30.music
Monday 17 February 2014
The Courier
Music Editors: Kate Bennett and Ian Mason
RAGE
against the
ROUTINE
Jamie Shepherd hates Queen, and wonders why no one else shares his militant republicanism
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here’s 3 people who seem to appear at every large-scale British public event. The first one is Annie Lennox, despite the fact that nobody seems to remember what she’s done musically since Eurythmics. The second is Paul McCartney, who everyone remembers from the Beatles, but hopes that he won’t play anything by Wings or that godawful ‘Dance Tonight’ song. The third is Brian May, who everyone just accepts as a shit substitute for the deceased Freddie Mercury. When Brian’s buoyant bouffant bobs up and down as he plucks his electric guitar on top of Buckingham Palace or straddling one of the Lions in Trafalgar Square, part of me cringes. In fact, a large part of me cringes, as while Brian May’s guitar playing may require a great deal of technical skill to perfect per se, the tinny sound of it in the guitar solos of classics such as ‘It’s a Kind of Magic’ and ‘I Want to Break Free’ are enough to get my fillings tingling and send me into extreme and violent convulsions. In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I’ve got a pathological dislike of Queen and I generally seem to be alone in suffering.
“Songs like ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ and ‘Bicycle Race’ surely shouldn’t be part of the great rock canon”
They’re one of the biggest selling artists in history, but I just don’t see what the fuss is all about. Maybe I’m ‘missing something’, but in comparison to other people making music of a similar ilk in the 70s, like Roxy Music and David Bowie, I would say Queen pale in comparison - in terms of sheer innovation. I’d even go as far to claim that they were a novelty band, as songs like ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ and ‘Bicycle Race’ surely shouldn’t be part of the great rock canon. As for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, did Freddie and co. leave the guidebook on how to actually construct a song at home when they wrote this song? In fact, I would go as far as say that if it wasn’t for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and its lack of coherence, we wouldn’t have such ‘iconic’ songs to listen to such as LMFAO’s ‘Party Rock Anthem’ and Cher Lloyd’s ‘Swagger Jagger.’ If I wanted to see or listen to an overly dramatic man shouting “hey” in an aggressive and camp manner to an audience, I’d just record myself on a night out - as let’s face it, I’m the only Queen on campus people should be listening to.
Little Red Katy B K
aty ‘B’ Brien’s first album On a Mission painted Brien as a clubber very much in love with booming bass bins and sticky floors. She sang from the centre of the dancefloor, arms aloft and jaw askew, whereas on Little Red she is rather more circumspect. It’s about what happens when the lights come on and you start to sober up. Little Red sounds like it’s built for Ibiza, but Brien is already fretting about where exactly she’s going to print off her boarding pass for the flight home. Like the best dance music, and indeed pop in general, it all comes served with an undercurrent of melancholy: musically, Little Red nods toward Massive Attack and the twinklier end of Hot Chip as well as Brien’s Rinse FM beginnings. “I need some loving like Valium… I need somebody to knock me out” she sings on ‘5am’, a song about looking desperately around the warehouse for somebody to help take the edge off her comedown. It’s less hedonism, more head-in-hands.
“‘The music matches Brien’s restrained anxiety: both airy and propulsive, spacious and needlingly danceable”
‘Tumbling Down’ is the album in a nutshell: the music matches Brien’s restrained anxiety neatly, both airy and propulsive, spacious and needlingly danceable. It’s to Brien’s immense credit that Little Red repeats On A Mission’s achievement of sounding like a particularly good night on a south London pirate radio station. That said, though, the Latin disco-infused ‘Crying For No Reason’ does
cast a rather fond glance in the direction of Radio 2, even if Brien does the decent thing and refuses to go the full Jessie J with it. Sampha, lately a pal to Jessie Ware, SBTRKT and Drake, helps provide the high point of the album on ‘Play’. It’s a tripping, sparkling piece, and though the duet never really fires on all cylinders, in the context of the album it just adds to the mood of disaffection. “Pull out a melody in me”, Brien sings, her tone implying a following ‘I bloody dare you, mate’. Little Red’s strength is in its gestures towards alienation on a dancefloor, all the while wrapping the sentiment in the warm, lush arrangements and quietly urgent rhythms. By and large it doesn’t Skream and shout for attention – though ‘All My Lovin’’, in particular, makes falling in love sound like pretty much the scariest, most disorientating event one could encounter, dubby whumps and swooshes knocking the listener giddy – and the dextrous and subtle manipulation of the ‘woo I’m having a nice time, oh crikey now I’m openly weeping’ axis is deeply seductive. This isn’t to say that Brien is wholly dextrous and subtle in her lyricism: the phrase “that beat so sick, that tune so ill” might have worked in 1990, and perhaps there will come a time when it won’t sound stupid again, but alas, it is not this time. It’s tempting to describe Little Red as the work of a clearly more emotionally mature artist, but it feels like more than that: Brien’s still on the dancefloor, but she’s edging away from its centre and toward the fire exit. Recommended download: ‘Play’
Tom Nicholson
Held In Splendor
Full Frequency Sean Paul
If you like this, try ... VV Brown Samson and Delilah
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f you like your dance-pop melancholic, VV Brown’s 2013 album is for you. Brooding, swampy electro which feels very much like Annie Lennox soundtracking a quiet walk home from a breakup.
