ll lblE LARRIKIN LOVE The Freedom Spark
llllf‘:f,llf)ll’) Records;
Spawned from the waste lhe l ibertines left in their wake. london four piece l airrkirr l ove have taken their dreams of the good ship Albion and sailed rnto muddy
‘r/aters. lift/here songs like 'l lappy as Annie' are tinged With a (harming gypsy punk twang, much of lhe Freedom Spark‘s youthful romantrcrsrn rings less of Rrrirbaud and more of sixth year poetry book scribblings. l-rontman Edward
I arrrkin's laments of 'l-zngland Has Nothing More to Offer Me' in ‘Downing Street Krndling' are diluted by over production, and what won them affection for their live [)()l'l()l'lll£lll(l()S rs lost in a hollow drrge. Br‘rmmrng wrth good intentions. rt seems they have tried to speak for their generation a tad too soon. (Miles Johnson)
Ml: lAl. TRIVIUM
The Crusade (Roadrunner) COO
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Opener ‘lgnrtion' is a killer track. all thundering riffs and heavrer than thou grooves. if someone told you it was a lost Metallica track you'd have no reason to doubt them. And they count the aforementioned Metallica and Iron Maiden (who've invited them on their December tOur) amongst their fans. However therein lies it's problem. where are Trivium amongst these
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r orire out from under the shadow of their influences
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lll(;ll%()tll(,»\ SOUAREPUSHER Hello Everything rWaipr COO.
Such are 'lom Jenkinson's skills that he is the kind of miiso who can irripr'ess stoic Aphex Twrn dedicates as readily as famous fans of hrs b; ss guitar skills like Flea. For ten albums now he has been carving out some truly single minded shapes. some nutso genius. some rust nutso. Hello Everything is by hrs standards, a relatively easy ride. swrnging hurriedly between burbling moogrsms that border on rnu/ak to solvent driven drum and bass delirium. At the core however is a riielodic tootle, be rt from lomkinson's ear bending bass playing or through hrs deftness of touch wrth a synth. Uricompromiserl for a decade and still worth listening to. an achievement few could manage.
(Mark Robertson)
JA/Z
JASON MORAN Artist in Residence (Blue Note Records) 0..
Pianist Jason Moran has rarely settled for the obvrous. but hrs seventh disc for Blue Note pushes rnto even more eclectic and unconventional territory than usual. The music
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st-grnerrts trot") "tree separate / rrrr-ri l‘ ‘«lf tits. I.‘.") of .‘,hrr n :fl‘.'r".€.'"l .'.’o'ki'rg lli tl‘lli'l drsr'ipiiriar ,' r rrl‘ilr:x’.‘; Moran's) ore {ran/f mtl‘. Martin Sew/ell (guitar). larus Mate»:rr lb; and Nasher-t \Narté‘. irfrurirsi is augmented by guests, that include his .‘.’ll(', opera singer Alicia llall Moran. the sarirpleil ‘_’()(( r- of conceptual artist Adrian Piper. and some odd sound effects, lllllllefol Ralph Alessi and Addou Mlioup on drembe and talking drum are featured on 'RAIN', part of a comm ssion from Jean at Lincoln Center. It all underlines Moran's status as one of the most intriguing pianists around. but if you are looking for conventional (a// thinking. then hear before you buy. (Kenny Mathieson)
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ALY BAIN & PHIL CUNNINGHAM Roads Not Travelled (Whirlie Records)
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Fiddler Aly Barn and accordionist Phil Cunningham are Scotland's most celebrated folk duo. and serve up another set of impeccably performed tunes on this new studio disc, their first in four years. They play wrth a matchless level of understanding. stamped with their customary combination of technical brilliance and expressive depth.
Cunningham has written most of the tunes thrs trme round.
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of Jimmy Rogers 'Rockrng the Baby, lr: Sleep.
