08/10
08/10
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J. C. Satan
Gregory & The Hawk
Y Niwl
Parting Gifts
Various Artists
Sick of Love
Leche
Y Niwl
Strychnine Dandelions
(Slovenly) By Matthias Scherer. In stores Nov 29
(FatCat) By Kate Parkin. In stores now
(Aderya Papur) By Chris Watkeys. In stores Dec 6
(In The Red) By Luke Winkie. In stores Dec 6
Blow Your Head: Diplo Presents Dubstep
The concept of buying a record because of its awesome album sleeve is, in these days of typing “artist album name 320kbps rar” into Google, pretty much nonexistent. But if it wasn’t, Arthur Satan and Paula H (the brains behind J.C. Satan) could count on a few dozen impulse buys to drive up the sales figures for this bad boy. Two half-naked ladies + Satanist symbols = guaranteed hit with a certain demographic.The tunes on ‘Sick of Love’ aren’t bad either.The rambunctious ‘Endless Fall’ recalls the garage punk of Jay Reatard, ‘Superhero’ is a Pixies outtake compressed to fuck, and ‘I’ll Be There’ is simplistic but pleasant 3chord-pop. A certain horniness, of the sort only southern Europeans can get away with singing about (the French/Italian accents add to that), permeates the songs, but there is nothing diabolical to be found here.
Operating under the moniker of Gregory and The Hawk, Meredith Godreau has inspired many tortured teenage souls to sling on their acoustics and cover songs from her 2006 ‘Boats and Birds’ EP, littering YouTube with their wideeyed and desperately tuneless attempts. ‘Leche’ is a more grownup affair with strings and delicate tabula rasa plucking.Though her lisping vocals may be too sweet in places, the gentle sounds wash over into a dream-like hum and there’s a cold sparseness to the music that counteracts the sometimes cloying positivity, while ‘A Century Is All We Need’ is so darn pretty you’ll want to loop it constantly. Like the soundtrack to the best film you haven’t seen yet, it dips and swells in perfect time, the jolt of drums beats on ‘Leaves’ offering a kick start when things become too sleepy. At times it’s sublime, and still not all G&TH has to offer.
Y Niwl describe themselves as “the first Welsh language instrumental surf band”, which brings to mind Flight Of The Conchord’s selfdeclaration as “New Zealand’s fourth most popular novelty folk act”. It’s clear there’s an element of self-mockery about this group, but they obviously take their music pretty seriously. Album opener ‘Undegpump’ is pure Tarantino soundtrack, instantly conjuring images of a dancing Uma Thurman drawing her fingers across her face.The whole record has a vintage sound, awash with twangy Beach Boys guitar solos. But tracks like ‘Undegdau’, with its hazy waves, really do cry out for some lyrics. And ‘Deg’, which is bright, poppy and synth-y, while the swirling Hammond of ‘Saith’ has a touch of sixties Mod about it. Well-executed and melodically great, but about as groundbreaking as a broken hammer.
Blue collar laments and sad-sack anger isn’t the hippest thing going in music right now but Parting Gifts don’t pretend it is on this, a record of sprawled, sloppy-hearted bar-rock. Instead they scrape up the best snippets lying around the studio and string them together into a 15-track LP that lasts a quick 35 minutes and tries on creaky, ‘Exile’-era Stones and Brittraditionalists Mekons and The Pogues in equal loving measure, the songs encompassing downand-out tales, mainly about screwing up or screwing women. The basic ingredient is Depression-era bounce, like Cash’s trademark boom-chicka train chug percussion, plus frontman Greg Cartwright’s gritted-teeth groan. Irreverent, slap-dashed and looking for trouble, ‘Strychnine Dandelion’ is the modern record that motorbike-riding uncles have been searching for.
(Mad Decent) By Mandy Drake. In stores now You know dubstep. It’s that mutated descendent of dancehall and techno that features a massive bass warble and whip-snapping drums. It all sounds the same.Well, no, not quite. Diplo sets about proving this common misconception wrong with the first volume of Mad Decent’s ‘Blow Your Head’ series, and his work is done from Joker & Ginz’s opening ‘Re-Up’ – a static-surfing, ambient piece of groove music. From then on we do get the dubstep-by-numbers likes of ‘Down’ by DZ, but also the glitchfriendly ‘Glazed’ by Zomby, RnB starlet Jessica Mauboy remixed by Stenchman and some weird, zombie soul from James Blake, while Doctor P includes all of the above and throws in early 90s house piano through ‘Sweet Shop’. A just celebration of a genre more varied than it’s given credit for.
Teeth of the Sea Your Mercury (Rocket) By Polly Rappaport. In stores Nov 22
09/10
Anyone who’s ever seen these guys play knows that Teeth of the Sea are one of the best bands in London at the moment, and undoubtedly the most intrepid psychedelic band in the UK. If their debut LP, ‘Orphaned By The Ocean’ was a testament to the former, ‘Your Mercury’ is a towering case in point on both fronts.This is a colossus of an album, with an unfathomable sonic wingspan, seamlessly soaring through forty-five minutes of apocalyptic euphoria. All sounds are heightened, each aural nuance is striking and vivid; soundscapes screened in Technicolor. Schizophrenic samples insinuate themselves like acid flashbacks amidst glowering synth tolls and cosmic rays of trumpet blast, while foreboding drum beats charge the roiling atmosphere. Breathless guitar riffs ride the avant-rock torrents with absurd agility, lifting the journey from highly evocative travelogue to fullblown space odyssey that you’ll wish would last at least forty-five minutes more. www.loudandquiet.com
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