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The Primevals
Disinhibitor (Twenty Stone Blatt) ●●●●● Little remembered 80s Glasgow garage rockers who barged into John Peel’s heart with a sleazy Stooges sound. Guess what? The old boys have still got it. A perfectly produced new album, sounding like Primal Scream circa 1995. Alexis Jordan S/T (Star Roc/Roc Nation) ●●●●● Found on America’s Got Talent then signed by Jay-Z, Jordan is trapped between crapness and credibility. It’s pop fluff, but at least ‘Good Girl’ and the Deadmau5-produced ‘Happiness’ hold their own in the Rihanna- style dancefloor stomper stakes. [See how Alexis fares in the Singles reviews, page 64.]
Various Dubstep Dubplates (Live Beyond) ●●●●● London DJ Seven’s mix mooches about like a stoned Staffy; ten tracks (plus two from Benga and Skream) of coiled menace and chip- munk vocals from under the radar ‘step producers. Discodeine S/T (Dirty/Pschent) ●●●●● Slick, minimal, John Carpenteresque machine sounds and slowed-down disco from Pilooski (he of the ‘Beggin’ edit, but nowt like that here). Also, Jarvis Cocker does disco-house on ‘Synchronize’.
Anika S/T (Invada Records) ●●●●● A Berliner-Bristolian Nico with production values that make The Velvet Underground sound like GirlsAloud, Anika sings Dylan’s ‘Masters of War’ like it’s being covered by Suicide and lends Skeeter Davis’ ‘End of the World’ the fearsome sound of drug psychosis.Good work, producer Geoff ‘Portishead’ Barrow and backing band Beak>. (DavidPollock)
musician Baaba Maal as his mentor, a stellar list of international musicians in his band, and guests including Zimbabwean Bhundu Boy Rise Kagona, Sene shifts effortlessly between a host of African styles. His voice soars, pleads, chants, chides, celebrates and grooves over dancing guitar riffs, pattering percussion, fruity brass and keyboards in organ mode with beautiful balafon and ngoni touches. Catch him live if you can. (Jan Fairley) ■ Samba Sene plays the African Caribbean Centre, Glasgow, Sat 26 Feb. www.myspace.com/ sambasene WORLD BLACK ROBERT MAMA ROSIN (GUTFEELING RECORDS) ●●●●●
Quirky, rootsy music from a Swiss, Cajun punk trio reassures us that wild creativity 2011 style is flourishing. This fresh take on North American French traditions gets these three young guys compared to Parisian gypsy-punkers Les Negresses Vertes for their subversive, riotous spirit.
A ‘call you to me’ voice, often in raucous dialogue partnered by cascading fiddle, wiry guitar, insinuating bass and ricocheting accordion sends out an irresistible message. Appearances on Later With Jools Holland and at last month’s Celtic Connections festival have earned them a cult audience, which these songs show is based on more than a flash in any Cajun gumbo stew pan. (Jan Fairley)
17 Feb–3 Mar 2011 THE LIST 65
REMIX PROJECT GIL SCOTT-HERON & JAMIE XX We’re New Here (XL) ●●●●● Kudos to whoever cooked up this brilliant, deranged project, bringing together two of XL’s most acclaimed but sonically and generationally opposite artists, the younger remixing the elder. It works to striking effect, with Scott-Heron’s voice (mostly lifted from his recent, career-restarting record I’m New Here) stripped of its usual soul-jazz backing
by The xx producer Jamie Smith, and delicately lowered into a shadowy futurescape of clattering, dubstep-infused beats. For example ‘Home’, a rechristened ‘Home is Where the Hatred Is’, has been almost lost in a back alley of sparse drum snaps, while the lovely ‘My Cloud’ places Scott-Heron’s crystal voice over the photocopier slide of a shredded, recurring vocal sample. Compelling proof that the retro and the futuristic ultimately inhabit the same space. (David Pollock)
Chapman has attracted fans such as John Peel and Thurston Moore through the years, and little wonder. From his roots in the 60s Cornish folk circuit to an unlikely revival in the 90s thanks to the endorsement of Supergrass, his ragtime arias and acoustic excursions have proven timeless, and sublime.
On Trainsong, Chapman re-records instrumental highlights from his back catalogue, to mesmeric effect. With sleeve- notes by Charles Shaar Murray and Chapman’s own song-by-song annotation and tunings, this is a lavish retrospective from a
vital, if unsung, British folk hero. (Nicola Meighan) JAZZ RUDDER Matorning (C.A.R.E.) ●●●●●
Rudder is a New York- based quartet featuring saxophonist Chris Cheek, keyboard player Henry Hey, bassist Tim Lefebvre and the powerhouse drumming of Keith Carlock. Together they brew up a serious maelstrom of groove-based music, cooking up a potent combination of leftfield jazz, jam-rock, funk and drum & bass. It’s a powerful and infectious brew that has roots in the dense jazz-rock
experiments of early 70s Miles Davis, but is plugged firmly into a contemporary soundscape. The focus is on collective expression rather than flashy soloing, and the energy levels and rhythmic drive are unrelenting. (Kenny Mathieson) JAZZ THEO TRAVIS All I Know – An Anthology (33 Records) ●●●●●
Saxophonist Theo Travis has been a significant presence on the British jazz scene for a couple of decades now, while simultaneously making a name for himself in ambient music and prog rock, notably as a member of Gong and Soft Machine Legacy. This nicely packaged two-CD retrospective concentrates mainly on his jazz output, from his 1993 debut 2 am
through to a live cut from 2009, and includes his celebrated take on King Crimson’s ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’. The first disc features slower and more reflective material, while the second is mainly the up-tempo, high energy stuff. (Kenny Mathieson) WORLD SAMBA SENE & DIWAN Remind Me (Fatalima) (Scary Biscuits Promotions) ●●●●●
With this long awaited debut of original songs, Edinburgh based Senegalese musician Samba Sene shows just why he’s an asset to the Scottish scene. With Senegalese