Records
ROCK EELS
Souljacker (Dreamworks. O...
Sou/jacker is t re latest lllSiEtllll(3l‘.I ;r‘ t"(:- charneleonrc career of Eels mainmar‘ f3. Having been a dark pccster. Suicidal rocker and s.;ga" coated ironrst. l- now appears ()l‘ ms ‘::.."t" album as a fucked- ..i:. swamp—riwe‘ling. beard scratching. Sffrléii-Niitl‘f tli)(?l‘-i)itiOSHlétlt. acd t"e results are pretty spectacular. /\ii);..’lt opener ‘Dog Faced B'v.’ sets the sce"c-. a deliberate. defiant shambles ot’ Jei‘ Specs-y" distortion and Poll}. Harvey £1iilill(i(§'.‘.”ll(j" finds its matcl‘ on He likes of neu'.‘ sir‘gle 'Souliacker Part " and 'What ls Tf‘tS Not-:37. Even wher‘. the music's less in yer face. fife border ir‘e insanity keecs coming. like in the Superbfy titled ".".’c"lrl C“ Shit'. An excellent. edgy car crash of a record.
iDoug Jchnstcr‘e
ROCK THERAPY? Shameless i/\rk21 i O...
'Gentlemen. start your axes'. Therapy? have a new sound. and it's a dirty. pornographic. shotgun of a noise. Which. in a way. is exactly what could be expected. Quite obviously. laurels have not been rested upon. New influences have been absorbed. (lellll‘Ofi
and presented anew. Queens of the Stone Age never sounded as absurd. and all the ‘thrash metal' crap currently inflicted upon the charts is simply not as threat(->ning.
With trac s like '\.'Vicked Man'. lherapy'? have retained their depth. But with ‘Body Hag Girl'. ‘Eindless l-‘sychology' and ‘Alrite'. fun is there and rt is to be had. Fans might not like rt. and there may be a wave of revulsion. Relish it. and come ]()lll. iRowan Martini
HOOK
GAY DAD Transmission iB» Ul‘lflllf?! .0.
(Je'rie on. there's a lot worse bands out there than (‘ray Dad. If you ask We there can never be enough self referential ;r>:rr'r‘;ilis;tf; making earr‘est soft cock rock. 1 rke their debut Leisure Hose. this album is constructed round two or three really strong songs and the rest is enthusiastic landfill. Cliff Jones has apparently been hanging out ‘.'.’liil l.en‘n‘y from Motorhead and rust wants to rock out. Unfortunately. this sounds like he's been going bone and listening to foreigner and the Rocky Horror soundtrack. the title track "lrt'insn‘issrori' is fabulously pure 80s
rock. 'Nigl‘.t(:liil)' is nicely
camp and "Shoot l-‘reak' is Bolantastic. (So on.
The new single October lst
justbo
wwwbiflyclyroxom wwwbemrxcom
102 THE LIST :' m- .:
cut ‘em some slack. iPaul Dalei
COUNIHY
Rain On Lens il)orriirioi .00.
Bill Callahan is one dark motherfucker. On this latest release. the man who is Smog creates yet more b eakly humorous slabs of l)lues-drenched country music. with his trademark stark lyrics and gravel voice even more to the fore than usua. There's a certain shuffling coherency to Rain Or: lens. with many of the songs based around a tv-ro- chord, boxcar-trundle of a groove. and Callahan's wry way with words is as sharp as ever on songs like 'Song' and 'Keep Some Steady Friends Around'. Plus anyone who writes a song called ‘l")irty Pants' can't really be as ll‘ISUl’éth} as Callahan seems. (Doug Johnstonm
EHCTRONICA VARIOUS ARTISTS
Luke S/ater' fear 8 Loathing 'ROElCil COO
You'd have thought that having long-held the status of being of the UK»; leading techno beds that luke Slater would have put out guite a few mix CDs. Surprisingiy' this is ltis first. "lo say that different moods are at play on both CD}; would be something of an unrlerstaten‘ent given that Slater takes it four to-the-rr‘other teckin' floor on CDt and showcases minimal. nigh on sophisticated fare on Cl)2. l lighlights on the former include Ben Srins' 'Manipulated
iAr lam Beyer remrxr'
which is really quite fearsome while some fairly funky FC Kahuna remixes spice up CDZ's down-tempo mood a treat. Altogether a sweet little appetiser for Slater's forthcoming artist album due out in coming months. (Catherine Bromleyl
FLECTRONICA SUSU YOKOTA
Will (leaf skintonel 0...
Japanese production whi// Susurnu Yokota returns wrth the sixth release through London's highly individual Leaf label. hot on the heels of his excellent Sakura and G/‘rnnrng Cat LPs. Sounding more Western but no less inspired. Will skips along to a sturdy beat. further pursuing the beguiling. clul’)-bound path he explored on last year's acclaimed Mix EP. As he grafts intoxicating rhythms over infectious melodies. Yokota's effortless fusion of classical and contemporary influences ignites a beacon to those seeking a purer form of house. Retaining the trademark Yokota warmth and naivete. Will is as fresh as daisies and lllSi as sweet. (Andrew Richardson)
Ll f CTRONICA SYSTEM 7
Seventh Wave lA-Wave‘i 0...
Could you pass me some more of that delicious Camembert Electrigue’? What's that. you don't live in a commune anymore. take heaps of acid and record music in the barn? Sacre Bleuf
Steve Hillage and Miguette Giraudy. previously of the legendary 70s outfit Gong. have bought a computer. installed Cubasis and this is their new album and it's great. Loads of throbbing basslines and climbing tribal beats and rhythms. There's not really a dull tune here but the highlights include the new single "High Plains Drifter". 'Soft Rain" ia collaboration with The Orb's Alex Paterson) and the hoiiseymongous 'Chiringuito'. lets dance. iPaul Dalei
Singles
Yippee! The leaves are falling from the trees and proper artists are releasing proper records again! Cyber-rock gods Garbage kick off proceedings with 'Androgyny' (Mushroom 0.. l. which sees Shirley Manson and her three pervy uncles knocking out a decent enough ultra-produced slab of singalong sultriness. A siren with even more bollocks is PJ Harvey. whose “This Is Love' lUniversal O... l is an insistent piece of gloriously scu//y blues. \"ylillCil will be rattling around your stupid head for weeks. Continuing their spectacular resurrection are Ash wrth 'Candy' ilnfectious O... l. which is a thing of anthemic bubblegum pop beauty. replete with strings. a silly key change (like all real songs shouldi and the obligatory humungous chorus. Into indiev-rorld now. with Hefner's 'Alan Bean' {Too Pure 00 l. which sees the uriderachieving Janeg songsters turning all retro— electro on our asses in a fairly boring song about the fourth man on the moon. ‘Yellow Butterfly' lAtmospheririues 0.. l by Tahiti 80. on the other hand. is firmly from the janeg old school. and its ‘."‘.’illSl)(}l'\,’ vocals. wobbly guitars and flugelhorn are so ultra nice you could take ‘en‘ home to meet yer ma. If yer ma was a Belle and Sebastian fan. And so to ‘the greatest guitarist ever" llCl anyone wrth no braini. Johnny Marr and his new band. Healers. l'heir debut single. "The Last Ride' iPacific O r. is absolute cack» four minutes of the most tedious dadrock imaginable. Not Just crap then. but wildly out of date crap. Blasting away the cobwebs are Crackout. whose ‘You [)umb Fuck' lHut O... l naturally wins song title of the fortnight and the songs a belter too. With a riff surgically extracted from Satan's bowels. some righteous anger and loads of sis-rearing. it make you think Nin'ana's successors haven't all totally missed the point. Leading the dancefloor charge this fortnight are New York's The Ones with 'li'lawless' (Positiva .0. l which. while not gurte living up to the title. is a pumped up slab of likeable retro-futurist sounding house. A bit harder edged is 'Pure' rQuad 0.. l from Justin Scott Dixon. which rattles along like a less drunk Underworld in a fairly relentless rnelange of electronic blips and rumbles. Whichcouldn't be further from the wonderfully miserable guitar rock of Elbows ‘Newborn' Ni? O... i. Seven and a half minutes of spine- crushing poignancy. it ends in an apocalyptic \.'./alt/ of organs and guitar mayhem which is close to being awesome. But still doesn't win SlNCl f‘ ()l le- F‘ORI'NlCl-l’l". which goes to Eels' 'Souljacker Part 1' i[)rean‘\.‘.'orks 0.00m. /\ truly shocking rampage of fucked up. distorted delta blues a la Jon Spencer. it sees n‘ainmanf turned into a serial killing loon. and is frankly as scary as n‘usic gets while still being catchy. il)oug Johnstone.