JAZZ JOHNNY GRIFFIN
Live at Ronnie Scott’s (In-Out Records) 0...
This live recording from the Soho club last May proved to be the swansong for the hard- hitting American tenor man. and if the octogenarian was no longer at his peak. he
SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
more than holds his own in some very fast company. including American trumpeter Roy Hargiove stealing the show at times ~ and the
. . . And you Will , s’ Know us by the - Trail of Dead
My New Year's resolution was to give all music the benefit of the doubt but Travis are making it difficult. According to their press release they‘re now at their loudest. edgiest and most arresting' since their debut. If only that description bore any resemblance to the dreary, anaemic strum-fest that is ‘Song to Self ' (Red Telephone Box) 0
Much easier to like is ‘Bulimia Sisters' (This is Fake DIY) 00. by fellow Glaswegians We are the Physics. Jagged. shouty. riffy. angry and a bit bonkers, it rattles. plinks and shrieks along in an almost completely nonsensical fashion. all the better for that. Equally fun is Cuddly Sharks' ‘Woody Woodpecker’ (Armellodie Records) 000 . which begins like an electro-orchestra then transmogrifies into a stroppy rockabilly thing before going all metal. all in under two minutes.
After such ragged guitarniks it's good to hit the dancefloor with Ratatat. The Brooklyn duo's ‘Shempi' (XL) 000 is a wonky future- retro groove thang. like Daft Punk launching a raid on the Dr Who sound effects box.
Time for some peace and quiet next with ‘Paint Your Face’ (Brushfire) o. from Neil Halstead. Whispery of voice. plucky of guitar and plinky of piano. it's a rather UlthTWhGlTTting facsimile of labelmate Jack Johnson's sleepy acoustic surf-pop.
More engaging is Rob St John‘s “Like Alchemy EP‘ (Fife Kills: Records) 0000 Combining lo-fi folk with traditional finger- picking guitar and a sonorous voice. he's in the same stubbly field as James Yorkston and has enough originality to stand out from the pack.
And so we end with a couple of American eccentrics. First up are TV on the Radio with ‘Dancing Choose' (4AD) COO . a song which starts off lo-fi disco. turns into whiny rap. gets funky. then punky. then ominous. then dreamy, then pretty much just ends leaving you smiling but wondering what the fuck you just heard.
Same goes for Single of the Fortnight. ‘Festival Thyme EP' (Superball) 0000 by art- rocking loons . . . And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. Epic of intent. the four songs here range from sweeping guitar chaos to piano-led poignancy. from Mariachi mayhem to apocalyptic post-rock noise. It's unhinged. but gloriously so. (Doug Johnstone)
62 THE LIST I”. 2/? ,‘a' 1’41»:
mighty Billy Cobham on drums. not to mention Scottish pianist David Newton in typically inventive mood.
Griffin's hard blowing. strongly swinging blues- rooted approach is perfectly encapsulated
in Lester Young's ‘Lester
Leaps ln'. Clifford Brown's "The Blues Walk' and his own ‘The .JAMFS are Coming'. interspersed wrth a couple of ballads. Cerman guest Paul Kuhn's vocal outing on “How Deep is the Ocean' is less than essential. but otherwrse this is a very enjoyable farewell from one of the great names of postwar ja/x. (Kenny Mathieson)
PSYCHLDI l() ROCK LOOP
Heaven's End 0000 Fade Out 0000 iReactor' l-"or'tei
Space-men It and Croydon's l oop have been inextricably linked over the years. not least because Sonic Boom of Spit ix-xr'onglyi accused Loop of tricking his hands droning tripped out sound. They were in fact coming from similar \./it>\.vj)()irits but ended tip in different worlds. a case of l oop's MCi) to Spfi's l ou Reed. While Spacemen It have enjoyed continued acclaim thanks to the patronage of bands like Mogwai. Loop's
d ssonant magic remains much undervalued.
Until now that is. with this welcome re ssuing of their back catalogue. starting With their tugged iij) 1987 debut. a joyous. ha/y mash of super‘ftix/ed wah wah drunk guitars and acid casualty lyrical cliches.
