form. As wrth his .‘rzrk ‘Nllll MF Ddorn and Gorillaz. he monkey; around With hrp (not, Conventions. tnromng in rock and old skool R818 shapes while retaining an appetising grooxe. Cee- l o is endowed with the voice of an angel eren if he can't rap. An inspired cover of the Violent Femines 'Go Daddy Gd and the sublime DJ Shadow—estrue 'Just a Thought' are two indicators that show the breadth of ideas going on. (Mark Robertson)
ROCK
KHOMA
The Second Wave (Roadrunner) 0000
Originally infamous for bad temperetil metal like Slipknot and Machine Head. Roadrunner Records are putting their ill-gotten gains from Nickelback's million sellers to good use. First rt was Dresden Dolls and now Sweden's Khoma signal a broadening further of the label's musical horizons.
This power trio come on like a Scandic Secret Machines. overdosing on Echo and the Bunnymen and Deftcnes on a desolate snowb0und plain instead of tripping out to Bowre and Can on a summer night in the Catskills. ExplOSIons in the Sky share their affection for unashamed sonic hugeness but Khoma trade in heavier riffs and those dynamic inflections that make Radiohead so unpleasantly addictive. Khoma may follow a familiar route to some but are actually even
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TODD GORDON Love's Illusions
llen La Sew/’13 OOO
The Edinburgh-lrased singer figures regularly in the listings column of this magazine. and if his music covers very familiar ground. he does so wrth engaging style and flair. Pianist David Patrick provides the arrangements and leads a swinging rhythm section, with Alan Barnes isaxesr and Bruce Adams (trumpet) adding punchy horn work.
The singer's self- confessed love for F'ank Sinatra is always palpable in hrs approach to the classic Broadway and Hollywood standards that make up most of this disc (even Joni Mitchell's ‘Both Sides. Now' was also covered by Sinatra). but he is able to work hrs own stylistic nuances into the songs.
(Kenny Mathieson)
ROCK CALEXICO Garden Ruin (Matador) 0000
Billed by nay-sayers. btisybodres and general unthinking headline grabbers as Joey Burns and John Comertino's abandonment of their Tex-Mex roots in favOur of more arable. but ultimately less rewarding rocky pastures are Setting them snon. It doesn't matter what thrs pair pray wrth. the heart of the muSic remains true.
It always scuno‘s like
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(Mark Rclre'tsm
ROCK
ASTRID WILLIAMSON Day of the Lone Wolf
rlncarnatron Records
Now that those pesky indie kids ltél‘.(3 split up and left her nan‘e alone. Shetland's one and only Astrid can get one With lighting up the torch and rattling off some songs to Still Not quite a fully- fledged rocker or a folkre or a ra/xer or e. 2n a straight pop kid. Williamson's dreamy rock throws up a variety of options and while the songs can be supremely beautiful. a cutiple don't gurte have the lift to take them heady herghts yeti might expect. There are moments when the early-Radiohead nreets Tori Amos aXis. as compelling as rt is. can become a little drab. For the most part however. this record is filled with imploring inspired songs. rMark Robertson.
ELECTRONICA REKID
Made in Menorca iSoul Jazz,» .000
The cyclical nature of 'nuSK: means this writ always happen. but people like Higher Intelligence Agency and Black Dog making superb bubbling understated electrOnrc head 'TTLJSIC like this back r" 1993.A:sc. without wishing to reveal too mucn of a dark past.
