Records
ROCK/I POP GRAHAM COXON Crow Sit On Blood Tree (Transcopic)
O...
Graham Coxon gets in their quick to prove it's not just Damon Gorillaz- boy what's the talented driving force behind Blur. Ouick's the operative word with Coxon's third album. a DIY effort — played all instruments. vocals. mixed. even cover art - in just two weeks. Coxon‘s got eclectic taste. but whether he‘s strumming show gazery (‘Empty Word”). sliding the blues I'l'm Goin' Away’). trashing punk ('Burn It Down'l. or picking folk- style (Tired). it's likeably low key. Some of the tunes drag their heels a bit ('Big Bird'). but so what. In the old days this w0uld be called garage or Io-fi. The good old days. (Miles Fielder)
ROCK
QUASI
The Sword Of God (Domino) 0000
In the corporate cock- suck of the modern music business. Ouasi are that rarest of things — a band that genuinely sounds like no one else. Ex-husband and wife Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss have set aside their day jobs once more (with Elliott Smith and Sleater-Kinney respectively) to produce another brazenly
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(JP/CD
inventive bunch of fucked up gospelly showtune indie rock ‘n' roll heartbreakers. Big chunky organ sounds and clattering drums are the bedrock for Coomes' and Weiss' delicate. pain-strewn vocals to intertwine in tales of complex relationships and the wonder held in life's minuscule failures and triumphs. A beautiful record from a band that deserves a bigger audience.
(Doug Johnstone)
ROCK
ZEN GUERRILLA Shadows On The Sun (Sub Pop) 0
Despite their ten years together. as “This is Spinal Tap" would have it. the musical growth rate of this band cannot even be charted. This is the musical eduivalent of elocution lessons from a particularly incoherent caveman. a monosyllabic rock behemoth incapable of any of the subtleties that actually make music important in peOple’s lives.
Only vocalist Marcus Durant can take any credit from Shadows On The Sun. his frazzled Otis Redding impression lost in the aural quagmire his backing band pass off as music. It‘s almost heartbreaking to see a label with the
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heritage of Sub Pop reduced to peddling this half-baked pub rock to an ever-dwindling number of followers. (Steven Clark)
ROCK THE WIPEOUTERS
P’Twaaang!!! (Casual Tonalities / Tone Casualties) 000
They allegedly formed in 1966. intriegingly disbanded in 1964???! having influenced the likes of The Beach Boys. and may be taking the piss. Skate rock four— piece The Wipeouters fulfil generic conventions by making the kind of music people fall off boards to late at night on Eurosport. full of shounng.dance- influenced beats and the odd bit of hillbilly riffing. But much of this album is more interesting than that. slower in tempo, and characterised by moments of rare genius. like the sidewinding guitar sounds of standout track Wounded Surfer. As a package. it still seems a little throwaway. but it's fun while it lasts.
(James Smart)
ELECTRONICA FORT
LAUDERDALE Time Is Of The Essence (Memphis Industries) .000 Anyone labouring under the illusion that FOrt Lauderdale is a beach resort in Florida where
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42 THE LIST If) ’23 Aug 7001
Yanks go after they graduate from high- school to ‘get laid' should think again. Far from being some kind of musical version of Porkies-on-Sea (for that see Wheatus), this Fort Lauderdale are a classy electronic act in a world of heavily sedated clubbers and bed-sit
. misanthropists. Sometimes they graft Vaughn Williams-like
strings onto intricate beats (as on 'We Ain't Got No Money Honey'). At others its Donavon- esque vocals and the sounds of a posh party woven into the weft of melodic acoustic guitar
strums (as on “Flux
1812'). Not as soulful as a Manitoba or a Four Tet
5 perhaps. but Fort Lauderdale's marriage of T opposites comes close
to reaching the same quixotic brilliance of such standard bearers.
I and not a cheerleader in ; sight. (Tim Abrahams)
ELECTRONICA VARIOUS
ARTISTS Nuphonic 04
T (Nuphonic) 00”
Showcasing highlights from the past year as well as new and debut
material soon to be
released comes this. the
fourth volume in the acclaimed label
compilation series. From ; j the smooth nu-jazz stylings of artists like
Fug and Andre to the
; retro electro of Cosjam's
outstanding ‘Tronic'. Nuphonic yet again show themselves to be teetering on the cutting- edge of dance music. Highlights elsewhere include the irresistible bass-heavy squonk of Phoney's “Trans
Pennine Express‘. a track that's reminiscent
of Mr Scruff at his most cheeky. As for forthcoming material that's destined to rock your world. check out the old-school electro soul of Adam Goldstone’s ‘Alternations’. (Catherine Brornley)
well—established as a leading jazz guitarist
tumour in the 80s
'
(Almafame .00
Know' (Mercury .0 soporific that it is.
part Belle And Sebastian.
Straddle the main brace! It’s boy wonders Barrichello
Captain! We're stuck in the doldrums of summer single releases! Will the driving wind of a decent song ever come and save us? No. Instead. Embrace breeze in with ‘ ). still managing to sound like Oasis‘s effeminate little brothers. In contrast. ‘Gimme Back My Brain' (Ark21 CO whirls in sounding just like the tedious riff rage Therapy? did ten years ago. Only more so.
Next up. Uncle Kracker, all tattooed greaseball hardness. doesn’t look like the kind of uncle you'd trust your kids with below decks. but ‘Follow Me' (Atlantic 0. be dreary country-tinged pap. perfect for sending little Timmy to sleep. Whereas Katastrophy Wife are a definite court order job where little Timmy's concerned. The work of Babes In Toyland's Kat Bjelland. “Gone Away'
) is scary Gothic grungolity and ugly screeching, whose attitude at least puts a bit of wind in Our sails.
It‘s back to standstill, though. with Aussie Popstars winners Bardot's ‘A.S.A.P.' (EastWest O ) which despite lots of production whistles and knobs. makes us seriously consider scuttling the ship altogether. And we‘re not to be given a nudge by Honeyz‘ ‘I Don't ). cliche-ridden, R88
Which leaves local lads Barrichello who. with the merest flap of their whimsical cardigans and ‘Bondies Hollow EP' (SL 0000 ). win SINGLE OF THE WEEK. Their uber-indie strums are
but ultimately endearing, cuddly and touching tunes to sip your snakebite and blackcurrant on the poop deck to. (Doug Johnstone)
Wonder‘ (Hut
) by Therapy?
) turns out to
part Hefner, part Bis.
JAZZ
PAT MARTINO Live At Yoshi’s (Blue : Note) 0000
Maxim
Bali
Pat Martino was already
when a live-saving operation on a brain
effectiver wiped his memory banks. Rebuilding his life
included learning to play
guitar again from scratch. and he has
succeededin
reestablishing his
Standing since returning
to action. This latest disc. recorded live at a famous Oakland jazz
club. features Martino in 3 exuberant form in a trio with Hammond organist e Joey DeFrancesco and
the great Billy Hart on drums. They stretch out on a programme which . includes Sonny Rollins‘s ‘ "Oleo' and two tunes by
Miles Davis alongside five Martino originals.
3 (Kenny Mathieson)