RECORD REVIEWS MUSIC
I Honeycrack: Prozaic (EPTC) With a leyel of crisp guitar noise that‘s as excessiye as gunplay lit a Tarantino tttoy'ie. Honeycrack’s dehut alhuni ptits an infectious grin onto the friendlier face of new British rock. .-\ do/eti catchy ditties with the energy of a glucose rush. close harmonies that Simon and Garfunkel would have killed for seems like guitarist (‘..l. is still yy ild ttt heart. l)on't he fooled by titles like 'l Hate Myself .-\tid l'iyeryhody lilse' or current single 'King Of Misery". l’ro/aic sottiids like a happy drug and this collection is a steady dose of uppers. like the hands natne suggests isexual stuff aside). it's all syyeet and etiipty. t.»\lan .\lorrisoni
I Scheer: infliction (4A0) .-\n alhum for those who originally sayy The (‘ranherries as trndouhtedly .-\ (iood Thing. htit quickly retracted that \ ieyy. Vocalist Audrey (iallaghet‘ has the same slightly
folky inflections as Dolores hut not to the tlte same irritating degree and sings far more ahstriise and intriguing lyrics too. Where The (‘ranhert‘ies can only aspire to the turmoil they 'd like to conyey. Scheer manage to yyhip tip a hlack storm
oyer most of this dehut alhtrtit. When the guitar maelstrom dies away and all is calnr you could he forgiyeti for losing interest. hoyyeyer. let‘s hope Scheer plan to keep
rocking the hoat. tl-‘iona
Shepherd i I Have Graney ’N’ The Coral Snakes: Night Of The Wolverine (This Way Up) This is a richly textured. loyingly crafted. iriaturely deyeloped hut frequently dull collection of songs. The Australian (iraney atid his hacking hand need a change of pace. The main focal poitit. among all the rippling pianos. gently tickled guitars arid measured rhythms. are (iraney's peculiarly unstahle yocals atid his finely constructed lytictsiii. (iraney ohy iottsly puts a lot of time into his lyrics. hut alter a ys hile his efforts suffer from the consistent lack of tiielody around him. (iraney may conjure
y W
Honeycrack: the friendlier face of new British rock
up some suitably dark and resonant atmospheres. but his hand seem content to merely frame tltese stories iii tasteful decoration. rather than helping to illustrate the picture. which is a shame. (Phil Miller)
I Jale: So Wound (Sub Pop) Suh l’op‘s .lale hit'ds
sitig syyeetly hitt not sickly
on a yariety of positiy'e-
negatiye suhjects on this iiiulti-tonal collection. So there's a few cleyer harhs arid slice-of-life tales mixed iii with the romantic yyonderment stuff they do so well (such as one of the album highlights 'lley lley' i. and on the deliyery side they can sound as strident as the Juliana Hatfield/Tanya l)onnelly college girl yocal style alloyys. They don't rock like \'et‘tica Salt htrt at least this quartet rememhet'ed to write some songs hefore committing their set to alhum. il‘iona Shepherdi
I Billy Jenkins and The Fun Horns: East/West (Babel) This Anglo- (iernian collahoration‘s illitijtr'ir "/4 alhuni should he iii eyery collection. and space should he ntadc alongside it for this studio set. recorded txyo days later iii a rush of manic creatix ity. then painstakingly mixed for the hest part of tyyo years. As tisttal \y itli .lenkins. a serioustlieme nothing less than the ttioiiiunificationo1 (iertiiany as a metaphor for the state of contemporary liurope treated in .i kaleidoscopic mixture of hugely energised improx ised playing on the likes of "lirahants liito The Sunset‘. anarchic irruptrons of tagged sound. arid the hi/arre parody of sloxyly disintegrating yet‘sions of 70s hits like The Carpenters noyy re—titled 'tNotl (‘lose To Yotti. l.ours .-\i'mstrong's '\\'hat .-\ Wonderful World. or the lunacy of 'The l‘nquestioned Answer". The jail. police will call for his head again. htit Jenkins has long since cut free of anything retnotely
resemhling genre
constraints. atid asks simply that you take it or
leay e it on its oyy ii hilarious. pro\ocatiy e arid
3 uriconipromisirig terms.
l
I Graham Collier: Adam’s Marble (Jazz Is) This set folloyx s iii the yy ake of last year’s fine ('I’iitr/ey It’ri'i'r latte/Henry t Boathouse).
arid hoth confirm that
(‘ollier' remains ati original and highly gifted creator of exploratory
music tor large
etisetiihles. His writing
has alyyay s successfully conihined intricate.
challenging arrangements \y itli :i \y ide latitude for
improx isatory freedom. and that is apparent again on all three compositions included here tone of
t which is a topical re-
yisiting of his classic ‘:\hei'deen .-\:igus' i, The mixed ensemhle of young Nash and lirittsh riiiisicrans is not as high- po\yered as the hand on the Boathouse disc. hut they reyel iii the challenge. with highly satisfying results.
I Maneri, Morris, Maneri: Three Men
The three men iii question. reed player .loe .\laneri. his Violinist son Mat. and guitarist Joe Morris. yyalk
an idiosyncratic road amid the neo-hop reyiyalists and dance—floor fusions of current fashion. Their spacious. unencumhei'ed music explores unusual timhral effects. niicrototial interyals atid assymetric rhythms iii a melding together of a free tau, sensihility with a chamber music feel. If that sounds like your kind of thing. check it out. while those with an ear for the unpredictahle should also try to hear Rettaud Garcia- l-ons's hrillrant ."lil’tll't'tl
I Various: The New Groove (Blue Note) The liltte Note Remix Protect Volume I lets such celehrated re-ttiixers as The Angel. 1)] Smash and liasy Mo Be loose on classic tunes from the likes of Donald Byrd and .\'at .-\dderley. through to .lacky 'l‘errasson and Steyte Wonder. The imposition of hip hop‘s regular rhythms onto iii/.7. soloing produces distinctly uneyen results. and there is nothing here that really excites. at least front a ~(an perspectiye. The dance-floor grooye is also the guiding force iii guitarist Ronny Jordan's slick lie/i! '1}: Dark tlslandi. (Kenny .‘xlathiesoiii
The Eclipse presents [hint e '/i// I)(1\t II -‘\‘irgini and takes us hack to the late Nils \yhen raye was the sound of the day and people \y ere ripping around the 3125. hoy racer style. tiiusic hlaring. .loe liloggs gea ‘. smiley faces. happy days. .\nd the music. cheesy yes. htit undeniahly and unashamedly hands in the air. pure adrenalin and drug enhanced rushes. The liclipse was this country is first legal. all— iiiglit dance venue where punters \y ere lucky enough to hear hardcore heroes Kenny Ken arid (iiooyertia'r alongside cteatti of house l)_ls like Sasha and ls'ey'iii Sautiderson. This dotthle ('l) collection hrmgs together some instantly niemorahle tracks. from the fierce ‘lniected \\ tlll _\ l’oison' hy l’i‘aga Khan to (KC \ltisic' l‘actot‘y's ayyesome ‘(ioniia Make You Syyeat'. his art excellent package. \y itli songs that sound as fresh atid exhilarating as they eyer tiltl,
()n the slightly more clillletl from. perfect litil those Sunday itiornmg coiiiedoxy its. is a compilation called .\'eii .lffiltW «(‘hill ()uti. l)on‘t he ptit otf hy the name though. this is far from the Usual amhient electronic
doodltligs. 'l‘here's actually a lot ofgrooxc to he had here. especially on the (an. future ftiiik of
;.\ilti\\l-\i,\ 'lllack .-\nd
\\'hitr" and the stth aquatic acid techno
shuffle of ‘(iloop' hy the ('anihern ell l’ititterflies.
(‘heck also the hottotii heay y. stop-start drum and hass on Joe \itlttith ‘liorttlla‘
'\lso forthcoming is the
neyx .ilhtiiii hy \ornian
(‘imk's Freakpower. entitled .l/im- ()f
lfii'rit/ii/ie lair /;i'i'I'\'/ioi/\'
tlslandi. Highlights include the current single ‘.\'eyy Direction' which is a line and positiyely hi/;irre fusion of ftitik. disco and htihhlitig 303- sty le acid. The hest thing .ihout this record is the sheer diyei‘sity of musical influences and sounds on
Ice T: a return touentic hip hop
offer fioiii soul to |.t//. techno and men ((iod l-Htl‘ltlt l't‘c‘ls check lllt‘ lletidrtxy ‘(L ti You feel It." toi proot or the | enny ls'rayit/vlike 'Road 'liltatlg" (me for music
it“. er s t“. t‘t y \\ ltete
l..ist htit hy no means
least is Ice T’S latest long player. lx’i'frirn (It //l<'
li’i it! i \Tl'y'lll' :\s the title suggests. this is something of .i return to real liip hop for the lceman, ()iit go the oyertly' hardcore political rants like the infamous ‘(iop ls'iller'. to he t‘t'l‘lit‘c‘etl \\ lllt tiltl skittil pimpin'. laid hack gangsta style pieces ltlse ‘l’itiip .'\lllltt‘tt!' and the excellent neyy single ‘I Must Staiid'. it's more relaxed than l/(tlllt' Imus/rut. tiiote street and. as a result. all the liettet' for it tlitii llyers‘
lHE TRASH CAN SlNlllllll
the world isn’t round it’s V
twisted & bent
new single out now as featured .in the film SPOOKTIME “fifteen minutes of drink and sex-sodden ~alcodelia”
The l.ist t* to .\lay two 47