SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
Without the right tunes. 3 buff set of pipes are about as much use as a pair of boxfresh Nikes to a landmine victim. For proof. check out London's latest supposedly hot-prospect Bobby Kray's ‘Silly Games' (V2) 00 — four minutes of rangy vocal acrobatics over the top of what sounds like a Shaggy B-side. Try, instead. ‘One More Chance' (Deltasonic) O.” by Liverpool lovely Candle Payne; a girl who was evidently front of the queue when the big man upstairs was giving out the singing skills. and smart enough to turn it to such sweeping Northern Soulful nuggets as this.
Little Man Tate were apparently back of the queue when said deity was dishing out original thought. ‘European Lover‘ (V2) 00 has them continuing to follow in Artic Monkeys' wake like a bunch of regional accented dimwit seagulls. Killers-impersonating Glasgow euphoric indie scallywags The Dykeenles' ‘Stitches' (Lavolta) e. hardly pushes the envelope either.
It's the Happy Mondays that Birmingham's The Wang are most often compared to. although in the case of agreeably jangly ballad ‘Two Lovers' (B-Unique) m The Smiths who are their Manc band of the week. The Shlns' ‘Turn On Me' (Sub Pop) one also jingles. albeit in a less Iairy. more joyoust upbeat. melodic fashion. Double A- side ‘Control YourselfNVasted on the Radio' 0000 (Black Spring) by Edinburgh/London ‘schemie prog’ collective Clean George IV is concerned with no such fey things meanwhile — the latter tune sounding like an angry Alex Harvey taking on Jimmy Page in a screwdriver fight behind the bookies.
What could possibly top that? Voxtrot’s ‘Firecracker‘ (Play Louder) “of course. The quietly auspicious Texans have produced the belter they‘ve long promised: a svelte. sturdy, slightly sexy indie-rocker with a chorus catchier than the common cold. lt's Single of the Fortnight. (Malcolm Jack)
. for all its effort.
it‘s evidently
Reviews
ECl tClRUNICA
Kala (XL Recordings) .0...
After the success of Maya Arulpragasam's 2005 debut. MerCun — nominated Aru/ar. the internet was clogged up
with murky rumours that limbaland would produce her next effort. Kala is an album with air miles ~- with her magpie instinct. Arulpragasam has worked in a clashing. brilliant cacophony of multicultural influences. her own grimy stomping dancehall rapping mixed in With Trinidadian masliup. house. snooping Bollyvcod disco. and ex en. on ‘Mango Pickle Down Rixer'. an Aboriginal child chOir. Threading the crazy beautiful. occasionally satiawking
lllI/ii ‘ ,. r SONGS OF GREEN PHEASANT Gyllyng Street if att‘jat Hecorilsi COO
The third release frorii Songs of Green Pheasant has been hailed as a technical advance on [)uncan Stiriipriers previous recordings. lheeight track sound works well. ocasionally sounding like Broken Social Scene on a good day. or Spirituali/ed in the 90s. The long iiip to eight minute) tracks blend seamlessly. creating a dreamlike ethereal quality that cocoons and soothes.
Some tracks. such as ‘Alex Drifting Alone' are distinctly forgettable. though. and slip into background music. The vocals too. sound forced at points. as if Sumpner is trying to assert his position as the frontrnan of a band that could easily let the music speak for itself. (Shelley O'Neill)
INDIF
ST VINCENT Marry Me (Beggars Bangueti OOOO
Oddballs make the best music and Tulsa-born siriger-sciigwr:ter Annie Clark aka St Vincent is ft.rtber proof of that. Mar/"i Me is a bizarre hotchpotch of higgledy piggletly melodies. high- ll'ltilltftl harmonies. S‘.‘.’{}(3plllg strings and harps. horn snatches.
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be ho >k<-.l Camilla Piai
SUMME ll SULJl VARIOUS
Norman Jay MBE presents Good Times 7: Let The Good Times Roll
(Hesiin .0.
