weak-hearted pop kids. All the great celebratOry things you may ever need from an album. (Mark Robertson)
POP LO-FIDELITY ALLSTARS
Don‘t Be Afraid Of Love lSklntl .0
There's no eXCLise. They surVived the divorce from Dave Randall. they've a sack-full of sexy new suitors iGreg Dulli. Bootsy Collins. Jamie Lidelll and they've the record collections and chemistry set to make blinding music. So how dare they come baCk after four years with an Incoherent album less than half- brilliant?
Tainted love song 'Somebody Needs You“ and 'Don't Be Afraid Of Love' are Superb. sl w and achineg Sublime. ‘Feel What I Feel' is hateful. gash-disco. But debut album ‘How TO Operate With A Blown Mind' echoes deafeningly. espeCially on ‘Lo-Fi's ln Ibiza' and 'Deep Ellum'. Deiiver the real follow-up soon. please.
Vtcky Davidson»
ELECTQONICA FROG POCKET Caric Kils :MOuthmothi O...
Minimalist is Just too complicated a word to describe the latest
release from Ayr's one and only electronic pioneer Frog Pocket. Akin to being in a pitch-black room haunted by the
ghost of a ZX Spectrum. random nOises collide in the all-pervasive darkness creating beats and rhydhms that satisfy. gratify and paCify. This isn't electro ‘or dancmg to but for confusing the old grey matter With ;ts eerie and Cryptic melodies. Apart from the irksome fiddle-fest of ‘felix kubin'. these blips and bleeps. means and groans feel strangely comforting. Turn the light off on your way out. iHenry Northmorel
HIP HOP
NEW FLESH Understanding lBig Dadal O...
For all the hype you would think that Britisn hip-hop had moved Out from under the shade of the American scene Just because of a Roots Manuva album or two. New Flesh who get Mr Rodney Smith in to perform under the partictilarly hardcore name of CeCii Pimperneli show that because of our shared language. the States will always exert an influence On the British scene. Best then to move away from the dark malevolence of their 1999 debut EQl/i/brium and take the piss.
Over Part 2's now familiar backdrop of digital electro-fun'k. notherners Toastie Tailor and Juice Aleem rap about 'doing drive-bys in a Robin Reliant' and other such fooleries.
Featuring Jamaican dancehall influences for a further sense of variety. what really makes this new. Vital and different is the verbal playfulness. So lust remember ‘if things get hard and were poverty-stricken let's pimp out those girls from Atomic Kitten.'
{Tim Aorahamsi
lNDlE
VARIOUS ARTISTS Boobytrap: The Album iBoobytrapl 000
Boobytrap release a Single every month. and the fledgling Welsh label's first long player is a collection of their first year's releases. The result is a collection of punk. pop and Io-fi that. it yet. can WltfiSIanO its addiction to the 'money- honey-funny" lyr:ca| axis. offers some reai gems. The oves' “Little Girl Bities' is a superb Stooges homage. McLusky's '\./\./hoyotiknov-.i' offers or‘e minute forty of exemplary indie thrash. aniline JT Mouse provide some elevating psycnedeiia On the ‘.'.'o'tderf'i.l. dreamlike ‘Sundrenched Torso'. Some of these so tgs are a brt shit. mind. but this :ot are doing It for the kids. iJames Smarti
COUN"'RV POP JEWEL This Way iAtlantici O
Do we really need another God-bothering. honeyed-toned. acoustic
l?
Teenage Fanclub and Jad Fair
six-string spanker telling us ‘Jesus Loves You or 'Everybooy Needs Somebody Sometnne'. No.
This brand of pop Americarvt s slurped up enthusiasticaily by our celisins over the ocean and is too often patronising. twee and rarely compelling turge. lee ieltfield (B'CCUCl‘lCél and heavy metal. it has endless amounts of people doing exactly tne same thing to little or no effect. Jewel's Eatest s.;ps eaSily into this category. This has none of the attitude of F'()l‘.£t Appe. the grace of Sarah McLaughlin or the power of Tor: Amos. three singer-songwriters at more than. apie to confidently tackle wit“ the heartstrings and the head. Mark Robertson
t'v’ORLD
VARIOUS
The Rough Guide To Bollywoo
iWorld Circuit 0000.
