MUSIC | Album reviews COUNTRY-FOLK SWEETHEARTS OF THE PRISON RODEO On the Desolate Hillside (Wise Blood Industries) ●●●●●
Being an album’s title track is no easy task. Your spotlit status infers that you should really be one of the strongest tracks on the record; it’s also in your unwritten job description to encapsulate the tone and message of the album as a whole. ‘On the Desolate Hillside’ is by no means the best track on this new project featuring Adam Stafford (formerly of Y’All is Fantasy Island, and head of the Wise Blood label on which this is released), but the song’s variable quality means it ably assumes the role of being the LP in microcosm. The track – like the album – is made up of two halves: half cowboyish lamentation, half dour Scottish deadpannery. It’s the former that really shines elsewhere on the record: ‘Fashionable Buddhas’, ‘Anomie Encumbrance’ and ‘Break These Chains’ all have fun toying with country-folk conventions, flinging lonesome whistles, desert- dry percussion and ‘hoo hah!’ backing vocals against mentions of ‘biochemical machines’ and middle class revolt. There’s even a few glimpses of a wry sense of humour: lead singer D King’s terse ‘ah fuck’ when he messes up the intro to ‘The Solitary Rabbit’ is kept on record, and the aforementioned ‘Break These Chains’ admits, ‘my inability to retain information would make me a shite stalker’. Sadly, Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo are less successful when they get off the horse. ‘Hell is Awaiting’ is a psychedelic mishmash of bongos, wheedling organ lines and Nick Cave-lite barking, none of which really gel (coupled with a disappointingly schoolboyish innuendo involving a
turkey baster). ‘Mappin’ is an incongruous venture into Kraftwerkian electronica and sludgy, slacker guitar chords, with King’s conscious inability to hit the low notes slipping from comical to tedious. ‘Sorry to ruin all your plans / Your aspirations for being a great man / But you should stick to writing good old country songs’ sings King on that title track. Brother, you ain’t wrong. (Niki Boyle) ■ S of the PR play with Adam Stafford at The 13th Note Cafe / Bar, Glasgow, Sat 24 Aug.
VOCAL HARMONIES THE NATIONAL JAZZ TRIO OF SCOTLAND Standards Volume II (Karaoke Kalk) ●●●●●
In case you didn’t know, Bill Wells’ National Jazz Trio don’t actually play jazz music. They’re not a trio either. That’s about as misleading as things get though – otherwise, the group manifests all of the usual delicate melancholy which has come to characterise Wells’ recent output. Wells doesn’t take centre stage here though, instead his rotating guest
vocalists Lorna Gilfedder, Aby Vulliamy and Kate Sugden are the star players, letting their gossamer vocals flower simple arrangements into glorious hymnal odes. The whole record holds a startling innocence and simplicity – a polar opposite to the jaded cynicism of his work with Aidan Moffat. Wells’ gently pressed keys provide the foundations for subtle patterns of melody to be stitched together under sparse piano melodies and wide-eyed vocals. The gorgeous scales of ‘Hillwalk’ sound like a serene highland stroll, and
the album regularly captures the calm of nature in a very perceptible and pious way – such reverence is particularly apparent in an intoxicating version of traditional Scottish folk classic ‘Bonnie Mary of Argyle’. The album is at its most progressively beautiful with a cover of Moondog’s ‘My Tiny Butterfly’ which has the three vocal muses singing in rounds, to luscious, dizzying effect.
