Music RECORDS
SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
CHRISTMAS SINGLES
Message to Corey Taylor of Slipknot: nobody likes a Scrooge in a death mask. ‘You know where to stick those jingle bells’ is not a fitting festive sentiment for your debut solo single, ‘X- M@$’ (Roadrunner) ●●●●●.
Still, it's preferable to the yuletide slurry from US MOR crooners Train, who inexplicably re- cast Santa as an impotent, leaden-footed Lilt Man, and chug through ‘Shake Up Christmas’ (Columbia) ●●●●● like the world needed lo- cal, tropical sleigh-rock. ‘Tis the season of giving, but this is a gift too far.
Hurts’ ‘All I Want For Christmas Is New
Year’s Day’ (RCA) ●●●●● is equally doleful: a chiming, Noël-esque ballad-by-numbers. (Its only upside is that it prompted The List to dig out an excellent Xmas track from a superior synth deuce: Erasure’s 1988 seasonal aria, ‘She Won’t Be Home’ still sounds gorgeous.) Equally nostalgic and lovely is the offering
from Glasgow’s Americana sweethearts, The Porch Song Anthology: the shimmering, banjo-clad, frosted alt-country of ‘Christmas is Cold’ (self-release) ●●●●● is a must for any festive playlist. Edinburgh's Dean Owens, meanwhile, brings us classic songcraft in the Davie Scott vein – ‘Snowglobe’ (self-release) ●●●●● is melodic, gentle and generous: he's donating its proceeds to MIND.
If traditional songs are more your cup of
eggnog, then check out scuzz-lords Wooden Shjips, whose intoxicated take on ‘Oh Tannenbaum’ (Sick Thirst / Forte) ●●●●● is released on luxurious red and green vinyl, and comes with a locked groove to boot. There's a further submission of frankincense and psyche from motorik drone-botherers Moon Duo, who follow in the footsteps of Terry Wogan and Aled Jones by interpreting urban Yule standard ‘Silver Bells’ (Holy Mountain) ●●●●●✎. But it's the feast of Wyatt/Atzmon/ Stephen which joyously clinches Joint Single of the Fortnight (yes, we’re having two this issue – it’s the season of goodwill, is it not?). Our virtuosic trio’s philharmonic rendition of ‘What a Wonderful World’ (Domino) ●●●●● is a wide-eyed, real-time classic. Its glory is shared with 'Snow' (self-release, miaouxmiaoux.com) ●●●●● – a wintry, melancholic reverie from Glasgow electro melodist Miaoux Miaoux (above). Download it free, pour some glühwein and hey presto: Merry Christmas! (Nicola Meighan)
84 THE LIST 16 Dec 2010 – 6 Jan 2011
Zurich!, featuring ‘Hot 100’ high-ranker The Pictish Trail on guitar and vocals) and acoustic Glasgow psalms (Long Dark Night). Pay no heed to his pleas not to buy this record (‘You’re doing this just to piss me off. Stop it.’) – for this is a must-have Middleton artefact. Having elected to post each copy bought before 16 December with a personalised Christmas card, however, he only has himself to blame for countless, snow-ridden treks to the postbox. (Nicola Meighan)
SEASONAL LOUNGE PINK MARTINI Joy To The World (Wrasse Records) ●●●●●
Pink Martini, who went big with debut album Sympathique featuring their hit ‘Je Ne Veux Pas Travailler’, now revamp ‘festive seasonal music’ including ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Santa Baby’. Don’t expect anything subversive á la Brave Combo: instead think China Forbes cuddling up on the couch singing ‘White Christmas’ in your ear.
