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SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
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Grand National
It’s a musically diverse fortnight for Scottish music. with tunes to strut. bounce. sway. or in a few places. just grimace awkwardly along to. Wet Wet Wat's floaty. dreamy ballad ’Weightless' (Dry) so sticks with the tried- and tested formula that has racked up the hits for them in the past. but plays it too safe and sentimental to set any heather alight. Jumping in to give things a playful kick up the jacksie. Dance Lazarus Dance layer up bleepy, bouncy electro with frantic guitars in “Take that. Jesus!’ (White Label) see . Juno V: Manda Rin come across a bit like kids TV presenters after too many Red Bulls in the chirpy. irritating ‘These Boys are Athletes’ (Shifty Disco) e . while Glaswegian Phil Campbell takes an altogether calmer approach by following Damien Rice’s chart- friendly and ready for radio formula of lovesick lyrics and soaring pianos in ‘Cold Engines’ (Charisma) so . Attic Lights give a sneak preview of their hotly tipped Beach Boys-inspired power pop. with ‘Never get Sick of the Sea' (Island) on . the first track from their debut album. Finally. deadpan Isa and the Filthy Tongues add a moody Goldfrapp rumble to their cover of The Velvet Underground's ‘I Can't Stand lt’ (www.filthy tonguescom) see .
Look up your daughters. Akon's back. Although it’s a relief to hear he’s not wanting to ‘smack that' anymore. worryingly his thoughts have turned to 'touching and rubbing and kissing you' in ‘I Can’t Wait' (Island) a . a flimsy reggae-ballad ringtone in the making. Another sore disappointment for the ladies is Jared Leto's rock effort. 30 Seconds to Mars. Proving that being easy on the eye doesn’t automatically make you easy on the ears. “From Yesterday’ (Virgin) so is melodramatic. eyes closed. air grabbing power rock fresh out of the 903. Luckily. Gothenburg- based Little Dragon freshen things up with a wee soulful jazz~electro number. ‘Constant Surprises' (Peacefrog) see and Grand National give a pop-heavy spin to new wave with Single of the Fortnight. ‘Animal Sounds' (Sunday Best) see . full of rolling Kraftwerk beats and Depeche Mode synths. (Claire Sawers)
Reviews
AVANT-ROCK
PAUL VICKERS & THE LEG Tropical Favourites (SL Rec0rds) sees
In one fearsome circle ; i of hell or another. Paul Vickers & The Leg would provide the children‘s entertainment. The
Edinburgh supergroup — Dawn of the Replicants‘ Vickers.
backed by the band formerly known as Desc. and Khaya befOre that — Create something brilliant but frightening, a rOugh bar rOOm SOund that's blessed .‘.'ith a kind of abstract. childlike naivety. Vickers Sings like an fiddled hybrid Of Shane MacGowan and Tom Waits. while The Leg play a hard-to-reSist kind Of indie-Jugband blues. There are a few straight-up rockers ('Tears for Smokey' is a highlight, like a ragged. kinetic Sonic Youth demO). while ‘Chime Chime Cherry' and “The Ballad of Bess Houdini' are ragged. eccentric bluegrass strolls. (David Pollock)
FOLK
BLAZIH’ FIDDLES
Live
(Blazin' Fiddles) eeee
The Scottish fiddle supergroup are caught in full flight in this gig in Glenuig last summer. and in a way that has never quite been replicated in their studio recordings. Even the band feel they have not done themselves full justice in the studio setting. but this recording captures their live sound in immediate and uncompromised fashion. so much so that they felt no need to do any subsequent studio editing — everything is exactly as played on the night. The five fiddlers — Aidan O'Rourke. Allan Henderson. Bruce MacGregor. Catriona Macdonald and Iain MacFarlane — fire off a series of vibrant instrumental sets drawn from various points in the near-decade of the band's existence. impeccably backed by Andy Thorburn's piano and Marc Clements' guitar. The well- balanced sets mix arrangements of traditional tunes with contemporary offerings from the likes of Jerry Holland. Johnny
C..nni".gna"‘, Monaei McGoldrick and Allan MacDonald
(Kenny Mathieson;
ROCK
THE DUKE SPIRIT
Neptune
(YOu Are Here) 000
l:icl)'.».cS:iirit
‘I do believe in something, you know,‘ intones Duke Spirit Leila Moss over the shon.
hymnal intro to her band's new album.
