Chimpomatic

Patrick Wolf

The Magic Position

Polydor

Opening with a veritable cascade of drums that would put Collins to shame (Phil not Jackie) I thought I was about to witness hordes of screaming crazed Roundheads charging the Cavaliers in the opening of some period war film. Then in come the even more epic, but beautifully scored strings in what turns out to be a great opening track, Overture. Having not heard any Patrick Wolf before I found myself slightly miffed that I'd missed out. He's quite clever you know, apparently he built a Theremin when he was barely in his teens. Shame I couldn't spot any on this album (but then I'm deaf as a post so wouldn't anyway). Based a lot around the piano and some stirring string arrangements, the sound of this album benefits from lots of experimentation with dirty analogue sounds and the occasional senseless dark brain-bleeding noise. However with a strong voice that is often lacking up against such a distinct and full sound such as this the whole album comes together nicely. It certainly makes for a much better soundtrack to that new series with Ray Liotta on Channel Five.

At times the young 23 year old songwriter reminded me vocally of a cross between that bloke from Divine Comedy and Edwyn Collins but with more of a wryness about him. I'd certainly like to see how he gets his girl into The Magic Position whilst singing in the major key. I liked the one with the firework sounds, Bluebells and then hark, is that the voice of Marianne Faithfull I hear on the beautiful piano and violin piece that is Magpie? Holy Sheet what a coup, this guy obviously has some noteworthy fans, if you're interested, Edward Larrikin appears on Accident and Emergency.

It's not a dance floor filler but overall I enjoyed this album, despite Get Lost starting with the sound of my alarm clock going off before turning into a summery guitary, synthy, happy lets-go-have-some-carefree-fun number. I bet that Mika bloke would love to be as good as Patrick Wolf.

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#UncleG

8th Mar 2007 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

The Earlies

Scala, London

If it were possible to capture the screech of the last tube train on a Saturday night grinding along the rails and then morph it into an urgent melody you’d probably end up with a sound similar to Maps - support act for The Earlies’ Scala show. You’d probably be mighty glad you caught that musical tube too revelling in the cacophony rather than bemoaning Mayor Ken’s extortionate price hikes.  All of which acts as a rather neat introduction to The Earlies.
 
Anyone familiar with the ‘sardines in a can’ closeness of commuter’s bodies on a rush hour Victoria line train will have recognised the tight squeeze of fitting 11 members of this Anglo-US ‘prog-rock-folk-psych’ combo and their various musical instruments on the small Scala stage.  But rather than whinging about having someone’s arm pit in your face, ruing the look you know your boss will give you for being late or imploring the girl listening to James Blunt too loudly to turn it down this journey is nothing but a pleasure.
 
The stage might be small but the sounds, and the Earlies’ ambitions, are big. This lot don’t do things by halves. Why have one drummer, flutist or melodica player when you can have two? Where other acts might drown each other out or trample on each other’s toes the Earlies just egg each other on to better things. They’re like kids daring each other to jump from an ever-higher branch of a tree.  And all this is delivered with such child–like earthy warmth; introducing No Love they announce ‘this song is about love and shit’. No need to apologise for the ‘shit’ when love is expressed as sweetly as this!
 
The sound, and indeed image, of The Earlies is of an overgrown school orchestra. The music teacher has nipped out into the corridor to sort out a fight and so left to their own devices the kids rock out to the sounds that please them most. Think of the opening to The Simpsons – the part where Lisa stuns the rest of the orchestra to silence by veering off into a freeform Sax solo. The Earlies are only the orchestra that Lisa deserved. They would have had the gumption to stick with her, providing the accompaniment to whatever musical imaginations she might have conjured.  Singing ‘it’s alright to let yourself down tonight’ your reviewer was tempted to reach out to tap the ‘fists aloft’ guitar player on the shoulder and say ‘don’t worry mate, you’ve no let anyone down tonight’.  Check em out, you won’t be disappointed.  

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#Muxloe

7th Mar 2007 - 6 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Amon Tobin

Foley Room

A foley room is a place where sound effects are recorded for films. It's totally soundproof, clinical, methodical and has an eerie sense of lifelessness - except for the strange sounds that are produced there. This goes some way to describe the latest album by Ninja Tune's maestro of sound manipulation Amon Tobin. Tobin's previous work was entirely constructed from found sounds, but his sources were usually vinyl. Foley Room sees Tobin turn a corner in his compositional process and the entire album is created from recorded sounds both in the foley room using manipulated instruments and also from street life, zoo life and just about anything you can think of that makes a noise.

Of course, this has all been done before - but Tobin's unique methods and musical understanding make this a truly engaging listening experience. This record crawls, oozes, slithers, crashes, scrapes and sometimes pummels it's way through your head in much the same way that every Tobin record does, but this seems to be a lot more focused. It's a predominantly beat driven record, but the sources of these beats are so expertly masked that your ear soon stops trying to identify recognisable sounds and just allows itself to be taken over by the other-worldly quality of the sound. And this other world is no jolly romp in fields of poppies. Tobin's soundscapes are always ominous and this is no exception. The beats often seem to be created by an army of insects and the orchestral sounds that underlie all this invoke visions of impending doom. Though named after a room devoid of atmosphere, this album is all about atmosphere. It has the feeling of a soundtrack and is incredibly visual.

And talking of visuals, the LP comes with a 20 minute documentary about the making of the record and really helps to explain the process. We see Amon and his team take to the streets with highly sensitive recording equipment and dig out the tools with which this record is constructed. He visits motorbike garages, CD production factories and even a safari park where he records all manner of wildlife. Classical strings and drums are used in the foley room, but are manipulated and reconstructed through the sampling process. Peanuts are scattered on bass drums and drum kits are forged out of metal bowls of various fullness bobbing around in water pools. The interesting thing is seeing all this and Tobin crouched, headphone clad, next to the tracks as a train roars past and then listening to the record and seeing how these recordings have been used to create the most remarkable textures and how some really beautiful music has been born out of this apparent chaos.

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#BC

6th Mar 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Explosions In The Sky

All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone

Texan band Explosions in the Sky are apparently some kind of phenomenon. The word of mouth marketing surrounding the band has probably already crossed your path - but if not here are a few facts:

Their songs regularly run on past 7 minutes.
They have no vocalist.
Their 4th album finds the band still on a small indie label (Bella Union)
They sold of London's Koko with the only publicity being a mention on their website

The band use slow building drums and a huge range of guitar sounds construct complex musical landscapes, which grow and evolve before unleashing in a torrent of heavy pounding drums and dueling guitar solos - and on this album the piano is often a key player, particularly on What Do You Go Home To?, which could easily have been the soundtrack to a Michael Mann shoot-out.

While bands like Mogwai have often claimed this style as their own, for me they are frequently distracted by bleeps and twitches, with songs often never quite developing like they threaten too. That is never the case here - with multiple moments of unrestricted release making this one of the most passionate and engaging instrumental albums I have heard in quite some time. It would be hard to singe out specific tracks, and there is certainly very little on here that could work as a single. This is a very much an album which is to be listened to as a complete piece of work. Often structured like a classical symphony, there are multiple moments of repeat, refrain and reprise, making this very rewarding listening which has a comforting warmth and familiarity to it.

