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RECORDS Music
ELECTRO-POP TANLINES Mixed Emotions (Matador) ●●●●●
Brooklynite experimental art-pop duo Tanlines, aka Jesse Cohen and Eric Emm, are contemporaries of Yeasayer and Health, and perhaps some positive pre-judging on that basis is required.
After a batch of singles and splits on various labels, and remixes for the likes of Memory Tapes, Telepathe and Glasser, the pair fully embrace the sound of 1980s pop on this debut album, right down to the fuzz-toned ‘Green Grass’ – a song whose rough production is the only thing keeping it from featuring on a John Hughes soundtrack – the piano-led house ballad ‘Not the Same’ and the African drumming styles that drive songs such as ‘Real Life’.
There are traces of greatness on this, an album that sinks in rather than floats by. (David Pollock)
INDIE ROCK LITTLE DOSES Rock Riot Soul (Black Ditto Recordings) ●●●●●
Little Doses are an Edinburgh indie outfit established by bassist Mark McClelland, most famous for departing Snow Patrol just when they made it big. The Little Doses blueprint is undeniably more varied than Snow Patrol’s recent identikit rock anthems, but for all they try to throw soul and country into the indie mix, it’s all sadly lacking in songwriting originality and inspiration. Opener ‘Peace Into War’ is like a
particularly lacklustre Garbage B- side, and when they try something more riff-led, like ‘Slow Burn’, they really don’t have the cojones to carry it off. It all seems a little past its sell-by date, the rhythm section grooves and vocal snarls of frontwoman Kirsten Ross somehow trapped in the last century. (Doug Johnstone)
ALT-ROCK LEE RANALDO Between the Times and the Tides (Matador) ●●●●●
This is legendary Sonic Youth guitarist, vocalist and co-founder Lee Ranaldo’s first ‘solo’ effort to be turned out in nearly four years. In characteristically collaborative fashion it sees Ranaldo joined by a host of helping hands including SY drummer Steve Shelley, frequent partner in crime Jim O’Rourke and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline among many others. Ranaldo’s melodic sensibilities
and multi-faceted ‘guitarsenal’ steer this full-bodied vessel of an album, but it’s the rich, heavy cocktail of outside input that injects dense colour into songs like the brooding ‘Xtina As I Knew Her’ and ‘Fire Island (Phases)’. As a result, Ranaldo and friends have created an all-rounder rock record that soothes as much as it soars. (Ryan Drever)
POP LA SERA Sees the Light (Hardly Art) ●●●●●
This second album from La Sera, alias Vivian Girls’ bassist and harmonist ‘Kickball’ Katy Goodman, pulls a zippier, sharper surf-pop punch than its dreamy, self-titled predecessor, but it still has heartache, stirring guitars and sun-soaked melodies at its core. Its punk-pop spirit will not
disappoint fans of the early Vivian Girls LPs, while one stand-out track, ‘Please Be My Third Eye’, sounds like a lost Blondie classic from the 80s. Elsewhere, there’s girl-group grunge on ‘I Can’t Keep You on My Mind’, indie-pop reverie on ‘Break My Heart’, lullaby, calypso-rock on ‘Real Boy’ and lambent riffage on ‘I’m Alone’. ‘Do you remember when you broke my heart?’ She sings. Sadness rarely sounded so bright. (Nicola Meighan)
SYNTH-POP FRANKIE ROSE Interstellar (Memphis Industries) ●●●●● HARDCORE PUNK EVERY TIME I DIE Ex Lives (Epitaph) ●●●●●
FOLK-POP ANDREW BIRD Break It Yourself (Bella Union) ●●●●●
MINIMAL TECHNO VCMG Ssss (Mute) ●●●●●
Years of flitting between scuzzy indie-pop bands from Vivian Girls to Dum Dum Girls, Crystal Stilts and her own ensemble Frankie Rose and The Outs have led this Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist to conclude what we could have told her ages ago – time to go it alone. In a distinct break from her fuzz- loving past, it’s clean guitars, shimmery synths and glistening melodies galore across an album that has its head stuck somewhere between reverb-bathed 80s electronic pop and the stratosphere, what with all the vapour-trail vocals and titles such as ‘Moon In My Mind’. It makes the moments when Interstellar bumps back down to earth, specifically to the dancefloor – all the more instantly gratifying. (Malcolm Jack)
ETID just... don’t make bad records. Their last effort – the ebullient New Junk Aesthetic – was a blitzkrieg bombast of post- hardcore brilliance, and Ex Lives marks the next step in their evolutionary cycle. Opener ‘Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space’ lays down the gauntlet nicely, lording it with plunging breakdowns and open string battery, and whereas this band may have previously chosen to hold off the brakes, hurtling dangerously, there are some uncharacteristic time-outs here, such as on ‘Partying Is Such Sweet Sorrow’, amid all the gloriously chunky riffola and sharp lyrics by singer Keith Buckley, a former English teacher. An intense, hugely rewarding bag of tricks. (Chris Cope)
There are signs here that multi- instrumentalist and genre-hopping smartypants Andrew Bird has mellowed. This quickly settles into a gentle neo-folk groove that shows off Bird’s heartfelt songwriting, and in amongst the trademark plinky- plonky guitar, and whistling (it’s still there twee-lovers!) there’s lots of simple, emotional music: ‘Lazy Projector’ is a pleasingly straightforward lovesong, and ‘Sifters’ strips back to a deftly plucked guitar and the laconic refrain: ‘My lullaby to leave by’.
However, moments of real, affecting beauty are quite thinly spread. The rest is just . . . nice. It reminds of Beck’s brilliant mid- career highlight Sea Change, but doesn’t quite match that album’s serene truthfulness. (Jonny Ensall)
For many, the news that Vince Clarke and Martin Gore were making minimal techno together seemed the perfect coda to the story of their musical lives. The former Depeche Mode bandmates’ last musical contact was in 1981, before Clarke’s departure for Yazoo and Erasure, and before Depeche Mode became global titans.
This collaboration sounds nothing like either’s previous work. Ssss is vocal-free, with none of the earnest melodies of Depeche Mode, but darker and less melody-driven than Erasure. It’s stripped back and heavy, it lives in Berlin and only comes out at night, wearing little more than a cheeky grin and a swagger. It sounds like they’re having great fun – and it’s just as fun to listen to. (Hamish Brown)
1–29 Mar 2012 THE LIST 85