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(including musical interludes).
Of course it‘s bloated and pompous. but as a gloriously over the top bombastic slice of heavy metal majesty, it's a masterpiece in a league of its own. It may veer into Phantom of the Opera territory on disc two but it needs to be appreciated as whole to fully recognise its scope (not that there aren't stand out tracks - ‘Prophecy'. ‘Conquest' and title track 'Nostradamus' for example).
Orchestra's rumble. string sections stir and heavy metal thunder is delivered with the appropriate aplomb to create an ambitious and remarkable piece of musical stOrytelling. (Henry Northmore)
SOUL JAE
TERRY CALLIER Welcome Home
(Mr Bongo Recordings) 0...
Terry Callier, a true great, overlooked back in the day. but now receiving the recognition he deserves after UK DJ's picked up his classic 70‘s cuts. Welcome is a live recording from The Jazz Cafe. a taster prior to his Hidden Conversations album which included collaborations with Massive Attack. The recording has that unmistakable aura of a master at work. offering an organic mix of folk, soul and jazz across the album's 11 tracks. There are some beautiful pieces. with ‘And | Love Her'. ‘Timepeice' and ‘What About Me (What You Gonna Do About Me?)' being particular
ROCK THE HOLD STEADY
Stay Positive (Rough Trade) 0000
If ever a band suited a time, a place and a mood then it is The Hold Steady. Their innate ability to capture that great moment on a warm summer Friday night when everything comes together and things are just . . . right. For four albums
they’ve been enjoying (mis)adventures down the
alleyways, bar rooms and parking lots of boisterous, high-living anytown America that they romanticise beyond belief. Hell, even the
comedowns don’t seem that rough in the land of
The Hold Steady.
For this, their fourth album, they’ve refined certain elements of their foot-on-the-monitor rock’n’roll brawl, thanks in no small part to the virtuosity of guitarist Tad Kubler and moustachioed keyboard dandy Franz Nicolay, whose respective muscular riffology and nimble melodies carry Craig Finn’s urban soliloquies
standouts. Timeless stuff from a musical gem. (Steve Glencross)
METAL SOUNDSHOK The Bringers of Bloodshed
(Rising Records) .0.
Metal from the small Scottish town of Arbroath as Soundshok unleash their debut on an unsuspecting world. If you hadn't already guessed from the title. The Bringers of Bloodshed, Soundshok are heavy - very fucking heavy - and emulate Slayer. Sepultura. Lamb of God and their
hardcore thrash brethren.
It's a brutal sustained assault, a cacophony of guttural vocals and shredded guitars. You can't fault them for their collective singular vision but it needs more balance. more variation on a theme than just an all out attack, as the aforementioned masters of the genre so ably demonstrate.
(Henry Northmore)
along on a chorus of glorious riffage.
At the heart of the throng is Finn, a masterful storyteller, whose verbosity, mania and imagery make his stories vivid, touching, sometimes even a little bit lurid. The terms literate and anthemic don’t often appear together in describe a band, less a proper rock band like this one but Finn and friends have something special here, songs that are both lyrically ingenious but deserving of the requisite number of pumping fists or blazing lighters (or I suppose in this day and age, mobiles phones) in the air at those most
apposite of moments.
Stay Positive expands on the Brooklyn-based quintet’s previous three albums sonically, driving harpsichords, strings and even a banjo through their garage melange but never loses the heart of what makes them so appealing, the croon and swish of a good love song. The Ting Tings may have given us the song for summer days but The Hold Steady were always going to match it.
(Mark Robertson)
HOUSE
VARIOUS
A Boy’s Own Odyssey - mixed by Farley and Heller and The Misterons
(Defected) oooe
There was a time back when Oasis were a relevant creative musical force. Tony Blair was a politician and it cost less than a month's wages to fill up your car. And around this time clubbing was myriad of appealing adventures. DJs like Farley and Heller. Andrew Weatherall (or just plain Andy as he was then) plus artists like Undenivorld were contributing to a new. frightfully English
indulgence: Junior Boy's Own Records.
The label blossomed in the early 903 to provide a platform for some truly tremendous electronic music including the breathtaking early tunes from Underworld. This retrospective doesn't include any of these. but still brings in some heavy hitters of the age: Ashley Beedle's Black Science Orchestra, X-Press 2 and Farley and Heller's Fire Island and Roach Motel guises.
The result is a trip (of sorts) down memory lane (of sorts) bringing to the surface 11 cracking tunes. big, insistent house twangers that
ALSO RELEASED
Daedalus Love to Make Music To (Ninja Tune) This leftfield hip hop doyen takes a few trips into the unknown. expanding his repertoire of beats bleats and cuts into hunks of textured. hypnotic. mirthful magic.
Our Sleepless Forest Our Sleepless Forest (Resonant) So you're a new age raver whose idea of paradise is a party on a warm beach. On the way. you die and find yourself in the great chill out room in the sky. And as you meet your maker. this is what will be playing. Sublime. Night Noise Team Ronde De Nuit (Perm Whale) Two international interlopers have arrived in Leith with a cracking wee album influenced by more than a little Bowie. Wounded Knee Mystic Mixtape (Shazzb/at) More Shamanic. beguiling oddness from this prolific local tinkerer. Unpredictable, lo-fi, and kind of fascinating for a reason we can't quite fathom.
q without u Shut up! / invented you (Owithoutu) Potentially, the kind of self-depreciating indie tykes that could annoy the arse off you with the “no really, I couldn't" modesty. In fact. they're not modest at all and have a whole heap of rousing tunes which jangle and soar in all the right places.
might be looking back but remind us just how much fun house music made for the sheer joy of it is. Something worth remembering.
(Mark Robertson)
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3—1 7 Jul 2008 THE LIST 73