04/10
08/10
07/10
08/10
07/10
Jackson And His Computerhead
Tookah
Pure Bathing Culture
Golden Suits
The Proper Ornaments
Moon Tide
Golden Suits
Waiting For The Summer
Emiliana Torrini
(Memphis Industries) By Jack Doherty. In stores Aug 19
(Yep Roc) By Hayley Scott. In stores Aug 26
(Lo Recordings) By Sophie Coletta. In stores Aug 26
Glow (Warp) By Daisy Jones. In stores Sept 2
(Rough Trade) By Chris Watkeys. In stores Sept 9
Maybe it’s cool to be perfect, but sometimes flaws are just what you need. Super hip Portland duo Pure Bathing Culture (Sarah Versprille and Daniel Hindman moved there from New York in 2009) are so fresh and so clean even Kim and Aggie would struggle to find any filth here.‘Moon Tides’, their debut LP, is a crisp ode to ’80s indie, all glistening guitars and poppy vocals. It’s very pleasant, but that’s all it is, pleasant.There’s no bite, no edge and, most importantly, no tunes. In a way the record’s inability to grab your attention makes it perfect restaurant music. Probably not for your usual restaurant though, more for a chilled out, suburban friendly café with beanbag chairs and pictures of dead poets on the walls. Maybe I’ve got it all wrong and this is what Pure Bathing Culture are aiming for. ‘Moon Tides’: Music for restaurants. It does have a nice ring to it.
Golden Suits is a reference to the final line of a short story by John Cheever, an author whose tales of post-war suburbia included moments of beauty and despair: “Then it is dark; it is a night where kings in golden suits ride elephants over the mountains.”This wholly captures the beautifully conflicting essence of the eponymous debut from Department of Eagles’ Fred Nicolaus, where sublime, ornate arrangements underpin darker narratives. Similarly steeped in the same affecting blend of harmonious left-field pop that DoE and Grizzly Bear extol, Nicolaus uses sentiment and nostalgic storytelling to recall something equally palatable, retaining an affinity for meticulously crafted compositions: instrumentation prevails and strings soar on the rousing ‘I Think You Would Have Been Mine’, while Nicolaus laments each track with convincing fragility.
Veronica Falls guitarist James Hoare and Argentinian Max Clapps originally met in 2005, when the latter’s kleptomaniac girlfriend asked him to distract Hoare, an innocuous shop assistant, while she shoplifted some boots from a vintage shop in Notting Hill.The two bonded over a book on The Velvet Underground, exchanged numbers and the rest, as they say, is proverbial history that will preface every consequent piece of journalism written about them. Their debut album, ‘Waiting For The Summer’, is music to take a Valium to: sultry, summer-infused guitar-pop with psychedelicinspired guitar riffs that evoke hazy nostalgia for the ’60s, whilst still keeping a firm foot in the present. Ignoring the occasional onslaught of heavily repetitive, tedious lyrics, its well-crafted melodies and romanticised seasonal mentality ultimately prevails.
What exactly has Jackson Fourgeaud been doing for the past eight years? We could ask the same meaningless question to anybody, really, but his answer comes in the shape of Jackson and his computer band’s second album ‘Glow’. It is described by the man himself as a “game of musical obsessions and rageous pleasures” and “moments of revelations”. As the first track ‘Blow’ launches into a crashing symphony of musical layers, dark, sloweddown vocals, buoyant drums and lyrics meditative enough that they could have been picked from Primal Scream’s ‘Higher Than The Sun’, one can’t help but agree with this self-description. It’s an album that oozes the pleasure of making it. For whilst his debut was an impressive collection of acid-house inspired musical production,‘Glow’ is similar but with a little more restraint and passion – the kind that might come with age.
Emiliana Torrini has been making records since 1994, though her early efforts appeared only in her native Iceland.This is her fourth ‘official’ release (the first since 2008’s ‘Me and Armini’) and for the first time there’s quite a glossy sheen to the music, borne of some slick, poppy production.The title track is a slice of deftly chilled beats, something akin to the best of Cat Power’s more recent efforts, while ‘Autumn Sun’ strips things down a little, with pure melodies and the merest hint of melancholy; it just needs a little vinyl crackle to be almost perfect.Then there’s ‘Speed Of Dark’, an eighties meeting of minds between Madonna and Kate Bush – a shiny piece of laid-back electropop. ‘Tookah’ is a crafted record; an album filled with skill and beauty. It won’t grab you by the throat and shake your soul, but it will gently draw you into its world.
Holograms Forever (Captured Track) By Sophie Coletta. In stores Sept 2
06/10
Holograms are keen to let everyone know what a hard old time they’ve had of this music lark. From losing their jobs to being stranded in France for two weeks with no money, to their van being broken into on a support tour, it’s been a rough ride for the Swedish quartet.Their second album continues their energetic post-punk influenced sound instated by their vivid eponymous debut, although they’ve clearly sanded off some of the edges in the process. Having forgone the brilliant stabbing synth chords that infiltrated their debut, ‘Forever’ flaunts atmospheric melodies that sit inconspicuously alongside braying guitar riffs and thunderous drum patterns.Where ‘Holograms’ was strident and unrelenting in its delivery, its successor is often temperamental, even hesitant at times despite its apparent ferocity.The vivifying pessimism and cynicism is still there, but the album embodies something of a sterile sobriety that lacks the unadulterated nihilism Holograms are very much capable of.
www.loudandquiet.com
43