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ARCADE FIRE Neon Bible
(Rough Trade) .000
A million albums later. Arcade Fire show up dazed. dusty. but acutely aware that the:r magic is currently more potent than almost any band on the planet. and this. their second album. is what will propel them to global recognition.
There is only one real complaint with Neon Bible: that it sounds a little too clean and well. produced. The songs resonate with the same fever and joyous oddness that their boisterous debut did. but they sound somehow diffused; Neon Bible is altogether too mellifluous to fully engage like its pret‘lecessor. There are moments of grandiose genius that makes folks like The Killers sound like the hamfisted oats they are. but overall. this leaves you craving something rawer and less constrained.
(Mark Robertson)
POP
AIR
Pocket Symphony (Virgin) 0.0
It is easy to forget that Air started off as a truly saucy electropop band: 'Sexy Boy" and 'Kelly Watch the Stars' making hearts flutter and feet tWitch in a beautiful geek love kind of way. Alter spending several albums trying really hard to discover their inner Pink Floyd they've stepped back from the brink with this similarly lush but more diverse offering. Jarvrs Cocker and Neil Hannon lend vocals to a pair of tracks to great effect but at heart this is gentle (but not genteel)
62 THE LIST 1 1:» Mar your
sophisticated pop to soundtrack your first trip to the moon. should Richard Branson ever get his act together with his space shuttle.
(Mark Robertson)
ELECTRONICA
RIST. Blue Shift Emmisions (Benbecula) COO.
3
Christh real skill is in his lightness of touch. Deft strokes. swathes. echoes. and pulses give this. his second long playing offering. a playful warmth which of late has been driven from so much electronic music in favour of a brutal fashionista stomp of curt. clinical strokes. This machine music suggests less of a trip out. more of a trip in: probably painstakineg constructed but light and effortless. Black Dog. Pete Namlook and Boards of Canada may be guick reference points for this particular kind of analogue bubl.)lebath. but there is enough grit and substance in Christ's effusive tones to stop the most fevered cynic in his tracks. not to mention a great deal of heart in these streams of xeroes and ones.
(Mark Robertson)
INDIl. MALCOLM MIDDLETON A Brighter Beat (Full Time Hobby) 0....
Ex Arab Strapper Malcolm Middleton posted his intent With the glorious 2005 album mm the Woods. and this remarkable follow up cements his place as one of the best songwriters in the country. There is an anthemic pop sensibility here that was seldom
evrdent in the Strap. Middleton combining some brilliantly complex yet emotive lyrics with open“ hearted. wide-eyed pop. rock and folk arrangements to create something that is incredibly touching yet also often feels like a brilliant drunken singalong. Tracks like ‘Four Cigarettes. 'Fuck It. I Love You' and llIOlItllTlOlllal closer 'Superhero Songwriter' manage to be both melancholic and uplifting simultaneously. self- depr >cating. funny. hopeful and poignant into the bargain. Fantastic stuff.
(Doug Johnstone) ERINDERMAN
Grinderman (Mule) .00.
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Grinderman sounds like Nick Cave and three of his fellow Bad Seeds locked themselves in a dank basement for a week and beat into shape I I songs in a series of dirty blues jam sessions. Actually. that's pretty much what happened when Cave. Warren Ellis. Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos decided to mess things up a bit with this gorgeously trashy offering. Opening track "Get it On' sets out Grinderman's stall with Cave's proclamation. ‘l've gotta get up to get down and start all over again'. while guitar driven closer ‘l_ove Bomb' epitomises the sometime Seeds new back-to—basics sonic approach. The Lyre of Orpheus this ain't. (Miles Fielder)
JAZZ
BARRY GREEN Introducing Barry Green
(TenToTen) .00
Back in the 50s and (30s. ja.// label bosses often unveiled a new talent to the public via an album under the ‘Introducing' title. Clark Tracey has re- established the practice with this debut album
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from a young English pianist. and has added greater resonance to the title by featuring him in a number of settings. taking in solos. duos and tries as well as in the role of accompanist. Some listeners may find the contrast between his mainstream manner when accompanying singers Anita Wardell and Christine Tobin and his much more er.)erimental approach on the instrumental tracks a little incongruous. but it does allow us to hear a wide spread of what this impressive talent can do. Other guests include Martin Speake. Ingrid Laubrock and the ubiquitous Seb Rochford. (Kenny Mathieson)
REGGAE
SLY & ROBBIE Strictly Drum And Bass: The Roots of . . . (Trojan) 000
Needless to say this is one loose and laid back journey across the Jamaican rhythm section's catalytic influence. from crafting winners for the Channel One label through the rise of the rockers and r'ub-a—dub sounds. This chapter closed in the 80s. meaning that while we are mercifully spared Chaka Demus & Pliers. hopefully Sly & Robbies' later collaborations with US and UK artists. their development in Dancehall and the last decade's work are to follow. The Rhythm Twins made their mark on an outrageous wealth of releases and those included here are enough to reveal why the duo are still the bass and drum in demand. (Mark Edmundson)
Way' (Fascination/Island) 00 while the Sugababes are average, Girls Aloud appear to have had novocaine injected into their gums and sing as if they were reading from an autocue. Far livelier though are The Aliens whose psychedelic pop slice ‘Setting Sun‘ (Pet Rock Records) 0000 the appetite for their debut album.
Not content with inducing many viewers to cut themselves with her ‘hey y'all’ speech at the Brits, Ms Joss Stone has returned with ‘Tell Me 'Bout It’ (Relentless) o possession of about as much soul as a bucket of KFC, thus completing a true car crash of a comeback. While Stone comes off about as ghetto fabulous as Mark Thatcher, Amp Fiddler is a tad more convincing on his 'Ridin'/Faith' (PIAS) ooo managing to shake off the damning praise of Jamiroquai being his number one fan. Almost.
With ‘Shine On” (Atlantic) 00 attempted to prove to the world that they are more than just meatheads bashing out tunes in between rounds of beer pong. In this they almost succeed but fall at the last hurdle due to some rhymes born of the Dr Seuss school of lyricism. Enter Shikari’s fondness of synlhs sees their screamo effort ‘Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour' (Ambush Reality) 00. places like a Ministry of Sound compilation track and begs the question. how long before a nu Euro trance revival rears its ugly head? Hopefully before such a disaster befalls British music some time will be given to Good Shoes. ‘Never Meant To Hurt You' (Brille) oooo gets Single of the Fortnight and provides yet more evidence that their post punk with Ritalin jitters brilliance slaps back the majority of new music being produced on these fair isles. (Miles Johnson)
SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
The road to musical hell is paved with good intentions. This year's Comic Relief charity single sees two of our most treasured girl groups unite for a cover version of Aerosmith‘s ‘Walk This
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FOLK
NORTH GREGG The Roseland Barndance (Greentrax) 00.
The Irish band's second release on Greentrax offers a characteristic mix of lively. infectious tunes and wistful songs. the latter courtesy of another new young singer and fiddle player off the Irish production line. Claire—Anne Lynch. They fall just short of the charged intensity of the top echelon of Irish bands. but there is plenty to enjoy in their music. not least Christy Leahy’s sizzling box playing. Their roots in Cork (and
influences from the adjacent Kerry and Sliabh Luachra styles) are well in evrdence on sets like 'Sliabh Luachra Polskas' or 'The Humours of Ballydesmond'. while ‘Earl Mitten's' veers off into French-Canadian territory. with guest Dirk Powell on clawhammer banjo. (Kenny Mathieson)