grown up with this album. It is about serious stuff and though it has all the profound musings that we have come to expect, the musical composition adds weight to the words and it’s truly moving. Buck gives it three out of five on his site but I will see that and raise it.

#Music
#BC

12th May 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

The Science Of Sleep

(dir. Michel Gondry)

Probably the only film where you could say Gael Garcia Bernal sleepwalks through his role without dissing the performance.

Gondry's on similar turf to Eternal Sunshine here, going for an all-out assault on dream logic, framing a romance (of sorts) between arty neighbours Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg around Bernal's lifelong inability to distinguish dreams from reality. A subtle playfulness lets the film get away with an elevated level of whimsy here, with stop motion animation used to great effect to play out the REM moments.

A Mexican who's moved to Paris to be with his mother after his father's death, Bernal gets stuck in an office where they make calendars. There the rituals of dealing with boredom soon match the dreams he stages from the cardboard-filled TV studio in his mind. The dialogue skips freely between English, French and a little Spanish to great effect, really giving a sense of lives lived on an international level.

Great music throughout (including a cute rewriting of the Velvets' After Hours), fluid direction and a story that justifies the extended dream logic - this is a confident, charming, modern fromage-free romance that manages to be both cute and occasionally moving. Funny too - Bernal's inventions like the One Second Time Machine or the 3D Glasses For Real Life really come in handy.

#Film
#chimp71

11th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Sunset Rubdown

Shut Up I Am Dreaming

Jagjaguwar

Whoever said the best music is being made in Canada is such a bore. We have all known that for ages, and here is some more evidence. Sunset Rubdown is a spin off group, fronted by Wolf Parade’s keyboardist and vocalist Spencer Krug and it's a little gem of an album. Krug’s distinctive voice makes this very comparable to Wolf Parade, but it’s a much more low-fi and immediate affair. Having said this the band manages to create such epic masterpieces out of next to nothing. Sparse, stripped down songs like Us Ones In Between plod along with such delicate beauty, and the contrast of seemingly cheapskate instruments overlaid with some of the most profoundly sad and insightful lyrics I have heard in a long time is powerful to say the least. Creatures great and small are a common theme on this album, lyrics like “I have heard of creatures who eat their babies/I wonder if they stop to think about the taste” are then reversed to say “Oh baby mother me before you eat me.” The Empty Threats Of Little Lord is another gem that echoes this sentiment, where “If I ever hurt you it will be in self-defence,” and “If you ever come at me I’ll hurt you,” are seen in a different more pathetic light when considering the songs title. Again, they follow such a delicate structure that it almost threatens to collapse under its own frail melancholy.

The lyrics to each song could be read as a book of poems and would still retain their impact and profundity when removed from the music. They create an almost dream like landscape of wild creatures and lovers that live forever. On the epic seven minute long The Men Are Called Horsemen, Krug structures the whole song around the horse metaphor stating “If I was a horse I’d have bricks in my mane, If I was a horse I’d throw up the reins." But then continues on to claim “But I am no horse and you are no angel.” Another seven-minute masterpiece brings this unexpected delight to a close with the title track Shut Up I’m Dreaming, which is what I would advise you tell people if they talk over this album. It is worth dedicating time to this.

Recently, I saw a poll of the best lyrics in modern pop music. I think the winner was a Morrissey lyric, and it got me thinking about the content of a lot of the songs that structure my life. To my surprise I found that though they were songs of undeniable genius, very few of the lyrics really stood up to scrutiny once taken away from the music. This isn’t always necessary but it’s great when you come across some that do. I strongly recommend looking these songs up and reading them as poetry, you won’t be sorry.

#Music
#BC

10th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Archie Bronson Outfit

Derdang, Derdang

These days a record label is not complete until it has a David Byrne inspired vocalist on their books. Rough Trade got theirs with The Arcade Fire, Wichita with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and now Domino have found theirs. Hailing from the West Country, Archie Bronson Outfit are not something you would want to listen to if you were of a nervous disposition, or in the least bit on edge. This is not a criticism, it’s just a pretty stressful experience listening to Derdang Derdang, the groups second album. They have managed to create a real sense of urgency that except for the final track is pretty much unrelenting. The whole album can be summed up in the stand out track Dart For My Sweetheart. On the whole, I frown upon songs that use counting, or days of the week as their structure - but this one is an exception. It starts “One is a gun with a dart for my sweetheart,” and continues up to twelve. All this over methodical, driving and jangling guitar and drums. Arp, the drummer and lyricist says, “There’s a nursery rhyme feel to the lyric, the counting stuff.” His kids ain't getting no sleep tonight.

