Music Record Reviews
INDIE POP CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG IRM (Because) ●●●●● Why in the name of God (or Scientology) isn’t ‘Heaven Can Wait’ – the recent duet from Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck – massive? It’s the best song Oasis
never wrote. It’s also a highlight on this second album from actress/chanteuse Gainsbourg. Having previously worked with Air and Jarvis Cocker (on UK debut 5:55(2), Willem Dafoe (in Antichrist) and her infamous father Serge (‘Lemon Incest’,
LABELS OF LOVE
SONG, BY TOAD RECORDS Pink Floyd, Van Morrison and Iron Maiden have all referenced The Wind in the Willows. None, however, has captured its spirit of friendship, adventure and ‘messing about’ quite like Edinburgh’s Song, By Toad – a record label, music blog, live asylum, media crusade and DIY community – as helmed by the ebullient Matthew Young. When and why did you launch the label? Basically, we got plastered with Broken Records and promised them that if they didn’t get signed by March 2008 then we’d release their album. They did get signed [to indie institute 4AD], but by then the idea had been planted.
Can you give us a roll-call of your acts to date? Meursault, eagleowl, Jesus H Foxx, Nightjar, Loch Lomond, The Builders & The Butchers, Maxwell Panther.’
How do you thrive as a small label while the music industry falters? I’m not worried about the people who were never going to give us their money in the first place – I’d rather focus on the people who want to support us. It’s more important for a small label to foster a community of people who’ll really support what you’re doing – because as long as you don’t rip them off, or take them for granted, they’ll buy lots of things, spread the word and do whatever they can to help.
How significant is the label’s visual identity? Very, because physical artefacts are no longer a commodity – they’re a luxury purchase. No one needs to buy anything physical these days, so the people who’re going out of their way to do so should be rewarded with some thought and care. [All records on Song, By Toad are hand-crafted and hand-painted]. Also, if you’re releasing things in small runs, it’s one of the most economical ways to do it. What’s coming up on Song, By Toad Records? We have an album coming out in February by Montreal band Trips and Falls. We’re looking to get Edinburgh’s Jesus H Foxx out on tour, and into the studio. Then there’s the collaboration from King Creosote, Meursault and Animal Magic Tricks . . . (Nicola Meighan) ■ Songbytoad.com
64 THE LIST 7–21 Jan 2010
anyone?); Gainsbourg has now harnessed the power of Beck: he’s all over IRM. The result is a redolent
trip amid 60s psychedelia (‘Dandelion’), Franco- pop (‘In the End’), electro-perversion (‘IRM’) and Bananarama’s nightmares (‘Trick Pony’). Good, then. (Nicola Meighan) POP-FOLK MAY DAY Peter von Poehl Bella Union ●●●●●
This second album from the Swedish singer- songwriter is a more outward looking affair than his debut, and is full of considered arrangements, intriguing instrumentation and plenty of ideas, but it’s ultimately a tad underwhelming. Still very much in debt to the soft melodies of Elliott Smith and the folky end of The Beatles’ oeuvre, Von Poehl is at his best with the bigger sounding tracks, like the sumptuous cello and horns of ‘Parliament’ and the orchestral pop of ‘Moonshot Falls’. But too often the blandness in his voice and a slickness to the sound make the whole thing verge on the anodyne. (Doug Johnstone) ELECTRONIC DELPHIC Acolyte (Polydor) ●●●●●
Delphic are in the final top ten of the tastemaking BBC Sound of 2010 poll. We wouldn’t bet against it right now, though, because this album covers all bases. From the anthemic opener ‘Clarion Call’ (offering ‘a call to arms, a call to everything you wanted’) to the dreamy electronic pop of closer ‘Remain’, the record marries the dancefloor and popular appeal as well as any over the last decade. Yet perhaps those rumours about the return of the Manchester sound are unfounded, because ‘Submission’ is the only track that bears a passing resemblance to New Order. Otherwise, the key references here are – Friendly Fires, Cut Copy, Air, Mylo – which isn’t bad company to keep. (David Pollock)
DREAMY FOLK LAURA VEIRS July Flame (Bella Union) ●●●●●
On July Flame, the seventh album from Portland, Oregon’s Laura Veirs, the wistful songstress takes a more stripped-down approach compared with recent efforts. Conceived from a chance summer meeting with an unusual peach at a local farmer’s market, which also spawned the album’s name and title track, July Flame is a break from a self-proclaimed songwriting slump – and a welcome one at that. Subsequently, these 13 tracks – recorded that same summer in Veirs’ own home studio or ‘the Barn’ – sound remarkably re-energised while coming off as dreamy, colourful and just as inspired as ever. (Ryan Drever) POST-ROCK FAKE TAN Pieces (Floppy Records) ●●●●●
By the time this review is printed, we’ll know if Manchester quartet The effort pumped into this release is
of music making polio victims who hitherto spent their lives in customised wheel chairs busking, have become the 21st century world music group. With young able- bodied musicians providing drum and bass, this is irresistible music complete with frogs. The band’s name means ‘Look beyond first appearances’ – a message to take to heart through these infectious rhythms. (Jan Fairley) NON-TAT XMAS VARIOUS ARTISTS Alternative Christmas (Avalanche Records) ●●●●●
Anticipating the annual landslide of pap music that descends round about Jesus’ birthday, and inspired by the Saddle Creek Christmas album, Avalanche Records commissioned a non- rubbish collection of Christmas songs, with no child choirs or festive raps anywhere to be found. Local indie and folk
darlings were enlisted, and Meursault, Withered Hand, Broken Records and Zoey Van Goey are among the artists who donated specially recorded tracks. Fence’s Pictish Trail drops a catchy chorus of ‘hallelujahs’, backed by gentle guitars and soft electronica; Zoey Van Goey pay tribute to the title of Twilight Sad’s debut EP, on ‘In Scotland it Never Snowed, In Canada it Did’, and Ballboy’s Gordon MacIntyre collaborates with Maja Mangard on the awesomely quirky spoken-word musing, ‘Atoms’. The 80s electro and vocoder singalong of X-Lion Tamer’s exhilarating, yet deliberately un-festive ‘Little Drum Machine Boy’ is another highlight. (Claire Sawers)
phenomenal. It was recorded over an 11- year period on phones, mp3 players and computers, and Tom and Nikki Fraser’s love for the material is obvious. Pieces also comes uniquely packaged in the remnants of recycling rubbish and gaffer tape. The music contained within is by turns delicate and grand; lonely-yet-optimistic guitar lines are suddenly joined by swelling ebow sweeps and keyboard sound effects. This won’t be for everyone, though – the lack of vocals for the large part make it a challenging listen in places, and the album feels slightly unbalanced – six of the 12 tracks are over within two minutes, while three of them wander past seven. (Niki Boyle) ZOO RUMBA STAFF BENDA BILILI Très Très Fort (Crammed Disks) ●●●●●
One of last autumn’s world music highlights, this spookily beautiful album, which includes musicians, amphibians and some catchier- than- the-cold rhythms, is still irresistible. The slightly eerie
sound of the plucked string of the home- made satongé introduces beseechingly rough yet seductive voices over grooving beds of guitars, announcing Congolese rumba with a difference.
Recorded by veteran Belgian producer Vincent Kenis (TPOK Jazz, Konono Number One, Kasai All-Stars) in the grounds of the Kinshasa Zoo, a group