Those who inflict their music on the public should be honest about their intentions. Do they actually want to enrich the lives of listeners or do they yearn to squeeze the last penny from the record buying hoi polloi to secure the down payment on their next hair weave? We don‘t give a shit which it is. but just be above board. eh?
Saints preserve us from Rooster's ‘Deep and Meaningless (Brightside) O . Two words should be removed to make a title more fitting to this lyrically lazy formulaic drivel. lt‘s Gary Jules Effect ahoy in the utterly pointless slow down of perfection in Honeyroot's ‘Love Will Tear us Apart' (Just MUSlC) O. . A straighter shit to shit shift is NDS featuring Lauren's dance version of 'Xanadu' (Unity/Sony BMG) O . God. will Elton John ever stop? Even he must know that ‘Electricity‘ (Mercury) 0 is a mind- draining dirge. Electricity? Black-out. more like.
Now the ones that care about the music. man. Bloc Party's ‘Pioneers' (Wichita)
000 is more of that shouty thing they do. nice piercing drums but a tad monotonous. More sticking to the same notes throughout from synth-botherers Ladytron. with ‘Sugar‘ (Island) 0. . If you like growly vocals and stompy guitars. then you COUId do worse than pick up Mother and the Addicts’ ‘Oh Yeah . _ . You Look Quite Nice' (Chemikal Underground) 0.. . tip top plinky scary keyboards too. Apparently not influenced by Joy Division (no. not much). Interpol's re- release of ‘Slow Hands' (Matador) .00 is a soaring sing-song. but doesn't quite reach the parts it aims to. Shout Out Louds have a good name and all but once you get the Waterboys in their day or thoughts of U2 if they went a bit country. then it's hard to give 'Very Loud' (Capitol) .0 the time of day. Meanwhile. Pro Forma's “Lapses in Diction' (New!) 00.. swaggers forth with nice 80$ electro blips and flippant vocals.
Let‘s not get all Presbyterian and have just one Single of the Fortnight winner. The Faint's 'Desperate Guys' (Saddle Creek) 000-“ proves that downright loin stirring Eastern Block strings. a shoulder popping baseline and snidey vocals work oh so well together. Joint victors are X-Vectors with their double A side ‘Movies‘/‘Your Love' (Adult Baby) 0000.. Both are an antidote to all that not quite fast or clever enough tosh from others merely shirking in this lot's disco punk shadow. Yes. ‘Your Love' is that Frankie Knuckles track. but it's had a slap-bang total overhaul. Try not to dance. Go on. I dare you. (Morag Bruce)
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JAZZ
PAUL TOWNDROW Out of Town (Keywork) 00”
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m. 4.... u. 5"" a,“ N “V Saxophonist Paul Towndrow is the latest Scottish jazz musician to go down the road of forming his own label. and appropriately has engaged Tommy Smith to produce this first release on it. Towndrow is one of the most distinctive of the current wave of fine saxophonists emerging on the Scottish jazz scene.andthe compositions that make up this second album indicate that he is maturing as a composer as well. The passion and invention in his playing will add to his growing reputation. and he receives excellent support from Steve Hamilton (piano). Michael Janisch (bass) and Alyn Cosker (drums).
(Kenny Mathieson)
INDIE POP
DEAF MUTES Exploring the Secrets of Treating Deaf Mutes (Fence) COO
There's something about the th0ught of two grown men producing barefaced pOp music together in the bastion of childhood subsistence that conjures unsettling images.
In the case of Deaf Mutes it pays to cast out such assooations as the dormitory fun that's been had crafting these brazen and seemingly Simple little pop songs often conceals a commendable lyrical complexity and melodic ambition.
With largely anthemic and experimental
tendencies (and featuring a guest spot from associated Fencer James Yorkston). an apparent ‘more is more' attitude leads to a collection at times quite brilliant — if all a bit much at Others. (Mark Edmundson)
LO-FI
MICAH P HINSON The Baby
and the Satellite (Sketchbook) 000
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Hinson inhabits the same dusty backwater as Bonnie ‘Prince' Billy and Sparklehorse without quite matching the charisma of the former or the songwriting and invention of the latter. This latest release (actually recorded before last year's Gospel of Progress) is a shambling yet endearing lo-fi collection. although it does suffer from a lack of cohesion and an almost wilfully obscure nature at times. ROping the Earlies in on production has helped. the likes of 'The Day the Volume Won' trundling along enigmatically enough as a reSult. In keeping with his label's moniker. this is more of a sketch than a fully realised work of art. (Doug JohnstOne)
INDIE
JOY ZIPPER The Heartlight Set (Mercury) 0000
Fans of this US duo's last three efforts may have been fooled into thinking glorious harmonies and swooping slow songs were all they could manage. Yet The Headlight Set proves there's much more to Joy Zipper than we ever imagined. There's the thundering. riff~tastic opener “Go Tell the World'. the beautiful countryesque ballad ‘Thoughts a Waste of Time' and the power pop stomp of "You're So Good' which. combined With the rest of the album's more tried and
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tested Vincent Cafiso and Tabitha Tindale formulas. make for the band's most diverse offering to date. If you haven‘t yet fallen for their hugely addictive melodies. warm veneer and quirky stOrytelling then this is the place to start. (Camilla Pia)
COUNTRY LAURA CANTRELL Humming by the Flowered Vine (Matador) 000
In which we discover that the irresistible charm Cantrell showed on the simple and lovely When the Roses B/oom Again is more fragile than we had hoped.
With a new producer. fussy arrangements. backing choirs and a welter of studio tricks. the New York-based Singer here squeezes her classic rootsy leanings and winning. beguiling v0ice into the wom rock pantaloons of alt.country. One or two Cantrell- penned gems survive. and the rest is perfectly acceptable pop. but it's still disheartening to hear Laura Cantrell — the girl who proved that less is more — sounding jllSt like the rest of them.
(Ninian Dunnett)
REGGAE VARIOUS
This is Reggae Music — The Golden Era 1960—1975
(Trojan) COCO
Tracing one of reggae's most fertile periods. this SleptLlOUS four-CD set follows its emergence from faux calypso through ska and rocksteady to Trojan Records' bankrupICy in
1975. Seminal early recordings like the Ethiopians' ‘Train to Skaville' sit alongside UK pop one-offs like Millie‘s ‘My Boy Lollipop'. The largely unrequited love of American music is striking. from the trumpet lick nicked from ‘Ring of Fire' on “(Music is My)
Occupation'. to Tony Tribe's ‘Red. Red Wine'. though Johnny Nash's ‘I Can See Clearly Now' redresses the balance a little. Jimmy Cliff. Toots and the Maytals. Bob Marley and Desmond Dekker all feature prominently.
(Jay Richardson)
DANCE
DARK COMEDY Funk Faker: Music Saves My Soul (Poussez!) 0000
Dark Comedy is techno and house producer and spinner Kenny Larkin’s alter ego. The term progressive house is bandied around all to often but here it is wholly appropriate as he subverts the style into a uniquely personal take On the format.
The twisted. maladjusted funk of 'Good God' and its squealing addictive hook. the rolling beat of the ever evolving 'Make it' and the biographical 'In My Home' (chronicling Larkin‘s real life experience of being shot in his Detroit home) add a level of humanity beyond anything house or techno
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