The band claim this album was written and recorded in a very short space of time while they were all living together - and this comes as no surprise to me. It has a captivating sense of immediacy and the ever building tempo in each song threatens an approaching explosion, but rarely gives in. The tension comes from a combination of repetitive guitar rhythms, screeching free jazz saxophone and distinctive, paranoia filled vocals - delivered with such energy and force you have to either switch off or sit up and take notice. On Dead Funny he orders us, “don’t worry just get your head down.” Sound advice I think.

#Music
#BC

10th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Neil Young

Living With War

According to Pitchfork this is Neil Young's "rawest release of new material since at least Ragged Glory, maybe even Rust Never Sleeps... " According to me it's about as immediate as his last 10 years of plod. It plods along and has the same plodding pace as his last 'Decade' of work, except this time it has some overtly political lyrics.

There's no doubting that this is protest music of the most literal order, but where his 60's protests like Ohio or Southern Man were relevant and emotional, the plodding Shock and Awe, Lookin' For A Leader or Let's Impeach The President have nothing like the weight, and certainly not the political commentary of an angry album like Radiohead's Hail To The Thief

I wish he'd get on with re-releasing his missing old stuff, rather than forever moving 'forward'....although judging by by 2004's 'Greatest Hits' even that could be a mis-fire.

#Music
#CSF

5th May 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

The Raconteurs

Broken Boy Soldiers

Broken Boy Soldiers sees Jack White team up with fellow Detroit buddy Brendan Benson and finally get a chance to play with the boys. And don’t those boys have some fun. Following typical ‘side project’ form, the agenda is a lot lighter here compared to the Led Zeppelin’s lofty direction. Level is another highlight with suitably grimy and screeching guitar action.

As you may notice, all the highlights picked out above feature White on lead vocals. I feel the album loses its immediacy when Brendan Benson steps up. His songs follow a well-trodden Beatles/Harrison path and lack the grit that White brings to the mix. When these two vocalists are put side by side it is all too evident how unique and powerful White’s voice really is. The best Benson songs are when Jack is backing him up. Intimate Secretary, is a prime example of this. The jury is out on this track as it has very questionable lyrics. “I’ve got a rabbit who likes to hop, I’ve got a girl who likes to shop, I’ve got a pen but I lost the top,’ You could be forgiven for mistaking this for an extract from Wayne Rooney’s secret diary ...although he’s the one doing the hopping now.

#Music
#BC

4th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Stadium Arcadium

While Blood Sugar Sex Magic had some (I'd say 3) great songs, it's funky-monk overtones make it sound dated, recorded as John Frusciante say's "back when we were assholes". The Dave Navarro version of the band obviously sucked, but after Frusciante kicked his drug habit and crawled back to the Red Hot Chili Peppers things really started to take off. Californication had some great tracks, but was quickly overshadowed by version 2.0 - By The Way. Frusciante had found his sound, releasing the awesome solo albums To Record Only Water For Ten Days and Shadows Collide With People and clearly shaping the direction of the revitalised Chili Peppers. After another 6(!) solo albums from Frusciante last year - all peppered with great tracks - the promise of a new full-spec double RHCP album was good.

Things kick off well with single Dani California. Using all the best elements of the RHCP signature sound - catchy, stripped down, funky bass, roaring guitar solo - it sets the pace.... and the rest of the album carries on from there. All the same. Every song is good, most contain a bit of all of their styles and all are in the 3-5 minutes / 3.5-4.5 star range - and that is where the problem lies. While the album is apparently 'based' on the planets (Disc 1 Jupiter, Disc 2 Mars) there is no obvious theme or progression over the album and not much difference between the two discs. It becomes totally homogenized and just seems like a collection of 28 randomly sequenced good songs.

Torture Me is not one of the best, but it stands out for merely being a bit more punky. Strip My Mind threatens to be like a Frusciante solo track - but ends up being not as brave and falling back into line. Even the bass-funk workout tracks pull their socks up to be not nearly as bad as some of the 90's era stuff. The excellent Desecretion Smile and Animal Bar have so far floated to the top of the pile, although I'm sure more will grow on me if I give it time. 28 tracks is a lot of time though, and in the age of CD a double album is more like 120 minutes than The White Album's 90. The lyrics also take the score down a notch, as the band have never been that deep, and that doesn't change here. There's plenty of lyrics of the horny-coyotes-prowling-around-michigan variety.

