www.list.co.uk/music Record Reviews Music
INDIE ROCK WOLF PARADE Expo 86 (Sub Pop) ●●●●● Montreal’s indie rock’n’roll deviants Wolf Parade have likened the making of this, their third album, to puking songs straight out of their heads and into their instruments. It comes as a considerable relief to report that the outcome
is a whole lot more listenable, and picturesque, than such a demonstrative act might suggest.
Standout tracks include the trashy, dramatic garage-pop of ‘Cloud Shadow on the Mountain’, and the thundering, low-slung jam of ‘What Did My Lover Say?’ Overall, though, it’s tricky to single out highlights: the increasing allure of this fiery long-player lies in its consistently raucous alt.rock. (Nicola Meighan)
ELECTRO-POP SCISSOR SISTERS Night Work (Polydor) ●●●●● The Scissor Sisters’ tireless (and tiresome) hyper-camp pantomime has often threatened to overbear their insatiable way with a pop song. Thankfully, the New York provocateurs’
DISCO POP KYLIE MINOGUE All the Lovers (Parlophone) ●●●●●
There is so much goodwill aimed in the direction of the Antipodean pop princess, she is permitted to release an average album every so often. And All the Lovers is an extremely average album. It starts brightly enough with the title single, a
dancefloor diva’s bread and butter, slathered with cheesy synths and driven by that thumping metronomic beat that has become her signature. They won’t be throwing her out of G.A.Y. weeping into her P45 anytime soon.
‘Get Outta My Way’ is a feisty song about a
former lover whose attempts to wheedle his way back into her life have been firmly repelled by one
of those jerky dance moves, but ‘Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)’ is such a half-hearted attempt to enthuse a crowd, you wonder if she wrote it sitting in front of the television in her pyjamas watching Songs of Praise. It’s also one of those songs in which Kylie insists on singing all the vocal parts – a kind of creepy pop tune equivalent of the multiplying Oompa Loompas scene in the remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The middle section is completely forgettable, a
run of filler songs aimed straight at the dancefloor, each one pinned by that frankly now tedious beat, a relentless reminder that when Kylie can’t really be bothered to come up with a decent tune at least she can dance. It’s not dreadful; it’s just not the inspired, edgy pop we’ve come to expect from Miss Minogue. (Rachel Devine)
ALSO RELEASED Eliza Doolittle Eliza Doolittle (Parlophone) ●●●●● Nice, chirpy pop music that stumbles when aiming to out- quirk Kate Nash, who was always a bit nippy anyway. Spare Snare Victor (Chute) ●●●●● Fuzzy production and handcrafted excellence in this impressive ninth release from the lo-fi Dundonians. Larsen B Musketeer (Old Radio Tunes) ●●●●● Pleasantly inoffensive, with glockenspiels, banjos and ukuleles hinting strongly at whimsy – but it never really takes off. Lissie Catching a Tiger (Columbia) ●●●●● Bluesy, woozy pop with fulsome melodies, but heavily hyped Californian Lissie never sounds like she cares about the songs, and as a result, neither do we. Astral Planes Sit Still Child (Lucky Number Nine/Say Dirty) ●●●●● The formerly-titled Paper Planes have produced a classic 60s surf-pop mini album; sounds like Belle & Sebastian playing beach volleyball with The Supremes. Tommy Reilly Hello! I’m Tommy Reilly (Euphonios) ●●●●● There are shades of Amy McDonald and Sandi Thom from this Orange Unsigned competition winner, putting out his debut on the Glasgow label. See Labels of Love, page 66. Daniel Johnston and Beam Beam Me Up! (Hazelwood) ●●●●● More twisted, beautiful, genius from the cult hero, backed by an 11-piece Dutch Orchestra. Three new tracks from the shy, bipolar nerd, plus ‘True Love Will Find You In The End’ with creepy/ jolly arrangements behind. (Niki Boyle)
command of disco, electro and slick MOR prevails on this third outing, the aptly entitled Night Work. Forgoing a measure of their characteristic 70s references (Elton John, The Bee Gees) in favour of towering 80s soundtracks (Top Gun, Flashdance, Miami Vice, Thriller) works well for them – not least on the self- explanatory ‘Skintight’ and ‘Nightlife’– as does invoking the Pet Shop Boys and Laura Branigan (on ‘Invisible Light’). All this, and Sir Ian McKellen saying ‘painted whores’. (Nicola Meighan)
COUNTRY/ ALT. FOLK RICHARD JAMES We Went Riding (Gwymon) ●●●●●
This second solo album from Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci co- founder James is a fairly infectious, ribald traipse across drowsy folk, garage-rock and pub R&B. It features his erstwhile bandmate Euros Childs and exalted singer- songwriter Cate le Bon (on the lovely ‘From Morning Sunshine’). Any predilection for
scuzzy, backroom rock’n’roll (‘Faces’) is eclipsed by laidback country: particularly the balmy chamber-prog of ‘Aveline’ and the string-drawn voyage of ‘When the Letter Arrives’. Mainly, though, it’s an
amiable reminder of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci’s folk-pop psychedelia, and an excuse to dig out ‘Young Girls and Happy Endings’ – as if we ever needed one. (Nicola Meighan)
24 Jun–8 Jul 2010 THE LIST 65