SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
American punkpop gets short shrift on this side of the pond. but both the blistering rifiage of Story of the Year's ‘Take Me Back' (Maverick)
«O and the commercial sound of ‘Dance. Dance' (Mercury) 0” by Fallout Boy are brimming with more energy than a crack den full of Libertines wannabes.
Speaking of which. “Bang Bang You're Dead’ (Chrysalis) 00 by Carl Barat's Dirty Pretty Things continues the Libertines' mission to bring the sound of Chas'n'Dave to the needle-happy drug-addled kids. Huzzah!
In comparison. multi-national pop weirdos Guillemots' ‘We're Here' (Polydor) 0000 is embarrassingly ambitious. starting all Phil Spector before crashing into the bombastic. orchestral indie pop sound that McAlmont and Butler made their own. Meanwhile American miseryguts Black Heart Procession get all gloomily anthemic with ‘Not Just Words' (Touch and Go) .0 . and while it builds nicely. it then peters out rather tediously.
Katie Melua is rubbish. So it's no surprise that “Spider's Web' (Dramatico) O is rubbish too. but it's so embarrassingly misjudged. tackling racism and war in hackneyed style. that it's actually funny. Not an accusation to be levelled at Richard Ashcroft who. asides from Ian Brown. is the more overrated singer ever. mostly by himself. 'Music is Power' (Parlophone) o is shitter than a shitstick dipped in extra Iashings of steamy shit. and duller than having a pint with Ashcroft and Brown. God, imagine that.
Much more agreeable is ‘Tie Me Down' (Sour Mash) 000 by Scouse stalwarts Shack. which is a blast of mini-orchestral lo-fi strum-pop. Even more agreeable is Tunng's weird and wonderful ‘Woodcat' (Full-Time Hobby) 0000 . a kind of glitchy folktronica paean to pastoral paganism. Probably.
Brighton wonkbots Brakes create a typically daft dancefloor-filler with 'All Night Disco Party' (Rough Trade) 000 . all skewiff Kraftwerk- meets-Talking Heads madness, while across the pond. ‘Take it to Fantastic‘ (Fonuna Pop) coo by Cannonball Jane gets asses shaking in a soul-tinged Go! Team stylee.
And so we arrive at utterly disparate Joint Singles of the Fortnight. Fields' ‘Song for the Fields' (Black Lab) om is an awesome romp of unhinged folk-metal-prog-disco. strangely reminiscent of Lemmy-era Hawkwind (ask yer grandpa). Meanwhile ‘Crazy‘ (WEA) 0m . the debut from DJ Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo collaboration Gnarls Barkley is a tight and restrained yet insistently funky slab of future-soul hip hop. the sound of 70s Motown re-imagined for the twenty-first century. (Doug Johnstone)
Reviews
HIP HOP
THE STREETS The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (679) 0000
‘It just seemed like the truth was more exciting than anything I COuld make up.‘ said Mike Skinner of his new record. So. if his debut was pirate radio and skinning up and his second was drinking. wasting. lovmg and scheming. and for his third he's added cocaine. more money. more
music of Ornette Coleman. but they shift the focus to John Coltrane this time. With G0ldstein's arrangements of four of the master's ClaSSlCS sitting alongSide originals by Payton. Redman. saxophonist Miguel Zendn and drummer Eric Harland. Their fiery. inventive playing is vrvrdly captured in the excellent live recording.
(Kenny Mathieson)
BLUES FOLK FINK
Biscuits for Breakfast
(Ninja Tune) 00
syc0phants. more parties
and even more paranoia. The beats still often border on the cheesy but that’s kind of the point. supposedly. This is more about the narrative. a piece of sprawling. ranting prose rather than a rap album. If Skinner's flow is lumpier than Jodie Marsh's jumper then that's the idea. His bewildering confessions. admissions and ramblings are scarily beguiling. (Mark Robertson)
JAZZ
SF JAZZ COLLECTIVE SF Jazz Collective 2 (Nonesuch) 0000
All-star line-ups don't always deliver the goods. but that is not the case with this fine collection of players. headed by vibes maestro Bobby Hutcherson and including Joshua Redman on saxes. trumpeter Nicholas Payton and pianist Renee Rosnes in the eight-strong band.