While it is never a difficult listen, there is a quietly abstract nature to the record which regularly juxtaposes beauty and tension. ‘Winter Breaks and Back to Spring’ for instance has a darker tone, where decayed strings and
stark primal percussion make for a desolate instrumental interlude. ‘This is What You Could Have Won’ has an ominous undertone which scrapes curiously against grand piano keys and angelic harmonies, before slipping into coarse apocalyptic territory. A thoroughly beguiling listen overall, and an album which will warrant several listens to fully appreciate the complexities which lurk beneath its immediate charms. (Chris Tapley)
68 THE LIST 22 Aug–19 Sep 2013
JAZZ & WORLD
JAZZ ROSCOE MITCHELL, TONY MARSH, JOHN EDWARDS Improvisations (Otoroku) ●●●●● Roscoe Mitchell is one of the most challenging thinkers in jazz, whether as soloist, composer or member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. This superb double album documents his 2012 residency at London’s avant-garde hub Cafe Oto, joined by bass virtuoso John Edwards and percussionist Tony Marsh, who tragically passed away two months after the event. As such, Improvisations stands as a fitting tribute to Marsh, whose idiosyncratic approach – he played a jerry-rigged set of suspended drums, with no hi-hats or kick – makes him an inspired foil for Edward’s head-spinning bass inventions and Mitchell’s strident blend of skewed melody and extended technique. This is music that demands the listener’s concentration, but it’s well worth the effort, as Mitchell leads you through solar systems of richly textured sustained tones and giddy feats of circular breathing, his mercurial rhythm section following headfirst into the constellation. (Stewart Smith)
CONVERGENCE QUARTET Slow and Steady (No Business) ●●●●●
Slow and Steady begins with the sputter and hiss of Taylor Ho Bynum’s cornet, a quizzical utterance which invites some playfully curious piano from Alexander Hawkins. Harris Eisenstadt essays some skittering semi- quavers around his cymbals and rims, while Dominic Lash’s bass groans and jabs. After this warm up, the lengthy ‘Third Convergence’ showcases the international quartet’s versatility and lateral thinking. Moving through a
range of modes and atmospheres, it begins with Bynum and Hawkins doubling up on a strident Godzilla soundtrack figure, while Eisenstadt burrows deep into the earth’s crust. On the turn of a dime, it becomes a reflective ballad, boasting some gorgeous soloing from Bynum and Hawkins. Lash’s terse bass edges the piece back towards choppier waters, his strings creaking and slapping against the wood like tangled rigging on a storm-tossed ship. Somewhere between Don Cherry’s free-bop and European improv, Slow and Steady is an oblique delight. (Stewart Smith)
WORLD MDOU MOCTAR Afelan (Sahel Sounds) ●●●●●
Of all the tracks on Sahel Sounds’ game-changing Music From Saharan Cell Phones, Mdou Moctar’s ‘Tahoultine’ was the most startling, a futuristic Tuareg ballad constructed from multi-tracked autotune vocals and machine beats. It appears here in acoustic form, with Moctar’s lilting tenor tracing the serpentine melody on the top strings of his guitar, while his thumb maintains a steady root-note pulse. On this live album, the
otherworldly electronics have been replaced with campfire atmospherics, but the strength of Moctar’s songwriting and guitar playing lift it above most Saharan rock. As gorgeous as the acoustic songs are, it’s the electric numbers which really astonish. Cranking up his Stratocaster, Moctar charges through Tinariwen’s ‘Chet Boghassa’, firing off stinging riffs and dizzying modal reels while his drummer hammers out a funky, propulsive groove. The raw spontaneity and ecstatic momentum of this music is a joy to behold. (Stewart Smith) WORLD CAIRO LIBERATION FRONT Electro Cha3bi For Avant-Garde Lovers (soundcloud/cairoliberationfront) ●●●●●
Electro cha3bi is the revolutionary new sound from Egypt, a high-energy mix of Arabic rhythms, hip hop and European dance music. With no physical releases, electro cha3bi has spread through social networks and street parties. Thanks to Dutch DJ collective Cairo Liberation Front, these exhilarating sounds are reaching a wider audience. To untrained Western ears, electro cha3bi has affinities with the hyperactive electro dabke of Syrian superstar Omar Souleyman. There are the high BPMs, keening Arabic melodies from sleek digital synths, sampled hand percussion, and whomping electronic basslines. Like dabke, chaabi is celebratory wedding music, but what these new artists do with it is pretty radical. This online mix collects the scene’s wildest sonic experiments from producers like Amr 7a7a, and DJ Kimo. A thrilling listen. (Stewart Smith) ■ See facebook.com/CairoLiberationFront for more info.