ELECTRONICA REMEMBER REMEMBER Remember Remember
(Rock Action) 0000
In an age when laptops ship with gigabytes of studio Quality loops for users to shuffle round on a grid to make their own creations with, it's never been easier to make loop-based music — and quickly end up with some sterile wallpaper music — just spend an hour on MySpace. One approach to ensure originality, is to make your own loops. which is exactly what Glasgow's Graeme JD Ronald does. using guitar, glockenspiel, the human voice and scissors.
Revisiting territories explored by Susumu Yokota, Fripp. Eno. Reich and Glass. this is ambient mood music with ambition with a refreshing focus on real instruments — drum kit, electric guitars. handclaps — ensuring more than enough rough edges to encourage repeated listening.
(Hamish Brown)
JAZZ
THE BAD PLUS For All | Care (EmArcy) 00..
The Bad Plus continue to push at the boundaries of what might constitute a jazz repertoire — and a jazz style of playing it — in the 21 st century. This time round the tunes include Nirvana's ‘Lithium', an electrifying version of Pink Floyd's ‘Comfortably Numb’, Wilco's ‘Radio Cure', The Bee Gees “How Deep ls Your Love‘ and Hearts “Barracuda'. alongside music by
INDIE THOSE DANCING DAYS
In Our Space Hero Suits
(Wichita) ooee
Appearances can be deceptive. And in our image-
obsessed age it’s great to hear someone like Linnea Johnson, who looks a cherubic Swedish folk-singer, but has a voice like heavily polished mahogany. Coming off somewhere between Liz Frazer and Alison Moyet, her deep, honeyed and
Stravinsky and the American serial composer Milton Babbitt.
Not all that out of the box for this particular band as it happens. but the big difference from previous albums is that they are joined on eight of the tracks by Minneapolis-based singer Wendy Lewis. whose style is more indie than jazz chanteuse. The combination works very well, as it turns out. and if jazz purists probably need to look elsewhere for gratification. fans of the band or the merely curious should certainly check it out.
(Kenny Mathieson)
ELECTRONICA GANG GANG DANCE
Saint Dymphna (Warp) eoeo
Gang Gang Dance hold a very special place in my heart. They reside — still — as the single most terrible live act I have ever seen. The most pretentious, ill- conceived. tragically hip
display of musical arsery
I have ever had the misfortune to witness. Think of my surprise when I put this record on. ready to tear it up
62 TNE LIST 13—27 Nov 2008
for chanty paper, to discover not only that it is a million miles from the musical belch I witnessed some years ago, but that it is great. in places . . . amazing. The New York trio cheerily mash up African shuffle beats with on chunky synths on ‘First Communion'. while ‘Vacuum' is a loping avalanche of woozy analogue synths and nothing short of breathtaking. ‘lnners Pace“ is a disjointed dubstep workout. Their 20th Century electronics infused with global flavours are Surprising, innovative and blissfully disorientating. (Mark Robertson)
JAZZ JOE ZAWINUL & THE ZAWINUL SYNDICATE
75th
(BHM/Birdjam) ooo
The concert represented on this live 2-CD set was recorded
slightly woozy vocals add a syrupy coating to a set of catchy as hell, unrepentantly swoonsome and resolutely lo-fi, sub-Pulp, post-Supremes
indie rattles.
Such is Johnson’s talent however, that there are times when the music just disappears into the distance as her voice dominates centre stage. That’s no rum deal, as Johnsson — like Beth Ditto in The Gossip - is more than enough to carry the band through any weak spots. (Mark Robertson)
on the late Joe Zawinul's 75th birthday on 7 July 2007 in his native Vienna (he died only a couple of months later). Despite the landmark occasion, it doesn't really add all that much to earlier Zawinul Syndicate releases, including another live double. Vienna Nights (2005), also featuring the soaring vocals of Sabine Kabongo, but it captures the veteran fusion maestro and the final line-up of his band in fine form.
The format allows them to stretch out on some fine world-jazz grooves, propelled by Paco Sery’s powerhouse drumming and lots of spacey synth and colourful percussion. An additional track from an August concert in Hungary features his Weather Report co- Ieader, Wayne Shorter, on a version of
__. _._-__1 to: zmnmu f
‘\ u. .. .., x~mruu 5 * ’
Zawinul's classic ‘In A Silent Way'. arguably the piece which started the whole fusion ball rolling when he recorded it with Miles in 1969.
(Kenny Mathieson)
CLASSICAL
The Complete Piano Works of Maurice Ravel, Volume Two (Linn Records) 0...
Keenly awaited second volume of Ravel's piano works recorded by the Portugese pianist does not disappoint. There is a graceful clarity to Pizarro's playing that suits Ravel to perfection. The Sonatine may not be as familiar as the ever- popular and beautifully expressed Pavane pour une infante defunte, but it sparkles with a sound as delicate as the most intricate crystal chandelier in an elegant French salon.
(Carol Main)
ALSO RELEASED
Little Joy Little Joy (Rough Trade) Strokes' drummer Fabrizio Moretti joins Los Hermanos' singer Rodrigo Amarante for this slice of slowed- down 608 pop. with Moretti's girlfriend Binki dropping in for some adorably dreamy singalongs. Fabric 43 Metro Area (Fabric) Hand clapping and strutting through 708 disco beats and glowing 80$ electro. Brooklyn duo Metro Area (Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani) take over the mix and pass on a grinning. upbeat and retro NYC club vibe. Kelli Ali Rocking Horse (One Little Indian) There's not a trace of trip hop on Kelli ‘ex Sneaker Pimps' Ali's third solo album. Instead. producer Max Richter cloaks everything in a gentle, baroque tapestry of whispered folk vocals. tip-toeing flutes and acoustic guitars.
Neu Gestalt Altered Carbon (Alex Tronic) Like a slower. more numbed and zen version of fellow Edinburgh electronicists Boards of Canada. producer Les Scott often, a bit frustratingly. lets his Iush.echoey soundscapes float around rather than reining them in with beats.
Brightblack Morning Light Motion to Rejoin (Matador) There's a lot of moody build up. but no real pay off on this spaced out. atmospheric swirl around the blues and gospel, led by their very hippily-named singer, Naybob Shineywater.
School oi Seven Bells A/pinisms (Ghostly) Dizzying, mesmerising. hypnotic; 8088 are worth the hype. as proved by this shoegazy fuzz of feedback from Secret Machines“ ex-guitarist with feather-light singing from identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Dehaza.