www.list.co.uk/music JAZZ & WORLD
JAZZ STAN TRACEY Sound Check (Resteamed Records) ●●●●●
This double album is a family affair, in which the veteran pianist teams up with son Clark on drums for a fairly free- form set of duets on the first disc, then adds bassist Andrew Cleyndert for a more straight-ahead trio set on the second, focusing mainly on music by two of Stan’s major
influences, Monk and Ellington.
The pianist is now in his mid 80s, but is still playing with impressive energy on top of his accumulated musical wisdom, and if we don’t learn much that we didn’t already know about him from this outing, it’s a very enjoyable addition. (Kenny Mathieson)
JAZZ FRINGE MAGNETIC Twistic (Loop Records) ●●●●●
Jamie Cullum makes a guest appearance here, but don’t be fooled into expecting anything else very Jamie-like (come to think of it, not even his own duet with Elisabeth Nygaard). Trumpeter Rory Simmons leads this eclectic band through a strange musical hinterland – somewhere between jazz and contemporary classical, with more than a touch of indie-pop and dance groove thrown in. Nygaard’s moody Nordic pop and Andrew Plummer’s Tom Waits-style growl add contrasting vocals to the mix. The combination can be hit-and-miss, but throws up some fascinating twists along the way. (Kenny Mathieson)
WORLD AURELIO Laru Beya (Stonetree/Real World) ●●●●●
When Belizean singer Andy Palacio died tragically three years ago, people feared his placing of Garifuna language music onto the global scene, via the extraordinary album Wátina would end. Palacio must be beaming at the sound of Aurelio, who duets here with Senegalese star Youssou N’Dour, his mentor courtesy of the Rolex Arts Initiative. This is an album by a major world musician (and politician): a sublime and original fusion of sounds, irresistible musical stories, the ‘feelgood’ factor (it was recorded in a beach shack) underpinned by a sense of audacious pleasure. There’s even a Manu Chao’ish feel to ‘Ineweyu’. (Jan Fairley)
WORLD CURRO FUENTES & THE BIG BAND Cartagena! Cumbia and Descarga Sound of Colombia 1962–72 (Soundway) ●●●●● This fabulous record beams you right into the 60s Colombian coastal scene courtesy of Curro Fuentes, son of the family owners of the pioneering Discos Fuentes recording company. One summer Curro formed a supergroup-styled orchestra,
creating stunning music with its vibrant saxes, brass, vamping piano, layered percussion and witty, gloriously raucous choruses. This one time ‘low life’ dance music gone ‘high class’ big band jazz oozes pleasure. The album and packaging (with a great story booklet) consolidate Soundway as the new quality reissue label to follow. (Jan Fairley)
ALSO RELEASED
RECORDS Music
SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
It’s all gone a wee bit duff for Duffy of late hasn’t it? Following her flop of a second album, the Welsh soul-pop warbler’s reportedly quitting music, and the snooze-worthy ‘My Boy’ (Polydor) ●●●●● suggests she won’t be missed. It’s your comeuppance for that rage-inducing Diet Coke ad, love.
No less soporific is James Blake, whose much slavered-over talent this particular reviewer still struggles to get its head around. A dull song – ‘The Wilhelm Scream’ (Atlas/A&M) ●●●●● – remains a dull song even if you apply ‘edgy’ production akin to submerging it in the bathtub, right? Another artist with possibly inflated ideas of their artistic worth is Tinie Tempah, who by ripping-off Kanye West’s ‘Touch the Sky’ in the video for ‘Wonderman’ (Parlophone) ●●●●● – an average hip-pop knockabout featuring a typically beige Ellie Goulding – seems to be wishfully hinting at whom he considers himself a British answer to.
Much better is Anna Calvi, who channels PJ Harvey and Jeff Buckley with elemental drama on ‘Blackout’ (Domino) ●●●●● Grinderman’s Stonesy groover ‘Palaces of Montezuma’ (Mute) ●●●●● meanwhile, finds Nick Cave banging on about pleasant things like ‘the spinal chord of JFK wrapped in Marilyn Monroe’s negligee’. It’s okay Nick, I wasn’t enjoying that sandwich anyway.
Blasts from the indie-pop past The Primitives, Morrissey’s favourite band circa 1987, return with the ‘Never Kill a Secret’ EP (Fortuna Pop!) ●●●●● the janglesome title track of which is beaten to Single of the Month only by The Kills with sleazy dub-strut ‘Satellite’ (Domino) ●●●●● as Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart (pictured) blow-off Kate Moss and Jack White respectively to get back to putting the shits right up us as only this perennially peely-wally looking twosome can. (Malcolm Jack)
Kurt Vile Smoke Ring For My Halo (Matador) ●●●●● Four years into his recorded career and four albums down, the Philadelphian alt-rocker lives up to the Constant Hitmaker title of the first. Grimy, Sonic Youth- influenced reverb meets downbeat smalltown angst on a grower of a record.
The Human League Credo (Wall of Sound) ●●●●● The Sheffield trio’s first album in a decade marries Oakey’s sullen man-machine murmur, Catherall and Sulley’s synthesised dolly-bird chirping and unfeasibly credible electro-pop on better tracks like ‘Night People’ and ‘Single Minded’. Nasty P Choosers Can’t Be Beggars (KFM Records) ●●●●● Edinburgh’s ever-reliable KFM returns with a cohesive, suitably old- school offering from their in-house rapper, calling to mind Roots Manuva, Jurassic 5 and Wu-Tang Clan, with appearances from J5’s Akil, Profisee and Skinnyman.
Akron/Family S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT (Dead Oceans) ●●●●● Who needs a good album title (even the band don’t know what it means) when you have an album this full of wonder. The Portland- art-rockers force epic pop and experimental soundscapes together.
New York Dolls Dancing Backward in High Heels (Blast Records) ●●●●● 2011’s least necessary comeback is still impossible to dislike, as shale-voiced sexage- narians David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain do a streetwalkin’ strut through a bunch of saxed-up garage rock.
Monoganon Songs To Swim To (Winning Sperm Party) ●●●●● File this tender, indie-folk effort from Glasgow’s John B McKenna beside Bright Eyes or Devendra Banhardt. It’s not in the same league (no shame), but the same blend of strummed confessional and tense emotive spikes is there. (David Pollock)
3–31 March 2011 THE LIST 85