ALBUM REVIEWS 3 DAFT MONKEYS
OPERATOR PLEASE
(PROPER)
(BRILLE)
SOCIAL VERTIGO
YES YES VINDICTIVE
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First off, let’s just resign ourselve s to the fact that there i s no way to concisely and adequately depict the sound of Cornish funk-folk steeped in Bavarian fiddle with passages of ska-like levity and intermittent departures into Arabian scales or the occasional shanty. There are glimpses of accessibility, occasionally reminiscent of The Coral at their wackiest, but these are too infrequent to secure much in the way of mainstream appeal. Likewise, it’s easy to imagine many folk purists disapprovingly shaking their heads amidst the madness. The album highlight is probably closing number Dance of the Old Man of Storr which should appeal to fans of Dirty Three and Warren Ellis. 3 Daft Monkeys execute their music with considerable competence and the fiddle in particular is often quite superb. However, the rampant eclecticism carries with it a lack of identity which characterises this album as more of a novelty than a musical triumph. [Chris Cusack]
NME have gotten all fl ushed over them; they’re fl oor-filler extraordinaires; and they wear skinny denims. That makes Operator Please a high fashion brand. So it’s no surprise that they bound into the UK top ten with the frenetic It’s Just a Song About Ping Pong, and well done to them. But beyond strutting it with music’s catwalk-culture kings and queens, is there a band of real substance there? Refreshingly, Yes Yes Vindictive proves to be a case of substance over style, and beyond the requisite shotgun start, Operator Please show throughout that they’re more than capable of kicking back and reflecting. The attention-deficit pop of Zero Zero and Terminal Disease will certainly have the kids coming back for more, but of far greater interest is the promise of curtain closer Pantomime’s weeping, string-scored crescendo, which makes the prospect of a possible party comedown album a thrilling one. [Paul Neeson]
RELEASE DATE: 3 MAR WWW.MYSPACE.COM/3DAFTMONKEYS
RELEASE DATE: 17 MAR WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ OPERATORPLEASE
THE TEENAGERS REALITY CHECK (XL)
FOALS
ANTIDOTES
(TRANSGRESSIVE)
rrrr Forget Sk ins, Sitek and any of the hyperbolic claptrap, Foals’ debut longplayer Antidotes is what we’ve all been waiting for. Amidst the anticipatory rainforest of lip-licking column inches, it’s felt like an eternity since the Oxford quintet released rocket fuelled algo-ryhthm Hummer and its omission here is of little surprise. But y’see, Foals today are a far more dynamic proposition than 12 months ago. Their reliance on zesty Zimbabwean afro beats has diminished - replaced with the bulbous basslines of Olympic Airways and Electric Bloom – while the over-indulgent guitar spindling is less frequent, protruding only as an accomplice to shuffling numbers like the dashing Two Steps, Twice. Thankfully, their predilection for churning out glitch-riddled cranks of infidel pop remains intact, bubbling away through the veins of magnificent hot-footers Cassius and Balloons. Yes, it’s prudent to dismiss the hype but, with Antidotes, Foals prove there are always exceptions to the rule. [Billy Hamilton] RELEASE DATE: 24 MAR FOALS PLAY QMU ON 10 MAR WWW.MYSPACE.COM/FOALS
40
rr It was only a matter of time b efo re S e rg e Gainsbourg’s l ove c h il d r e n started appearing from the cracks in the Parisian pavements. OK, so the link may be tenuous: they’re um, French, and on opening track Homecoming, they sing about ‘fucking’ quite graphically. Perhaps though they have more in common with some other fellow countrymen. Their dreamy, synthdriven pop brings to mind French electro-shoegazers M83, if they ever took to scoring an episode of Skins. However, Reality Check’s vacuous pop-culture references, masquerading as intelligent, witty, urbane dissections of teenage life, become increasingly cloying and aren’t as clever or funny as singer Quentin Delafon obviously thinks they are. Furthermore, all the best tunes, such as the admittedly glorious New Order-esque Feeling Better or the hands-aloft euphoria of Streets Of Paris, prop up the first half of Reality Check, making it seem as though, like many of their namesakes, The Teenagers have blown their load pretty quickly. [Darren Carle] RELEASE DATE: 17 MAR PLAYING STEREO, GLASGOW ON 4 APR SUPPORTING THE WOMBATS AT THE CORN EXCHANGE, EDINBURGH ON 13 MAY WWW.THETEENAGERS.NET
THE SKINNY MARCH 08
MALCOLM MIDDLETON
SLEIGHT OF HEART (FULL TIME HOBBY)
