Music Record Reviews
LABELS OF LOVE
mini50 RECORDS Based in: Edinburgh
Roster: Mammoeth, Conquering Animal Sound (pictured). Bosses: Euan McMeeken and Russell Kostulin, both members of Edinburgh group The Kays Lavelle.
Sounds like: ‘What Russell does with (his solo project) Mammoeth is a bit more towards the pop side of things,’ says McMeeken, ‘whereas I lean towards experimental stuff, which is probably highlighted by the fact we’re releasing Conquering Animal Sound. We basically want to help artists that we really love, but I think there will be a split down the middle between both of our tastes.’
How did you start the label? ‘We met when Russell became a member of The Kays Lavelle, and when we got chatting we found out that we both really wanted to run a label. It made sense to do it together, really. Our first idea was to release Kays Lavelle, but the band eventually ended up going with a label in Glasgow instead. James from Conquering Animal Sound I know from a gig night I run called Trampoline (at Edinburgh College of Art’s Wee Red Bar), so when I gave him the opportunity to do something with mini50 he said yes.’ Do you aim to sign more bands? ‘Well, we’ve discussed a few people. At the moment the Mammoeth album Nascent is out, with reviews in places like Q, Uncut and The Sunday Times, and Conquering Animal Sound’s album will follow in November. I don’t think anyone else will be approached until that’s done, although there is someone else – who doesn’t want to be named right now – who might be doing a very low-key online release with us. No, he isn’t famous, but he does play in another local band.’ (David Pollock) ■ http://mini50records.wordpress.com/
ROCK/ POP SOMEONE STILL LOVES YOU BORIS YELTSIN Let It Sway (Polyvinyl) ●●●●● With their third album, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin are sticking to their tried- and-tested formula. Let It Sway offers little by way of innovation,
ambling along the melodic indie pop trail blazed by The Shins. Opener ‘Back In The Saddle’ sets up a solid framework, with a Weezer guitar line and exuberant gang chorus, but the rest of the album feels like a plateau.
There’s little to distinguish one chorus from the last, and Philip Dickey’s idealistic song- writing quickly becomes mundane. The mellow piano and acoustic guitars of ‘Stuart Gets Lost Dans Le Metro’ offers a pleasant change of pace, but it’s a fleeting relief from a
124 THE LIST 12–19 Aug 2010
distinctly forgettable forty minutes. (Marcus Kernohan) JAZZ NNENNA FREELON Homefree (Concord Jazz) ●●●●●
Classy jazz singing from the US vocalist that manages to give a contemporary twist to standards without getting too mannered or precious in the process. Freelon puts her stamp on well established songs, ‘The Very Thought of You’, Chaplin’s ‘Smile’, a slightly over-wrought ‘Skylark’ and a faintly Caribbean-inflected take on Cole Porter’s ‘Get Out of Town’ – and tackles less obvious jazz fare in ‘I Feel Pretty’ and her version of ‘America the Beautiful’. Keeping it in the family, her son, Pierce Freelon, makes his recording debut alongside mum, rapping on the anthemic ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’. She throws in one of her own songs, the witty ‘Cell Phone Blues’, and is accompanied by her regular band, plus a handful of guest instrumentalists. (Kenny Mathieson)
FOLK/POP INSPECTOR TAPEHEAD Duress Code (Song, By Toad) ●●●●●
Inspector Tapehead are folkies; but not in the strictly traditional or rather cynical ‘I’m a Mumford, me’ sense. Yes, Duress Code boasts clattering rhythms, acoustic strumming and the raw delivery and lyrical romance you might expect from the genre, but then the Glasgow trio combine that with
an array of skew-whiff electronics, frantic musical dismantlement mid-track and Chris Croasdale’s unique turn of phrase. ‘If I was a dog I would lay down by your side and I would howl atonal melodies,’ he sings on ‘I Am Your Pedigree’; just one of the many highlights from this cleverly made and head-scratchingly catchy first offering. (Camilla Pia) ELECTRO MATTHEW DEAR Black City (Ghostly) ●●●●●
Ooh 2010, you are spoiling us with your variegated, melodic electro. First came Four Tet’s There Is Love in You, then Caribou’s Swim, and now Black City – the bewitching fourth album from Texan DJ and techno-pop lord Matthew Dear (you may also know him as Audion, False, Jabberjaw or the co- boss of imprint Ghostly International). If unlikely references reveal themselves via the ace, disorientating ‘Slowdance’ (The Bloodhound Gang) and the slacker alt-pop of ‘Shortwave’ (Beck / Micah P Hinson), they’re outshone by Dear’s penetration of art-rock, electronica, and cosmic disco: the album’s epic ‘Little People’ is a delirious case in point. (Nicola Meighan)
AMERICANA ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN Hawk (V2/Cooperative Music) ●●●●●
In part three of the Campbell and Lanegan franchise, Hawk, our endearing odd couple have settled into an easy understanding of each other’s strengths. Once again Campbell demonstrates her considerable talents as a songwriter on an album blessed with an impressive ratio of top
WORLD ANYWHERE ON THIS ROAD Sound of the World (Warner Classic) ●●●●●
Pioneer DJ Charlie Gillett became the world music guru. His wacky annual compilations are a veritable Who’s Who of contemporary music from all known parts. This selection of 34 artists from 36 countries is his last, as he died unexpectedly in March . As significant as John Peel as a taste-maker, this is an arresting selection moving from the Czech Republic’s DVA to New Zealand’s Fat Freddy’s Drop with 32 stunning stops in between. (Jan Fairley) FOLK BALLADEERING ALASDAIR ROBERTS AND FRIENDS Too Long in this Condition (Navigator) ●●●●●
notch songs – and that’s not counting the two cracking Townes Van Zandt covers. Country pup Willie
Mason duets with Campbell on Zandt’s ‘No Place to Fall’ and pops up again on the winsome ‘Cool Water’. Elsewhere Lanegan’s gruff, gravelly vocals meld effortlessly with Campbell’s seductive purrs on ‘You Won’t let Me Down Again’ and ‘Time of the Season’. Final track ‘Lately’ is a powerful gospel rock belter of the sort that can change the whole course of a day. (Rachel Devine)
WORLD VARIOUS Afro-Beat Airways: West African Shock Waves, Ghana & Togo 1972–1978 (Analog Africa) ●●●●●
Drawing from the archives of Ghanian label Essiebons and PolyGram West Africa, Analog Africa’s latest compilation is testament to the cosmopolitan culture of 1970s Africa. Tracks by Ebo Taylor and Orchestre Abass offer intricate polyrhythmic grooves and wild organ and brass parts recorded in the red, while Marijata’s ‘Break Through’ riffs on Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Superfly’ with the brassy exuberance of Chris McGregor’s radical jazz big band the Brotherhood of Breath. Most remarkable is ‘Me Yee Owu Den’ by K. Frimpong & His Cubano Fiestas, which blends snake charmer saxophone, haunting Cuban folk melodies, and a gloopy analogue synth solo to stunning effect. (Stewart Smith)
The List can think of no other artist who has dished out props to their manicurist within the immortal confines of their sleeve-notes. But that’s what Glasgow- based folk bard Alasdair Roberts does on his excellent sixth album, Too Long in This Condition. (Here’s looking at you, Fingertips Salon in Battlefield).
This is his third long- player of traditional song, and it’s his most confident to date: his re- animations of murderous and bawdy Scottish ballads – gloriously embellished by the fiddles, rhythms and harmonies of his ‘Friends’ – reinforce Robert’s singular calling. Long may his voice remain clear and his fingernails polished. (Nicola Meighan)