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RECORDS Music
ELECTRO-POP PENGUIN PRISON Penguin Prison (Stranger) ●●●●● ELECTRO-POP LAKI MERA The Proximity Effect (Just Music) ●●●●●
Penguin Prison have gone and nailed that curious talent of producing music rooted in retro sound, whilst also making it utterly relevant. This self-titled debut features swathes of synth flooded in 80s sheen, but there’s enough electronic nods to make it fit into 2011 as snugly as looting dodgy trainer shops. Opener ‘Don’t Fuck With My
Money’ sets the pace nicely, strutting with electro-pop likeability, whilst the likes of ‘Golden Train’ marries a melodic Plan B with dashes of credible beeps and bleeps. What makes this album a little more remarkable however is that Penguin Prison is but one chap, New York dynamo Chris Glover. One man, many talents and a crisp, revitalising debut album. (Chris Cope)
While the chillwave likes of Washed Out and Toro Y Moi purvey a fresh brand of electronic pop that’s both soothing and stimulating, Glasgow quartet Laki Mera’s second album harks back to a time when it made people fall asleep in clubs. Think late-90s chill-out – Sneaker Pimps, Morcheeba and their trip-hop ilk. We nodded off for a bit just writing that sentence.
Essentially a vehicle for vaporously voiced Laura Donnelly, they’re to be applauded for not letting contemporary trends sway them, instead crafting an impeccable take on a sound that works for them. But any album whose peppiest point, namely ‘More Than You’, recalls the vanilla stylings of Ellie Goulding has to be considered background music by design. (Malcolm Jack)
DRONE BARN OWL Lost in the Glare (Thrill Jockey) ●●●●●
Their bird name might accidentally attract a few fans of twee pop, but the San Francisco duo of Evan Caminiti and Jon Porras don’t really do much in the way of choruses or sing-song melodies. Instead, like another bird referencing bunch of Californians, Red Sparowes, Barn Owl deal in rumbling, hypnotic, elegantly sparse instrumentals. There is a calm to their post-rock
squalls, bringing to mind the minimalism of Sunn o))) or the repetitive, monolithic progressions of Earth. Previous albums have merged ambient, drone and black metal styles, but Lost in the Glare looks to the desert for inspiration, with echoes of a slow motion Ennio Morricone in places, and the rolling, swirling guitars of the Saharan Touraeg people at others. Gently mindblowing. (Claire Sawers)
SURF POP GANGLIANS Still Living (Souterrain Transmissions) ●●●●●
This is an undeniably solid and harmonious surf-pop album from Sacramento’s Ganglians. The only snag is, it might feel like several albums you may have already heard – and probably loved – before. The second album from the Californian foursome features upbeat melodies with melancholy lyrics, in the chirpy Drums style; echoey chamber-pop harmonies in the Grizzly Bear mould; buoyantly pastoral Fleet Foxy vocals and gently strummed acoustic guitar. . .
Not that a little bit of sunshiney slacker rock with occasional swirly psych frills isn’t a beautiful thing, it just feels like they showed up a couple of years late for the beach party. (Claire Sawers) ■ Ganglians play Nice ‘N Sleazy, Glasgow, Tue 27 Sep.
INDIE POP THE DRUMS Portamento (Island) ●●●●●
POP SLOW CLUB Paradise (Moshi Moshi) ●●●●●
IRISH POETRY SET TO MUSIC THE WATERBOYS An Audience With Mr Yeats (Proper) ●●●●● ALT-COUNTRY THE JAYHAWKS Mockingbird Time (Decca) ●●●●●
On this, their second album, The Drums have made no effort to grow out of summery guitar riffs and meaningless lyrics full of innocent joy. In fact, these 12 sprightly indie- pop tracks are so similar, and so slight, that Portamento could be seen as just an exercise in surf nostalgia; like staring at other peoples’ Polaroids of their beach holidays. But who says that a serious,
proper band can’t write songs as light as clouds? Singer Jonathan Pierce shows off his debt to Morrissey, stealing the lilt of some of Moz’s laziest, but most brilliant melodies, as well as The Smiths- esque themes of death, money and sex to create the thinking hipster’s party album of the (rapidly evaporating) summer. (Jonny Ensall)
If there is a more enjoyable example of buoyant tap dancing than on the video for ‘Two Cousins’, I will eat my hand-made Slow Club hat. The video’s startling choreography and the song’s nostalgic, glorious swoon-pop are riveting, so there is only one question: can the rest of the heavenly boy-girl duo’s second album live up to its opening track? You bet. From the thunderous riff- pop of ‘The Dog’ to the choral art- rock of ‘Where I’m Waking’, Paradise remains true to its name with a celestial landscape of indie doo-wop, camp-fire folk and glimmering soul. Death rears its head often – exquisitely so on ‘You, Earth or Ash’ – but this just reminds us how precious these songs are. Hold them close to your heart. (Nicola Meighan)
There is such a vivid sense of chemistry between Waterboys frontman Mike Scott and literary icon WB Yeats it’s hard to believe the twain never met. This would have been some feat, of course, with the Irish poet having been dead for two decades before our rock trailblazer was born, but the ways in which Scott’s music and Yeats’ words embrace and set fire to each are intrinsic, and thrilling. Scott does not so much interpret Yeats’ poetry as liberate it through rock’n’roll – from chamber ballads and bluesy wig-outs to blustering Celtic-rock. What results is a vital collaboration from two men whose hearts and ideologies have created a work of social resonance, and emotional union, and artistic wonder. (Nicola Meighan)
Marking a long-awaited reunion of the band’s two songwriters Gary Louris and Mark Olson – the latter acrimoniously left to live in the desert with his folk-singer wife (now ex) Victoria Williams in 1995 – Mockingbird Time will be greeted with open arms by fans of this alt- country quintet, and relished with not a murmur of disappointment. The Jayhawks might have gone the Grammy-winning way of Wilco had Olson stuck around during their 90s heyday, which makes their willing- ness to let bygones be bygones all the more admirable. Through the bar room shuffle of ‘Hide Your Colours’ to Neil Young-style ‘High Water Blues’, this is a winningly upbeat and hope-filled return that turns back the clock with ease. (Malcolm Jack) 25 Aug–22 Sep 2011 THE LIST 113