SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
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Yob poseurs the Kaiser Chiefs turn soothsayer this fortnight with ‘Everything is Average Nowadays' (B-Unique) 000 forecasting a slew of unoriginality in singledom. They have. however, stepped it up from the workaday previous single ‘Ruby' though still falling far from the idiot savant pop of 2005's “Everyday I Love You Less and Lessfi
Further mainstream radio playlist fodder. steadfastly refusing to buck existent trends. comes from Glasgow's Parka and ‘If You Wanna?‘ (Jeepster) .000 . which follows in The Libertines' tracks remarkably well with a fizzy. hyperactive ska—pop call to the dancefloor. Seattle's Band of Horses in ‘The Funeral' (KIDS) 0000 fill the gentle. melodic pop quota with a lulling melody over a plaintiver chugging rhythm section with the sound of Mercury Revving in the background.
In the Coldplay/Snow Patrol emotional epic mould there are multiple contenders. From Glasgow. Airspiel‘s demo track 'Losing Control‘ (demo) .0 is serviceable yet as interesting as motorway driving. Despite obvious insider knowledge. Snow Patrol's ‘Signal Fire' (Polydor) 0.0 with all its emotive piano and swelling chords refuses to reach the band‘s previous anthemic heights. Which leaves Montreal's The Dears to take the epic aspirant prize with ‘You and l are a Gang of Losers' (Chrysalis) COO . The singer’s even called Murray Lightburn ferchrissakes.
On the other side of the experimental fence lies the gothic fairytale ditty of ‘When We Fell Through the Ice' (Kartel) 000 from dark folksters Fireworks Night and The Low Miffs's ‘Earl Grey (art/goes/pop) 00.0 , a wilful. if ingenious throw down of Kurt Weill- esque cabaret pomp and 808 pop coyness.
Leaving aside Runrig's ‘Clash of the Ash' (Ridge) 0 . a painful paean to shinty in their own indefatigable jock rock style. Single of the Fortnight lands on the Brooklynite heads of Asobi Seksu and “Walk on the Moon‘ (One Little Indian) ooooo. While transcendent vocals Crescendo over Japanese tonal melodies and insistent guitars. singer Yuki Chikusate rises above the mass emotional hysteria of the Snow Patrol-a-Iikes and poops on their heads with a sublime revelation of candy coloured sunshine. It‘s download only, mind. so make sure you're friendly with a computer. (Suzanne Black)
INDIE ELECTRONICA VON SUDENFED Tromatic Reflexxions (Domino) .0.
This first-time collaboration between The Fall's iiiouthy frontman. Mark E Smith and German electronic maestros. Mouse on Mars sounds like the imaginary soundtrack to an after-party for the 1990s. Andi Toma and Jan St Werner do a good job of shuffling between genres like a club-loving. house— heavy pirate radio station. sliding in disco beats. dirty garage and dubstep. thumping sub- bass or mellow guitars while Smith adds trademark ranty. rambling. off-kilter words over the top. Straddling so many genres means there are as many hits as misses. but it works in the places where they lift their foot from the past and point their toes at the future.
(Claire Sawers)
JAZZ
LED BIB Sizewell Tea
(T he Babel Label) OOO
Another burst of rock-i influenced musical mayhem from the experimental fringes of the London jazz scene. Led Bib are probably not for ja// purists — their energised. in—your— face music explores the kind of edgy, raucous musical direction (2ii(:(>iiiit(>r(>(l iii III() iconoclastic free ja/z- meets-punk-and-rock experiments of Acoustic Ladyland and Polar Bear.
The band is led by London-Imsed New Jersey expatriate Mark
Holub on drums. and he drives the music in robust fashion alongside Liran Donin (bass) and Toby McLaren (keyboards). The skronking alto saxophones of Chris Williams and Pete Grogan provide the horn action, and they jump out from the music in much the way that Pete Wareham's tenor saxophone screams Out from Acoustic Ladyland's sonic mass. The material is largely self-composed. chiefly by Holub. although they do throw in a deconstructed version of David Bowie's iconic ‘Heroes' for good measure.
(Kenny Mathieson)
HIP HOP REVISITED NASTY P
It Sounds Nicer When It‘s Nasty! (Not KFM) 0.0
Love or loathe them. it looks like the blend trend that combusted spontaneously in both indie and hip hop scenes two or three years ago is set to burn on unabated. Here. Edinburgh's own Nasty P casts in his own tuppence worth. The usual suspects proVide the rhymes (Jay-Z. Nas. Snoop Dogg) over musical backdrops courtesy of standards by Hendrix and Cream. Nina Simone and Bob Marley. all respectfully and satisfyineg tweaked. deftly toughened up with boats. The outcome is a mixed bag in tone but not qualify. the illicit. seemineg unforced productions often surpassing the rappers' originals.
(Mark Edmundsonl
ROCK
BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
Baby 81
(Island/Drop The Gun) OOO
You know what you're getting when it comes to BRMC. Straight ahead. no frills
rock'n'roll delivered with a degree of calculated nonchalance. Loops. samples or a ten-minute long jazz jam are not concepts these guys are familiar with.
But whilst Baby 8] sticks to their formula. it does have its moments. The low-slung groove of opener ‘Took Out a Loan'. the casual menace of 'Need Some Air' and the organ-heavy atmospherics of ‘All You Do is Talk'. particular stand outs amongst the usual fare. All of which adds up to an album that's by no means bad but not guite great. Like Queens of the Stone Age. they have a propensity for chemical experimentation, but sadly they lack the muscle.
(Andrew Borthwickl
JAZZ
KENNY WERNER Lawn Chair Society (Blue Note Records) COO
Pianist Kenny Werner forsakes the comfort and familiarity of his customary trio setting for a more ambitious conceptual approach to his music on this recording. his first for Blue Note. A row of lawn chairs upturned by the wind near his home became an implicit metaphor for the current cultural malaise inflicting an American society that he sees as living in its own unreal world of over-inflamd triviality. oblivious to the desolation elsewhere (some of it wreaked by America itself).
If that sounds a bit weighty. the music doesn't get bogged down in either explicit commentary or earnest brow-beating. The mix
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of acoustic and electric instruments and the emphasis on the ensemble feel rather than showy soloing pays handsome dividends. and when soloing does take over. collaborators like Dave Douglas on trumpet and Chris Potter on saxophone guarantee the level of artistry involved is never in doubt.
(Kenny Mathieson)
INDIE
BUTCHER BOY Profit In Your Poetry (How Does It Feel To Be Loved) 000.
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You won't read about them in hype-hungry magazines or find them bombarding Myspace profiles with friend requests. and as a reSuIt Butcher Boy may well be one of the most exciting discoveries you'll make this year. This debut album from the Glasgow seven- piece boasts ten melancholy-tinged tracks of swoonsome guitar pop and pretty ditties complete with distorted riffs. warm string sections. rumbling drums and poetic lyrics which will worm their way under your skin after just one listen. Best of all though. Profit In Your Poetry is a genuine and utterly heartfelt listen which will soothe those sick to the back teeth of (‘lisposable fashion- fuelled music scenes. (Camilla Pia)
SOUL JAZZ
THE CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA
Ma Fleur
(Ninja Tune) 0...
Orchestra leader Jason Swinscoe's genius is his lightness of touch. Rather than labouring the point with the same hooks. his music ebbs and flows like music has a simple plaintive beauty that is too often forgotten in an attempts to sound ‘catchy' or even worse ‘different'. After enjOying vocal stylings from the b
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