Records
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INDIE CLINIC
Walking With Thee (Domino) 0.00.
There is only one thing about Clinic’s second album that is certain and that’s the likelihood of it making its reviewers very edgy. Firstly, there’s the unnecessary struggle to pull out the various, apparently conflicting influences on this singular Liverpool band. Are they more in the thrall of The Velvet Underground than the Pet Shop Boys? How important is that New York punk influence lurking around in the background? Then there’s the habitual attempt to fit them in somewhere. You can try and place Walking With Thee somewhere in the shadow of Radiohead‘s Kid A but you’ll be forced to give up. You can look in vain for a niche for them amongst the post-rock roster on their label, Domino. Perhaps they are just a poppier Arab Strap, you could try (as you get increasingly frustrated). Or a Stereolab with
added menace?
It is only human to search for a familiar feature when confronted with a new face and Walking With Thee has that novelty without sounding like the strange mash of contradictions the opening of this review would lead you to believe. It’s an album that reduces rock’n’roll to its origins and in doing so relocates it to the present. Consequently it’s got a sense of urgency that is unparalleled in a music scene that currently lacks any real sense of direction. From opener ‘Harmony’ through single ‘Walking With Thee’, energised Mo Tucker rhythms and caveman surf riffs drive forward a synth sound stripped back to 80$ simplicity. It sounds nocturnal. It sounds sinister. And it sounds very, very exciting.
(Tim Abrahams)
ROCK
SIX BY SEVEN The Way I Feel Today (Mantra) .000
Nu metal can fuck right off. and you can tell it I said so. The combo of guitars and anger needn't be all vacuous gimmickry and empty rebellion. and here's Nottingham paint— strippers Six By Seven with their third and best album to prove it. Opener ‘So Close” la love song. ferchrissakes) is so nervy and tense and explosive and bloody-minded and
scary and wired and ominous it'll make yOu feel ill. In the way great music should. While the rest of the record doesn‘t always quite reach those monstrous heights. there's an awesome. complex and intelligent rage here which kicks nu metal right up it's baggy arsehole superbly. (DOug Johnstone)
WORLD PAPA NOEL 8x PAPI OVIEDO
Bana Congo (Tumi) 0000.
Can anything be more fresh and inspiring than combining the sweet up— tempo rumba based rhythms of Congolese guitarist Papa Noel with the gently Sizzling son of Cuban tres guitarist Papi Oviedo’? While the mood
110 THE LIST M .78 Mar “200-?
is unmistakeably dance. the feel is sensuous with various wonderful mostly high-toned singers supporting a sequence of divine tunes.
Music is the only positive thing to have emerged from the slave trade that first linked these c0untries: the subtle interplay between these two men centuries later (uncannily, mirror images of each other) while they pick. strum, sing and generally bewitch. is magical. Beautiful unforced production and superb boolv'cover. too.
(Jan Fairley)
ROCK
THE HEADS Under Sided
(Sweet Nothing) 0000
Never has the sound of Seattle basements OD- ing on LSD been captured so succinctly on reCOrd. SCuzzy guitars roar. distortion reigns Supreme. vocals scream and minds are formally blown. Shamelessly retro. this pillers audio trickery from Sonic Youth. Mudhoney and the Stooges and is all the better for it. Raw and edgy with samples adding a disconcerting element to its garage rock freak-out and with a final track. ‘Heavy Sea'. that almost hits the 20-i'ninute mark. this is stoner rock at its most psychedelic and expansive. Oh and they're from Bristol. just
to confuse matters.
(Henry Northmore)
HOUSE
JERSEY STREET After The Rain (Glasgow Underground) 0...
Downtempo house is allegedly the new sliced bread. in which case Jersey Street must be Mighty White with butter and marmite: moderately wholesome and very tasty. The threesome consist of house nut Neil Reid. keyboarder Matt Steele. whose session credits include a Spice Girls
tour. and Dawn Zee. who did the wailing bits on New Order's excellent ‘Crystal'. Together they make a fine racket. a beautifully structured mess of broken beats and fluid. jazzy instrumentation over which Zee's vocals float effortlessly. lt's smooth enough for the chill-out room, but never bland. and there's enough power in its patterned percussion to make you move yOur feet. (James Smart)
JAZZ STEVE COLEMAN
Resistance Is Futile (Label Bleu) COO.
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE
_ STEVE COLEMANZI......«.
Alto saxophonist Steve Coleman's M-BASE grouping set the agenda for one of the most important creative directions in 903 jazz. They eschewed the neo- bop sensibility of many of their peers in favour of more adventurous explorations. Synthesising a melodic approach which carried echoes of his distinguished namesake. Ornette. with a wide range of ethnic and black music rhythms. Those who have fOund his music a little tOO coolly geometric in the past might warm to the ambience of this fine 2- CD live set. recorded in France in an informal club setting with his band, Five Elements. (Kenny Mathieson)
SOUL
JOSEPH MALIK Diverse
(Compost) 0...
You may have noticed Malik trading his wares over the last decade. This cream-voiced balladeer started in the early 90's as an esoteric DJ in Edinburgh and went on to work on some storming EP's for the Response. Black Aniseed and Yush labels. Now after years of toiling away With a variety of interesting musical projects he releases this gorgeous. gracious debut honed from years of listening to only the best.
The opener. ‘Melodys'. sets out Malik's agenda. and like Bill Withers and Shuggy Otis. with its delicate rhythmic reach and soothing vocals. this is lovely. ‘Evil Things' and 'Soul Blues' show him at his best. a smoky Cross between Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder. ‘I Am Drifting‘ is a perfect rolling tribute to the daddy of this kind of thing. Terry Callier. A powerful luscious slice of modern sOul folk from a talented scholar of music. (Paul Dale)
ROCK
DESC
Up Here In The Heat (SL) 0..
A truly melancholic debut album from DeSC. signed to Edinburgh's record label of choice SL (home to ballboy. Degrassi et all. Desc crawled from the wreckage as Khaya and The Marvellous Mechanical Mouse Organ crashed and burned. Down-beat to the core. de—tuned violins dominate and life's background hum is biought to the fore as smack addicted choirs Sing in wavering voices. lt lapses into taking itself too seriously at times. owing a debt to over earnest performance poetry. Pleasantly low-key. but you can never imagine a time when you would play this album. Except for the night your mother committed suicrde. (Henry Northmore)
FOLK COUNTRY THE BE GOOD TANYAS
Blue Horse (Nettwerk) 00.0
The Dixie Chicks. Indigo Girls and even Her Royal Highness Michelle Shocked all touched on this kind of sublime mix
of bluegrass. country and folk in their time but the Be Good Tanyas are something else. Samantha Parton (no relation), Frazey Ford and Trish Klein formed their band in 1999 and have harmonised their way across the prairies and into the hearts of New Yorker cosmopolitans who daydream of riding shotgun on an old steamtrain while nipping Out for coffee at Starbucks. Needless to say this their debut album is lush. heartfelt. simple and impossible not to like. (Paul Dale)
HOUSE VARIOUS ARTISTS Miguel Migs: Nude Tempo 001
(Virgin AstralwerkS) .0...
Now synonymous with the Sun drenched sOund of Californian deep- hOuse. Miguel Migs dishes up a fine offering to warm up your soulful Side and help you through the remainder of the unforgivmgly cold Scottish Winter. With hot jams from labels like Wave. Che'z. and Naked on his palate. Migs blends east coast with west for this mix.
Sophisticated soulful vocals mingle in comfort with lush guitars. spiralling jazz horns. and deep-funk fuelled basslines that just seem to roll on and on. punctuated only by hypnotic afro-Latin percussion. There isn't a bad track on this mix. (David Allen)
ROCK ALTCOUNT RY GIANT SAND Cover Magazine (Thrill Jockey) COO.
I once spied Howe Gelb outside a Giant Sand gig in London. far flung from his band's Arizona roots. gazing into the sky and drawling: 'Looks like there's a storm brewni'. That's a darn good way to describe Giant Sand's setind. The opening track of this cover versions album, Neil