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NORTHERN STATE
Can I Keep This Pen? (lire/ac, .0000
Although originally in debt to the Beastie Boys, this all-girl Brooklyn rap trio
have gone on to become a highly-skilled and hugely entertaining outfit in their own right. This diverse third album, free from the constraints of their
major label deal. is a sassy, effusive delight, Sprout, Hesta Prynn and Spero
blending old school and new school beats, literate rap chock full of character, electro, rock, funk and punk into a seamless whole that's guaranteed to make you grin like an idiot. Always in your face yet subverted by a wonderful self-deprecating humour, this is the freshest rap album this reviewer has heard in a long, long time. (Doug Johnstone)
excellent singing.
l le ranges Widely (or material on this excellent disc. including several of his own songs. He is equally at home, With a modern gem like Randy Newman's ‘l ouisiana 199/". a classic American blues, or a gory traditional ballad like 'Little Musgra\e (Fairport fans Will knov.’ its 'Matty Gr’oyes' variant) or “Andrew Lammie'. His collaborators include the great Danny Thompson on bass. Alastair Anderson on concer'tina. Andy Cutting on accordion. and Jackson Browne and Kate Rusby on backing \ocals. (Kenm Mathiesonl
l’( )l)
KT TUNSTALL Drastic Fantastic (Relentlessi O...
Kl lunstall delar'ed she wanted to make a 'scu.‘/\ rock'n'roll album‘. but teaming up with Stexe Osbourne. who has put the, gloss on Placebo, Happ\ Mondays and U2 among others in the past. meant it ‘.‘.as nexer ((‘(llh gcing to happen. lnsteaa’. Tunstall has
delivered a confident. accomplished second album. Most importantly perhaps. the thing that made her so appealing before: that crackling warmth and folksy edge to her songs, remains. When she brings this to the fore like on ‘Paper Aeroplane'Someday Soon' and 'Beauty of Uncertainty. is when her songs truly take flight. (Mark Robertsoni
oue TECH HOUSE SWAYZAK
Some Other Country (3K3 O.
Sv.'ayzak have been cniselling at his face fer a decade now and their :atest :s a sophisticated. da'k and atmcsot‘eric
toffee. on. You caulc.
‘ ate 2. .la'k r . as sna'pi. pwducexl tat Tftil‘kl‘, biotidfi. tro'rng A strzng it (Iateal (‘ayk'r‘iorr‘ dot-s for the dise'rclMinted 8' NW? 03%” C(‘(J"."\ harks back to the (lays .'.r‘er: producers :ould aprw; the latest techniques to flllxlflll'lt}
beats and maddening
K2,".
vocal mantras and profess that it meant sorriething. Album closer ‘They Return' features the sound of a ruler being twanged off a table. a throwback to idle primary school hands that is telling of a duo that has little to contribute.
(Mark deundson)
POP
DOT ALLISON Exhaltation of Larks (Cooking Vinyl) .0
This album is nice. It's nice to have on in the background. and it's nice to fall asleep to. In fact. the latter is hard not to do as Dot Allison's tender vocals wash over you. evoking Sarah McLachlan Without the melodrama. While the album's appeal is its SimpIICIty. more variation between tracks would help distingUish them from one another. Instead, it is like a country train ride: drifting from one song to the next the album takes you on a (Ourney that is Dleasant but unrnemorable. wrth too few landmarks to keep you interested along the way. (Cate Simpson)
lNDlE ROCK THE DYKEENIES Nothing Means
Everything (Lavoitai 000
After a year of sell-out gigs and internet hype the Cumbernauid
brotherly trir pies t‘.'..:
mates release their .tetxi‘. albuir‘ The opener i‘lhe Pattie. about Sll) tear it, prophetic a tireat, tittrllrpy, bang of the “‘l'tf. and wait of the klax- ins With enough irrimerliat‘y to appeal to the ADD kid}; — a bit like The Automatics ’Monster' from there the musir Wld/XUS along in a Killers—like tornado of reprised choruses and energetic shouts, With the plaintive angst underneath picked up by the sinister synths. As a battle cry for dissatislitxt youth, the album formulates the guestioris but gives few answers. (Suzanne Black)
ELECTRONICA VECTOR
LOVERS
Afterglow (Sonia) 0...
On the cover of the the Vector Lovers' third long playing offering there is a picture of a group of kids in a field at sunset, It look like it was taken circa 1977. Martin Wheeler —— the man who is Vector Lovers ~ seems to crave a bygone age on this
great album, th0ugh the genius IWIst is that his rnUSIc manages to scund aged. but not retro. Wistful and atmospheric, Boards of Canada are an ineVitable reference point. their desire to find the organic in electronic muSic is a commonality they share. The melodies slowly unfold. swmging in and out of phase and he even layers on some vocals givmg a VOICE}. it not a face. to the name. The soundtrack to the last moments of Summer we never had.
(Mark Robertsom
ALSO RELEASED
("HIS
50 Cent Curtis (lore/scone ( ead Single ‘Ayo Technolrkly' promises much Justin limbertoes and limbaland guesting but is hardly ‘If I Cant or ‘P.|.M.l" lherest struggles to maintain his preVious momentum.
Jacknlfe Lee Jack/rife 1 ee (Po/ydor) What happens when an uber producer he's done U2. Bloc Party. Snow Patrol ~ goes into the studio in his own right again? He forgets to lll](}(‘,l any personality or soul into his prevrously charming electronica.
Beach House Beach House (Be/la Union) lhe self titled debut from this boy girl duo from Baltimore is a fuzzy. soft focus indie dream.
Various Car/red: A Personal Selection of Chill Out C/aSSics (Universal) These have been hand- picked by Michael Caine. apparently. which would suggest he's got some damn eclectic tastes, digging everything from Roy Budd and Eva Cassidy to Bent and St Germain. Hard-Fl Once Upon a Time in the West (Necessary/ AtlantiC) Not quite the steely standoff the title might suggest but more gently political dispatches from the 'burbs.
Shocking Pinks Shocking Pinks (DFA) A creditable solo effort from Nick Harte, a New Zealander with a fondness for trippy melancholia, from the label that brOught you LCD Soundsystem.
6—20 Sec 2007 THE LIST 61