Music Record Reviews
SINGLES & DOWNLOADS DARK POP LONELADY Nerve Up (Warp) ●●●●●
LoneLady might be coming on all Manchester warehouse post-punk or whatever, but she’s best when spitting soul asides and rewiring Gwen Guthrie’s ‘Ain’t Nothin’ Goin’ on But the Rent’ – as she somehow does, and boy, it works, on her debut album’s dancefloor-agitating title track. Nerve Up’s stripped-
back diatribes and edgy axe-mastery reinforce LoneLady, aka Julie Campbell’s authenticity, (it’s telling that this particular female solo artist is on electronic powerhouse Warp); and there are plenty of sonic acknowledgements (Grace Jones, ESG, PiL, Prince, Wire) to buttress her self-styled ‘army of one’. But her best, it feels, is yet to come. (Nicola Meighan)
POP THE FAMILY JEWELS Marina and the Diamonds 679 ●●●●●
The latest in a long line of new Kate Bushes, Greek/Welsh loony tune Marina Diamandis arrives in a blitz of hype, but this debut is a charmless affair which mistakes self- aggrandising for personality, and synth- pop rip-offs for musical invention. Theatrical pop clichés abound, and Diamandis has a distasteful habit of talking herself up in the third person at the expense of her audience. Songs about getting signed, drinking champagne and going to America are hardly penetrating the human condition, or even much
Let’s start this time with the newie from Sugababes version (counts on fingers) 4.0, because a new Sugababes single, ace or execrable, will always be worthy of discussion. And ‘Wear My Kiss’ (Island) ●●●●● is certainly blessed with a memorable chorus, even if it’s a punishingly unsubtle one. More ‘Hole in the Head’ than ‘Overload’ this time.
What other dispatches from the pop machine? How about ‘Good Scottish Lassie’ and Radio 2 fixture Amy Macdonald with the efficiently anthemic ‘Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over’ (Vertigo) ●●●●●? Or Ellie Goulding, the chipmunk- voiced pop sensation of 2010, whose ‘Starry Eyed’ (Polydor) ●●●●● will unfortunately make you wonder if it’s possible to play a CD or an audio file at the wrong speed.
Those with a liking for girl-pop might instead wish to turn to Fife’s Panda Su, whose Steve ‘Beta Band’ Mason-produced ‘Sticks & Bricks EP’ (Peter Panda) ●●●●● is a quite gorgeous exercise in cutesy melancholy. Keeping it local, we’d also like to deservedly talk up the Isle of Lewis’ Colin MacLeod aka The Boy Who Trapped the Sun, whose ‘Home EP’ (Chess Club) ●●●●● displays the same folk crossover appeal as Fairport Convention or Nick Drake, and Glasgow’s next mainstream big thing Kassidy, coming on like a watered-down Kings of Leon throughout ‘The Rubbergum EP’ (Vertigo) ●●●●●
Without getting all parochial about it, there’s a load of deservedly recommended music coming out of Scotland this fortnight, like Glasgow’s The Dirty Cuts, who are Franz-like but pretty good for it, as shown on ‘2 Page Spread’ (17 Seconds) ●●●●●. Staying on the West Coast, Optimo favourite The Niallist has produced an old-school acid house stormer in ‘AC/ID’ (Little Rock) ●●●●● Also out is ‘Take It Slow’ (free download) ●●●●● from ex-Ruffness man Bob Hillary and the Massive Mellow, featuring members of his old group, which is pleasantly summery and, err, massively mellow. Only two bands in it for Single of the Fortnight though, with The Big Pink’s strident ‘Velvet’ (4AD) ●●●●● just missing out for not being as good as ‘Dominoes’. Yet Frightened Rabbit’s breakneck ‘Nothing Like You’ (Fatcat) ●●●●● is quite possibly their best yet. The winners! (David Pollock)
64 THE LIST 18 Feb–4 Mar 2010
fun, and Diamandis’s histrionic vocals undermine the occasional nice musical idea. (Doug Johnstone) ACOUSTIC RM HUBBERT First & Last (Ubisano) ●●●●●
