STEEL DRUM SOUNDS VARIOUS
Sand & Steel
(Trojan) 000
Due to the very nature of the steel drum band. the unique way that the melodic/percussive rhythms are created. its complex sound can be troublesome to capture. Thus the notoriously slap-dash Caribbean recording standards that bring vintage reggae much of its charm often render this most vibrant of musical forms vexingly flat. Disappointingly. this is wnat greets the listener in the first set of recordings on this two- disc exposition of the tin pan outfit; its staggering range and impact on Caribbean and UK culture. Mercifully, later recordings exhibit a deeper. more clearly defined sound and the collection as a whole proves something of an enthusiast's treat. (Mark Edmundson)
LIVE BONNIE ‘PRINCE’ BILLY Summer in the Southeast
(Drag City) 0000
Anyone who just refuses to get Will Oldham's melancholic reappraisal of the country sound is clearly missing something that mere music just won't replace. For those who have all his records and debate whether or not they need different versions of the same songs . . . well. you just do.
Although this first live album forsakes pristine
" "r" i ,...
recording for the sake of a more ragged sound. it works for gruff stomps like “May It Always Be' and “A Sucker's Evening'. Sadly the radical reworking of ‘Riding‘ played earlier this year at the Queen's Hall is absent; but 'I See a Darkness' nestles amidst the 17-song selection. and its tremulous beauty works better if you imagine Oldham howling at the moon in a distant clifftop cabin somewhere. barefoot and crazy with the hurt. (David Pollock)
AMERICAN INDIE THE WRENS The Meadowlands (Lomax) 00..
This New Jersey outfit have had a music career beset with strife. which has continually prevented them from reaching a wider audience. Which is a shame. because this is consummater delivered. intelligent indie rock. with guts. passion and enough variety to keep you enthralled from start to finish. Pitched commercially somewhere between Guided by Voices and the Shins. and with an Arcade Fire melancholy. this is stirring stuff. Everything from the prOtO-punk of ‘Per Second Second' to the epic ‘13 Months in 6 Minutes‘ is packed full of a nonchalant charisma so hard to find in Britain's current crop of indie upstarts. (Doug Johnstone)
DANCE MATTAFIX Signs of a Struggle (Buddhist Punk) 0.
Even with one of the most unique vocal deliveries of recent years. there is something achingly familiar about Mattafix. from the cracked Zero 7-ster breaks and
ragga beats to the downbeat strummed guitars. But back to those vocals. You can't have escaped “Big City Life'. the most unlikely of chart hits this summer. That's a man singing from the rap to the chorus (we thought it was a girl). This is destined to sit between Dido and Moby on dinner party playlists for the rest of eternity. As ‘experimental’ as Jamie Cullum but for inexplicable reasons the sum of its parts are strangely moreish. (Henry Northrnore)
JAZZ
MINGUS BIG BAND/ORCHEST RA/DYNASTY
I Am Three
(Mingus Music) 0000
Sue Mingus has proved a tenacious guardian of her late husband's legacy. and this latest tripartite project is a fine reminder of the greatness of his contribution to jazz. The presence of saxophonist John Stubblefield supervising his arrangements from a wheelchair shortly before his death is a poignant echo of Mingus' own wheelchair-bound last session in 1978.
Three bands contribute to the sessions. the superb Mingus Big Band. a ten- piece off -shoot performing as the Mingus Orchestra. and a latter day version of the first of the Mingus tribute groups. Mingus Dynasty. The master's music is as vibrant — and the players as passionately committed
— as ever. (Kenny Mathieson)
FOLK COUNTRY EDITH FROST
It’s a Game (Drag City) 00.
Talk about wearing your
. heart on your sleeve. Go
to Edith Frost's website
and one of the first
postings you'll see is: ‘Bleh. I broke up with Eric today.’ Us Brits may baqu at displaying private moments in public but for Frost honesty is part of the course.
The Chicago-based singer/songwriter — back after a four-year hiatus — specialises in acoustic songs with a
country tinge that serve as a backdrop to her tales of heartbreak and loss. It's obviously heartfelt stuff and while the songs are solid enough to warrant repeated listens. lt’s a Game lacks an edge that make her peers compelling.
(Andrew J Borthwick)
BOOGE VARIOUS
Basscheck (Crippled Dick Hot Wax) O...
The cool cats behind Berlin‘s Slope production outfit and the crazy Crippled Dick Hot Wax label have put together a sumptuous collection of club cuts guaranteed to get your hip-shaking booty on to the floor. Starting with the contemporary wobble of Danny Breaks' speaker-rattling ‘Jellyfish' and cruising all the way back to the birth of boogie disco.
KING
CREOS OTE
ALBUM OUT NOW
INCLUDES THE SINGLE ‘BOOTPRINTS’
ALL CDS WERE REVIEWED ON A SYSTEM SUPPLIED AND INSTALLED BY LOUD 8: CLEAR
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circa 1980. Basscheck boasts a number of obscure but delightfully funky international poppers. These include a rare outing from experimental legend Bill Laswell‘s Material project. Afronaught and IG Culture from West London's Bugz in the Attic. Roskow from Berlin's own Jazzanova/Sonar Kollektiv crew. French funker Joakim. Detroit devil John Arnold and Baltimore maverick Maurice Fulton. The lights are colourful and bright. everybody's smiling and the ladies are all dancing. Who said the Germans don't know how to groove? (Andrew Richardson)
.,..';\ Loud 253x oCleor
1—1:”) Dec 200:3 THE LIST 71