Their multilingual choice of songs matches pristine voices with quirky arrangements and as befits their Portland, Oregon base, they are joined by the Pacific Youth Choir and Bells of the Cascades for a dazzling ‘Shchedryk’. With the best booklet cover in a long time, they make tunes that are already deep in our psyche sink deeper still. (Jan Fairley)
NOISE TAPES CKDH/SCRIM Summer Trance/ Squubble and Beak (both Total Vermin) ●●●●● Two cassettes of electronic squall from major players on Edinburgh’s fecund post-noise diaspora released on
entirely with ‘Christiana’, one of the most dolefully sublime festive ballads ever written, which, in its revised, Spanish guitar-led form, sounds like Joy Division’s ‘The Eternal’ produced by Cold War- era John Barry. Very, well, very. (Neil Cooper) INDIE FOLK RANDOLPH’S LEAP Battleships & Kettle Chips (Olive Grove) ●●●●●
Combining Arab Strap’s musical depth and Zoey Van Goey’s gleeful pop, this EP is a Christmas stocking filler for indie- folk fans. The first release from both Glasgow six-piece and record label, it ranges from the classically styled ‘Going Home’ to the irresistible ‘Undergod’.
The appealing, Stuart Murdoch-alike vocals are refreshingly innocent, while ‘Back to Square One’ is a foot- stomper akin to a twee version of Malcolm Middleton’s ‘We’re All Going to Die’. Laidback and pleasant, it is not a record of ‘tunes’, but one you could have on repeat for days. (Hamish Gibson) ■ www.olivegrove records.com. See page 16 of The Hot 100.
JAZZ ROSCOE MITCHELL& THE NOTE FACTORY Far Side (ECM Records) ●●●●●
Best known as founder of the still active Art Ensemble of Chicago, saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell has been a key figure at the more adventurous end of the American jazz spectrum for over four decades. His music delves into constantly shifting densities of sound, with interweaving instrumental textures and rhythmic freedom replacing jazz’s traditional solo-and- accompaniment and swing structures.
He formed The Note Factory octet a decade ago and its line-up includes key younger players such as trumpeter Corey Wilkes and pianists Craig Taborn and Vijay Iyer. ‘Far Side’, the opening 30-minutes on this live set from Germany in 2007, begins in subliminally quiet fashion, fluctuating though rising levels of intensity to a fierce climax. Three shorter pieces explore similarly challenging territory in compelling fashion, the occasional longeurs aside. (Kenny Mathieson) JAZZ CHRIS GARRICK Flight Mode (Flying Blue Whale) ●●●●●
Violin has a long history in jazz, going back to early pioneers such as Stephane Grappelli, Stuff Smith and Joe Venuti, but has never been a dominant presence. In modern terms, Jean-Luc Ponty, Didier Lockwood, Regina Carter, Nigel Kennedy and others have electrified and contemporised the instrument in diverse directions, and Chris Garrick is clearly aware of that entire history. Centrepiece of this new quartet album is the violinist’s own 5-way Suite over five tracks, taking in both funky and gospel-infected segments before ending on the beguiling ‘When We Wake Up We’ll Be Somewhere Else’. Other standouts are his arrangement of Gershwin’s ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’ and a fresh rethink of Jobim’s ‘How Insensitive’ (featuring a seven-string violin). (Kenny Mathieson)
Manchester’s prolific DIY label. One half of Hockyfrilla, CKDH, aka Rhian Thompson, gets back to nature with a chirruping low-key soundscape that could easily be an environmentally friendly documentary, even as it sounds like Jiminy Cricket rolling in the midsummer dew with the Cottingley Fairies.
The two tracks by boy/girl duo Scrim, aka Ash Reid and Graham Stewart, sound more like a wounded animal that’s been shot into space to beam messages back to earth via some Heath Robinson contraption that can only translate in slow motion. (Neil Cooper) ■ totalvermin. blogspot.com
EURO INDIE VARIOUS After Twilight (LTM) ●●●●●
Six former residents of uber-chic Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscule re-record greatest should’ve- been-early-80s-hits alongside more recent material in a project conceptualised and curated by Isabella Antenna, who coos continentally alongside fellow chanteuses Cathy Claret and Anna Domino. Meanwhile in the
men’s room, ex- Tuxedomoon violinist Blaine L Reininger goes all David Bowie on us, while electro-boffins The Names get the dinner party started. Former Josef K frontman Paul Haig steals the show