MUSic “Retard s,
SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
As winter wheezes its last icy breath and summer prepares to surprise us. this fortnight's singles are an appropriate melange of the optimistically peppy and downright dreary. In a sunny mood is pop princess Pink. who appears in a tribute to the Paul Newman film Cool Hand Luke. covered in soapy suds on a car bonnet on the cover of her self-effacing new ditty ‘Stupid Girl' (Sony) see . a typically vivacious stick of chart bubblegum.
Elsewhere. a good handful of this issue's artists have emphatically not fallen out of bed on the right side. Editors are still moping around. presumably pissed off because Ian Curtis wants his voice back and their latest cut ‘All Sparks’ (Kitchenware) u is conspicuously devoid of spark while Hydro and NORE's A/I Y'AI/ (Underdogg) 00 is equally listless and repetitive. Perhaps they should take a few tips from Ally Kerr who at least pines with feeling on the plaintive ‘Without You' (Neon Tetra) 000 or Les incompetents. who bemoan How It All Went Wrong (White Heat) .00 in an energetic burst of rough'n'ready punk. Edinburgh's Tlnmkit also deserve mention for their inspired evocation of a dreary night on the tiles in “Lost in ihe Niteclub' (Demo) «0
As ever, there's plentiful evidence of past influences among this crop of 453. The Pipettes pull off an inspired pastiche of 605 girl band feistiness with ‘Your Kisses are Wasted on Me' (Memphis Industries) eeee . The Rifles blend Two-Tone with an urgent New Wave vocal on the haunting ‘Repeated Offender' (Red Ink/Right Hook) 0” while Raff's “Gotta Get It Right' (Demo) eee tips its hat to classic funk and soul from the last three decades.
If some of our musicologists are battling the winter blues. others have dutifully been taking their happy pills. Big Strides are positively manic on their funky. upbeat party anthem ‘Let's Get Nice' (Tall Order) me while Say Jansfleld evoke the best summer tussles in the hay bales with their infectious. trippy little number “We're in the Countryside ‘(Creeping Bent) eeee . Finally, Yeah Yeah Yeahs are back with a roar not a whimper. Karen O's multi-octave vocals swooping up and down over a typically melodic. stripped-down riff on “Gold Lion' (Fiction) 0”. which bounds away with the Single of the Fortnight accolade. (Allan Radcliffe)
and sadness and for this second trip that bittersweet combinatiOn remains firmly on the menu. They're sounding even bigger than before — thanks in part at least to veteran indie rock knob IWIddler Alan Moulder — although the weaker moments still come over all Polly Harvey messuig up her bedroom. When Messers Zinner and Chase get their heads together and kick the jams out good and proper, however, the effect is suitably coruscating. There's nothing as heartbreakineg good as ‘Maps' here. and this record shows the threesome off as brattish pop kids more than anything. (Mark Robertson)
PSYCHEDELIA ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITTI 5 House Arrest
(Paw Tracks) 000
Twisted surf-rock psychedelia on eight- track cassette. LA bubble-boy Ariel Pink makes the Go! Team sound positiver reserved. Opening with ‘HardCOre Pops are Fun'. House Arrest is busting out all over with melodic ideas. many great but none followed through to a wholly mUSical outcome. The lyrics too betray such a baffling laissez-faire that at first I
bet project of an utter peanut. had he actually been under house arrest it woold a” make a good deal more sense.
iMark Ediriundsom
JAZZ
JOHN HARLE The Shadow of the Duke
(Harle Collection) “0
Saxophonist and composer John Harle has embarked on a reissue programme of Currently unavailable recordings on his own label. He is best known fcr his work in classrcal inu5ic. but his love of jazz has been a long- standing one. An early exposure to the Duke Ellington Orchestra in concert left a Vivid impression. and this multifaceted tribute reflected that impact.
Harle's eclectic sensibility brings an unusual perspective to the SOLirce material. but retains a genuine Ellington feel at the core of the music. aided by some major UK jazz names. The disc was first issued in 1992. and comes over sounding very fresh and vivid in this release. (Kenny Mathieson)
POST ROCK GASGIANT An Uncertainty Principle (Floppy) COO.
This band are ‘lazy
When Gaggiant formed. post-rock was all the rage. And though they 'ye moved on. their genre of Choice is still guitar- driven instrumental rock It opens With the ambient. barely there strains of ‘So SOrry'. then we stumble into 'Loveiboy'. a mesmerising head- nodder for shoegazers who've grown up. And so they meander through to ‘Slocore'. all epic riffs. like Joy DiViSion on elephant tranquilisers. Here's to album number, ETA 2012.
(Stuart McHugh)
SOUL
KIM WESTON
The Motown Anthology (Universal/Motown) 0”.
One of the Motown stable who disappeared not long after the label's 'Golden Era' of the 60s ended (over royalty disputes; she apparently decamped to Israel and later recorded for Stax)
Kim Weston is most well-
known as Marvin Gaye's vocal partner on the classic ‘It Takes Two'.
Sadly, it's not included here. this being a more comprehenswe solo collection to stand alongside the less well- appOinted greatest hits on which it‘s contained. What you do get. however. is a two-disc. 48-song retrospective of one of Motown‘s Original divas at the peak of her strength. Each song is urgent. passionate. loaded with a heartbreaking rhythm. ‘Take Me in Your Arms' and ‘Helpless' are just two highlights of this great reissue package. (David Pollock)
introduction to Champaign, Illinois' finest. courtesy of Teenage Fariclut) drummer ~ and bastion of all good things alttimlntry - Ffdflf‘lt; McDonald's Shoesliiiie Records
And as a swatch of the best efforts so far from a songwriter as deft at soundtracking forlorn small town Friday night discontent as .John Hoeffleur, it‘s naturally Chocka With an array of highlights. from the Ira/i. arpeggios of 'Paper Hearts for Josie“ to the sardonic boot of ‘Babyshaker'. A thing of conventional beauty this ain‘t. and it's all the truer for it. (Malcolm Jacki
INDIE
WHITE ROSE MOVEMENT Kick
(Independierite) “00
Flawlessly dapper. hipper than thou haircuts. a background in trendy east London clubs and with support from “utterly now‘ producer Paul Epwonh. White Rose Movement do seem a little too good to be true, Thankfully. however, the fashionable fivesome’s debut more than lives up to all the fuss. You can't deny its derivative; take the dark. Depeche Modesgue melanchon of 'Deborah Carne' or frontman Finn Vines Robert Smith-aprng vocals. yet Within this well calculated electro punk offering are enough
j explosive. frenzred pop
songs to satisfy even the most cynical listener. The three-pronged opening attack of ‘Girls in the
Back'. ‘Love is a
Rev E S them to the wider world's doubted English was bastards'. their record ALT COUNTRY attention and their 2003 their first language. label inform us. as THE BEAUTY j ROCK debut album Fever to Tel/ There is an unchecked they've played just once SHOP i EasyEAH enjoyed moments of talent here that. if reigned in the last 12 months. Yard Sale i Show Your Bones 1 stupid arty aggreSSion in. would Surely pass for But as they've released (Shoeshine) .m (Fiction) m. that was. even 10 cynics. genius. AS the ultra lo-fr, only two albums m the ‘-— - v -- - —~ —w— r -
often unpalatably trippy and self-engrossed yet strangely commendable
15 years they've been together. this should come as no surprise.
hugely entertaining. It was also riven with moments of sweetness
A compilation of their two long players to date. Yard Sa/e is a trim UK
It was the YYYs' feral live i shows that first brought
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68 THE LIST 16—30 Mar 2006