It can be with some trepidation that one delves into the fortnightly sack of singles and when the first out proves to be the charming ‘Cupid's Revolution' (Big Toe's Hi-fi) .00 Barba Poppa Choppa's super-cheeky re- rub of Johnny Nash's Sam Cooke cover, my thoughts are with the poor fellows to follow. Encouragingly. however. next up are folky favourites Fence launching their new electronica-leaning label with a few limited fOs. ‘10x10:03' (De-Fence) om. airs the wares of Con Brio and Viva Stereo and predictably pulls off invitineg atmospheric. defiantly quirky and recognisany Scottish fare while staying the right side of dead cool. Perhaps unfortunate to trail these offerings. Wake The President's ‘Sorrows For Clothes' (Electric Honey) 0.. is still really very good with its loose. sunny-melancholic jangle. The Be Be See look to be settling somewhere in the guiltless pop camp with ‘Disney Eyes' (EMl/At Large) .0 but it's all a tad sickly, like eating rather too many Haribos. where Polytechnic are more your moderate intake of York Fruits on ‘Won't You Come Around' (Shatterproof) 0.0 . Then you've got Soom-T vs King Creosote's ‘What Is Life?’ (Root8) 000 which apes Shakira rattling those hips to a barmy dancehall shanty. Full credit.
The wonky pop-grime of Man Like Me's ‘Oh My Gosh‘ (StopStart) CO. is rude and childish. and again strangely forgivable. It's similarly hard not to like Black Lips' devil- may-care Americana—Garage style on ‘Cold Hands' (Vice) 0... . Stateside ‘A Pillar of Salt‘ (Sub Pop) 000 by The Thermals is fairly full on and pretty intriguing. certainly next to Marilyn Manson's ungainly and quite dreadful ‘Heart-Shaped Glasses' (BMI) O . There is an awfy bleak 80s revivalism to ‘Demonstration' (Demo) 00 and the Glasgow-based Aberdonians Stroszek sure like their military references/fashion. even getting away with such soapbox antics on occasion. Darkwater caught me on a good day too. ‘Easy Weakness' (Up Next) 000 being somehow sweet and distracting enough to ease the roaring rock pill down. So all in all it’s been a refreshing and reaffirming swag this time around. but before I let you go we simply must have a listen to ‘Moveover' (Big Potato) cm. by Caz Mechanic. an enchanting, delicate. dreamy, grandiose. freaky wee ditty. l‘m utterly smitten so it can only be Single of the Fortnight. (Mark Edmundson)
58 THE LIST 24 May—7 Jun 2007
Reviews
ROCK
BIFFY OLYRO Puzzle
(14th Floor) .0000
The pressure of expectation on a band is only really pressure if you don't have the requisite songs to walk the walk. This. Biffy Clyro's fourth album. walks the walk. The proggy edges that might have frightened the greater populace in the past remain intact but have been woven into tight. adrenalised anthemic rock songs. Much of this record was inspired lyrically by the death of singer Simon Neil's mother. and while his grief is acute and explored with unflinching honesty. there are still flashes of hope among the anger and despair. Puzzle is the total package: it lays bare a band with a broken heart who continue to be sonically unpredictable while remaining wholly accessible and intuitively melodic. A bittersweet classic.
(Mark Robertson)
POMPPOP RUFUS WAINWRIGHT Release The Stars (Polydor) oooo
Conceived as a more commercial release than the acclaimed but largely overlooked Want One and Want Two. Release the Stars is nothing of the sort. not so much radio- unfriendly as radio- oblivious. despite the presence of Neil Tennant as executive producer. Disappointing on its own terms. Rufus Wainwright‘s fifth album is all the more appealing
for being distinctively. disastrously him — by turns melancholic. flamboyant and orchestrally overblown. in awe of Hollywood and Brandon Flowers. swept along by the verve of its lush. sweeping arrangements. The bitter single ‘Going to a Town‘ and the carnal ‘Between My Legs' won't endear him to middle America. but for Wainwright's admirers. this is 12 more reasons to love him. (Jay Richardson)
ELECTRONIC VARIOUS
Optimo: Walkabout (Mule Musiq/Kompaqt) OOOO
Technically this is a ‘various artists' compilation. but rarely has a DJ partnership ever put their own stamp to a mix CD like the Optimo duo. Following on from their recent. well-received Kill The DJ and Psyche Out mixes. Walkabout represents yet another divergent direction - this time masterminded by JG Wilkes (the ‘techno one' to JD Twitch's ‘eclectic one') and more in the mould of Optimo‘s eclectic sister club Black Rabbit Whorehouse.
It's a great mix. a somnambulant tableau of futuristic late-night glitch techno that still throws in bits of Throbbing Gristle (the title track) and Suicide (Radiation). Boris ‘My Machine' stands out (Wilkes' old club was named My Machines). as does an oddly upbeat finale. But. as usual. Optimo are the real stars here. (David Pollock)
ROCK
JEFF BUCKLEY So Real
(Columbia Legacy) .0.
For those of us who are not paid-up apostles in the Church of Jeff, this collection. marking the tenth anniversary of his tragic drowning. contains everything that was great and galling about him. Not for
nothing does his immense cover of Lenny Cohen's ‘Hallelujah' pop up in respectable positions on some of those greatest songs of all time lists while the bonus track of The Smiths' 'I Know It‘s Over' is almost too poignant for words. But the often wearisome guitar solos and a propensity for over- indulgent howling should not be forgotten when assessing his mixed legacy
(Brian Donaldson)
INDIE
VARIOUS
Thank You For
Being You
(Electric Honey) 0...
One of Scotland‘s most prominent indie labels of the last two-and-a-half decades thanks to their discovery of Belle and Sebastian with Tigermi/k. Stow College's Electric Honey here pay tribute to a whole slew of contemporaries such as Postcard. Fence. Chemikal Underground and Creeping Bent.
THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU
It's a masterfully chosen compilation. featuring the unsung highlights of many of Scotland‘s very best bands. Fire Engines‘ ‘Get Up and Use Me'. for example. can never outstay its welcome. while Josef K‘s cheerful Joy Division impression on ‘Fallen Leaves' is much appreciated. The Belles‘ own buoyant 'She's Losing It' makes an appearance. as do the similarly janglesome Delgados (‘Monica Webster‘). The Pastels‘ gorgeOus ‘The Viaduct'. and latest Electric Honey inductees How to Swim. History isn't boring. you see? (David Pollock)
CRIME
WILEY
Playtime is Over
(Big Dada) 00
Long hailed as the progenitor of grime. since his 2004 debut Wiley has struggled to match his credibility with commercial success. Sadly. lacking any degree of quality control. his third album sees only more underachievement.
While others can simultaneously dabble in the gossip of the Crime scene and appeal to an uninitiated mainstream. Wiley seems unable to move into less provmcial territory. This is typified by ‘Gangsters'. one the best songs. which still references his Split with Dizzee Rascal over four years ago. His signature ‘eski beat’ production. as always. is innovative but Wiley's limitations as an MC are laid bare on far too many filler tracks. One more like this and his reputation as a mildly diverting footnote will become set in stone. (Miles Johnson)
JAZZ ABRAM WILSON Ride! (Dune Records) 00..
The New Orleans-born. London-based trumpeter and singer has been winning a lot of admirers. both for his work with Jazz Jamaica and in his own bands. This second album for Dune. subtitled Ferris Wheel to the Modern Day Delta. follows the example of label-mate Soweto Kinch in hanging the music around a narrative framework in which a young trumpeter from Mississippi turns his back on his family's expectations. but finds