MUSIC | Records
ALBUM OF THE ISSUE
PUNK FUNK GOLDEN TEACHER No Luscious Life (Golden Teacher Records) ●●●●● Anyone who enjoys the work of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and co for nostalgic reasons needs to learn to appreciate Glasgow’s Golden Teacher as a younger, more wide- reaching, every bit as capable and enthusiastic extension of the DFA
spirit. This is essential and deeply knowledgeable club music of a less obvious variety, the New York No-Wave scene to LCD’s Talking Heads.
No Luscious Life fails only in that it never had a chance of transferring the visceral perfection of a Golden Teacher live set to record. Yet it’s still a genuinely great, weird, dizzyingly infectious record, a distillation of acid house, post-punk, space rock, industrial and dub reggae sounds which is fiercely of its time and individual.
The opening ‘Sauchiehall Withdrawal’ sets the scene in
breathtaking, get-the-hell-out-of-your-chair fashion. They drive on through the swirling, psychedelic looped Afrobeat drums of the instrumental ‘Diop’ and crash into purist old-school house beat ‘Spiritron’, Charles Lavenac’s gasping voice adding heavy sexuality. ‘The Kazimier’ fuses a soulful, trip-hop groove to a spacey dub
vocal whoosh; on ‘Shatter (Version)’, singer Cassie Oji sounds like Grace Jones fronting Throbbing Gristle; ‘What Fresh Hell is This?’ transmutes what sounds like buzzing fly synth effects and jammed keyboard lines into an impossible to resist beat. The closing title track is furthest out-there, a cut-up sound experiment which bears only a passing resemblance to dance music, yet which somehow perfectly exemplifies the mutant disco brilliance of this most special group. (David Pollock) ■ Out Fri 3 Nov.
ELECTRO POP BDY_PRTS Fly Invisible Hero (Aggrocat Records) ●●●●●
Fly Invisible Hero is the debut album from Glasgow-based electro pop duo BDY_PRTS, aka Jenny Reeve and Jill O’Sullivan. Both parties, or PRTS, if you will, have been making music for years now, and you may already be familiar with some of their work; whether it’s O’Sullivan's local favourites Sparrow and the Workshop or Reeve’s time served with Arab Strap, Union of Knives and her own group, Strike the Colours. While both voices are likely instantly recognisable to existing fans and followers, BDY_PRTS is a far cry from projects past. Taking a seemingly deep drink from the river of influence that still flows
heavily from the mouth of the 80s, the duo deal largely in synth-heavy pop songs, often reminiscent of heavy-hitters such as Fleetwood Mac, Kate Bush, and, occasionally, Prince. Lead single, ‘Warrior’, for example is a pretty blinding example of the former, with O’Sullivan’s voice sliding in low under Reeve's and sounding so much like Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie together that it’s eerie. With its chorus aiming straight up into deep space, it’s not so much an imitation in the end, as a sharp jab into that same vein. However, there are times when the production veers more into late 90s/early
00s R&B, with ‘Cold Shoulder’ sounding like it could have been written with Destiny’s Child in mind. But while that song’s chorus is one of the smoothest and most palatable on the album, it becomes clear, especially when hearing
the likes of ‘Breathe’ and ‘Shame’ that the album’s true peaks lie in their more atmospheric depths. Or in other words, they sound at their most powerful, and most focused when they paint with slower, fuller strokes as opposed to the spots and splashes of their more jerky, danceable numbers. But this is a band still figuring itself out and there's enough good stuff on here to warrant your close attention. (Ryan Drever) ■ Out Fri 24 Nov.
INDIE POP MORRISSEY Low in High School (BMG/Etienne) ●●●●● INDIE POP SPINNNING COIN Permo (Geographic) ●●●●●
Well now, here’s a difficult one. In times of easy, internet-assuaged polarisation of debate, the story of Morrissey appears to be a simple one. With his unselfconscious and relentless contrarianism, the 58-year-old has gleefully waded into the role of elderly, out of touch pariah. Whether his core fans believe this to be the case, we’ll discover when the album arrives later this month, but millennials appear largely unmoved by his words.
The trouble is, this follow-up to 2014’s World Peace is None of Your Business bears many powerful, personal moments, each further complicated and enlivened by the singer’s well-developed sense of the ambiguous. ‘Society’s hell / you need me just like I need you’, he declares on the flagrant, brassy opener ‘My Love I’d Do Anything For You’, setting out his stall as the imperfect arbiter of ugly times; ‘I Wish You Lonely’ fires off a full volley at the rich and those who serve them; the increasingly catchy ‘Spent the Day in Bed’ rails against the news media.
The ambiguity isn’t always the case, yet those who recoil at Morrissey’s
increasingly fervent politicisation will find few reasons to be put off by obtuse tub-thumping here. ‘They say presidents come, presidents go / but all the young people, they must fall in love’, he swoons on ‘All the Young People Must Fall in Love’, a devil-may-care exhortation to ignore Trump, while the foreboding ‘Who Will Protect Us From the Police?’ is an unlikely Black Lives Matter anthem. Most controversially, his views on the Israel/Palestine conflict are an open book,
The C86 scene was a loose gathering of post-post-punk bands on UK independent labels, diverse in sound but united in DIY attitude, and so called after an NME cover-mounted cassette which showcased a strong Scottish contingent in Edinburgh’s Shop Assistants, Paisley’s Close Lobsters, Bellshill’s Soup Dragons and Glasgow dons Primal Scream and the Pastels. Thirty years later, the wistful, melodic, lo-fi C86 sound retains its cult appeal,
including among fans and musicians who weren’t even born when Bobby Gillespie first flicked his floppy fringe at the Splash One indie disco. Glasgow five-piece Spinning Coin are spookily attuned to its aesthetic and, appropriately for a band so steeped in the city’s DIY tradition, their debut album has been touched by the hands of two Glasgow indie legends.
Pastels frontman Stephen McRobbie has been a mentor figure for the band since
their inception; now, he is also their label boss. And Permo has been produced by no less a figurehead than Edwyn Collins. Neither veteran is going to back a shoddy horse; Permo is a flattering tribute to their indie pop trailblazing. From the opening leisurely strum of ‘Raining in Hope Street’, its whimsical romanticism, weedy vocal and chiming guitar is a portal to a time when indie actually meant independent.
The group are fronted by a contrasting vocal tag team. Sean Armstrong sings in the childlike style of Daniel Johnston and writes delicate but astutely arranged indie pop songs, from the lyrical picking on ‘Metronome River’ to the slightly off-kilter
yet still he manages to veil ‘The Girl From Tel Aviv Who Wouldn’t Kneel’ behind a pretty, piano-led arabesque in which he glides over heavy-handed moral accusations to lament the fate of the region’; and if ‘Israel’s patronising lyrical tone (however musically gorgeous) seems ill-judged, it arrives in the context of keeping himself admirably in check elsewhere. Almost despite itself – and its creator – this is an intriguing and often satisfying addition to Morrissey’s canon. (David Pollock) ■ Out Fri 17 Nov.
psychedelia of ‘Starry Eyes’, which are reminiscent of softer Teenage Fanclub numbers. Jack Mellin’s contributions, such as the raw rant of ‘Sides’ and the low-slung New York punk attitude of ‘Magdalene’, are offspring of the more strident, politicised end of the C86 sound such as the wiry Wolfhounds. This contrasting sweet/sour combination of vocals is prime nostalgia for old bowlies as well as being commendably independent of many of their peers. (Fiona Shepherd) ■ Out Fri 10 Nov.
104 THE LIST 1 Nov 2017–31 Jan 2018