(Kenny rr/‘itllllfffdfllr
(It )MPll Al l( )N VARIOUS ARTISTS Plague Songs r-IAD) OOO
My admittedly limited reading of the biblical plagues suggest some pretty nasty and brutal business. Which makes me wonder why this collection allows King Creosote to be so raunty about swathes of frogs and grves Stephin Merritt the OK to get all chirpy about Irce. Still. Brian Eno and Robert Wyatt seem to have got the idea a bit more wrth their version of the flies containing some brig- like sound effects whrle Cody ChesnuTT's boils certainly feel mighty sore.
There are also some fine efforts from the spirited Tiger Lillies (hail) and the brursrng Klashnekoff (blood) but the run-for—the-hills award goes to Scott Walker for hrs pierCingly operatic imagining of darkness.
(Brian Donaldson;
ELECTROPOP JUNIOR BOYS So This is Goodbye (Dominol COO
The so far unannounced Depeche Mode revrval gets sharply booted into
Music Records
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s: ii'ids like the letter‘rlar‘, r‘lrll'llr‘ [-‘rasil’l‘ rr' trim. tr” rm; .‘.'itlrl1ear'., llllt'f trons rt funk 'atrir-i t'r ii: (trr‘k Ami f the torprt (Ifllflhilflilllflr‘lllltl are moments of tender pleasure with the dripping. trippr, '(Lount Souxenirs' and thr- rolting s‘;,l)ll) pulse of in the Morning' raising the spirits lhe rest veer far too (lose to a lurid proto Hf)“, nightmare .‘i tactir; which may result in this collections title becoming all too prophetic. (Brian Donaldson)
l ()r k’ SERGEANT BUZFUZ The Jewelled Carriageway (Blang) 0..
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Folk music wrll flourish in the harshest of climates ~ even that big boorrsh old city they (all London. Part of a community based around the Blang label. Joe Murphy, Kate Arnold and a rotating cast of supporting musicians (whichever happens not to be ‘down the pub. or in therapy‘) have been guietly knocking out earthy. gui/xical, hand crafted gems under the Sergeant Bu/fu/ moniker for some years. Their third album. interestingly enough. dwells heavily on the iuxtaposmon of urban and rural, while sounding like a slightly
ALL CDS WERE REVIEWED ON A SYSTEM SUPPLIED AND INSTALLED BY LOUD 8- CLEAR
ALSO RELEASED
Scanner Strrr‘g Theon Stung/ed RPCO/dsi LO\ inglv billing themseh es .152 ‘Glasgcu mishaps. this fright mob combine feather boas With Rowe and the peC‘uliar toys of Jagues Bret on one hedonistsr‘ long player.
Silicone Soul Sane Our Soul}; rfix‘ornar (Irarg Morrison and Graham. Heedie‘s third album of spectral house is inspired lrv mervthing from the tilins of Jean l uc Goddard to the renaissance art of Bosch.
Various l'l’or'ld Circurt Presents . (ll/odd (2% till) lhe label responsible for bringing some of the world's greatest new music to the public's attention collate some highlights on this tworlrscs. lhe perfect novrce entry pOint into modern world music.
Salon Boris lA/n The Drug i’l/Discs) The debut album of sophisticated electrov punk pop from this RUSSlel/SCOIIISH duo
Various Gold Digging: As sampled by 2Pac (Harmless) Minne Ripperton, Elton John and Cameo are among those sampled in this. the thrrd in the series (which includes Jay-z and Kanye West) of songs nicked for hip hop ends.
Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick Straws in the Wind (Top/C Records; The folk veterans reunite after 14 years to brrng their respective gurtar and fiddle to bear on some trad classics. ingeniously revrSited.
more aggrieved verSiori of fellow-English-folkies The Boy Least Likely To. So. in short. it's rather good.
(Malcolm Jack)
,\ L. "\ OCIeor
‘ivl’; Oct 7/)"; THE LIST 63