Apparently they rock live, and it's not hard to believe - undoubtedly whipping up a lighting storm of volume and feedback of epic proportions, transforming their music into a living, breathing monster. For me however, this the kind of music I like to listen too to put me to sleep. Not because it is boring. Not because it is quiet - which it frequently isn't. Because it is so flowing, passionate, emotional and moving that it is thoroughly engaging, and listening to it focuses my thoughts, allows me to relax and ultimately leaves me happy and exhausted. Brilliant.

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#CSF

4th Mar 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Love Of Diagrams

Love Of Diagrams EP

Matador Records

Melbourne band Love of Diagrams are a band that instantly conjure up a dozen influences, and while I can't put my finger on exactly what they most sound like, Blondie, Gang of Four and Yeah Yeah Yeah's are certainly a handful of suggestions. For once however the strong comparisons are not a criticism of unoriginality - instead giving their music an instantly recognizable feel that makes the songs seem like old favourites that you haven't heard in a while.

Pace of the Patience has catchy interplay between singers Antonia Sellbach and Luke Horton, with the girl/boy contrast giving them a sound like the mathematical punk of  Gang of Four. The Pyramid is where the Blondie influence is most obvious - although mainly in Antonia Sellbach's voice rather than the actual sound of the music or song structure, which is often less traditional that the more obvious Blondie hits.

The  production could do with a bit of sharpening up in places - as the muddy vocals are a bit low and sometimes that undermines what seems to be crisp pop-rock trying to get out.  although No Way Out does address this problem a bit - using that mathematical rhythm to create a track like a beefed up version of  Bis' Eurodisco. I'm sure the band are sick of the Gang of Four and Blondie comparisons by now, but having "One way or another" as the hook in your song was just asking for that.

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#CSF

4th Mar 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Busdriver

RoadKillOvercoat

Epitaph

The problem with being the hip hop reviewer for a white, middle class indie rock website is that you don't tend to get much work. Sure, I get paid the same as the other chimps, but you can often find me in the canteen here at Chimp Towers sippin' on a 40' with my feet up - waiting for a beep on my pager from CSF to tell me he's got something for me. Long days amble by and the odd thugged-out dick rap record comes and goes but in the words of Ice T " I don't play that shit." I took this job for the cause. Hip Hop has the potential to be the most exciting and creatively diverse genres of them all - it doesn't have the boundaries that others suffer from, it goes where it pleases or at least it should.

So one lazy afternoon after finishing my fourth brewski, I was thinking of popping out for some more cigar papers to escape the accusing glares of the dinner ladies (I had just been crunking furiously while shouting " Errr' body in the club gettin' tipsy,")  when my pager goes buck-wild. "Busdriver, WTF?" was all it said. At first I thought it was my editor wanting me to drive the Chimpmobile on another day trip - but then remembered the new album RoadKillOvercoat by the LA tongue twisting lyricist. Finally a real job. Busdriver's previous albums for Big Dada were like no other. He's the gatling gun of the hip hop world, delivering intricately constructed raps with rapid-fire dexterity. This was gonna be good - something proper to get my teeth into, but damn, I was hella' drunk.

From the outset the signs were all there that this was going to be a treat. Casting Agents And Cowgirls sees Busdriver fit his rhymes expertly round a a tight beat which prepares us well for the machine gun onslaught of Less Yes's, More No's. Rhyming "Soccer Moms" with " Carpet Bombs," this track is about lyrical muscle flexing, as is the next installment where we're told, "Recreational paranoia is the sport of now so kill your employer." You can almost imagine the speed of the little ball bouncing over these words at the bottom of a Karaoke screen.

And so it continues, but once you reach mid point you are thrilled but starting to map out the rest of the record. This is where this album becomes a great hip hop record. With Sun Shower, Busdriver plays his hip hop ace card - he reaches into his inside pocket and pulls out a fully credible license to do what the fuck he wants. All hip hop cats have this license, but few know it. After dazzling us with lyrical acrobatics the dude starts singing. Yes singing. His floaty vocals drift effortlessly over a minimal, deep techno beat and if you thought this was just an interlude, the next track sees Busdriver duet with Coco Rosie's Bianca Cassidy. My editors pager words echoed in my head "Busdriver, What The Fuck?" indeed. The Troglodyte Wins restores the hip hop factory settings but they sound fresher now. The beats are gloriously tight, the rhymes even more thrilling and they see us through to the end where we get yet more of that singing stuff, and there's even an acoustic guitar on blissful closer Dream Catcher's Mitt.

This kind of thing makes my days in the canteen gettin' tipsy worthwhile. It's clever, but not anally so and Busdriver has cultivated a refreshing blend of fiercely intelligent poetry with the playful humour of his earlier work. Since the demise of Blackalicious the cause needs rhymes of this agility - and Busdriver carries the torch to new heights, skillfully avoiding the pitfall of cliche with a style such as his. RoadKillOvercoat is an album that delights the same way anything by Buck 65 or Dose One would and it does what hip hop set out to do. What ever the fuck it wants.

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#HHG

1st Mar 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

David Vandervelde

The Moonstation House Band

Secretly Canadian

It seems that T Rex is having something of a comeback in 2007. What with the debut album by Ninja Tune's Pop Levi and now this - David Vandervelde's The Moonstation House Band. It has all the folk-slide 70's warmth-sleaze of the much missed Bolan but that being said it's still a fine listen. It's a brief introduction, weighing in at just over half an hour, but my appetite is certainly moistened.

In the traditions of the music it aims to emulate Vandervelde has created a concept album of sorts. Much like Bowies fictitious Spiders From Mars, this album is the sound of the mythical Moonstation House Band - a Lonely Hearts Club Band for the naughties. At least 90% of the record is Vandervaldt himself - and at the young age of 22 this is some piece of work. By consciously setting out to recapture the spirit and sound of his dad's 70's records, Vandervelde has managed to strip away all the bravado that came with this music. The camp, glam shenanigans have gone and what remains is crisp musicianship and classic melodies.

Nothin' No drifts in on a haze of woolly guitars and blissed-out vocals telling stories of "gettin' high on your front porch." It has a wonderfully nostalgic feeling to it. It's like squinting in the evening sun as you strain to see a memory long passed. Jacket picks up the pace a bit and has all the rhythmical catchiness and effortless melody of classic Bowie. Corduroy Blues is a sublime piece of orchestral delight while Can't See Your Face No More is a foot stomping anthem that if put to the closing credits to any movie would have the audience leaving the cinema on a high.

It's hard to write about this album and not dwell on the wealth of influences that have made it happen, but at no point does it hide behind these influences or collapse under them. The music oozes warmth - whether its the mid-afternoon blaze of the up-tempo tracks or the early evening haze of the slower ones it washes over you in hypnotic waves. After the lazy, peaceful close of the final track Moonlight Instrumental you feel like the lights have just been turned out on another glorious day in the sun. A day that had it all, laughter, tears, joy and pain but as you gently drift off to sleep you feel excited at what tomorrow has in store.

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#BC

1st Mar 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Harmful

7

Kool Arrow

I’ve got a theory about bands like Germany’s Harmful.  Bands that aren’t afraid to properly ROCK - nice fat dirty riffs that recall early 90s greats Quicksand and Helmet - but have a singer dude with a nice-voice, telling us about how nasty the world can be.  I imagine the band compliantly rocking out in practice and the singer really ‘feeling’ it, then once he goes off to meet his superior girlfriend or get his hair done, the rest of the band crack open the smokes and fire up the beer and produce some of the awesomest music possible. 

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#chimpovich

27th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Ponys

Turn The Lights Out

Matador Records

Flying in the face of Chinese Wisdom, 2007 could well turn out to be the Year of the Horse.  Chimp favourites Band of Horses are in the studio and on the European road, and now their equine-ly named contemporaries The Ponys release a strong album - that is setting the early pace for my Album Of The Year awards.  Recently signed to Matador, Turn the Lights Out is the 3rd album from the Chicago 4 piece and is assured and promising in equal measure.

Theirs is a confident, multi-layered guitar sound that recalls Goo-era Sonic Youth and the Jesus and Mary Chain, but The Ponys aren‘t simply a fawning tribute band, there are enough ideas across the whole album to ensure that no lame tracks appear.

Out of the gates strongly and I’ll tip ‘em to remain ahead of the pack for the year to come. Good stuff.

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#chimpovich

27th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Departed

(dir. Martin Scorsese)

Jack Nicholson's Boston mob have a long term mole in the State Police department, who is keeping them one step ahead of the law. As a response, the undercover department - led by Martin Sheen and sidekick Mark Wahlberg - put their own man deep undercover with the mob. So deep that no-one knows who is to be trusted.

While the original Hong Kong version Infernal Affairs is a great story that is slickly made, the ante is up with this Hollywood re-make and Scorsese is all-in. The story is slowed down and stretched out, giving it room to breathe, grow and live - and the all-star cast make almost every role memorable. 

There's a few timeless director tricks from the master Scorsese - such as some sneaky iris pulls - plus great music, pyrotechnic editing, stellar performances and of course brutal violence.

A couple of bluescreen shots show up some storyboarding boo-boos that undermine things a bit - not to mention the shockingly bad Photoshop work on the family photos. While the script is great with fantastic dialogue, the thing that most lets the film down is the original story. While the use of text messaging and mobile phones is a realistic update to the undercover story some key moments are clumsily handled. While Hong Kong movies have a habit of going with style over substance, that just won't wash with a movie of this calibre. A little bit of mystery about who was actually the rat would have helped, and the double-dating shrink just seemed to make the whole world of the movie a bit too small.

However, after dropping the ball with Gangs of New York and batting a slow and steady  average with The Aviator, Scorsese is firing on almost all cylinders here - chasing after the glory days of Taxi Driver, Goodfellas or Casino. The acting is assured and superb almost throughout - particularly from DiCaprio, thoroughly impressing me for almost the first time. It's a totally entertaining masterpiece that can be watched over and over - and it has all the trademarks you'd expect from this hall-of-fame director working with the cream of the Hollywood crop.

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#CSF

26th Feb 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Gilbert And George

Major Exhibition, Tate Modern

Enjoyable retrospective of the suit-loving duo's career packed with all the shit, piss, spunk and boys in 80s hairstyles that they've come to be known for. With a 40 year span taking in Thatcherism, Aids and the Evening Standard's recent love of getting the word "TERROR" onto their billboards as often as possible, the exhibition also doubles as a portrait of their East End home, with G&G floating through it all, blankly observing. Loses it a bit when they learn Photoshop and start morphing their faces etc, but it's great seeing hits like ENGLAND, DEATH HOPE LIFE FEAR, and of course, CUNT in the flesh, as it were.

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#chimp71

26th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Early Years

The Luminaire, London

The Early Years just seem to be going from strength to strength (didn't I start my last review with that line?). First came their superb debut album - The Early Years - and a supporting tour, then they came right back with an EP of new songs, and now another supporting tour. The Luminaire is always a nice venue - small and friendly, with a good stage and a great atmosphere.

After some support from Beggars new signing Wolf & Cub, The Early Years took to the stage - setting up their own gear and getting ready to go. A  quick test on the pedal controlled strobe light and we're off. They don't waste and time getting into it, and their brand of minimal vocals guitar powered rock makes for a great live experience.

All Ones & Zeros and The Simple Solution are just two highlights of absolute brain melting rock, with their slow building rhythms and pounding sounds. The dueling guitars are what provide the obvious power of the band, but the superb drumming is not to be overlooked, holding the whole thing together.

A quick formation change for some of the more electronic songs causes a slight glitch in the flow of things. Although the songs sound great, is there really a need to put Beckham in goal, just so David Seaman can take a free-kick?

While the often minimal vocals can occasionally make for an unfocused stage presence, I'd often find myself mesmerised and transfixed - especially when that strobe light was going - and I'm slightly suspicious that the band only played one song, hypnotised the crowd and then spent the rest of the show sipping Pina Coladas in the dressing room. Either way, they rock. Check them out.

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#CSF

25th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Autokat

Late Night Shopping

Where these boys come from, which is Manchester, late night shopping = burglery, not a thursday evening in Harvey Nicks so this should put their debut album into some context. It's a raw piece of home made post rock that deals with the usual themes of urban city life in all its grime and glory. Signed to Manchester's influential Akoustik Anarkhy label, Autokat follow in the footsteps of bands like The Longcut and Nine Black Alps, but have more in common with bands like Warlocks or Chimpomatic favorites Working For A Nuclear Free City.

Opening track Shot sets a fair pace as its chiming guitar slowly turns into an awesome grinding riff that lays down a spiky platform for the vocals. The song eventually disappears off into a great slush of prickly guitar noise that turns this forthcoming single into a very grand opening statement. Seven Years is a much cleaner sound with more pronounced vocals while Dealy is the first of two well placed instrumental tracks that really give this album breathing space. Innocence really gets you to your feet after the rather lazy Bowling with its pure Gang Of Four beat, jangly guitars and upbeat muscle. Along with Shot it's one of the joys of this record that unfortunately is too few and far between.

Late Night Shopping can be patchy at times and the grit of the harder tracks is not always upheld throughout the album but it has a brilliantly fresh mix of melody and darkness. It can be sinister but can also lift you out of its threatening grasp with great floaty pop. Like fellow Mancs Working For A Nuclear Free City, this debut changes tempo so frequently and with such ease that the result is a record that's so packed with ideas and possible avenues for future pursuit and at the risk of sounding like a school report, this band oozes potential and though not all of it has been realised with this record it makes for a rosy look at the road ahead.

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#BC

21st Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Illusionist

(dir.Neil Burger)

Ed Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel and Rufus Sewell in this turn-of-the-century tricksy magician drama.

Norton's got the skills to pay the Viennese bills here, wowing Crown Prince Sewell and his fiancee Biel with his onstage wizardry, while court cop Giamatti tries to figure out how he's doing everything. Biel turns out to be Norton's long-lost childhood squeeze; hey-presto, the magic's still there.

Looks a lot like The Prestige, but it's less of a cheat than that turned out to be, although the whole "nothing is what it seems" line doesn't really hold up, as it's all ultimately predictable and the "woah, is that what's just happened?!!" ending they're going for is so obvious that you're left wondering why Officer Giamatti's such a doofus and the only person in the room who hasn't seen it all coming.

That said, their combined charisma just about carries it along; more a dvd than a cinema outing probably.

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#chimp71

21st Feb 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

300

(dir. Zach Snyder)

Enjoyable macho action that's basically one very long, very crunchy fight scene. Not sure how historically accurate any of this is, but it's the story of 300 buff sixpack Spartans fending off some extras from the dark hordes of Lord Of The Rings (aka Persia).

Based on the Frank Miller graphic novel, it's shot in a similar style to Sin City, and employs the same washed-out digital grainy aesthetic. It's also got the same slim connection to reality - this is heightened everything, everywhere. They shout SPAAAAAAAAAAARTAAAA as often as possible, and make a proto-fascist case for sticking together with your friends and family (as long as they're not born deformed, in which case it's prudent to chuck them out of town asap).

Gerard Butler is the superbuff Spartan leader. He's been the Phantom in The Phantom Of The Opera, Dracula in Dracula 2000 and Attila the Hun in Attila so he's obviously into his historical roles. Lena Headey is the rather unelegantly named Queen Gorgo keeping the Spartan home fires spartan. Weirdest casting for Chimpomatic readers will be The Wire's Dominic West - yes, if you've ever wondered what good po-lice McNulty would look like with long hair and his shirt off, here's your chance.

It's all pretty silly - and vaguely offensive in its depection of the Persians as a horde of unreconstructed "Others" - but carried off with a kind of unpretentious conviction: it sets out to make a crunchy bloodthirsty action blowout, and it succeeds. It's also told from a "here's a story about a legend" perspective, and doesn't really pretend to be anything like a historically accurate account. Apparently they borrowed some swords and stuff from Troy, but it's nowhere near as boring.

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#chimp71

20th Feb 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Pole

Steingarten

Scape

Before I got a girlfriend who can't go to sleep until she's read Grazia cover to cover I would like nothing more than to retire to my place of rest with some good head phones. Certain albums come alive when they surround you, when all your other senses are silenced. So with the lights out and the headphones blocking out all sound an album like Mileece's Formations or Murcof's Martes would take on an incredibly powerful form. Every change in the subtle arrangement would be breathtaking when it had your full concentration. We will often take time out to read a book or watch a film but rarely show music the same respect, it's what we have on while doing something else. But some works don't play well with the others.

Though not quite as breathtaking as the previously mentioned works Pole's latest offering Steingarten may well be one of those albums. When played in the background it appears thin and repetitive, but when given the solitary treatment it is a different story. The last I heard of the Berlin based producer Stefan Betke was in 2003 - with the release of his self titled, fourth full length. This had a change up to the normal form as he enlisted the help of Fat Jon on some of the tracks. The result was adventurous yet not entirely successful. Poles music was much more stripped down maybe to accommodate the vocals but the subtle textures in his compositions were lost.

With Steingarten we still get the same reduced techno, but the compositions have a strange warmth about them. Using sampled analogue fuzz and a myriad of bleeps and clicks the attention to detail is impeccable. It's this that makes this record so special. It directs your attention to the minutia of life. If you've ever had a leaky roof you'll recognise Sylvenstein, where a delicate beat is so finely constructed out of familiar sampled sounds that it sounds like water dripping into various metal pans of varying degrees of fullness. With Schoner Land you start to notice the soft soothing repetition of the end of a record as it skips over and over. This is music that has been so meticulously constructed to appear minimal. Intricate layers of indecipherable sound are beautifully punctured by crystal clear drops of  noise. The beats are inviting in their gentleness and the melodies are used as harmonic dashes of colour but are always kept fragmentary.

The whole album ends with the stand out piece Pferd. It features the only recognisable melody on the record and loops what sounds like flute and harmonica over the same delicate tapestry of beats. It's fragility finishes the album off perfectly and you hardly dare to breath once the silence sets in. This is Poles best work to date and should be appreciated in the right context. If you give it your time it will reward you no end.

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#BC

19th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

RJD2

The Third Hand

XL

This is the first album RJD2 has put out without the help of Def Jux Records and there's a good reason for that. His much hyped debut Dead Ringers followed on nicely from the work of DJ Shadow in the world of sampling and gave the aggressive yet progressive alt hip-hop label a new string to its bow. Then in 2004 came Since We Last Spoke. Obviously plagued by the constant comparisons to Shadow, this album signaled a shift in direction for RJD2. Still containing the sampled structure this album leaned more towards mellow vocal tracks than its predecessor taking much of its influence from 70's rock. Now in 2007 the transformation is complete. I hope the artist will forgive me for one last Shadow comparison but just as The Outsider was an album to silence all stereotypes and went to one extreme end of the musical spectrum and embraced hip hop in all its grime The Third Hand goes the other direction and almost rejects all things hip hop and embraces pop.

The fact that RJD2 has fled the Def Jux fold shows just how much he's changed direction. This album still has the impeccably produced beats but heavily relies on vocals. It's a pretty slick piece of work with some beautiful instrumental moments. Reality is one of the stand out points with a funky-ass guitar bass line sampled over a classic RJD2 break-beat that chops and changes repeatedly and weaves in and out of the singing while Get It revisits old ground as one of the few purely instrumental beat pieces. But I'm sure that I've picked out these two as highlights as they most resemble the earlier work and I'm not proud of that.

This album will not go down too well with true blue hip hop heads who followed him earlier on, and unfortunately I think I am one of those. I hate to say that - as I love artists who can break away from a successful sound and forge a new path, but this album sees a total shift in genre. This is not in any way to suggest that it's a bad album, far from it, as pop music goes this is better than most. The production is impeccable, the beats strong and the whole thing floats on a multi textured bed of strings, samples and synths.

I can really respect this shift in direction. The change we all saw in Shadow's The Outsider seemed to come from a bitter resentment that all and sundry were making careers off his sound and the piece of shit he gave us was supposed to give a two fingered salute. The Third Hand however seems to come from a more genuine, honest place and is just the sound of an artist wanting to move on from where he started no matter how good a place that was.

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#BC

16th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Lavender Diamond

The Cavalry Of Light

Rough Trade

This EP from Los Angeles based Lavender Diamond seems to be creating a frenzy at the moment, first with Matador snapping up the North American rights and then Rough Trade taking Europe. It's not hard to see why - with the band acting as a "a vehicle for the astonishing vocals and buoyant worldview of Becky Stark."

Stark's superb classical vocals give the record a timeless quality that is best compared to something out of NYC's Brill Building in the sixties, probably penned by Carole King. The crisp production and piano-led sound are familiar and engaging, but strangely unlike much of the music around at the moment.

You Broke My Heart (Listen here - Windows Media) is a tight, highly strung number - gently increasing the pressure as it builds up and up, with it's gentle sound hiding the heart-breaking undertone of it's message.

Ballad Please (Listen here - Windows Media) iis the most Carole King-esque of the tracks, with it's distinct, sad nostalgia. Lavender Diamond tread a careful line between the singer-songwriter side of seventies LA and the problem-solving of Andrew Lloyd Webber, but In Heaven There Is No Heat (Listen here - Windows Media) ilands things on the CSNY side of the fence.

Currently supporting the Decemberists on their European tour, the band will have a full length album out in May which I eagerly look forward to.

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12th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Ghost

In Stormy Nights

Ghost first came to my attention as the backing band for ex-Galaxie 500 maestros Damon & Naomi, on their timeless album "With Ghost". To this day it's an a permanent favourite, with the soft folk sounds creating a gentle, complex base for the soaring, beautiful vocals.

In Stormy Nights sees the band release their ninth album through Drag City, and Masaki Batoh leads his rotating band of followers though a varied, eclectic range of songs and styles, drawing from a diverse range of musical styles.

The opening sounds of Motherly Bluster were exactly what I was expecting, with Batoh's thick Japanese accent presiding over a textured layer of sounds and acoustic guitar. However, second track Hemicyclic Anthelion is a 28 minute marathon of experimentation that unfortunately drifts along without much focus or direction. Akin to hanging around in a late night Tokyo tube station, I rarely find myself in a situation or mood to listen to it. As a result it disrupts the flow of the album, which without it only clocks in at 5 songs / 30 minutes.

Things bang back into action with the military stomp of Water Door Yellow Gate, sounding like a Japanese Nick Cave poisoned poem. Gareki No Toshi segues on from this, with distorted shouts and sound effects sounding like a Fugazi rehearsal session (the opening of Birthday Pony is actually the track I'm thinking of - for you Fugazi heads).

Most comparable to This Mortal Coil, Ghost has much of the same eclectic feel, with strange successes (such as the rambling bagpipes on Caledonia) and unfortunate failings. Moody soundscapes and soundtracks are often misplaced, and seem at odds with each other - rather than sounding like a cohesive body of work by one artist. While the final track Grisaille brings hints of the captivating acid-folk charm that I heard on Damon & Naomi with Ghost, for the most part those moments are unfortunately often drowned out.

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10th Feb 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

His Name Is Alive

Detrola

4AD

4 years ago His Name Is Alive released Last Night which would prove to be their final outing with longstanding partners 4AD. Now they resurface with Detrola, their debut for the aptly named Reincarnate Music and after repeated listens this proves to justify the wait. Sounding like a best of compilation of the band Detrola is a very rewarding listening experience spanning many tempos and moods. After the ever increasing applause of the introduction that turns into a deafening wave of noise the listener settles into some of the warmest and sublime avant-pop produced by this band for years.

I Thought I Saw is perfect lounge jazz while In My Dreams is more of a pushier, synth driven affair. *C*A*T*S* is the standout peak of the album, and with it this band reach new heights of song craft perfection. Lovetta Pippen's sweet vocals are simply heart melting and dance effortlessly around the delicate beat and layered textures. Though nothing after this quite reaches its heights the mood is sustained and the beauty maintained until Send My Face ends things on a somber note and makes you want to start over again.

Detrola mixes a spot on blend of glitchy power pop, melancholic soul and soaring beauty with such refreshing playfulness. It's broody and sexy yet profoundly heart breaking. In My Dreams' innocent lyric sums it all up perfectly. "It's so beautiful, it's like a 6 it's like a 9."

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9th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Hours

Narcissus Road

The Hours is the brainchild of Martin Slattery and Antony Genn - veterans of various bands and production credits from Unkle to Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. Slattery's keyboard work for the likes of Black Grape is an instant reference on the album, which begins well with a tense opening piano beat that threatens to explode but never does. This is the structure of much of the album and it really works. Antony Genn's vocals are intense and urgent and come at you with an Interpol-like might. These are epic songs and this is totally down to a great use of restraint. The rarely let go and so retain the tension throughout the album.

Lyrically it's a mixed bag. All In The Jungle repeats the excellent line "The greatest comeback since Lazarus" and builds up a nice boxing story with Ali fight samples over the end, but then a few tracks later you get this..."I love you more than all my hooded tops, I love you more than Tony Soprano and for those who don't know me that's a fuck of a lot." The song has the same tension as the other songs but the lyrics are laughable. They seem to be tongue in cheek but are sung with such seriousness. I mean who doesn't love Mr. Soprano and every now and again I could be seen in a hooded top but I wouldn't use them to declare my undying love for someone. Unfortunately this song undermines things and makes for the rest of the album difficult listening - emphasised later on with a dose of fucking swearing. I like a dose of Explicit Lyrics as much of the next time, but it's so unnecessary here that it just seems trite in the context of these often operatic storylines. It's like sitting through a family gathering when your 90 year old granddad could come out with anything at any time and you're just waiting for it.

The slow jams like Icarus don't work as well as the others. They fall into the Coldplay/Snow Patrol grey area and are left behind by the strength of their pent-up counterparts. Murder Or Suicide disappears off into a fantastic piano based instrumental pounding session which really hammers home the fact that the piano is definitely man of the match here.

This is a debut with more than its fair share of promise but it seems far too aware of itself. It's too literal and sometimes takes itself way too seriously. It's no surprise that Jarvis Cocker is a fan of these guys as storytelling third-person lyrics are his forte but The Hours don't have the kitchen sink wit that made Cocker's work so original.

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9th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Arcade Fire

Neon Bible

Rough Trade

In 2005 the Arcade Fire gave us Funeral - and with it music was exciting again. No sooner had the music industry heard all 10 songs that it set about desperately trying to find the next source of this feeling. The well timed release of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah saw that band ride this wave with another stunningly exciting debut. So it's 2 years on and Clap Your Hands got in there first with their reply, so what of Neon Bible? Is this a one trick pony? Well, what do you do after such a powerful debut? As we are seeing with Some Loud Thunder, the answer is to play it cool and take it all down a notch. No such idea ever crossed the mind of Win Butler and co. when making Neon Bible. The agenda is clear here, take everything great about Funeral and times it by ten - reveal the iceberg. It's the sound of a band who know full well that they make big music. The best word to describe Neon Bible is massive. If you intend to listen to this album you will need to brush up on 'The Platoon Position', as mid way through the opening track Black Mirror you'll find yourself in need of a suitable body position to justify such grandiosity. It's triumphant music which is surprising considering all the previous themes of death, resentment and wasted life are at its heart and the inclusion of war and the demise of America it's thematically pretty bleak. Musically and stylistically it hasn't changed much from Funeral although it seems quite obvious that someone's been listening to Bruce Springsteen. So with the immortal words of The Boss "Just wrap your legs round these velvet ribs and strap your hands across my engines,"  I will begin with what will undoubtedly become a tired and over-used driving/cars metaphor to describe this album.

If the opening track with its rumble of thunder and deep, pounding drums is akin to the feeling of getting behind the wheel of a high performance vehicle then Keep The Car Running is the point where you come over the brow of a hill and see the open road ahead. The delicate guitar strum at the start hints at the pace ahead and makes your heart flutter with impending excitement.

Title track Neon Bible is the early stop at the service station to refuel when all women and children hear the words they dread. "Get what you need cos we're not stopping again." And with Intervention we are most certainly back at full speed. It's the grandest song on the album, shit it's the fucking grandest song this side of God Save The Queen (National Anthem not Sex Pistols.) Anyone frowning at my use of cuss words will see that they certainly are justified. Starting with a chapel organ the size of St Pauls Cathedral if every hair on your body doesn't stand on end consider yourself paralyzed. I don't know how this song will be played live as no building with a roof could possibly contain it.

Black Wave is pure Blondie with it's sublime melodies courtesy of Regine Chassagne, who until now has been the power house behind the backing vocals. Ocean Of Noise brings things down a notch with it's washes of strings and soft vocals but the driver of this car wasn't joking when he said we wouldn't be stopping again. This was merely a momentary drop in intensity before the full mariachi band bring this song to a glorious close.

The Well And The Lighthouse comes in with rapid pounding drums and Butler's frenzied vocals forever building and with Antichrist Television Blues The Boss really comes to the forefront. With it's strumming acoustic structure, passion fueled tales of working for the minimum wage and unstoppable tempo this would make Bruce wish he'd written it. As do many of these songs this one builds and builds to such tremendous heights then suddenly stops and makes you think that had it not stopped so suddenly you could very easily have shit yourself with joy. Windowsill is more of a slow builder but guess what, it lifts you up on yet another earth shattering wave of sound and rings you out at the end.

The inclusion of No Cars Go is the only questionable element to this album. Having heard its original form on the early EP this feels like all too familiar territory and even though it's been working out since its first appearance its inclusion here still feels a bit unnecessary.

Things are brought to an exhaustive close with My Body Is A Cage and please welcome back on to the stage, the huge fucking chapel organ. "My body is a cage that keeps me from dancing with the one I love, but my mind holds the key," sings Butler "Set my body free." This song is the end of a movie, it's the unfeasible tracking-crane-shot that lifts from close proximity and keeps on lifting, encompassing everything, showing us the whole picture. And with it's climax your body drops from the Platoon Position and though all your senses try to stop you, you press play again.

So to put this tired metaphor to rest, this is an awesome journey that covers a lot of ground. It never hits traffic, it sometimes slows down for safety reasons while passing through small villages but never opts for monotonous motorway driving and always takes the scenic route.

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7th Feb 2007 - 6 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Hot Gossip

Angles

Ghost Records

My finger is about 789 miles away from the pulse of what’s the shit and what’s just plain shit, but if Milan’s Hot Gossip aren’t the name on every groover’s lips at the moment, then I don’t want to be anywhere near that pulse, or the stinking corpse it used to work for.

At least that’s what I thought on hearing track 1of their debut album Angles - a straight to it 1 minute riff, with some proper meat behind it and has the balls to call itself ‘Intro’. What an introduction, sadly the rest of the album doesn’t quite live up to this, admittedly high, early promise.  It’s like being told you are going to spend the night with Christina Ricci and then end up with Charlotte Church.  Sure, it’s still going to be fun, with some obvious ups and surprises along the way - but after a while, when the pace slackens, you’ll be thinking about what might have been.

In summary - a nice slice of hardcore pop that lives up to its angular title. Better than a lot of stuff I’ve heard recently and ones to keep an ear out for.

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7th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Desert Hearts

Hotsy Totsy Nagasaki

Gargleblast / No Dancing

It's always a delight to put on a new album by a band you've never heard of and get some instant satisfaction, and it's a surprising uncommon situation.

I can openly admit that I had never heard of Desert Hearts before, and certainly never heard their 2002 debut album - Let's Get Worse. Released through Rough Trade in 2002, that album got some good reviews from the likes of Mojo and Uncut, but never really broke through... instead settling for 'cult classic' status - apparently evident my the number of myspace users using it's track titles as their moniker. This is certainly not a band that you would associate with myspace however, and what is even more surprising is the news that the band is from Belfast. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course, just that their sound is so American, with it's blend of Pavement/Fugazi/Misc American Indie.

Opener D Moon Pilot's version of a slow Fugazi shuffle quickly dispenses with the vocals to power up some extra hardware and get this party started. Sea Punk is pure Pavement with it's instrumental licks and arrangements, overlaid with Charlie Mooney's deceptively pleasant vocals ...but again with this track and the next vocals often play second fiddle to the guitars.

This three piece can unleash when necessary and they often do. While it's title might suggest one thing, the furious groove of Central Line suggests nothing of the sort.

Roisin Stewarts vocals add another element to their sound in power pop jam Ocean - beefed up by Mooney's back up vocals. Once again the guitars show they really know how to rock, and perhaps the Andy Miller production credit can offer some explanation. As well as showing some of the roots of the band's sound, his previous credits of Arab Strap and Mogwai do give the album some non-American reference points - particularly Mogwai's slow building rhythms and lines. Goodbye Everything's strong bass line builds slowly, with slight lyrics build around an instrumental esque jam that would site happily on a Tortoise or Mogwai album.

This is a surprising record, and one that will hopefully keep expanding as I spend more time with it.... hopefully cementing it's current place as one of this year's early favourites.

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5th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The View

Hats Off To The Buskers

With Owen Morris (Oasis, The Verve) at the production controls The View have upped their game and produced an energetic album with plenty of hits that could give the Arctic Monkeys a chill.

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5th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Shins

Wincing The Night Away

Sub Pop

Anyone not taken with the first two albums by The Shins - 'Chutes too Narrow' and 'Oh. Inverted Word' - won't find anything here to convince them otherwise. Those, on the other hand, who found them to be a refreshing breeze of Beatle-ish pop should be satisfied, as 'Wincing the Night Away' is basically more of the same 'It shouldn't work but it does' formula.

Opener, 'Sleeping Lessons' has already edged into the leading pack of my favourite Shins' songs. The band obviously feel comfortable that they have a committed fan base, so start the song off slowly; main-man James Russell Mercer singing over looping keyboard scales, before the rest of the band confidently crash in after 2 and a half minutes. First single 'Phantom Limb' sounds a bit cheesy at first, but is a grower (there's that Shins formula).

Things take a slight left turn with 'Sealegs' slowing it down and making good use of a new drum machine, the squelchy synth solo at the end gets dangerously twee however. But hey. This is The Shins. The band that Natalie Portman said would change your life, in the film ' Garden State' and if there is one thing I'm sure of in life, it's that when Natalie Portman talks to me, I listen and I listen hard.

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2nd Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Deerhoof

Friend Opportunity

ATP

You get a fair idea about a band who have a touring list as diverse as Deerhoof's. Radiohead, The Roots and Wilco are but a few, and not every band would appeal to such a varied range of fans. That's because Deerhoof are not just any band. They used to be a good band who made intriguing and challenging unclassifiable pop music. Now they are great band who are just as unclassifiable but produce such sublime musical moments that will undoubtedly shape your life if you let them. They're the kind of band that have the power to make you feel smug if you get them and embarrassed if you don't and for the last 13 years they have kept us wondering if we do truly get them.

With their new album Friend Opportunity a lot of questions are answered. They seem to have listened to their previous album The Runners Four the same way I did and come to similar conclusions. They've taken all that was great about that album and crafted this one. They've trimmed away a lot of the avant guard sprawl that they started with back in the day making Friend Opportunity a beautifully paced and refreshingly brief delight.

Satomi Matsuzaki's achingly sweet, candy-pop vocals are given full range here and are perfectly contrasted and complimented by the thrilling brut force power pop that drives this sugar coated juggernaut. The album hits the ground running with The Perfect Me. It's driving guitar opener is abruptly punctuated with Matsuzaki's Roadrunner like lyrics, "Meet me, meet me, meet the perfect me." and it's somewhere during this song that you begin to suspect that these words herald the beginning of a glorious introduction to the perfect Deerhoof.

There is no point in describing each high point here as it changes every time I listen to the record. At the moment Believe E.S.P is doing it for me in a big way, but last week it was Wither The Invisible Birds? This is where this album shifts gear and gracefully pulls away from its predecessors. It's a wondrously orchestrated landscape in which Satomi's voice spreads its wings and soars to new heights. It ceases to be sugar pop and blossoms before your ears into sublime maturity.

Unfortunately however for a band like Deerhoof one cannot sit comfortably through these wonderful moments. They're not out to please unconditionally and there's always a lesson or two that needs to be taught. The album finishes with Look Away, a 12 minute marathon of feet shuffling noise that very nearly undoes all the good work that went before. But as it finally fizzles out you realise that lurking in this irritation lies the reason you love this band. It's not the kind of song you want to hear again but without its threat the whole experience wouldn't be anywhere near as thrilling and the success of this album rests in the balance between this threat and the delivery of pure unrivaled joy.

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2nd Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Soho Venue Bar, London

With their second album Some Loud Thunder about to hit the shelves, Brooklyn's Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are in the UK for a promotional tour - starting with this low-key gig at TVFKARRB (The Venue Formerly Known As Raymond's Revue Bar). Currently called "Soho Revue Bar", the venue is in the legendary former strip club (poles still intact) at the bottom of Berwick St. It's a nice little place, with Goodfellas style table lamps and velvet booths - and the perfect place for a little warm-up gig like this.

The band showed up on stage a little late and seemed slightly nervous about things as they kicked of the show. Alec Ounsworth led his band through the proceedings, sticking mainly with the new album for a while - with "Love Song No 7" and "Underwater (You and Me)" sounding particularly good.

There were certainly some sound problems in the venue, with a partial power cut through one song. The band were certainly in no hurry however, meaning the momentum of the show was often lost a little between tracks - but when things picked up and the chatty crowd quietened down the band showed some of their magic. While some of the new songs seemed a little under developed and malnourished in a live setting there were plenty of highlights. "Satan Said Dance" has been in live rotation for a while now and it showed - fast, tight and furious guitars rolling along to a pounding beat. "Yankee Go Home" was beefed up from it's album version - with a Brian May-esque guitar solo added for good measure. Out of the context of the (possibly over-produced) album, the songs true strengths have more of a chance to shine through - and while there is still plenty of room for development, a handful of the new tracks were already standing up well next to old favourites like "In This Home On Ice" (described as a 'song about ice') and "Details of the War" - which was stretched out here like a long-lost Neil Young classic.

45 minutes later and the show is wrapped up, with the epic first album closer "Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood" proving to be the final track. A Wedding Present style guitar frenzy classic that showed plenty of what this band is capable... and will hopefully be delivering for many more years to come.

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1st Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Various Artists

Paris Calling

Bonus Tracks Records

'Allo Allo. This is Paris Calling.' It turns out 2003 was an important year for French music, with The White Stripes, The Strokes and The Libertines all touring new material; and whilst this tight-trousered triumvirate may not be obviously Gaelic in origin, their musical charms crossed various seas and passed into the ears of a bunch of young friends in Paris, who picked up guitars, formed a number of bands and let rip unto the world their take on Jack, Julian and one man crime wave Pete's rock n roll philosophy.

And if that paragraph felt like it was struggling for breath, well screw you old man - these kids aren't hanging around with their cocksure energy and sexy French cool dammit! Such is the adoration of the above music, the compilation could well be called 'Paris Calling: the state of UK guitar music today.' Most of the songs are sung in English and at times the music is a note for note sound alike of some of Britain's finest. Special mention to the Hellboys and Les Shades (great name - sound like a new wave oldboy down at the Royal Variety) who stick to singing in French, which gives them a bit more attitude and the four girls of Plasticines, who sound like Sleater-Kinney meets Gang of Four and are definitely due further research.

So if you are tired of the exposure of The Kooks, The (Arctic) Monkeys, The Razorlights etc but still get a kick from the tunes, then this is a safe bet to play on a Friday night, before wrapping on a long scarf, sucking on a non-filter and heading out into the streets with your crew, looking every inch the two-page fashion shoot.

Listen to the whole album here:

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1st Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Working For A Nuclear Free City

Rocket

It's no secret these days that the kids are wearing the rock trousers and they're in danger of showing up their older and wiser counterparts when it comes to sheer quantity of quality. The much favored Arctic Monkeys are still fresh from a prize winning debut and we already have enough new material from them to fill another. Likewise Working For A Nuclear Free City gave us their self titled debut late last year and here we are in January with a fantastic 4 track ep of songs not only new but that display a definite progression.

This ep shows a more mature sound and will go some way to dispel the Stone Roses comparison which was so tempting in their debut. Opening track "Rocket" shuffles its feet beautifully for the first half then explodes with a cacophony of just about every instrument available and the result is thrilling. The boys do it again with "Heaven Kissing Hill" which starts with an Arab Strap style monologue which then opens up into soaring instrumentals. This song ends with the same beard stroking spoken word but soon crumbles into laughter showing this bands refreshing ability to not take itself too seriously. Another great instrumental master-class follows then things are brought to a close with "Stone Cold". This revisits their earlier Roses sound but still works and judging by the first 3 tracks and this songs title this closer could be the bands way of laying to rest their previous influences and preparing the ground for new seeds. But we shall have to wait and see what's in store for this band but if this little taster is anything to go by it could come at any time and the chances of quality is pretty high.

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31st Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Early Years

The Great Awakening

Beggars Banquet

With their debut LP only recently slipping from heavy rotation, The Early Years are already back in business. While their outstanding debut had it's fair share of 5 star classics - it did somehow have a hint that the best was yet to come with these guys. In between a lot of touring and shows (including a brief stint as the backing band to Can's Damo Suzuki), plus ramping up the debut album for release in the US, the band have still found time to record four completely new tracks for this EP.

Stomping first tune Say What I Want To plays on all of the debut albums strengths, pounding beats layer and build upon like a tidal wave. On Fire applies the same method, but with a minimal electronica slant. There's a slight Edge jangle to the guitars on those last few tracks - which give it a nice 80's indie sound, almost on a Stones Roses vibe.

As The Early Years start to meet their early promise, let's hope that things only get better and a second album builds even further in the same direction.... Viva ze Early Years!

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31st Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

LCD Soundsystem

Sound Of Silver

These days fashion is a major player in making an album hit or miss - and James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem proved this in 2005 when their self titled debut took everyone by storm. It being the right time for their blend of self referencing, witty beat punk wasn't the only reason it was such a success. The album was full of well crafted, intelligent music which set the bar high for their second installment. "Sound Of Silver" sees them take stock of all that has gone before and move on confidently.

'Get Innocuous' creeps in with a whisper and the album is off to a perfect start. A 2 minute gently rolling beat intro is the frame work for Murphy's unassuming vocals. This could be vintage Talking Heads if it wasn't for the fiercely electronic structure. It tells us from the outset that some new strings have been added to this bow and to start the difficult second album off with a 7 minute piece of lushness like this sends out a message of confidence and progression. 'Time To Get Away' revisits old ground with wailing vocals stabbing at stuttering beats but the new ideas soon return. 'Someone Great' opens with an almost Top Gun theme morphing into Human League synths and the stand out track 'All My Friends' continues the 80's synth revival with a more piano led driving beat that never pauses and could go on forever. James Murphy's vocals are taken down a notch as in the opening track and the result of this change is stunning. Its relentlessness is awesome and even though the pace never changes you feel as if you're building up to something powerful. As in the best Joy Division moments it's this combination of a rolling bass structure, subtly building vocals and the guts to take a song past the 4 minute mark that make this album memorable.

This is a band settling into their sound and a displaying a progression that shows a lot of maturity. Their 2005 debut was perfect for that time both in content and style. Murphy's DFA label was huge, pioneering a very exciting electro/indie crossover and the sound that emerged from the labels history was fresh and a generation of super-cool indie kids were more than ready to accept Murphy's blend of synth beats and abrasive punk musings even though his lyrics often ridiculed the image conscious demographic that followed him. But since then the elctro-punk style has become somewhat tired so this album couldn't have been easy for the band. Talking Heads have been the principle influence for some of the best bands to emerge in the last 3 years and they certainly feature here. But this influence has brought a more earthy sound to LCD and that's where the maturity lies. Just as with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Some Loud Thunder we see a band who after making people sit up and take notice of their first statement are now settling in for the long-haul and although they've eased off on the gas they're making music with more depth and durability.

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30th Jan 2007 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

You have to admire Damon Albarn's continuing ventures into pasture new. Rather than resting on his laurels after his hugely successful Gorillaz project, he has assembled an impressive line-up of Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Afro-beat drummer Tony Allen for his new unnamed band. The single 'Herculean' was a tantilising taster of great things to come.

Although having the feeling of being a slow burner, the record fails somewhat in living up to it's impeccable credentials. That is not to say it is bad, but it drifts by in a haze rather than grabbing hold of you. Talks of this being Albarn's masterpiece are way off the mark, it has more similarities with Thom Yorke's Eraser album in being a good but not great side project.

Massive Attack did the urban / paranoid / dub thing much more convincingly ten years ago.

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29th Jan 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Pop Levi

The Return To Form Black Magick Party

Counter

Ninja Tune have always been a label full of surprises. It has stretched and flexed to accomodate the ever increasing and varied tastes of its creators, but with Pop Levi they seem to have met their match. So they created a spin-off label just for him and give us the debut offering The Return To Form Black Magick Party. Only an artist of shameless arrogance could describe their debut as a return to form - and that's exactly what we have here. Born in London, Pop laid his early musical roots in Liverpool then moved to LA in pursuit of the 'magick' that he sees at the very heart of great music. Making up one third of free-thinking, post rock trio and fellow Ninja's Super Numeri, then playing bass for Ladytron Pop decided to go it alone and released his first EP "Blue Honey" on Counter Records in September last year. Then hot on its heals he gives us this. Mark Bolan is an instant point of recognition in Pop's sound but throughout this album we see glimpses of Prince, Dylan, Hendrix and even Jack White. But as with all quality music these influences, don't in any way confuse the sound that Pop has crafted for himself. That sound isn't easily explained as it keeps on changing. There's a very hand crafted feel to it with layers of acoustic and electric guitars punctuating washes of percussion, but this all often fed through some sort of machine and the Pop Levi sound is churned out the other side.

From the opening single, 'Sugar Assault Me Now,' it's quite clear that this is the doorway to a world far removed from our own. A world of astral energy where reality and disbelief are suspended and anything is possible. The first two tracks get things started at break-neck speed with a cacophony of stabbing guitars, fuzzy bass and more than enough hand claps. Things are taken down a notch with '(A Style Called) Cryin' Chic' with its folk blues meanderings over textured percussion. 'Skip Ghetto' shows Pop's sensitive side with a beautiful dreamy, acoustic little number only to be bitch slapped once again by the most Bolan of songs 'Dollar Bill Rock'.

The whole album follows this up and down formation, painting a very rich picture of this mans talents. It's contemplative and at the same time immensely uplifting. It's relaxing and floaty then foot tappingly addictive. It can appear to be conforming to every current fashion then rejecting it all in an instant. 'The Return To Form's' listening experience is just as up and down. On the first few plays it is thrilling and refreshing but I have to admit that the constant use of repetition in the lyrics does give it an air of emptiness. But hey it's pop music and not every moment has to move you to tears. There are plenty of moving moments here but most of them are on a level totally their own. The album makes you move and it makes you want to tell people about it. It oozes so much arrogance and confidence that it can only have been conceived by an artist with a very unique outlook on making music. It was a wise move for Ninja Tune to create an environment for this man to shine - as he has a lot to say and if this debut is anything to go by he has a myriad of ways to say it.

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29th Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The King Khan & BBQ Show

What's for Dinner?

In The Red Records

Imagine if you will that it's Saturday night back in good old 1955 and you're on your way to the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance at your local high school. You've heard rumours of a scuffle going down tonight and lo and behold in the car park, amid a crowd of onlookers, lies the badly beaten body of the school geek George McFly. You walk on without pausing - because lets face it, he had it coming. Further on, you come across evidence of another more curious showdown. 5 well dressed guys lie sprawled out on the road and judging by their attire you realise that some heavy shit has just gone down. This is the remains of Marvin Berry and his Starlighters who were due to play at this dance. You ignore the frantic banging coming from the trunk of their low-rider as you race into the hall to find out who will be playing in their place. The first thing you notice is the stunned look on everyones faces as you enter the nautically decorated gymnasium - and as your eyes follow theirs to the source of this horror you know your night is over. The earlier trail of destruction could only have led to this. The stage had been overrun by Biff and his boys - the school bullies - and the sound they are making is indescribable. Popular songs from the hit parade being raped and pillaged in front of your eyes - and at top volume. Someone kicks a speaker over and a panic ensues. In the pandaemonium something hits you hard on the head and everything fades away as you fall to the ground unconscious.

The next thing you know you're in your bed at home and it's the present day. Sitting up in bed you realise that it was all a very bad dream and one you have no wish to repeat. The radio alarm clock clicks on and the sound hits you like a bolt of lightning. The music playing is loud, obnoxious, intrusive and fills your heart with dread. As the DJ announces the band as The King Kahn & BBQ Show you know that the ordeal you have just been through was no dream. That terrible night really happened, but the most terrifying thing of all was that it was still going on and this King Khan is the result of it. They had kept their sound of that night - 50's inspired pop butchery - but it had clearly gathered the grime of the last 50 years and now presented itself as a twisted mutation of Marvin Berry, the punk movement and the unquenchable hostility of those who crashed the Prom. As if that's not bad enough you find yourself quite liking it, it's catchy and as you lean over to turn it up you see that its 8.25 am. Damn! You're late for school!

#Music
#BC

27th Jan 2007 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet