Music RECORDS JAZZ & WORLD
JAZZ ALEX HUTTON TRIO Legentis F-IRE Presents) ●●●●●
Sheffi eld-born pianist Alex Hutton laid out his melodic and compositional strengths on his earlier Songs from the Seven Hills, and they are in evidence again here, but within a wider range of stylistic references. Hints of bands like E.S.T. or The Bad Plus crop up here and there amid his folk and classical influences, notably on the striking opening track, ‘J J’, and ‘Then There Were Four’. His powerful trio with bassist Yuri Goloubev and drummer Asif Sirkis is augmented by French horn, flute, cor anglais or the wordless vocals of Heidi Vogel on selected tunes, adding new colours to a pleasing mix. (Kenny Mathieson)
JAZZ HANNES RIEPLER The Brave (Jellymould) ●●●●●
Austrian guitarist Hannes Riepler has been resident in London for half a dozen years now, and first caught my attention as a sideman with the Andre Canniere Sextet. This debut album as leader makes a strong case for his abilities as both player and composer. He has a good ear for bright melodies and spacious, open-but-disciplined structures that retain their coherence while allowing room for improvisation. His own playing is tight and thoughtful rather than flashy, and his fine band includes inventive saxophonist Tom Challenger and rising star Kit Downes on piano. Nothing earth-shattering, but a promising debut. (Kenny Mathieson)
WORLD FELA KUTI Live in Detroit 1986 (Strut) ●●●●● Live In Detroit 1986 captures Fela Kuti on his first American tour, delivering a jaw-dropping two-and-a-half-hour set of afro- beat that crackles with energy. Recently freed from a politically motivated sentence in Nigeria, Kuti speaks truth to power via radical chants and relentless militant funk. His introduction to ‘Just Like That’ sets the tone – ‘In my home country, they can put you in prison. Just. Like. That.’ – and the set closes with a slowly simmering version of his anti-apartheid anthem ‘Beasts of No Nation’. Egypt 80 punctuate their hypnotic grooves and fierce agit-funk with blaring horn riffs and squalling saxophone, breaking into a martial strut on ‘Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense’. (Stewart Smith)
WORLD EBO TAYLOR Appia Kwa Bridge (Strut) ●●●●●
A happy consequence of the archival boom in 1970s African pop is the return of 76-year-old Ghanaian highlife legend Ebo Taylor. Appia Kwa Bridge might not be innovative, but neither is it a dry exercise in retromania. A Fante war cry set to rolling polyrhythms, stabbing organs and rousing horns, ‘Ayesama’ is a stirring opener. Most affecting is ‘Barrima’, an acoustic lament for Taylor’s late wife. In a curious echo of the American primitive guitarist John Fahey, Taylor works devotional Bach-like harmonies into his finger-picking, a graceful counterpoint to his grainy voice. (Stewart Smith) ALSO RELEASED
SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
There’s talk every year of the obligatory summer slump; when album releases take a back seat to the demand for sun-soaked holidays and piss-soaked festivals, and labels play it safe. How- ever, judging by this month’s singles selection, there’s still plenty to salivate over in the meantime.
The Dirty Projectors kick things off nicely, returning with
a crisp, mid-paced, 60s-inspired number, ‘Gun Has No Trigger’ (Domino ●●●●●). A relatively sparse cut in comparison to usual Dirty Proj fair, it’s a great little laid-back cut, setting up new album Swing Low Magellan. Two Inch Punch’s ‘Moonstruck’ meanwhile (PMR ●●●●●) is a suitably spacey electronic num- ber that goes hand in hand with its Barbarella-pinching video. The Voice winner Leanne Mitchell’s take on Whitney Hou-
ston’s ‘Run To You’ (Island ●●●●●) is sadly another predictable few minutes of schlock crooning, but she’s got a decent enough set of pipes to suggest she’s got the talent to develop into something interesting. The barn dance folk of Skinny Lister’s ‘Rollin’ Over’ (Sunday Best ●●●●●) is one of few examples of bands paying tribute to roots music that seems genuine and devoid of gimmickry. It’s just fun and if you don’t move to this you are dead inside.
Will.i.am returns with new solo effort ‘This is Love (In- terscope, ●●●●●) to remind you how important it is to find love in the company of a DJ. His is actually one of the more bearable voices in this age of tame, mindless dance-rap, and will surely score himself a hit with this. Longtime List favourites Meursault just pinch the top honour this month with ‘Flittin’’ (Song, By Toad ●●●●●) from their third LP, Something for the Weakened (read album review, page 81). A powerful, dense number live, it sounds beautifully textured and driving on record. Just great. (Ryan Drever)
Fleetwood Mac The Chain (Reprise) ●●●●● ‘Tusk’, ‘Go Your Own Way’, ‘Little Lies’ and of course ‘The Chain’ remind us of the addictive, endur- ing appeal of The Mac. There are 72 tracks across four CDs here, spanning the career of Lindsey, Mick, Stevie and co from 1967 to 1992. Full of gold. XXL Dude (Tin Angel) ●●●●● Xiu Xiu teams up with Italian experimentalist group Larsen to make discordant pop. Free- jazz trumpet wig-outs sit alongside straightforward disco-rock on ‘Disco Chrome’, and krautrock soundscapes on ‘Oi Oi Dude’.
Skerryvore World of Chances (Tyree) ●●●●● The Celt-pop festival mainstays are on album four now, com- fortable knowing they’re doing something right having won a clutch of musical awards in 2011 and had a song of theirs featured on a VisitScotland ad. If uptempo strumming and drumming is your bag, Sker- ryvore are your band.
Milk Maid Mostly No (FatCat) ●●●●● Wisely steering clear of the doldrums that beset many bands on the ‘difficult second album’, Milk Maid powered into Mostly No a scant 12 months after debut LP Yucca. The result is a band not yet sick of each other, still enjoyably churning out garage-pysch-rock fuzziness. Stevie Jackson (I Can’t Get No) Stevie Jack- son (Banchory) ●●●●● The ever-industrious Belle and Sebastian man’s latest solo work is packed with catchy pop melodies, but comes off as too clever-clever – the sleeve notes provide context for listening to each song, for goodness’ sake. Still, if you like that punning title, it’ll probably be right up your street.
92 THE LIST 21 Jun–19 Jul 2012