The Jezebels
Quilt
The Brink
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Recommended download: ‘Other Side of Love’
Recommended download: ‘Tie Up The Tides’
Recommended download: ‘The End’
o me, Sean Paul is the granddad of R’n’B. I still love grooves like ‘Get Busy’ and ‘Temperature’ playing on a Tup Tup Saturday night. Maybe the early ‘00s is where his legacy should remain, though. Full Frequency intends to revive Sean Paul’s overripened persona, hoping to provide that fresh excellence we haven’t experienced since 2005’s The Trinity. However, pressing play on opening track ‘Riot’, there’s plenty of frequency but little talent. ‘Riot’ is a mishmash of electronica, rap, and reggae, packed with indecipherable lyrics except the odd “colder than cold saw” (!?!). From then on, the higher the expectation, the bigger the disappointment. ‘Entertainment 2.0’ promises musical flair with collaborations from Nicki Minaj, Juicy J and 2 Chainz, but results in tediously repetitive lyrics and disjointed chaos. Monotonous lyrical predictability habitually surfaces throughout, especially in ‘Hey Baby’ and ‘Legacy’. True, a modest handful of repetition creates addictive tracks; but Sean Paul’s overload produces no originality or musical finesse. Saying this, ‘It’s Your Life’ has a unruffled rhythm, perfect for head bopping and hip swaying without being too convoluted, whilst ‘Other Side of Love’ plays a unpretentious dance beat that has potential to be featured in nightclubs. What was so remarkable about Sean Paul was his soulful voice and upbeat, well-groomed rhythms. Whilst it’s admirable to incorporate collaborations, they don’t do anything for Full Frequency. He seems to have done a complete musical U-turn, with the final concoction tasting all too sharp and seasoned with incompatible genres.
Alexandra Gibbs
his album may just take you to another place. With their delicate harmonies, intricate guitar melodies and dreamy vocals, Quilt have built a record on your constructed nostalgia for 1960s America. Inspired by The Beatles, the Boston three-piece exist in the familiarity of a genre that has sprung to life of late. The heavier sounds of ‘Mary Mountain’ and ‘A Mirror’ would not be out of place on Tame Impala’s Lonerism, but unlike Impala, Quilt are more subtly epic. ‘Talking Trains’, with its melancholic yet memorable hook, is a return to the band’s folk roots, whereas their polished diversity is best exhibited in ‘Secondary Swan’, with soaring violin and Anna Fox Rochinski’s mystical vocals combined. Throughout, Rochinski echoes and reverberates; resonating class far beyond her experience and their intimate level. Her outstanding contribution defines each song, none more so than in the track of the album, ‘Tie up the Tides’. With much less restraint and a trippier drumbeat, Quilt have generated the essence of folk-rock; the warped, metallic sounding guitar combines well with Rochinski’s warmth. Yet it is difficult to see Quilt penetrating the culturally different U.K. market to the same extent as Django Django on the back of this album. The opening track ‘Arctic Shark’ better encapsulates and defines its energy and appeal. They are mood songs, dreamy and summery - to be absorbed in the long grass. The psychedelic trio have produced a well-patterned, organic album that paints a picture at every moment. Held in Splendour is niche and quintessentially American, but nonetheless a work of discreet genius.
Joe Tetlow
ith a name like The Jezabels, this Australian four piece conjures the idea of something edgy, something with punch, something outside of the constraints of society’s rules? At least something a little bit different? No? Well, that’s not really what’s delivered. Instead, The Jezabels’ second album leaves a lot to be desired, a mishmash of country and western iconography, disco beats and distorted indie guitars which combined together start to sound a bit like a Lana Del Rey side project. This comparison is perhaps not as farfetched as it sounds due to the album having been produced by Dan Grech-Marguerat, who has previously worked with Del Rey, as well as other big successes such as The Vaccines and Hurts. However, despite the promise of the band’s punchy name and production credits, The Brink is a disappointment. Its redeeming feature could be said to be lead vocalist Haley Mary’s expressive, gravely tones, which create a great contrast to her piercing falsetto: as closing song ‘All You Need’ states, Mary’s vocal will “pick you up when you’re feeling down”. Her voice brings the album to life, drawing the dark sentiments in songs like ‘Angels of Fire’ to the surface - themes which are then juxtaposed nicely with more up tempo rhythms. The Brink stands as a fairly simplistic sounding album with soothing synths and moments of enjoyable disco vibes, especially in stand out track, ‘The End’; a song with a catchy hook and a real classic pop feel. Ultimately it appears that The Jezabels were on ‘the brink’ of something good here, but just missed it.
Dominique Daly