Their debut album featured Gil Goldstein's arrangements of the
A blues folk artist on Ninja Tune? Really? Yup.
because former DJ.
remixer and trip hopper Fink has transformed himself into a kind of
There are some rock
ultra-hip and instantly commercial modern version of John Martyn jamming it out with John Lee Hooker. and the resulting album is generally impressive. if a little too much in love with its own coolness at times to make for palatable listening.
When it works. like on the gently roughhousing Delta blues of 'Hush Now'. it's terrific. but elsewhere there is too much knowingness about the likes of opener ‘Pretty Little Thing' or the slap-guitar version of Alison M0yet's “All Cried Out' for Fink's own good. (Doug Johnstone)
ROCK WOLFMOTHER Wolfmother (Modular) om
records that capture a
particular moment. Definitely Maybe and
Songs for the Deaf all . qualify. There are other
Music
kinds of rock rec0rds. those which bring together all the things that make rock music great. whatever the Size of the Sideburns. like Elephant or The Soft Bul/etin. Wolfmother should be added to the list. All those Wild. young. uncontrollable. adrenalised bits of Sabbath. Zeppelin, late period Beatles. the Animals and the White Stripes can be found here. There's even a song in here that reminds why Rod Stewart was good once. It all sounds wonyingly familiar at points but who cares? This Aussie trio do power rock like no other
’ at the moment: big.
bold and beautiful. (Mark Robertson)
ELECTRONICA
Collected
(Virgin) oooo
new material when they probably shouldn‘t have bothered. (Camilla Pia)
MODERN FOLK DEM
Love and Other Planets (Domino) O”.
Adem's fantastic debut.
Homesongs. was a work
of whispering. wondrous. modern folk brilliance.
creaking like a comfy chair and crackling like a
welcome fire. Here. he's
expanded his muSical palette and taken a lyrical leaf out of fellow alt.folk
genius Sufjan Stevens. 5 creating a loose concept
{— IlSSIVI It?!
i i ‘ i i l
L . _ Perhaps heralding the end of the road (at least symbolically) for this influential Bristol trio. Collected is a stunning career retrospective from one of the most important bands of the '90s Boasting such classics as ‘Karmacoma'. 'Protection' and ‘Teardrop' the dark beat-
fuelled ghostly majesty of
Massive Attack is on show for all to see here. whether intrigued newcomer or loyal devotee. plus it contains possibly one of the greatest dance tracks ever written in the shape of “Unfinished Sympathy'.
This collection traces the group's growth from dub-loving B-boys to brooding electro introverts and. to be honest. string-soaked recent effort “Live With Me' isn't a patch on the old stuff. But then bands always feel the need to justify a greatest hits with
ALLCDSWEREREWEWEJONASYSEMWWMTALLEDBYLM&CLEAR
i i l i i l
album about space With both tugs at the heartstrings while teaSing the synapses. There is a pleaSingly robust nature to the anthemic pop of ‘These Lights are Beautiful' and the tribal clackiness of 'You and Moon’ as well as a healthy tendency towards sonic experimentation which all adds up to Adem sitting right at the forefront of modern British folk music.
(Doug Johnstone)
LAPTOP RAP MC LABS The Graduate (Nettwerk) coo
MC LARS
Rapping and riffs can be a tricky combination. Linkin Park and Papa Roach are both testament to that. However. this Brooklyn- based MC manages it with his debut LP by cleverly mixing beats and guitars with insightful lyrics and samples of everything from Iggy Pop and Supergrass tracks to the Tetris theme.
The Graduate may not be a classic listen but it’s an utterly unique one and
.43 Loud oCleor
13-27 Apr 2006 TH! LIST BB