Spicy and playful. t"s 's lust the blast of exotic arr 0 take the Cl‘lll of" a dreic'n Scottish writer. Indian pop 's hugely dominated by soundtrack music from the putt:- p=li*on doiiar ‘-?n‘ industry. but there is fu". and adventtire amidst the retitrries of hero songs and iove duets. As ar‘ influences have bee." creeplng .nto Western pop ever since GOO'JU Harrison ‘ound a space at Rav: Shankar's feet. and this delightful coi'npiiatioi‘ reveals the trade in the other direction. with James Bond references. dance beats. folky' guitars and even shades of disco 1 its camp Bombay narratives.
iNinian Dunnetti
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JA/Z F-EJNK ASHLEY SLATER Biglounge P tiSl‘.‘ CO
The voice of Freak Power s a ma" '.'.”‘.() Ike-s to inx his genres. :tl‘tl Biglounge trips to big t)£t".(l boogie. Etl‘§};.l(l flank and orchestra soul. Siater l.kes his str ngs too. and it's when these zone to the for-(:- his debut "eaty takes off. But the "all spectre of easy ever this Zt'l);.'tl like a part cuariy otili (:(lel'l‘tll‘Sf after a few too 'nany pina oolaztas. and If‘.1't§}S aren't "(Bétn‘y helped by the arenal of a
'So'net't 'tg Stupid coy-er. St .. t's better tnar‘ Heppe ‘Satart' \‘-."!'ia'ns' vers.on. and
'l"(3“(3 Elli} It'l‘fl'ES ‘.'.‘.'l(}" ffliS
:ster‘ug "ar‘gs
pc-asa"t lint 't(:()l‘t3(}tllit}"t.£ti {ICIMECT‘OI‘ does manage to swng a p t.
\J(:'I 12‘? S (‘1‘.
BEIGE
Ein Kenigreich For Eine Handgfanate
N(:'li)‘£t(:(} ....
Ah . . . the sweet smell of Coiogne. Breat'te in that overwlteln‘ing odour of 't‘entalist electron: :a. Taking rhythn‘ic ingenuity to a Sl'l‘iléll' it slightly less frenetic .evel than Mouse on Mars. Beige iaka Oliver Brauni is several good steps ftinkier than your average European "click hop'. This may be music more suit 2d to the headphones than the :lancefloor but it has an awkward German kind of
Records
groove that makes it oddly compelling. Typically of an artist previously on Leaf. Beige pulverises 808 electronica and hip hop before slipping in refreshing, organic noises: a child-like stab at recorder playing perhaps. or a tuneless hum. It's disorientating at first but Beige brings you reund to his way of thinking. Perhaps that's a little worrying. (Tim Abrahamsl
VAZZ MARIO PAVONE OCTET
Totem Blues {Knitting Factory/l O...
Fans of the late Thomas Chapin will recognise bassist Mario Pavone from the saxophonist '8 Inc and octet. Pavone is a fine bandleader in his own right. however. and a good composer into the bargain. He employs a slightly unconventional octet on this powerful disc. with three saxophonists (two of whom double on clarinet: and two trombone players geining the restless. driving rhythm section. His manipulatiOn of the range of colours and textures available -..'./it?'iin that instrumentation is mpressive. both on his own. tunes and Chapin's Peel 0 Central Park'. but he leaves plenty of room fer energised improvisational 'r‘teraetlon.
iKenny Mathiesonl
N New single / Out Now / CD & strictly limited 7”
Featuring the unique vocal stylings of legendary Half Japanese frontman Jad Fair
Formats include exclusive extra tracks
AVAILABLE FROM THESE QUALITY RECORD SHOPS: RECORD FACTORY Paisley / CODA Edinburgh. Livingston. Glenrothes / MISSING Glasgow / AVALANCHE Glasgow. Edinburgh VALHALLA Kilmarnock / SALVATION SOUNDS Glasgow / ONE UP Aberdeen / RHYTHMIC Greenock / FOPP Edinburgh, Aberdeen. Dundee. Glasgow
All}? THE LIST 101