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her chance in st‘r,.'.' ‘ier 'se'isitive' axle ‘.‘.’|Ill over artxcus. low-key electronica. even busting out a i‘ev.’ itiil-on ballads 'tJtit .‘.’li.". dark undertones». When you see Robbie Williams' ex .vriting partner Guy Chambers is involved, it all becomes clear. llowevei, her voice is still spell binding yet personal. With a resonating depth -— and is all that saves this from complete mediocrity. iHenry Northmoreji
JAZZ l ()l K
MIA DOI TODD The Golden State iSony JEt/Zl COO
There's no doubt that Mia Doi Todd's a talented lass. A graduate of Yale University as well as a classically-trained singer and self-taught guitarist. her output thus far has seen her supporting such luminaries as Kristen Hersh and Lou Barlow on tour.
The loping. trip-hoppy 'Meiiy Me“ sticks out here. as does the rather beautiful 'Autumn'. With a chiming, expressive voice that sounds like Joni Mitchell and Beth Gibbons at the same time. and some lush. folksy arrangements. there's no question that this album Will make a lot of peOple very happy. Admittedly. they're probably the son of folks who think leng and hard over their chOice of CD rack in Ikea. but Todd's a definite cut above middling coffee-table toss. iDavid Pollocki
108 THE LIST .I.‘ May ‘51
CAESARS
39 Minutes of Bliss (In an Otherwise Meaningless World) 'fi " .0.
One of the (t(l‘.'£illtét§;(38 of English not ieing yoir first language is that yoii can get a'.'.'a‘, ‘.‘.'|ill {Y‘CfllC/‘(Iltf lyrics. Oiirte .vhy the Caesars PR people are seeking to turn this to the” own disadvantage by ducting theiit at length (>l‘ the press release i‘l wanna smoke crack Cos you're never coming back .‘i is rather a mystery particularly when they 've got tunes this hook- heavy to talk about instead.
'Check it Out' pulls “No More Heroes thiotigh the mixer and comes up with a pop punk classic. while ‘Fun and Games moves at an addictive mid-paced lilt. There are moments when this Swedish tour-piece sound a bit too Britpop. but they're an exl'iilarating propoSitiOn nonetheless. iJames Smartl
DRUM a BASS GFS
Mount Vernon Street lSound Gi7mo Rykodism COO
American drum & bass sounds like an oxymoron. but San Franciscan duo GFS's debut long player shOLild be reguired listening for the doubmrs. Joe Candidi and Justin Geller have been working on this record for three years. meshing d8ib. hip hop and house to create a hybrid that moves and grooy es with a rare grace.
The atmospheric 'lntro' sOunds like DJ Shadow. the funky ‘Pimpin' ain‘t Easy hangs on a wonderful. rambling bass lick and live
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are aciarrv” we 2" Let’s "’gzve f"e .'.a°.
ALISDAIR ROBERTS Farewell Sorrow Roigh Page .0.
First discover 2d S‘l‘igllllg at a village ceilidh in Perthshire by Will Oldham. Roberts is certainly a young artist who desenes an audience. He's basically a Scottish Bill 'iSmogi' Callaghan. his songs infused with a very domestic type of misery and poetic symbolism. but Roberts laces everything up with pseudo Celtic riffs and harmonies.
When it works it is astounding i'Fare‘.‘.'e|l Sorrow". ‘Carousing'. ‘I am a Young Man'i. and when it doesn't he still SOtlltdS like the warped. mixed-up love child of Arab Strap and Sandy Denny. Cool. Hugely promising, this is well worth a listen.
(Paul Dalei
JAZZ
LOUIS SCLAVIS/ BERNARD STRUBER JAZZTET
Le Phare
lEnJai 0...
Louis Sclavis is usually heard in small grOup settings. but makes the step-up here with guitarist Bernard Struber's excellent 12- piece Jazztet. Sclavis is one of the most striking of the Current generation Of contemporary European reed players. and his caustic. higth inventive playing on soprano saxophone. clarinet and bass clarinet is the dominant solo
The Jazztet provide Creative Suppert tOr his solo excursions. and are more than capable of weighing in with ear- grabbiiig soio
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STEREOPHONICS
You Gotta Go there to Come Back l O.
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up up with t‘ :.. h ’-
Kelly Jones is a lovely man. No, really he is. Not that you can tell from this though, as his mood never drifts from miserable bastard and bitter wee jobbie on this, the Welsh trio’s fourth long player. Far from continuing their quest in search of the perfect monolithic Led Zep riff or uncovering more of their Faces-inspired pop tarts that have charmed the underwear off stadium after stadium of punters, we get a puddle of unfocussed drawls and bawls. Having dispensed with long-time producers/collaborators Bird and Bush, Jones has taken up the producer’s chair but fails to push their bluesy blueprint, wielding his curmudgeonly retro-rock with little flair. ‘Madame Helga' pushes the right glam stomp buttons but its nagging familiarity just makes you crave the acerbic power pop of the likes of ‘Roll Up and Shine',
‘Vegas Two Times’ or ‘Local Boy in the Photograph'.
‘What makes a woman lie through her teeth?’ he asks at one point - this record is strew with the detritus of a bitter break up, and whether fact or fiction, Jones plays the wounded hound well, crawling into the corner to lick his wounds and whine and wail with fervour on ‘Jealousy’, ‘l'm Alright‘
and ‘I Miss you Now’.
Only when they mellow out proper do Stereophonics regain composure. ‘Nothing Precious at All’ is a fine stab at that droopy loping ballad that they do with such guile; same for the swoopy dramatics on ‘Rainbows and Pots of Gold', and the excellent closer ‘Since I Told you its Over' is suitably tear
jerking.
For such a fundamentally ‘live’ band they sound stilted and self- conscious; that groove is still there but it's buried, along with the real melodies, under a muddle of laboured rockisms. It’s clear Stereophonics are not having as much fun as they should be, but the results are neither cathartic nor cleansing, just disappointing. (Mark Robertson)
contributions when reduired. The seven composmons on the disc are all by Sclavis. and the arrangements lby Struber or pianist Benjamin Moussayi are
conSISIently imaginative.
lKenny MathieSOni
ROCK EELS
Shootenanny! (Dreamy-:orksi O...
Shootenanny! sees Eels mainman E icrat, nickname. great songwriter, continuing
down the path of scmzy.
fucked-up modern blues pop that he started on with his last album Sow/acker. and a damn fine trip it's turning Out to be. There is a new. gentler introspective
SHOOTENANNY!
tendency to Eels' intelligent rock these days. like in the reflective ‘The Good Old 08/9 or the beatlilfull‘,’ Upllfillig ‘Love of the Leveless'. but that visc0us streak of brutal black hurrrour is still apparent in the likes of ‘Restraining Order Blues.
Else's/here Sf?OOl8'78/l/l',’.' is equal parts melancholy and bo.'/el-shakirig rock. and always. always wth investing (row we in. i’DOug Johnstonei