Time will tell whether this becomes a sprawling masterpiece or self-indulgant monolith, but for a band who should have been at the peak of their powers it currently seems that they are on more of a plateau.

UPDATE: As of August 9th '06 I'm updating this to a 4. It's 80% genius, and the finale of Snow (Hey Oh) and Frusciante's scream at the end of Wet Sand are worth the price alone. It's only losing points for the length and lack of sequence, but is undoubtedly the closest thing to their masterpiece (to date).

#Music
#CSF

4th May 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Mission Impossible III

(dir. JJ Abrams)

Ethan Hunt's back in action, and yes, this time it's personal…

Put aside all the Tom Cruise celebratology crapola and this is a pretty proficient sequel. Lots of noisy action, a fairly decent plot (though nothing especially new), some ok lines and more rounded roles for the non-Tom members of the cast - it's a pretty fun summer action blowout.

For once they've remembered that he's supposed to be part of a team, so you get Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhy Myers and Maggie Q out in the field with him; Laurence Fishburne doing the "what's he up to now?" bits back at HQ; and an entertaining cameo from Simon Pegg as the tech boffin (very similar to the Marshall role in JJ Abrams' first TV hit Alias). This time IMF are all trying to take down convincing bad dude Philip Seymour Hoffman (could have done with more from him - he chows down on every scene he's in with relish).

Abrams has put a lot in that works here - a good macguffin in the "rabbit's foot" that PSH's after, the odd witty line, some "how are they going to get out of that?" moments and lots of costume changes - but having loved the first few series of Alias, and still enjoying Lost, I could have done with a little more out-there stuff from him than having Hunt make the classic spy mistake of getting serious with his girlfriend and then having to deal with "trust issues" when his work keeps sending him away. Kind of feels like JJ's reigned it in a bit for the studios. That said, it's not boring or confusing (which M:i II was for me), so hopefully he'll get to make something a bit less generic after this one rakes in all the bucks it's sure to rake.

Giving it 3 as it delivers more than you'd expect if you thought it was going to suck, but less if you thought it was going to be great.

#Film
#chimp71

3rd May 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Morrissey

Alexandra Palace, London

I think I could see Morrissey live every time he is in town, it is such an experience. Musically it is impeccable, but half the enjoyment comes from watching the type of fans he attracts and the effect he has on them. His music has the ability to reduce hardened middle-aged men to the mushy, teary-eyed romantics and it is fascinating to watch. Queuing up outside Alexandra Palace last night you’d be hard pushed to guess the band we were all waiting to see. It was a veritable melting pot of misfits, mods, Goths, England fans, dweebs, dickheads and righteous dudes. Beer guts were proudly displayed and back pockets adorned with wilting daffodils (Gladiola’s obviously not in season just yet), a sight to behold indeed.

After waiting at the front of the massing crowd through two support acts (one being Domino’s Sons And Daughters which were very good), the time had arrived and the lights dimmed. Amid deafening “Morrissey!” chants that would put the crowd at Stamford Bridge to shame the excitement was awesome. On walks the man himself and with the words “For what you are about to receive I am truly sorry.” The band explode with The First Of The Gang To Die. This was particularly ironic as my girlfriend very nearly was. The crowd erupted and surged back and forward with such pressure from the back and sides we struggled to keep our feet. So after waiting at the front for 3 hours it took less than 1 song for us to be at the back of the hall.

But without fearing for your life you are able to appreciate the show a bit more. And what a show it was. The man is notoriously private and sedate for the press, so it really feels like a privilege and an honour to see him so animated and vocal when in front of his fans. As usual the set list was mainly comprised of his new material but he did treat us to Girlfriend In A Coma and the show highlight How Soon Is Now? The super-extended rendition of this Smiths classic was greeted with absolute euphoria and a sea of worshipping hands in the air, stuff to make your spine tingle. The other highlight was Life Is A Pigsty which, in my opinion, is the best track off the new album. It was also interesting to notice how the songs off 2004’s You Are The Quarry, especially the encore of Irish Blood English Heart, are treated by the fans as classic Morrissey now.

The combination of such a legendary personality and a truly fantastic backing band (who strangely resembled Jonathan Ross’ ‘Four Poofs And A Piano’) made this performance truly live up to one of Morrissey’s opening statements “Welcome to the lost art of live music.” I can’t give it a perfect score because my girlfriend nearly died.

#Music
#Gig
#BC

2nd May 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet