RECORD REVIEWS MUSIC

mam.

I Forkeye: P.l.6. (linen Condition) Edinburgh‘s Human Condition Records continues to demonstrate that it’s an eclectic indie outpost by punting Forkeye's sub- industrial punk metal alongside The Naked See‘s ever-improving melodic melange. This album has been kicking about List Towers for a while. probably because we‘re all too pussy to give it a decent shot. As with the live thing. Forkeye sound like a great idea for about fifteen minutes. an antidote to Scotland's more typically languorous endeavours. but before you reach ‘Tuna Turner’. round about when you hit (or get hit by) ‘Offski‘ and ‘Rantzen Damage Cut‘. you gradually realise the Solpadeine isn‘t working; and for someone who wasn‘t raised on the powerdrill mechanics of Big Black or Butthole Surfers there's no option but to admit you‘re not man enough to take it. And I‘m not man enough to take it because. in fact. l’m not a man at all. Er. . . I seem to have sustained some cranial damage in the process of reviewing this particular waxing . . . (Fiona Shepherd)

I Rock, Salt 8. llails: Waves (Iona Records) lnfusing their native Shetland tunes with an edge of bluegrass. Rock. Salt & Nails give the traditional reels and wistful airs on Waves a finger-pickin' lilt. Likewise. ‘The Arkansas Traveller‘. a traditional bluegrass tune. benefits from the extra kick of the Shetland treatment. The happy marriage is boosted by the inclusion of bass and drums. generating a full. rounded sound and providing a boppy and populist twist. RS&N are at their best with their own songs. however. particularly ‘The Iron Horse' and ‘The Man That Ate Mountains‘ which betray a youthful and smouldering intensity beneath the obvious gaiety of their traditional repertoire. (Thom Dibdin)

I Jail Fair a llaotumi lshimaru: Halt Robot (Paperhouse) Just who Naofumi lshimaru is possibly not even Paperhouse know; but J ad Fair has carved himself a place as the human face of rock. Spontaneous. courageous. unselfconscious. he‘s anathematic to what passes for ‘good music‘ these days. Call him the Crown Prince of Weird and he‘d shake his head sadly. for you'd be missing the point. but he might not be too offended if you filed this album under ‘experimental'.

And. yes. the word ‘discordant‘ could probably be applied at certain junctures. Over 75 tracks. some only a few seconds long. Fair and lshimaru shriek. wail and mumble over twitchy percussion. cheapo electronic effects and various unidentifiable objects. Some tracks even have intelligible lyrics. the best of which are by the late Ernest Noyes Brookings. poet laureate of the twilight home. set to musical backings which sound like a three-way tussle between Jonathan Richman. The Residents and an acid-spiked Japanese folk band. One of the oddest records of an unconventional career.

(Alastair Mabbott)

I Various: Time Warp Dub Clash (Mango) ln l98I. a bunch of relatively soft reggae tracks from the likes of

" Burning Spear. Black

Uhuru and The Paragons were re-mixed. Bass and drums were brought upfront to make the whole sound harder and the rest of the track dropped in with judicious use of reverb and echo units. to make one of the classic - and most psychedelic

3 dub albums of the time:

i

Raiders ()f'l'lte Lost Dub. Mango have once again stepped up to the controls and re-issued the album (previously deleted at the behest of killjoy Steven

. Spielberg!). adding nine

new tracks of 90s dub. To Mango‘s credit. they have licensed songs from some of the hardest. most imaginative Sounds

f around: Alpha and ' Omega. Mad Professor.

1

the mighty Jah Shaka.

«. Dub Syndicate and . Mixman. As dub clashes

go. this is a dead-heat

. which knocks pretenders

like The Orb into a piss- pot. A crucial introduction to the wonders of dub. Bong out: Bass up! (Thom Dibdin)

I Richard Kirk: Virtual State (Warp) Captain Kirk

of the electronic division.

flying high squadron. has

always undertaken the

bravest. most pioneering

3 of missions. With the arty-

Beefhearty Cabaret Voltaire. With Sweet Exorcist‘s invention of

pre-rave ‘bleep’ music.

And now. on Britain’s

most innovative label.

with a whole new

mechanical lexicon so

lithesome that terms like

‘phuture-funk‘. ‘alien

techno”. ‘digital poetry‘

barely hint at the

dazzlineg inventive

never-heard-before

soundtracks within.

Melding organic and

primal samples. rhythms

and textures with the

lingua nova of the so-

called ‘intelligent techno’

revolution. the result is

armchair time-travel. a

Serengheti of virtual

space. a seamlessjungle

of constantly undulating

new frequency bands.

First Underworld. now

this pole-vault to the far

side of the future. What a

great month for the real

new wave. (Calvin Bush)

I I Freakwater: Feels like

i The Third Time (City

3 Slang) Where Garth

i Brooks drops the country

baton. Freakwater cradle it with glee. As on The Palace Brothers' There Is No-One What Will Take

I Care Of You, Feels Like

i The Third Time is black

and white country. grainy

and sepia-tinted and

calling down the decades.

But unlike the Brothers. Freakwater don't need to

peddle hillbilly madness to authenticate their folk

' music. Imagine Woody

' Guthrie and kd lang‘s

Honky Tonk Angels

married off. and marvel at

i this beautiful. age-old.

. right-now music. (Craig

: McLean)

! I lies Damned lies: The

3 Human Dress (Sticky

i Music) Recorded last

3 summer. live in a church

3 in Glasgow (‘no overdubs'). the Ayrshire trio’s third album expands

i and extends the ideas they

3 hit upon so memorably

5 with 1992's Flying Kites.

The raritied atmosphere. combined with the meandering spirituality of the songs themselves. can

wear down. coming over

; as too reverent and too

t uptight. Overall. though.

. LDL‘s neat synthesis of

ambient keyboard

atmospherics and relaxed

j gospel-pop makes for an

: hour-long mind-trip where

3 you’re back before you

even notice you‘d left.

(Craig McLean)

-Mon7

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The List 28 January—10 February 1994 39