SPRAWL TARANTULA AD Book of Sand (Kemado Records) O.”
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Some people have too many ideas. Some messy records reflect this. while some manage to harness all that is going on in their heads and use it to its full potential. Tarantula AD have made startling use of their vivid imaginations as Book of Sand can sound like the soundtrack to a
crazy old silent movie, a
wistful mariachi ballad. a demonic metal crunch or a tearful piano lament. occasionally in the same song.
The trio recorded in vahouslocaflons including hotel bathrooms, Paris metro stations and out in the wilds of America. and you get the feeling that you're evesdropping on someone rather than listening to a traditional recording. Singular, unpredictable and strangely beautiful. (Mark Robertson)
DISCO/RARE GROOVE RANDY MULLER Kenny Dope Presents Randy Muller’s Best (Plaza) 0000
No small amount of love has been poured into this project. a meeting of yesteryear and contemporary legends. with house and hip hop aficionado and producer par excellence Kenny 'Dope' Gonzalez having taken unsung disco hero Randy Muller and a selection of his original reels back to the desk and re-edited
them into one rapturous mix. AS the drivmg musical force behind the likes of BT Express. Brass Construction and Skyy, Muller was the daddy of the SWirling infectious groove. as these evergreen and irrepreSSible jams testify. Now reVISited. tweaked and polished. Muller's Best is damned hard to beat.
(Mark Edmundson)
ROCK
NEIL DIAMOND 12 Songs
(American Recordingsi OOO
After the masterful job Rick Rubin did on Johnny Cash in his latter years — turning a slowly fading star into a relevant. substantial musical behemoth —
much is expected of his 1
programme of credibility injections for the mighty Neil Diamond.
Staying true to form and stripping out the excess padding of the past in favour of solid. thick vocal performances of tested songs. Rubin has done a creditable job. He may not have the glitz and bqu of the past but Diamond engages and will hopefully show a
contemporary audience
there‘s more to him than an ageing soundtrack to weddings. If only Dolly Parton could find Rubin‘s phone number . . . (Mark Robertson)
PUNK TELEVISION PERSONALITIES My Dark Places (Domino) 0 It could be expected that. after years in the wilderness of mental illness. Television
Personalities‘ main man
Daniel Treacy would return to the musical fray with some hard earned wisdom. However. his first
record in 1 1 years has only done more to muddy the memory of past glory ‘Part Time Punks'. Songs like ‘All the Young Children on Smack. all the YOung Children on Crack' possess all the lyrical subtlety of an alleyway beating with much of the album sounding like a spoken word hoaXing of Sid Vicious' herOin diaries. My Dark P/aces will do nothing to change the TeleViSion Personalities status as a band more name checked than listened to. its principal appeal being a sneak preview to the late that presumably lies in store for Pete Docherty in 20 years. (Miles Johnson)
SOUL
NICOLE WILLIS 8: THE SOUL INVESTIGATORS Keep Reachin' Up (Timmion) 0000.
Although some might scoff at the idea of a contemporary artist returning to the sound of vintage labels such as Motown. Cadet. Stax and Atlantic. this record is so absurdly good that it would just be plain churlish not to get extremely excited about it. Married to Finnish jazz and techno legend Jimi Tenor and performing with one of northern Europe's most respected funk bands. Nicole Willis does have a small advantage but she also has one of the most powerful. emotive voices around right now, not to mention the lyrical and musical talent to back it up.
OLiite frankly. at a time when just aOOLit anything can dent the charts prowded it's palatable enOugh. the only thing stopping Nicole Willis gomg straight to the top is the lack of a proper marketing budget. Stranger things have happened before and ‘Keep Reachin Up' has got ‘future claSSic' plastered all over it. (Andrew Richardson)
ROCK DAWN OF THE REPLICANTS
Fangs (SL Records) .0
I can only imagine that the Goodies' Christmas TV reunion went down very well in the Replicants' respective households. The same surrealistic larking about with the animal kingdom is present and correct in this latest
collection of oddities from the band. now celebrating their tenth anniversary. Choice lyric: ‘Oh bumble bee. oh bumble bee, you'll never be a part of me: your lungs don't fit for the underwater bit.‘ Then there's the track about pterodactyls entitled. curiously. 'Pterodactyl'. All of which sounds quaintly quirky. except after a while the tornfoolery will have you going ape. Though not in a good way. (Brian Donaldson)
AMBIENT
BIOSPHERE
Dropsonde (Touch) 0...
Back in the early 908 when the term ‘ambient techno' described the early awe-inspiring antics of Aphex Twin and his clique. a man from Norway called Geir Jenssen was gilding his own expansive world of gentle electric grooves. A decade and a clutch
of lauded albums later, Jensen now is as much a seiind collector as a mUSICian. building phrases he finds on his travels into magical. otherworldly codas. It seemed only too appropriate to name this record after a dropsonde, a deVice dropped from an aeroplane to gather readings abOut actiVity in the atmosphere. The overall atmosphere here is relatively serene. but there is a variety of moods and tones on show. The shuffling. vaguely military drum break and Vinyl crackle and hiss on 'Fall In Fall Out' feel like the locked run out groove on an old techno 12" Spinning out forever. Unlike so many unengaging experimentalists that feel branding something as art negates them from actually bothering to making interesting mUSlC. Jenssen conjures up some compelling soundscapes.For music that's so often regarded as background mood stuff. Dropsonde can't help but clamour for yOur attentions. (Mark Robertson)
JAZZ TERJE RYPDAL
Vossabrygg (ECM) 0000
Even if you didn't know that Vossabrygg means ‘Vossa Brew‘, it wouldn't take long to deduce that this commission from the Vossa Jazz Festival paid homage to Miles Davis' seminal Bitches Brew. The music is all- original with Rypdal, and gives a contemporary spin to the Miles model (think Bitches Brew meets Oslo nu jazz), with instrumental lines
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emerging in sharp relief in'i) the dark. dense textures and Crunching rhythms.
The great Norwegian guitarist {lfit‘xt‘l‘ilhlt‘xt a stellar lineup for the lixe recording, including Palle Mikkelhoig on trumpet. the electric keyboards of Bugge Wesseltoft and Stale Storlokken. Bjorn Kjellemyi on bass. and Jon Christensen .ind Paolo Vinattttia on drums. With Ryprlal's son Marius on electronics.
(Kenny Mathiesonl
ALSO RELEASED
Various Late Night Tales: Belle and Sebastian (Azu/i) The spectacularly prolific indie mob show the diverSity of their influences from Stereolab and Rde to Donovan on this excitable mix CD. Warren Zevon Romantic Genius (Rykodisc) The late great songwriter was famed for his dry humour but was a dab hand at the odd love song. as this compilation attests. Four Day Hombre Experiments in Living (Alamo MUSIC) Debut album With shades of Elbow, Springsteen and Young from this new English quintet. Ray Davies Other People '5 Lives (V2) Who would have thought that this. 40 years into his career. w0uld be the original Kink's first solo eflon?
Bukana Eight Year Alibi (No Strings Records) This legendary Glasgow label relaunches after 20 dormant years with a debut by this fivesome from Scotland's east coast
t6 Feb—2 Mar 2006 THE LIST 65