ALSO RELEASED
Grandaddy Just Like {he FGNTL‘l. Cat (‘32) So they "re ti"all\, called rt a day and lea). e us with
a totner album of familiarly heavy-Iidded trippy pop nuggets A shame to see them go but. judging by this effort. the timing is painfully right, Scatter The Mountain Announces (Blank Tapes) SOundtracking that infreguently visited moment when Godspeed! You Black Emperor collide With Pentangle. this second feral. sonic stramash is as odd and beguiling as their genius debut. Matisyahu Youth (Columbia) You thOLight haying a HaSidic rew dOing reggae hip hop would be a great idea didn't yOu? We'll yOu'd be wrong. Admire his Chutzpah but cringe at the tunes. Various Extended Seventies (Optimum Sounds) A nifty collection of extended mixes of everything from Donna Summer to Ian Dury and Elton John to Sugarhill Gang from the era when the t2" truly ruled the w0rld.
moments of this sound remarkably like Belgian new beat masters Front
212. albeit .‘.')thcut the corny Darth Vader vocals. We may not be used to these kind of lush. dark Vangelis-rsms from SOul Jazz Records but a): the better for that. This ES Overlong ill piaces and could have enyo,e:l some rudrcwus editing but it is driving n‘ate'iaI that doesnt rely on a 'roggrnt’ui c‘ crass As or a iaCkrng beat to take you to some peCur‘a'ly emotive places.
(Mark Robertson.)
SINGLES S: DOWNLOADS
Jim Noir
London-based The Council. knocks out competent blues-rock in the style of The Black Crows wrth vocal warbling that wOuld give Justin Hawkins a run for hrs money on ‘Rainy Days' (Empire) 000 The lads from Lowestoft themselves are. more than ever. Oueensound- alikes. not necessarily a bad thing for The Darkness. But With ‘Girlfriend' (Atlantic) 0..
the Freddie Mercury histrionics are a tad Overpowering. While we're name-checking MOR veterans . . . the Delays ‘Hideaway' iRough Trade) 000 is a bit like The Proclaimers as remixed by Fleetwood Mac, but surprismgly sweet ear candy. Hard. however, to get past the first verse of Miss Black America's polished stadium rock 'Emotional Junkmail' (Ruby Slippers) O.
The guitar riff on Feeders ‘Lost and Found" (Echo Label) 00 is more memorable. but it's a hook yOu'ie likely to hear on a mobile phone advert soon. NME New Bands Tour headliners Boy Kill Boy do better wrth ‘Suzie' (VertiQO) COO _ its frenetic high-camp coming over like beefed-up Smiths. Las Vegas power pop quartet Panic! At the Disco's ‘But It's Better If You Do' (Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen) 000 is instantly forgettable it pleasineg full of West Coast sunshine. Whereas the arch rock of Shooting at Unarmed Men's ‘Grrls MuSic' (Too Pure) 00
is Sunshine~free and vaguely reminiscent of a PiXies dirge.
Apparently, Brighton-originated The Upper Room are the new Coldplay. No need to listen to their new single ‘Black 8. White' (Columbia)
0 . then. Also from Brighton, Bat For Lashes (aka Natasha Khan) is apparently the new Cat Power. On evrdence of ‘The Wizard' (Drowned in SOund) O. she's not nearly as interesting. whatever fan-boy Devendra Banhart says.
Back up north, young Glasgow popsters The Towers are exuberant if not particularly polished on ‘One Good Reason (to Dance)’ (S and M Records) 000 . Babygod. also from Glasgow and here releasmg their debut EP ‘Lists of Three' (lnterdependent records; 000 prove to be the opposite: tight enOugh. but a bit on the door Side. But someone should offer a contract to yet-to-be- Signed Scots outfit Foxface whose double A-Slde “Monster Seas/Across to Texa' 0000 is at once robust and totally bonkers. And listening to ‘5/4 to the Floor' 0000 on Fickle Public‘s debut EP you'd be forgiven for thinking extinct US punk rockers The Minutemen had been reborn in Scotland (which could only be a good thing).
Nevertheless. Single of the Fortnight must be split between Lancashire lad Jim Noir for the delightful. tummy tickling, happy-clappy. loopydelic 'My Patch' (Atlanticl 0000 , and Londoners The Gemma Ray Ritual for their glorious soaring vocals and swirling gurtars on the double A white vrnyl ‘From the Teeth/White Bait' (Bronze Rat Records) 0000 . (Miles Fielder)
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2? Apr—11 Ma, “gt/Jo TNE LIST 69