24 R I PPL E
MUSIC
E DI TOR : A L E X A N DE R F R E NC H
ALBUM REVIEWS
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incredibly long gestation, for better or for worse, m b v has finally made it into the hands of fans. Thankfully for those who might have worried that Kevin Shields would fall to temptation and make the follow up to Loveless simply louder can rest at ease; m b v is a superlative album which predictably goes against
Image by flickr user ~1
what people expected. Sitting at the confluence of Isn’t Anything and Loveless, m b v effectively takes off where the latter left off and builds on the My Bloody Valentine noise by incorporating (limited) drum and bass and jungle music, albeit with a one foot in an alternative universe approach. m b v is an astonishingly good album on par with its predecessors and represents the golden product which results from relentless perfectionism and a desire to push the dynamics of noise in as many different directions as possible. At twenty two years in the making, fans (depending on whether you understand Kevin Shields as notoriously intransigent when it comes to releasing new material) will be either expecting more or less from the group. But the album isn’t better or worse, only different to its predecessors. m b v will most likely be unpalatable to any newcomers but represents an outstanding proposition to anyone who’s previously listened to the band and has been eagerly awaiting its return.
Atoms for Peace AMOK
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hom Yorke’s latest effort with his new supergroup Atoms For Peace is basically a means of following up his debut album with his excellent latest work AMOK. It’s an album full of the expected Radiohead staples; glitchy electronica, cryptic lyrics and, depending on which Radiohead album you compare it with, a sense of relaxation and ease with oneself. The King of Limbs disappointed me somewhat, considering how In Rainbows achieved the undeniable vulnerable human charm that the former became lost on. So it’s therefore reassuring to hear that AMOK is
EARLS COURT
BY M I K E CON V E RY
My Bloody Valentine m b v his review (like the album in question) is extremely late and abruptly short for the work that went into it. Kevin Shields has spent a long time doing not very much, so it is heartening to see that after an
NOTTINGHAM BlOC PARTY LIVE CONTEMPORY GALLERY
achieving a sound that represents a bunch of musicians performing and having an all round swell time. The album is complimented and augmented by the excellent guitar and bass work of Nigel Godrich and Flea (who was probably shirtless for the duration of recording). Thom Yorke’s latest is an album which, more than ever, borrows from the parent material like Can, Aphex Twin, Kraftwerk and Neu! than any Radiohead material postOK Computer. It provides easy (but layered) listening and simple (but complex) background listening, and is also a wider part of Thom Yorke trying to embrace the more human aspects of songwriting and construction that was so success-
fully mastered on In Rainbows. The album also represents an excellent way of exploring the material that built the band post-Radiohead with its superbly layered electronic textures-meets rock. AMOK is a really excellent work that may finally represent the end of a ridiculously long gestation process of Thom Yorke trying to be comfortable with Thom Yorke.
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Following a two year hiatus, Bloc Party returned with their fourth album Four, in August last year. Patrick Reckitt witnessed the indie giants peform their biggest headline show to date, finding the four-piece reinviograted.
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arls Court is packed; there are people crammed into every nook and cranny of the exhibition centre, all 19,000 of them waiting to see the last night of Bloc Party’s European tour. As I struggled, and failed, to find a place to stand that wasn’t a mile and a half away from the stage it was hard not to wonder whether or not the sheer size and scale of the crowd and venue might not be such a good thing. After all, there’s only so much indie angst a band can summon when you need opera glasses to see the stage. Luckily for me and the small town present, however, Bloc Party did not disappoint and the darkly anathematic opening duo of ‘So He Begins to Lie’ and ‘Hunting for Witches’ but paid to any doubts about the band lacking to force to play such a large venue. If anything, Earls Court seemed just right for their renewed posthiatus power; any trace of the more retiring art-rock of their 2005 debut Silent Alarm and 2007 follow-up A Weekend in the City has been distilled into something altogether more sinewy. Nowhere
is this more apparent than in the satisfying crunch of ‘Coliseum’ or the more melodic ‘Real Talk’, both from last year’s release Four, but even older material has taken on a harder edge. This came out in even newer material too, with ‘Ratchet’’s stream of talky lyrics backed by a guitar riff so sharp you could have cut yourself on it. The classic ‘Banquet’ sounded altogether more powerful than I remember from the record, especially when combined with a bulked out Kele Okereke asking the crowd if it had any fight left in it. More importantly, though, there was a sense of playfulness throughout; a cover of ‘We Found Love’ used as a launch pad into the exuberant dance number, ‘Flux’, turned the gig into something more approaching a rave with accompanying laser show. Not that the gig was completely without a softer, more melodic, side; the penultimate ‘Truth’ provided a welcome touch of sweetness that balanced out the relentless drive of some of the other material. All in all then, a sweaty, exuberant and immensely enjoyable return for the revitalised Bloc Party.
Image by flickr user ~1
Image by Flickr user ~1
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