MUSIC | Records
ALBUM OF THE ISSUE
EXPERIMENTAL POP CONQUERING ANIMAL SOUND On Floating Bodies (Chemikal Underground) ●●●●● Glasgow-based Conquering Animal Sound’s mosaic aesthetic bristles with invention on this, their second album. There are times here when the term, ‘a cornucopia of sounds’ seems like damning with faint praise; but what is key is that this assemblage of
audio curios retains a resolute kernel of songcraft and electronic-pop sensibility. At its centre is the voice of Anneke Kampman, itself something of a curiosity, full of Björk-ish flights of fancy that variably soar and sink, sometimes relying on bare-bones recital, and at others offering a full range of brisk harmonies full of declarative intent. Her ability to flick a switch and embark on a thrilling vocal adventure is one of the most endearing aspects of this record full of daring. The musical esprit de corps between Kampman and other half of the duo James Scott begins to reveal itself in album opener ‘Ultimate Heat Death of the Universe’, a gradual throbbing plaything that emerges from a knot of electronic detritus. It’s a good primer for what is to come. While this is not a difficult album, the tunes do take a period of engagement with the listener before they reveal themselves fully, layered as they are in a thicket of vocal loops, beats, and aural fragments. The robust bass rumble of ‘Warn Me’ swells with a pregnant sense of anxiety before birthing an elegant chorus. ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’ stalks with a similar intent, the brooding melancholia segues into some gorgeous layered vocal harmonies. It’s this kind of risk taking that drives the record, one with a gloriously rich palette, maybe most evident on the lonely, echoed vocals of ‘Mimese’. Who dares wins, as they say. (Mark Keane) ■ CAS play Limbo, Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Sat 9 Mar; album launch, Berkeley Suite, Glasgow, Fri 22 Mar.
RADIOHEAD SIDE PROJECT ATOMS FOR PEACE Amok (XL recordings) ●●●●●
Don’t let the jaunty, almost flamenco-styled bassline which opens the light crackle of electronic pop and fizz of ‘Before Your Very Eyes’ wrong-foot you, because here comes the man at the controls to rain on your parade.
‘Look out at the window / at what’s passing you by,’ breaks in Thom Yorke in that sad, neon-streaked croon-come-lament we know and are chilled by. The juxtaposition with a bassline played by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is a novelty at first, but Radiohead frontman Yorke soon asserts control of a side- project which is at least as immersed in his own eclectic tastes as his earlier solo album The Eraser.
Without knowing the specifics of the recording process, it’s easy to imagine
Flea, esteemed drummer and producer Joey Waronker and sometime Brian Eno-collaborating percussionist Mauro Refosco laying down tracks and then leaving Yorke and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich to play around with them. The track ‘Stuck Together Pieces’ midway through best sums up this sensation, one of the most organic recordings here, with Flea’s bass underpinning what sounds like an atmospheric Stone Roses B-side instrumental. Otherwise it’s often hard to hear where the musicians come in at all, with the
pre-release track ‘Default’ and the sleek, ambient drum’n’bass of ‘Dropped’ sounding as if they were beamed in from Warp’s heyday.
Yorke’s vocals are often hard to decipher, rarely willing to force their way to the forefront, content to skulk in the shadows of the nightmare modernist futurescape he’s crafted. ‘I know it’s useless / I couldn’t care less,’ he keens on ‘Unless’, while ‘Judge, Jury and Executioner’ sees him concede with resignation ‘don’t worry baby / it goes right through me / I’m like the wind.’ It’s an impressive piece of work, albeit one which will make those involved’s traditional arena rock fans run screaming. (David Pollock)
POLITICAL DUB ROCK STEVE MASON Monkey Minds in the Devil’s Time (Double Six) ●●●●● DOWNTEMPO DISCO THE ASPHODELLS Ruled by Passion Destroyed by Lust (Rotters Golf Club) ●●●●●
There’s plenty to be written elsewhere about the sad lack of socially-conscious mainstream music being made, whether that’s because most artists just aren’t interested or have an understandable fear of offending someone who might buy their record or aid their career.
Fortunately Steve Mason has revealed himself (it was rarely in doubt) as the kind of maverick who doesn’t pander, and after early listens Monkey Minds in the Devil’s Time (the Buddhist description of someone who’s easily distracted, apparently) reveals itself as his masterpiece. Yes, even back to the days when he so memorably helped apply a Bill Drummond-esque, truly art-rock sensibility to indie rock with The Beta Band. The first words sung by Mason on track two, the crystalline, hypnotic dub of
‘Lie Awake’, are: ‘at 15 years old I had to know / what makes you fail / what makes you grow,’ and right there a sense of reckoning is set. There are twenty tracks on this album, a third of them bridging vignettes and speech samples, adding to the sense it’s an extended, holistic suite of music. The doubt-filled, homespun ballad ‘A Lot of Love’ is an unexpected rallying call, with Mason pondering where he can ‘pick a spot to leave me flag’, yet the tension escalates fast, from the big budget-sounding gospel of ‘Lonely’ to ‘Safe Population’s moody funk and the meaty, overdriven shoegaze of ‘From Hate We
Hope’. It’s an album of personal depth from Mason’s point of view, and real political breadth: later stand- outs including MC Mysto’s guest polemic rap on ‘More Money, More Fire’ and the hard-nosed anti-authoritarianism of ‘Fight Them Back’ (‘you get up and fight them back / a fist, a boot, a baseball bat’). Commercial success may elude him, but Mason’s standing as an artist of insight and courage has never been higher. (David Pollock)
74 THE LIST 21 Feb–21 Mar 2013
Given the ephemeral nature of dance music, remaining relevant after 25 years’ involvement, without taking advantage of nostalgia for your former glories, may not be the easiest task. However, Andrew Weatherall seems to have achieved this with Ruled by Passion Destroyed by Lust. When asked in a recent interview to recall the genre’s best period, his jokey reply of ‘last week’ typifies the DJ and producer’s desire to constantly evolve rather than dwell on the past. Recorded under various guises, his varied back catalogue illustrates the point.
Departing from the rock’n’roll leanings of last album Pox on the Pioneers, his debut as The Asphodells alongside current studio collaborator, Timothy J Fairplay, takes its cue from sounds you’re likely to hear at A Love from Out of Space – Weatherall’s travelling club night, which has made Glasgow’s Berkeley Suite and Edinburgh’s Caves two of its successful homes in the past two years.
Mingling some of the pair’s favourite musical elements – drifting, Augustus Pablo-inspired melodica, echoing punk guitar riffs and quivering synths atop a pulsing, disco beat – opener ‘Beglammered’ sets the tone, its Arabesque- melody adding a hint of intrigue. ‘Never There’ has Weatherall adding a treated vocal chant to choppy guitar
and spacey, dub-fuelled effects over a chugging tempo, while ‘Skwatch’ amplifies the echo-laden approach, adding thick bass licks to angular riffs. The introspective, mysterious electro of ‘Another Lonely City’ follows before poet John Betjeman’s ‘Late Flowering Lust’ is given a punk-funk makeover; Weatherall’s vocals again feature on the guitar meets acid house and edgy electronica of ‘We Are the Axis’ and ‘One Minute’s Silence’. ‘Quiet Diginity’ blends Peter Hook-style bass, melodica and an alluring chord sequence, before this impressive album closes with a haunting, hypnotic take on AR Kane’s ‘A Love from Outer Space’. (Colin Chapman)