Rm" item/s
HIP HOP
KANYE WEST Late Registration (Roc-A-Fella) 0.000
The saviour of hip hop? The short answer is yes. The long answer is this is pure pop hip hop. with more hooks than a butcher's freezer and more Singles than a RLISSIan dating webSIIe. West isn't the finest rapper there is but he can bring people together like few can (Naz and Jay-Z on one record — the men are sworn enemiesl?!) And haVIng Common and some knobber from Maroon 5 together credibly has to be celebrated. This sways. sashays and bumps in all the right places. like perfect pop should but manages to lyrically wrangle With the pains of American health care and the scourge of crack on society. Still top of the class. (Mark Robertson)
WELSH WIZARDS SUPER FURRY ANIMALS
Love Kraft
(SOny) O...
This is possibly the Super Furries' worst (or least great) album. but it's still better and more interesting than 99% of all other mUSlC Out there. Their relentless inventiveness and oddball tendenCies are still here. only tempered a little and replaced by a rather sumptuous and warm Vibe. the coherent production givmg the whole thing a feel somewhere between fuzzy 70s country rock and squelchy 70$ soul
music. Strings sweep throughOut and vocals soar around on an ELO tip. and on something like the wonderful ‘Cloudberries' there is a newfound depth to their s0und which makes up for the occasional less inspired moment. (Doug Johnstone)
CONSCIOUS POP STEREO MOS Paradise
(Graffiti RecordingSI COO
As with fellow 90s icons Faithless there's one thing you can depend on from the Stereo MCs: a rounded. richer kind of pop that tOLIches down Just shy of the underground. 2001 labouring Deep Down and Dirty feels a long way off here. Paradise is more akin in sOund and sensibility to the outfits peak on Connected. a soulful exemplar of creativin in mainstream popular music. Where credibility takes a bit of a knock is. as ever. in front man Rob B's 'profOund' and occa8ionally hackneyed lyrics and delivery. but hey. what w0uld the Stereo MCs be Without them?
(Mark Edmundsonl
INDIE
TI-IE ZEPI-IYRS Bright Yellow Flowers on a Dark Double Bed (Acuarela) 0000
Sleepy Scottish indie outfit the Zephyrs remain Criminally underrated. and this fourth album will probably do little to change that fact as they remain wonderfully out of step With prevailing musical Winds. This is a genNe,echoey c0untrified thing of no little beauty. and it sees the band expanding their sonic palette COnSIderably, With strings. trumpet and pedal steel dipping in and out of Stuart Nicol's breathy. understated melodies. A more
intimate production style than they're used to breathes life into the tunes here. and when it works best. like on the dreamy ‘Galicia'. it creates a feeling of gentle wonder.
(Doug Johnstone)
OUALITY MIX COMPS VARIOUS ARTISTS
Andy Smith:
The Document |ll (Discotheque) 0000 DJ Kentaro on the Wheels of Solid Steel (Ninla Tune) 00. Evil 9 presents Y4K (Distinctive) .0.
It's a thin line that separates the great mix compilation from the good — all three featured here being exemplars in their field — but variety. they so rightly say. is the spice of life.
First up Andy Smith returns With another fine. fine spread on The Document ///. As With prewous Outings. he places 60s SOLII, funk. rock and reggae gems alongside some duality hip hop CtltS — a Winning formula for a rapturous party mix for all ages.
a .m TAR. a
No doubt ab0ut it. DJ Kentaro's appearance in On the Wheels of Solid Steel will be less accesSible to the Wider audience. The impeccable skills of the Japanese DMC World Champion take us on a dl/[ylflg and technically mind-boggling tOur of Ninla Tune's back catalogue that thankfully stops )ust shy of brain haemorrhage.
Considering their Wide array of Cited influences. EVII 9 don't seem to have had to work so hard to cram it all in, their turn on
the decks being an admirable. all-out rock- breaks set. This debut commercial mix from the darlings of the proggy breaks scene makes for a trancey. throbbing pelt through 13 quality. hard- edged. driven dance tracks.
(Mark Edmundson)
FOLK ROCK THE PROCLAIMERS
Restless Soul (Persevere) COO
It would be hard for even the most devoted fan to argue that the Reid brothers are not past their best. But while it never veers too far from the middle of the road. this twanging collection finds the Proclaimers on entertaining form. setting tales of arguments. alcoholism and rediscovered love over chugging follvcountry arrangements. The title track wants to be as big as the sky but is too lilting to really grip. With its foot-thumping rhythm, lively harmonica and occasional yodels. ‘Bound for Your Love' is a better showcase for the band's honest talents. (James Smart)
ROCK REISSUES CAN
Unlimited Edition (Spoon/Mute) 0000 Soon over Babaluma (Spoon/Mute) 000 Landed (Spoon/Mute) 000 Future Days (Spoon/Mute) .000
To put it mildly. Can were fucking nuts. Over 12 years of albums from 1968 to 1980 they managed to pro-date and push the boundaries of pretty much every musical genre out there. This. the second set of re- issues from Mute. documents a period when the band finally discarded the last remnants of being a straight-ahead rock band — in particular.
SINGLES 8 DOWNLOADS
(XL) 0
can't get back.
sentiment.
A lot of music journalists think Devendra Banhart is God‘s gift to singer songwriting but they’re wrong, because ‘I Feel Just Like a Child'
is vacuous. self-important, amateurish, arty drivel, and it's seven minutes of your life you
Elsewhere. The Dandy Warhols are stuck in a rut with ‘Smoke lt’ (Parlophone) .0 garage rattle of attitude with little else going for it. Nada Surf fair better, ‘Always Love' (City Slang) starting off like REM in gentle mood before turning in a catchy c0untry rock chorus with harmonies sweet enough to match the song's
'Fix It“ (Parlophone) 00 to the band's formula. being all bombastic and boring for a while before finally kicking into life three minutes in with a big gosper singalong which just saves it from going in the bin. Similarly formulaic is Foo Fighters' ‘DOA‘ (Roswell) .00 least theirs is a belting formula. Nothing special by Dave Grohl's standards, it still melds adrenaline- charged riftage with an effortless chorus to create a pretty decent rompalong rock tune.
But Single of the Fortnight goes to Elbow. ‘Forget Myself' (V2) 00” and boisterous effort, layers of sinister rhythms underpinning a melody which Guy Garvey delivers in charismatic fashion, before the whole thing explodes into a wonderful giant marching anthem of understated majesty. (Doug Johnstone)
. a tedious
by Coldplay sticks
. but at
is a typically inventive
frontman Damo Suzuki's departure —- never to be replaced. ‘Ouantum Physics' from Soon over Bab/Lima is Aphex Twin's 'Didgeridoo'. 'Connection' from Unlimited Edit/On could
be the Fall at their most robotic. These records were maybe over- shadowed by their earlier albums released up until 73, but this is still pretty extraordinary stuff in places.
(Mark Robertson)
ALL COS WERE REVIEWED ON A SYSTEM SUPPLIED AND INSTALLED BY LOUD 8: CLEAR
46 THE LIST 2:") Aug- 8 Sep 200:")