With ltitfti's Far/e Out. the quartet refined their plan. sharpened their
Common has been
barbs and brought their Velvets meets Can stramash into better focus. Worth visiting for more than just nostalgia. (Mark Robertson)
HIP HOP SOUL COMMON Universal Mind Control (Geffen) 00.
, Scouuow
around long enough to reinvent himself a couple of times already but his social conscious that extended beyond the dime bags and low riders always set him apart from the gangsta shit. For this. his eighth album he enlists The Neptunes and his regular cohort Kanye West to stock up on new beats for him.
The production is thick and. well. Pharell-ish for the most part: clean. fi/xy. itchy and deeply. deeply funky. Lyrically. however. Common often relies more on big hooks than his familiar storytelling. A disappointing turn for someone quite so normally lyrically astute — maybe that film career is eating into his time for writing rhymes? Gripes aside. there's still much to recommend this album this dose of 21st century soul.
(Mark Robertson)
l-OLK
THE SHEE
A Different Season (Shee Records) .000
{$.79 ( ' p“! '4"
The Shoe have been attracting favourable comment for a while on the live circuit now. and this impressive debut album bears out the growrng reputation the six piece all-women band have accrued. Harpist Rachel Newton. fiddler Olivia Ross and mandolin player Laura Beth Soltge alternate on vocal. and each brings a different dimension to an already diverse selection
ofsongs.
They add their considerable prowess to the band's powerful instrumental line-up as well. where they are joined by flautist Lillias Kinsmann-Blake. fiddler Shona Mooney and accordion player Amy Thatcher. Their foCused playing is heard to advantage on the energised instrumental sets drawn from a range of sources. including their own tunes as well as the Scottish traditional repertoire and Scandinavian music. (Kenny Mathieson)
CELTIC
EDDI READER The Songs of Robert Burns - Deluxe Edition (Rough Trade) 0000
For Burns to endure for 250 years. every generation needs its own way of appreciating him. Five years ago. Eddi Reader provided her take on the Songs of Robert Burns and not only was the folk world enraptured by one of the great Scottish voices of the age. but modern Scotland had a modern version of Burns that was neither suffocated by nostalgia nor lost in contrived translation.
Fine musicianship and Readers instinctive empathy with her native Ayrshireman produced a sensational set of songs; Rough Trade's new 'Deluxe' version tacks on seven further recordings. ”Green Grow the Rashes O' and 'Aye Waukin-O' among them. (Donald Reid)
SACRED INDIE FOLK WELCOME WAGON Welcome to the Welcome Wagon (Asthmatic Kitty) 0..
Taking a break from the absurdly ambitious ‘Fifty States Project' Sufjan Stevens acts as producer. A&R and spokesperson for this collection of gentle-to- symphonic gospel-folk ditties. The trademark sound and song
. '1 3, 5‘ .. j... .1.“ k 'N 8":
‘3? "3 .~ ”5-; _ .a "‘42:“ tee—E: structure of Illinois dominates the church music of Rev. Aiuto and his wife Monique.
indeed the duo c0uld easily be a cover for Stevens to directly address the spirituality at which he has previously been wont to hint. Evidently not. Nor is the traditional rocking chair feel born of good honest toil on the prairie — try Brooklyn and Queens. Nevertheless this is a characteristically lush brace of songs. albeit with fewer zombie references and a whole heap more Jesus.
(Mark Edmundsonl
ROCK GORE Mean Man’s Dream 0...
Hart Gore 000 (Southern Lord)
Gore were never really a particularly fashionable proposition — a pummelling Black Sabbath-esgue instrumental rock trio from the Netherlands — who stomped their way through the 80s. and 90s in the company of the likes of Big Black and Henry Rollins before fix/ling out late in the decade. In that time they carved out a handful of grim, musically belligerent albums of tribal grooves and these are much overdue reissues of their first two efforts.
A little over 20 years since these albums were released. we are inundated wrth bands — a considerable few of them on the label who reissued these discs. Southern Lord — followntg Gore's take no prisoners. base. dynamic notions of sluge rock. which might suggest why having their noise back in our lives is no bad thing. (Mark Robertson)