Music, Records ' '
SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
M Craft
t . b . J4
With the big guns putting out the same old. same old. there's something delightfully barmy about the popsters of smaller stature this fortnight. Starting on the home front with some experiments in broody underground techno. Aleksandr Jurczyk/Cledus Snow's ‘Ano- 004' (Andnotor) 000 makes like next generation Soma with its dark. jumbled melodies.
The Ghosts have a certain something with their honky-tonk new-wave and psychedelic country-rock on ‘Do It Again' (Penthouse) 0.00 while mild. anthemic pop janglers AlrSplel invite us into their ‘Home EP‘ (promo) .0. , riddled as it is with catchy melodies and thoughtful arrangements. Ernest ‘Dragging Me Down/Lonely Town' (Masquerade) 000 is a growling rock shanty pressed up against something a little more yearning. Could-they-be- the—next-big-things The Clnematlcs' ‘Break' (TVT) 000 doesn't immediately dazzle or excite but is a fast grower. ‘Speed-Date’ (Chemikal Underground). 0.. meanwhile. is fizzy. instant Arab Strap. rattling in and out before you've caught your breath. On a gentler tip. the Klng Creosote cult need be 'Not One Bit Ashamed' (Names/679) me of this swelling. tuba-cheeky mourner. From the same stable but raised on the other side of the world. M Crafts ‘Silver & Fire' (679) I... is deserving of your attention in its dreamy psychedelic folk-pop. In fact. I’ve half a mind to declare it Single of the Fortnight. Apologies if that's me bolting my load early doors.
Things take a turn for the queerer on 'Blood and Peanut Butter' (One Little Indian) me — confident. nay forceful. quirky pop strangeness from BC Campllght. Throw in a new-wave Eels twist and you've got yourself ‘Direct to Helmet' (Radiate) 0000 by The Splnto Band.
Which leads us nicely to Nouvelle Vague's Gallic pop covers of post-punk anthems ‘I Melt With You/Teenage Kicks' (Peacefrog) I.” . New folksy bossa lilt. same questionable taste. Next we ease into the slick. disjointed pop of Mattaflx and ‘To & Fro' (Bhuddist Punk) .00. which pricks and twists the ear with its ‘street‘ take on Pet Shop Boys. before Delays throw themselves at our feet with the exuberant power pop of ‘Valentine' (Rough Trade) 00. Damn catchy. More stirring still is The Chalets' smutty pop rock on 'Theme From Chalets' (Setanta) 0” and the good old fashioned stomping strop of “June Gloom' (Geffen)
I.” by The lee. Lastly. seaside b-boys Oreenkeepers leaturlng Mr J a. Devlse's ‘Spy Vs Spy Vs Spy' (Latest South Coast)
«0 fittineg boasts an air of sleuthing intrigue. (Mark Edmundson)
’5 Loud
oCleor
Reviews
ROCK IflCNSVWAI
Mr Beast
(PIAS Bock ACIIO'“
They may have shelved their reputation fOr being pupils in the loud-quiet- loud-Quiet again school of rock but With the gargantuan Mr Beast. they've graduated With the most glorious of flying colours. lt w0uld be far from foolish to make grandiose claims for the band (they're perfectly adept at that themselves) but this ten- strong collection of aural and emotional tidal waves is surely their finest hour Since Come On Die Young. From the tender 'Friend of the Night' to the venomous ‘Glasgow Mega-Snake you'll be either tugging at your own heartstrings Or swiftly covering your ears. Monster.
(Brian Donaldson)
INDIE INYIJNTESH' NOVEL
Wolves (Bella Union) on.
It may not be the most fashionable musical style around, but post-rock has inspired some incredible records — look no further than Sigur Ros. Mogwai and Aereogramme for proof. The latest to put the genre to good use are this Greenock fivesome whose debut opens With quiet/loud epic 'Ghost in the Gutter' and goes on to combine haunting strings. folky melodies. delicate vocals and hypnotic chants to compelling effect. Imagine Arab Strap
singing sea shanties with the Arcade Fire finished off with an utterly eccentric wrist and ‘,otl get SOmething close to Well/es, You'll be had pushed to find a more magical album released this year. iCamilla Piai
JAZZ
BLHTT MACDONALD SEPTET
The Great Shark Hunt lFMRl 0..
This is the fifth disc of freely improwsed mUSlC from the ongOing collabOration between the Burt MacDonald crew and soprano saxophonist Lol COXhl”. although the disc's fOur long tracks also include the first ever duet from GeOrge Burt and Raymond MacDonald.
The music is inspired by the writings of Hunter S Thompson and informed (on one track at least) by distant alluSions to the Beach Boys‘ ‘God Only Knows'. tWisted and transformed into characteristically abstract shapes. COxhill is now fully integrated into the music, and Bill Wells (piano) and Daniel Padden (clarinet) are added as guests. but the absence of a drummer and the open textures create a feeling of spaciousness rather than a conventional septet- like denSity.
(Kenny Mathiesonl
LOUNGE VAJHCNJS
Brazilian Lounge (Putumayo) 000
Light and perfectly pleasant. this. the latest in a series of compilations. introduces the listener to the Subtle. understated $0unds of today‘s Brazil. One can't knock the thought put into the playlist. nor the good cause - namely Brazil's needy yOurig street kids. Featuring the likes of Bebel Gilberto.
Seu JOrge (of Gift of Get." and The Life Aquatic fame and the newly discovered Luca Mundaca. whose luscious asSimilation of fluttering electronics and gentle bossa typify the sounds on offer, BraZi/ia'i Lounge With a little positive. perhaps delusional. thinking Will warm up even the most frigid bOtlty.
(Mark EdmundsOni
POP ANDINEATE
Paper Animals (Blue-elf) CO.
is Jazz the new pop. or is KT Tunstall's fingerin- the—ear folk this year's thing? Andi Neate has a deCiSIOii to make. as her capable songwriting — breezy. but lyrically dark — shows potential. A much-travelled performer. Neale spans these two disparate genres — th0ugh this album is as far removed from the Fence Collective as it is from the world of
real ale and woolly pullovers. However. despite enlisting the greater part of the Scottish Jazz Mafia to make this. a Parkinson endOrsement seems unlikely. Perhaps her Suzanne Vega cover prowdes the greatest pointer here. as a songwriter unsure of which direction to take next. (Donald Bush)
ROCK PLACEBO Meds (Elevator) .0.
Apart from their twentysomething post- goth fanbase. it's d0ubtfu| that anyone Will
CCU (1 "Alt .1“ ("31” SC .Il’ft‘ft‘f‘f 7 TN"... 't‘ Outta t'x‘se in; 'V w Tngf 'e<‘.".1s wt" . ' l’Y‘t‘w'a‘u‘nl 8W1" 2‘”
[‘est‘ Te sane Litieslxwal‘ie6:11“. Btzai‘ Mo kn. seer“: tllf‘id'.t‘lxt‘1i‘t}ft"t‘flflt‘ career .tft‘tif‘tl '."" 'el.*.t‘ik:t\; (“ We :;.1"‘r> fi‘Uf lf‘t‘f'lt‘fi JV" It". (tings. ‘tIt‘,I).'t‘f;:th"‘. mt.) sex ~ will: (flu't‘ttfllflij‘, tiiiiige\‘.‘illtfl‘. results. f" t; is Planet‘s}; best is.ka foi years. (anoint ".‘"‘. the NINestiiie 1.2mm} electronics of Post Hind to the utteil, infections plinth. iot‘k tittgli'k w‘ 'Ditig' and Ithtllififltl some r;t.iii.'i:n._i appearances: t' iii: Michael Stipo: (int \"v’ (if the Kills. fibula (ll want tIOSUIVU to fail on limit ears iCainilla Pini
Billy Bragg Reissues (Cooking Vinyl) The early years of Bragg 83—90 are dusted down, remastered and bolstered With bonus CD and DVDs of live tracks. outtakes and demos. And most of this is still absolutely tremendous after all these years. Mudhoney Under a Billion Suns (Sub Pop) The missmg link between Bob Dylan and the MOS (not that there ever was one. like) unearth more sinewy riffage and coruscating howls for their ninth album in 18 glorious years. Liars Drum ’3 Not Dead (Mute) Swaying between petulant weirdness and hypnotic dissonant genius. Liars take another piss on the punk funk dancefloor.
ALL CDS WERE REVIEWED ON A SYSTEM SUPPLIED AND INSTALLED BY LOUD & CLEAR
84 THE LIST 2—16 Mar 2006