Once a member of the now defunct Glasgow instrumentalists El Hombre Trajeado, guitarist RM Hubbert delivers his debut solo release and proves that there’s much to be said for working hard on your craft. Here, he flexes his post-rock sensibilities with an Arab Strappy- inflected ‘For Maria’, and nods towards the telly heaven soundtrack canon with heavy hints of the arpeggio-happy theme tune to Jack Hargreaves’ rural TV series Out of Town, in the gorgeous ‘Jumphang’. The recurring
flamenco-tinged motifs and fretboard-slapping antics may get a little overly familiar by the end, but First & Last has enough acoustic pleasures to have you returning should a mellow mood take you. (Brian Donaldson)
MODERN CLASSICAL A BROKEN CONSORT Crow Autumn (Tompkins Square) ●●●●●
Aural cartographer Richard Skelton has long transcribed his much-loved Lancashire landscape by way of contemporary classical music. His heady, elemental hymns are attributed to various guises – Carousell, Clouwbeck and A Broken Consort among them – and largely unveiled through Skelton’s own (wonderful) Sustain- Release Private Press.
The mesmerising Crow Autumn however, is A Broken Consort’s second larger-scale re- release via Tompkins Square (the label home of London pianist and guitarist James Blackshaw), following 2009’s spellbinding Box of Birch. Its bucolic dominion of dense acoustics, glinting percussion and evocative strings is exquisite, and sees Skelton stake his rightful claim as one of modern English music’s most treasured artists. (Nicola Meighan)
JAZZ BRASS JAW Deal With It! (Keywork Records) ●●●●●
Although the Glasgow- based quartet launched this with a gig back in November, it has only recently been officially released on saxophonist Paul Towndrow’s label. The group began as a conventional sax quartet, but the introduction of trumpeter Ryan Quigley when Martin Kershaw left has given them an even more distinctive sound. Quigley joined Paul Towndrow (alto sax), Konrad Wiszniewski (tenor) and Allon Beauvoisin (baritone) in a line-up that places a premium on originality and invention.
Their arrangements – Allon Beauvoisin prepared the majority – make consistently imaginative use of the instruments to create a rich melodic and textural interplay, with all players taking good care of the rhythmic momentum of the music in the absence of conventional rhythm instruments. Original compositions are interspersed with fine re- workings of ‘Senor Blues’, ‘Bolivia’ and ‘Falling In Love All Over Again’, and they allow us to share in the hilarity when an attempted take of the latter went seriously astray. (Kenny Mathieson)
WORLD RAZIA Zebu Nation (Cumbancha) ●●●●●
As far away as Madagascar is, the irresistible rhythms of newcomer Razia make it feel a lot closer. Razia is a beautiful person in looks, heart and mind and uses her strikingly fresh voice for well crafted dance songs with a clear message.
Her passion here is doing climate change – and the environmental destruction brought by slash and burn agriculture. ‘Mifohaza Wake Up’ is a call to arms to bury petty differences of opinion, while ‘Ny Alantsika’ is a lament from the trees and animals. (Jan Fairley)
WORLD ALI FARKA TOURÉ & TOUMANI DIABATÉ Ali and Toumani (World Circuit) ●●●●●
Malian bluesman Ali Farka Touré was a towering musical figure who left a legacy of groundbreaking albums. In 2005 he and kora (harp-lute) player Diabaté won a Grammy for their collaboration In The Heart of the Moon. The same year, en route to Nice Jazz festival via London with Touré already very ill, they recorded these eleven pieces. It was to be their second and last album together.
The magic of interlocking strings playing age old music, the chiming of the kora over Ali’s potent guitar with Cuban veteran Orlando Cachaíto López on bass creates a final statement of some perfection. As Touré himself says at the end, ‘Et voilá’. (Jan Fairley)