[Mint anybodv tell our beloved DJ laureate it's been tipping it down all summer? Apparently not. Unsurprisingly this proves another expansive. trends shunning compilation of top drawer. soulful. hand-raising cuts from the esteemed Mr Jay taking in rapturous
house. foot-tapping Ja/x. headnodding reggae and future. philly and classic sOuI. For those who have purchased the full set thus far it must be the swiftest of shortcuts to a sterling record collection. and as little as a seven-deep series should still have something to offer its big grins all round once again for yet more of the MBE's shameless summer sounds.
(Mark Edmundson) giniaou
Andorra (City Slang) 0...
Dan Snaith COUld never be amused of standing still. In SIX short years he's w0rked spectaCular things out of his organic. rusty. Boards of Canada- esoue electronica and now has led us all down a psvcnedelic K-hole and write up in a land of effuswe pop. EveryOne str'ves to lay new flesh around the bones of
' ‘ Music Records.
cmeou a mlnrra
t'iase perfect
psychedelic pop songs at yore and in nine Songs Snaith throws ut‘ images of The Beach Box s. Elliott Smith, The Beatles. Mecun, Rev Can, lath Floor Elevators and even The Monkees. but creates something that is gently ()llrklllfff and often gleefully surprising. His songs are sweet but not cloying, sugary but never saccharine. What lifts it above mere retrOist folly is Snaith's mind-blownig rhythmical approach. The man has a way With a beat that would make drum 8. bass DJs lWllCll. His music shifts in and out of focus. the beats hauling the picture back in glaring focus. bathed in bright yellow sunshine. Andorra is brilliant in both senses.
(Mark Robertson)
f‘LLCTRONlCA VARIOUS
Bugged Out Classics (New State) 0.00
If any club night understands musical history and progression and has the right to be thrownig the term around With reference to their work then it's this mob. The arch hedonists behind Bugged Out are old enough to know better but young enough not to care.
The club has always had an exacting policy on good lTlUSlC and this three-disc set proves they ain't no slouches. The first picks up on the more contemporary flappers. from Erol Alkan's leathering take On Franz Ferdinand to Justice and Vitalic. through to some of that marvellous DetrOit industrial minimalism. Disc two has Felix Da Housecat nuzzling Back
St'cbe and Funk DVOU tame t"e thira‘ disc digs out the 'eal big guns ’Da funk} ‘i-iash‘f MtiSit‘ SOUYMS Bt‘ltt‘f \N’if'l Yotl'. "Chemical Beats and ‘Positiw Education aren't exactlx blowing the blood\ doors off in the imagination stakes but after two discs of being up on \our toes it's good to k:t‘k back and wbittle some wrth something completely familiar ll ‘classic' means an album of barely a duffer from nearly St) tracks“ The". this is claSSIc (Mark Robertson)
JAN/1'
CHARLES MINGUS SEXTET Cornell 1964
(Blue Note. Records)
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(\ t i There is no shortage of live Mingus music available on record. officially sanctioned and otherwrse, but this preVIously completely unknown concert recording from COrnell University in March, 1964. is a genuine discovery. The gig took place shortly before the muchbootlegged European tour of 1964, and featured Eric Dolphy three months before his death in Berlin. making it doubly valuable as an addition to the saxophonist 's discography. as well as a prime slice of preViously unheard Mingus.
The concert featured a line-up of the Jazz Workshop that is not preserved in studio recordings. in which the baSSISt is )Oined by Dolphy. tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, trumpeter Johnny Coles. pianist Jaki Byard and his long- time rriainstay. drummer Dannie Richmond. Discoveries of material by major artists does not always deliver on its promise. but this one is essential listening fOr Mingus fans. and equally recommended for anyone wrth an interest in 608 jazz.
(Kenny Mathieson)
23 Aug—6 Sep 2007 THE LIST 3?