MUSIC | Records A L BU M O F T H E I S S U E
INDIE ROCK JEALOUS OF THE BIRDS Parma Violets (Big Space Records) ●●●●● Jealous of the Birds is the preferred alias of singer- songwriter Naomi Hamilton whose roots in Northern Ireland’s indie folk scene belie the breadth of style she showcases on this debut album. If the press release didn’t stipulate that she hails from Armagh, you
could easily swear she was the latest contender to emerge from Portland or Austin, such is the influence of American slacker indie on many of the tracks here. But the core impetus in her songwriting is to convey the honesty
and intimacy of ‘a real friend talking’. This she achieves on the spring fresh ‘Goji Berry Sunset’, harmonising with herself in an engaging husky alto over a bare guitar accompaniment. Its carefree conversational style contrasts with the soothing
sadness of the title track. There is something of Laura Marling’s sage quality in this pleading missive to a suicidal friend. She does a fine job of arranging her songs imaginatively within the constraints of her budget: ‘Russian Doll’ is a happy marriage of melodic guitar wrangling and lo-fi punkiness; ‘Powder Junkie’ is carved from the same tradition with its low-slung groove and keening guitar work; and there’s a hint of darkness on the edge of slackerville on ‘Trouble in Bohemia’.
But she moves clear of the garage with the haunting ‘Mountain Lullaby’, featuring a solemn choir of Hamiltons reverberating with yearning. The quavering woodwind and echoey vocal mix of ‘Miss Misanthrope’ sounds like Bon Iver covering an Oliver Postgate cartoon soundtrack and elsewhere she soups up her songs with eerie analogue electronica and swelling atmospherics to create a dynamic debut calling card. (Fiona Shepherd) Out Fri 8 Apr.
ROCK HORROR ROB ZOMBIE The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser (EMI) ●●●●●
Even in the worlds of metal and horror Rob Zombie is a divisive i gure, either being praised as a dreadlocked visionary or lampooned as a hack. What prompts this reaction is that Zombie is the very dei nition of an auteur. In a career split between shock-rock outrage and directing lurid ultra-violent movies, every release is unmistakably the product of a fevered mind. The centre of his own self-perpetuating micro-scene, trashy electro thrash anthems feed into his gore-soaked grindhouse features, and vice versa. What most critics miss is the wicked gallows humour running through all of Zombie's best work (especially debut album Hellbilly Deluxe and blood-drenched i lm The Devil's Rejects). The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser is a pick
and mix of Zombie staples: retro horror samples, industrial electronics, sound clips and grinding guitars. After a mischievous but stuttering start, his sixth album i nds its groove on ‘The Life and Times of a Teenage Rock God’ with its growled vocals, plinky beats and ragged call to arms: ‘all the freaks come worship me!’ Zombie transforms into a manic MC on the scuzz rock of ‘Well, Everybody’s Fucking in a UFO’; ‘Medication for the Melancholy’ is a turbo powered burst of noise pollution; ‘Get Your Boots On! That’s the End of Rock and Roll’ (you may have noticed that nearly every track title is absurdly convoluted) is a furiously bouncy glam-metal stomp. The weirder snippets are more interesting: ‘A
Hearse Overturns with the Cofi n Bursting Open’ surprises with its acoustic simplicity while ‘Super- Doom-Hex-Gloom Pt. 1’ offers a sci-i riff on John Carpenter's synths. Only the closing track, ‘Wurdalak’, clocks in at over three minutes with each song a short, sharp sonic assault. The Electric Warlock is initially bafl ing and confusing, an equally frustrating and frantic information overload that further cements Rob Zombie's day-glo horror credentials. (Henry Northmore) Out on Fri 29 Apr.
ELECTRONIC POP MALCOLM MIDDLETON Summer of ‘13 (Nude) ●●●●● INDIE ROCK SEPTEMBER GIRLS Age of Indignation (Fortuna POP!) ●●●●●
Arab Strap may have been infamous for their bedsit miserablism, but they weren’t immune from creating the odd clubby moment. While Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton’s dance-based offerings conjured up last-orders desperation or l oors sticky with booze, sweat and other substances, Middleton’s latest solo venture is a full-on electronic beast produced to an inch of its life, evoking the pristine safety of a studio hub. Middleton’s transformation from indie guitar anti-hero to would-be synth-pop
star gets a leg-up from Glasgow producer Miaoux Miaoux, who appears to indulge the singer’s publicised lack of vocal coni dence by masking and vocoding his voice out of recognition with the prodding of a few buttons. The overall effect is a general lack of focus interrupted by the odd smattering of promise.
His album’s title track is a headspinning psychedelic mash which occasionally allows Middleton back in with a childhood-rhyme paean to three years ago while ‘Music Ticks’ curiously borrows, whether consciously or not, from both ‘Chariots of Fire’ and the late Colin ‘Black’ Vearncombe’s ‘Wonderful Life’ to concoct an overtly 80s soundscape. The trance-infused ‘Big Black Hole’ is arguably Summer of ‘13’s best moment, with the production allowing the song to soar rather than throwing it off the cliffs, while the closing song ‘Lullaby’ is anything but.
You could pick several tracks from the collection which point directly towards Middleton’s total metamorphosis from laconic singer-songwriter to wildly over-produced laconic singer-songwriter. But for this reviewer’s money, ‘Information in the Voice’ acts as the template, starting off as close kin to Eminem before channelling Kanye and i zzling out to very little. Summer of ‘13 could ultimately be the seed of something sensational down the line, but Middleton seems to have allowed the knob- twiddlers to swamp his ambition rather than help it to l ourish. (Brian Donaldson) Out Fri 27 May.
84 THE LIST 7 Apr–2 Jun 2016
Since the release of their debut album Cursing the Sea, Dublin quintet September Girls have been characterised by their hazy, ominous sound; showered with feedback and akin to the Jesus and Mary Chain and Vivian Girls. Two years on and the band are showing signs of real tenacity and control with their follow-up Age of Indignation, a release that takes on a complexity which is mature both in style and subject matter. ‘Ghost’ opens the gates to the album’s menacing undertones with a dreary guitar riff that ebbs and l ows in a six-minute cacophony of white noise. This sinister element continues on into ‘Jaw on the Floor’ and is further emphasised by the male-female vocal homophony, achieved through the addition of Oliver Ackermann from A Place to Bury Strangers. ‘Catholic Guilt’ (like ‘John of Gods’) is aggressive in its delivery, aiming its resentment towards the Catholic Church. The lo-i ‘Salvation’, meanwhile, is more slow-burning and sombre.
Closing track ‘Wolves’, written by drummer Sarah Grimes, is a dei nite highlight, offering something strikingly different despite remaining in- line with the album’s sullen and atmospheric ambience. What Age of Indignation fundamentally lacks is the variation notable in ‘Wolves’, where the thick texture adds a distinct layer of emotion, previously unheard to the same extent. Nevertheless, the track hints at the potential that lies within
September Girls, which could be fully realised should their next release tap into this idea of contrast. Though signs of their
inl uences remain buried deep within the fuzzy instrumentation of the album’s ten tracks, there is something refreshing about the band’s desire to add a new depth in the form of political and religious narratives. Through this, Age of Indignation encapsulates a darkness that is far from superi cial. (Arusa Qureshi) Out Fri 8 Apr.