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
i . A. THE QUEEN’S HALL
CLERK STREET EDINBURGH EH8 91C TELEPHONE 031 668 3456
SCOTLAND'S BUSIEST CONCERT HALL
FEBRUARY
Wed 2 Sat 5
Sun 6 Sun 6
Music From Japan
Scottish Chamber Orchestra BT Scottish Ensemble Hebrides Ensemble
Schubert Ensemble ofLondon
Wine Tasting
Barbican Piano Trio Scottish Chamber Orchestra Michel Petrucciani
Suede
Friends of Scottish Opera Steven Osborne
Dougie Maclean
Dougie Maclean
Carol Kidd
Kings Consort Workshop Kings Consort
Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra
Chamber Group of Scotland Sally Scott-Jupp
The Rankin Family
Scottish Chamber Orchestra SCO Chamber Ensemble Tori Amos
TUesEB MkulQ Thur10 Ffi11 Sat12 Sun13 Tues 15 \Ned16 Thur17 FWi18 Sat19 Sat19 Sun20
Mon 21 Wed 23 Fri 25 Sat 26 Sun 27 Mon 28
For details of our programme, free mailing list or concert saver card please call our box office on 031 668 2019
The List 28 January—10 February 1994 39