crumbled away. The
former Beta Bander has
had his fill of the music industn; and is off While (John l, ennon .vhom Alan McGee has compared Mason to 7 may have taken to his bed from time to time. he never guite so dramatically gave up the ghost. So. if B/ar;k Go/d is to be his legacy. what kind of legacy is it? Well, a perfectly ‘3(:l\/l(i(féti)l0 if repetitive one, full of politically tinged ragga rap and psychedelic punkscapes. While Kanye West might have caused a rumble or two
in the concrete jungle of
Wall Street With his high~profile anti~Bush
comments. the NME rather than the CIA are more likely to mark Mason "s career
p; ssing.
(Brian Donaldson)
CRUNCE PEARL JAM
Pearl Jam (Sonyl 0..
It's been 15 years since Pearl Jam's last totally coherent record. Ten was the anthemic album that helped seal grunge as a new musical force. Eddie Vedder the radio friendly Kurt Cobain, the stadium rock slacker. In the meantime they've fought With Ticketmaster and bootleggers. played With Neil Young and
produced a shed load of extremely variable material Vital and hungry, the ragged vocals tap into teenage angst as succinctly as they did back in 1991. Some of the anti-war sentiments are cliched. but these guys rock hard and honestly, a strange mix of Bruce Springsteen workman swagger and Soundgarden's blackness. Pearl Jam are still alive.
(Henry Northmore)
FUNK
VARIOUS
Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads
(BBE) 0..
It's telling that of the 14 covers here. only two enioy a male lead vocal. Such is the difficulty of getting anyone to capture Thom Yorke's whiny pitch. Rather than a bunch of wannabe indie sprogs reminding us just why we like Radiohead and not
throw it all away
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the new singl
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out monday on ECD, 7” & 12”
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www.7i ~7~o’«’.co.ri‘r
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them in the first place. Instead. sundry electro beds. soul divas and earnest folkies tackle the band's back catalogue. When it hits. this is inspired. iazzers like the Bad Plus and Cinematic Orchestra lift Johnny Greenwood's pompous arrangements into interstellar overdrive while while others like SaRa. Shawn Lee or Matthew Herbert With Maria Carlye bring little to the table. The Jewel however remains Mark Ronson's already aired brassed off funk hop take on ‘Just' which stands beside the abrasive original, shoulders back, heads up. (Mark Robertson)
_ Music Records
INDIE ROCK
THE RACONTEURS Broken Boy Soldiers 1XLl one
We know him better as one half of modern rock's most thrilling duo. but here we find Jack White teaming up With fellow DetrOiters Brendan Benson and members of The Greenhornes to spectaCuIar effect on this long-awaited debut offering. Each track on Broken Boy Soldiers is utterly infectious With White bringing the bluesy. deVilish oomph and Benson prOViding some perfect pop fuzz and romance. the frontmen's shared
ALL COS WERE REVIEWED ON A SYSTEM SUPPUED AND INSTALLED BY LOUD 8:
\ocals. sCratchv riffs and keyboards weaving together wonderfully, all propelled m a stomping rhvthm section It's rare for a Side-protect to even come Close, to a musiCian's main band but the Raconteurs are as catchy. unique- sOunding and mind- bloWinglv good as the White Stripes. in fact. and (Whisper it) maybe even more so. Meg must be looking over her shoulder . (Camilla Pial
(Nlei
BOY KILL BOY Civilian
(Universal) 0..
With so much magnificent guitar music around we can afford to be a little picky. And so, in our bid to sort the Rialtos from the Radioheads, this East London based guartet unfortunately must suffer. Although their
11—25 May 2006 me us? ca