Music RECORDS
SCOTTISCHE POP HUMAN DON’T BE ANGRY Human Don’t Be Angry (Chemikal Underground) ●●●●●
In the bowels of a radioactive pop bunker somewhere between Glasgow and Falkirk, Malcolm Middleton has spent 18 months incubating a (super) heroic alter-ego. We all thought we knew the mild-mannered Middleton – sublime melodist with Arab Strap but behind the smile and modest beard, there throbbed the fluorescent brain of an ambient 80s overlord. He was hatching a plan for interplanetary domination, as soundtracked by the Art of Noise, Tangerine Dream, Whitesnake and Top Gun, and his plotting has borne brilliant fruit in the guise of Human Don’t Be Angry.
From the gorgeous alt-MOR swell of ‘Monologue: River’ to the lambent riffs
and glimmering krautrock of ‘First Person Singular, Present Tense’ – not to mention the discombobulating art-pop thrill of ‘1985’ – Human Don’t Be Angry is a captivating, drum-embracing beast. It is fortified by guitar-fuelled instrumental adventures (‘The Missing Plutonium’), Frankie Goes to Hollywood homages (‘After the Pleasuredome’) and a fitting widescreen leitmotif (‘HDBA Theme’). While Middleton’s solo lyrics are typified by self-deprecation, Human Don’t Be Angry’s vocalisms are more forthright, driven and loved-up. Human, gird thy loins. (Nicola Meighan)
BAROQUE POP RUFUS WAINWRIGHT Out of the Game (Polydor) ●●●●●
Releasing career retrospective House of Rufus last year and now drafting in ubiquitous producer Mark Ronson, all signs point to reinvention for Wainwright. Never one to shy away from the idiosyncratic in his operatic and multi-genre-infused pop, he embraces an expanded framework of instrumentation over which to drape his trademark sonorous tones. The country and soul-inflected anthemic first single ‘Out of the Game’, the swaggering debauchery of ‘Rashida’, and the melancholy country shuffle of ‘Respectable’ all play to his known and loved strengths: soaring, sensuous vocals, opulent lyrical world- building, vertiginous emotional range and a delicious sense of occasion. (Suzanne Black)
AMERICANA M WARD A Wasteland Companion (Bella Union) ●●●●●
M Ward is probably best known these days for being one half of She & Him, his collaboration with Zooey Deschanel, but long before that partnership he was dishing up dreamy slices of Americana like this. As the title hints at, this eighth album is evocative of the dusty back roads of rural America and all the booze-soaked heartbreak that implies. Guitars shuffle and strum and Ward croons away, but you do crave for something to cut through the reverb and tumbleweed. When it does, like the piano-led ‘Crawl After You’ or the upbeat Phil Spector whoops and handclaps of ‘Sweetheart’ (also notable for Deschanel’s presence), it hints at what can be achieved. Full of charm, but too understated. (Doug Johnstone)
INDIE POP LIGHTSHIPS Electric Cables (Geographic) ●●●●●
Gerry Love might have insisted on a band name for this new project, but the sound is all Gerry. Love’s contributions to Teenage Fanclub are invariably the understated gems, and so it is here with this sumptuous, trembling collection of sun-soaked, blissed-out guitar pop.
With members of Fanclub, The Pastels and Belle and Sebastian in tow, it’s a gentle ride, but often a mesmerising one, as tremolo guitars and soft flute lines interlink with Love’s coy vocals brilliantly. This is not a revolutionary record, more like a warm musical bath to soak yourself in, right up to the fading echoey, looping guitar riffs of gorgeous closer ‘Sunlight to the Dawn’. Excuse the obvious pun, but this is just Lovely. (Doug Johnstone)
VOCAL HARMONY THE CORNSHED SISTERS Tell Tales (Memphis Industries) ●●●●● A gentle debut with just enough edge and earthy Northern lilt to balance the sweetness of the bell- like vocal harmonies, Tell Tales is the work of four non-sisters from Tyne and Wear. The tales told stretch from the overtly modern, grown-up pop of ‘Dance at My Wedding’ to yarn-spinning ballads with an almost timeless quality, like ‘Tommy’ and ‘Pies for the Fair’ – a folksy rhyme with pat-a-cake accompaniment. The first four tracks, announced by the stop-in- your tracks imagery of ‘Dresden’ are also the best, with not enough of their sparkiness to perk up the second half. Reminiscent of the Unthanks with extra dollops of pop sensibility, and very pretty sounding with it. (Laura Ennor)
INDIE GRAHAM COXON A+E (Parlophone) ●●●●● While Blur’s will-they-won’t-they recorded reunion is a brand of comeback cock-teasery perfectly suited to the age of stone-bleeding revivalism, what will their eventual decision to just get on with it offer that Coxon and Albarn’s respective solo careers don’t? This latest lo-fi gem from the guitarist sticks closest to the formula Blur devised during their fruitful mid-period – that is, shameless wholesale genre adoption (the krautrockin’ ‘City Hall’), arch and distortedly ugly meditations on copulation (‘Meet + Drink + Pollinate’) and Essex boy punk rockers (‘Running For Your Life’) – but at least their purchase won’t allow cheese-making bumpkin Alex James any more proceeds to fund his desperate Greggs habit. (David Pollock)
INDUSTRIAL CARTER TUTTI VOID Transverse (Mute) ●●●●● Fans of doom-laden industrial machine music might find their clockwork hearts oiled slightly by the release of this most definitive of collaborations, as Carter Tutti (Throbbing Gristle’s Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti, nee Chris & Cosey) and Factory Floor’s Nik Void combine their powers for a new live composition from last year’s Short Circuit festival. In four ten-minute movements impersonally labelled ‘V1’ to ‘V4’ they explore a sound whose repetitive simplicity masks a wealth of emotional resonance and a series of grinding, metronomic artificial beats hurtling like a train in the night. It’s beautiful, although listeners’ opinions of what constitutes such may vary. (David Pollock)
86 THE LIST 29 Mar–26 Apr 2012