list.co.uk/music
ELECTRO/DANCE YEASAYER Fragrant World (Mute) ●●●●●
POST-ROCK THE UNWINDING HOURS Afterlives (Chemikal Underground) ●●●●● SYNTH POP ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI Mature Themes (4AD) ●●●●●
In a nice act of retro direct-to-fan promo, Yeasayer surprised 200 fans by posting (remember post?) advance copies of Fragrant World’s lead single ‘Henrietta’, encouraging them to share it. Yet the Brooklyn trio don’t come across like a fans’ band on this third album, so much as one overeager to impress peers and critics. The direction-shift here – away from the exotic, celebratory synth pop of 2010’s Odd Blood, to fully-electronic, glitchy, gloopy psychedelia and dance – feels very self-conscious: otherwise catchy tunes deconstructed for simple difference’s sake. Amongst its fleeting great moments – the fluid groove of ‘Fingers Never Bleed’, the bonkers-fun ‘Reagan’s Skeleton’ – lies a joyless mass fussily reduced to blandness. (Malcolm Jack)
As the buzz surrounding Iain Cook’s electro-pop band Churches proves the wonder reinvention can do a seasoned songwriter, this second album by he and Craig B’s post-Aereogramme group The Unwinding Hours reminds us that exceptional music can also arrive by steady process. Afterlives is a new pinnacle in the pair’s 14-year songwriting partnership: a record that gets all their signatures – symphonic guitars, trembling vocals, majestic melodies and harsh post-rock noise – all singing together in marvellous harmony.
‘The Promised Land’ is an ambient highlight built to its peak with almost unbearable tension. Even when at one point we hear the sound of a kitchen sink getting battered, everything feels expertly measured. (Malcolm Jack)
Mature Themes? Hardly. Ariel Pink’s latest offers a callow take on gender and sexuality. Pink seems to think talking about ‘beta male revenge’ (chicks dig ‘sensitive’ guys, is the sleazy logic) and being a ‘lesbian’ constitutes some radical act of genderfucking, and this wrong-headedness is compounded by transphobic language (‘bogus shemales on meth’ anyone?) and the misogyny, however ironic, of tracks like the charmless Kraftwerk rip-off ‘Symphony of the Nymph’.
Far from being transgressive, Pink’s sweaty-palmed evocations of alternative LA just come across as creepy. As for the music, it’s irritatingly arch, lacking memorable tunes of early albums, with all the punch taken out of HG’s sophisticated Hall & Oates-go- synthpop grooves. (Stewart Smith)
INDIE/ROCK BLOC PARTY Four (Frenchkiss) ●●●●● ELECTRONICA CID RIM CID RIM (LuckyMe) ●●●●●
After considerable speculation about their future amid side pro- jects and alleged fallouts, Bloc Party return with their fourth album together, cunningly titled Four. Given vocalist Kele Okereke’s ven- ture into solo pop, guitarist Russell Lissack’s celebrated spell with Irish rock stalwarts, Ash, and bassist Gordy Moakes’ turn with Young Legionnaires, it could’ve gone any number of ways. So it’s a big surprise then, to hear an album that’s cohesive, adventurous and, at times, crush- ingly heavy – from the beefy half- time groove of ‘So He Begins To Lie’ and ‘Kettling’ to the almost Black Metal atmospherics (seri- ously) of ‘3x3’. However, ‘Day Four’, ‘Real Talk’ and ‘Octopus’ will be familiar enough to please the faithfuls. (Ryan Drever)
Finger on pulse Edinburgh label LuckyMe are again right on the money with their latest signing, CID RIM, the alias of Viennese producer Clemens Bacher, who also earns his keep as live drummer with Dorian Concept. Bacher’s roots lie in jazz as much as electronica, and this album reflects that with a style which seems designed for inter- active listening, breaking off into freeform and discordant beat pat- terns just as a nice ambient sound- scape is being built up. It makes for a surprising and often pleasing experience, for example during the smooth d&b snap of ‘Draw’ or the chiming futurist soundscape of ‘Log Out of Bounds’, although a few of the samples which appear chopped-up and repeated over and over in sharp succession do grate somewhat. (David Pollock)
ELECTRIC DRONE/ ROCK SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE Ascent (Drag City) ●●●●● Ben Chasny returns (with fellow gun slingers from Comets in Fire) with a new rock set-up for a new era of Six Organs. ‘Ascent’ jumps straight into the wormhole with opener ‘Waswasa’, encroaching on Santana and Mahavishnu vibra- tions. For the most part Ascent churns and oozes pure psych rock, with slightly less focus on vocals – apart from the dream-like drones and flamenco on ‘They Called You Near’ – and ‘Your Ghost’ which could have been a ‘200 Years’ out- take. The unearthly ‘Solar Ascent’ touches upon his previous space dabbling’s on Dark Noontide. Probably the most balls-to-the-wall release Mr Chasny has recorded in some years, so tune in if you can handle the wah-wah overload. (Nick Herd)
RECORDS Music
W I N S T U F F
WIN UN- WINDING HOURS’ ALBUMS
Former Aereogramme
musicians Craig B. and Iain Cook formed The Unwinding Hours in 2008, and gained almost
immediate success with a self- titled debut album in 2010. Follow-up album Afterlives proves the standards remain high – track ‘I’ve Loved You For So Long’ has already become Clash music’s Track of the Day. To read The List’s review of Afterlives, see left. We have four copies of the album to be won – see below to enter.
WIN YEASAYER’S ALBUMS
The last album from Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton and Anand Wilder, aka Yeasayer, was 2010’s Odd Blood, a record chocka with catchy, poppy singles – see ‘Madder Red’, ‘I Remember’ and ‘O.N.E’ for evidence.
So fans of the Brooklyn band will be chuffed to hear they’re back with a new album, Fragrant Worlds.
Once having described themselves as ‘middle eastern- psych-snap-gospel’, these guys are clearly fond of trying new things in music, although our reviewer describes the latest direction-shift as self-conscious. See The List’s review of Fragrant Worlds, left.
For a chance to win one of three copies of the album and make up your own mind about it, see below.
HOW TO ENTER
Visit list.co.uk/offers and enter your details. Closing date for competitions is Thu 23 Aug. There is no cash alternative. Usual List rules apply.
16–23 Aug 2012 THE LIST 111