Judging by the other eleven songs on here.
that belief extends as far
as the kind of flurrying. supercharged lemme-
rock which artists like Juliette Lewis and The ; Distillers' Brodie Dalle have tried on with
varying degrees of
success.
The Duke Spirit. then. are not so much a band to believe in as one to just enjoy momentarily.
The furious charge of
“Send a Little Love
Token'. the lithe grind of
‘The Step and the Walk'. the spectral. MBV-aping canter of ‘Wooden Heart' and ‘Sovereign' - none of these are testament to Originality. but they're played with fluent passion. at least. (David Pollock)
AMERICANA AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB The Golden Age (Cooking Vinyl) 00.
Terminal romantics Mark Eitzel and AMC have
been breaking hearts
and taking names for
over 20 years and still manage to turn out new
albums that Surprise with songs that are utterly evocative. fragile. dry. witty and truly human.
The spit and growl of 2004 's Love Songs for Patriots was their first after a decade-long
Music Records
hiatus and SOunded like a band getting something off their chest. This finds the band's Original com pared down to Eitzel and guitarist Vudi. and is more gentle and reflective as a reSult Less pompous than Costello. less scholarly that Cave. even mOre self-conscious than Hawey. Eitzel remains a Singularly great songwriter and this showcases at least half a dozen more of his grade-A classics. (Mark Robertson)
INDIE POP CUFF HELEN BOULDIHG
New Red Dress (Maid in Sheffield)
Connections aren't everything. Sheffield singer-songwriter Boulding has worked with members of The Verve. Pink Floyd and Squeeze. Youth produced this debut album, and Bryan Adams even took the cover shot (I?) Yet still. this is bland indie-lite pop bilge of the most execrable kind — vacuous. overblown. self-important and packed full of breathy
E cliches and the kind of
blustery pish that soundtracks car adverts shot in the
Arctic tundra. ‘I don't
know what I want. but I know what I need' rasps Helen in the endlessly turgid ‘IDKWIW'. I know what /want: I want her to shut the fuck up. (Doug Johnstone)
ROCK
THE MARS VOLTA
The Bedlam in Goliath (Universal) 00” Listening to the barrage emanating from the speakers for 78 minutes it's hard to believe that Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (for they are the heart. SOUI and hair of The Mars
Volta) have reeled things in for album four.
OK. so they haven't in the conventional sense. but have condensed and intensified their sonic alchemy into tangible. almost song- like hunks. The harrying dynamic syncopation. endless skittering guitar lines and Bixler's Wild falsetto wail are still the missmg link between
On the Corner-era
Miles DaVis. Blood Sugar-era Red Hot Chili Peppers and From Ens/avement-era
Napalm Death. and
while the album lacks
the bottom end punch and epic sweep of
2005's Frances the
Mute. it houses enough
furious. furiously
adventurous ideas to warrant repeat listens.
(Mark Robertson)
POP
HOT CHIP Made in the Dark (EMI) eeee
Hot Chip were in mortal
danger of being “that band that did the over and over song'. Lucky
then. that this. their third long player. is
crammed full of bloody
marvellous tracks. Providing some kind of oarping, clunking, rolling. swaggering antidote to self-
CONSCIOUS teens
plundering old acid house mix albums for licks and hooks. this is boisterous, high gloss.
nerd pop.
The band owe much
to the wayward spirit of
The Beta Band, the Crisp. thick production of The Neptunes and the deadpan delivery of New Order. but never manage to be less than their own men. Unselfconsciously pop but something you
might want to actually play in five years time.
(Mark Robertson)
3t Jan-14 Feb 2008 THE LIST C7