rrrr While former accomplice Aidan Moffat carries on slicing and dicing the Hallmark notion of romance, Malcolm Middleton presents his less brutal but equally brazen thoughts on love with the aptly titled Sleight of Heart. Middleton deems this as an intermediate release between ‘proper’ albums but, when he wasn’t promoting his unlikely assault on the Christmas chart, he found time to record six original songs and cover three, making this more than just a B-side stitch-up. His unflinching self-doubt is as piercing as ever, encapsulated on Total Belief: “My total belief in the depth... of my unworthiness.” But his beercan-strewn world is always gilded with hope, usually in the female form, and this positivism is evident on the Madonna cover Stay and the charmingly personal Love Comes in Waves. Though his heavy voice sounds almost too exposed in this starker instrumental context, his writing is as savage and sincere as ever. [Nick Mitchell] RELEASE DATE: 3 MAR WWW.MALCOLMMIDDLETON.CO.UK
A SILVER MT. ZION 13 BLUES FOR THIRTEEN MOONS (CONSTELLATION)
rrrr “I just want some action / No heroes on my radio!” begs Efrim Menuck from deep inside the belly of this psychedelic din. Montreal’s ever-dabbling Silver Mt. Zion might have spent the last few years refining this four song odyssey of slow burning crescendo-friendly peaks and valleys, yet 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons still retains an air of spontaneity. Drums war with guitar and violin to create a pulpit for Menuck’s convictive mantras – see “1,000,000 died to make
this sound!” or “The hangman’s got a hard-on!” – a combination of pious sloganeering and primal, punch-drunk bawling that sometimes threatens to out-bombast the music. But then the pleading subsides and a wailing instrumental thunder with hints of early Sabbath is given the room it needs to sprawl out and roar. And in the quietening aftermath we’re left to consider how effectively ASMZ responded to Menuck’s earlier call to arms. I’d say very. [Dave Kerr] RELEASE DATE: 10 MAR WWW.TRA-LA-LA-BAND.COM
ADAM GREEN
SIXES AND SEVENS (ROUGH TRADE)
rrr Adam Green ex i s t s i n h i s own strange universe where schmaltzy orchestral flourishes, Burt Bacharach inspired vocals, and gospel singers exist together in harmony. But, after a couple of listens to Sixes and Sevens, it’s easy to forget why you ever thought his universe was odd in the first place. With its mixture of rock, jazz, folk and an unceasing supply of unexpected instruments, the only consistent thing about Sixes and Sevens is its quality. Tropical Island is a breezy ditty boasting a memorable melody while Twee Twee Dee combines a string section with a porn groove guitar line. Green’s lyrics range from bizarre streams of thought packed with evocative images (though it can be difficult at times to determine how or why they are connected) to humorous asides and surprisingly tender, introspective confessions. Sixes and Sevens is the product of an artist bursting with ideas and the skill to turn them into compelling songs. [Tobias Kahn] RELEASE DATE: 10 MAR PLAYING STEREO, GLASGOW ON 10 APR WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ADAMGREEN1
FEATURED ALBUM WHY?
ALOPECIA (TOMLAB)
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NO KIDS
COME INTO MY HOUSE (TOMLAB)
rr Vancouver trio No Kids don’t like to over-complicate things. Their debut LP Come Into My House is characterised by syncopated rhythms and sparse instrumentation, with no more than three or four layers daring to infringe at any one time. Opener Great Escape swaps violins out for short bursts from mechanical drummermen, who are themselves then swapped out for a horn section to take centre stage, and so on. For Halloween has a stronger beat, reminding of the spare, frillless Junior Boys, but by their careful economy No Kids create space and facilitate focus towards the touches of elegance on what might otherwise be considered a robotic record: the crying harmonica on Bluster In The Air; the climbing horn motif on You Look Good To Me; the piano that introduces the very first song. But these moments of teasing warmth out of minimal textures are a little too rare on a record that suffers from stretches of listlessness. [Ally Brown] RELEASE DATE: 15 MAR WWW.MYSPACE.COM/NOKIDSBAND
THE KILLS
MIDNIGHT BOOM (DOMINO)
rrrr On album three, American/English girl/boy duo The Kills add literal meaning to the garage rock genre: opener U.R.A. Fever sounds like it was made in a scrapyard, seemingly taking its rhythmic cue from metallic clunks and ratchet whizzing. This abrasive edge pervades an album that sticks with their elementary, dissonant blues engine, but accepts added combustibility via the input of Spank Rock producer Armani X X Xchange. His smooth loops bolt down tracks like Sour Cherry, Getting Song and the pop-friendly Cheap and Cheerful, where Jamie Hince’s basic programming would have previously lacked such pulse. But The Kills
haven’t lost their ear for a guttural riff, and What New York Used To Be is driven by a snarling, cut-up guitar and Alison Mosshart’s demure vocals. Midnight Boom is no great leap from Keep On Your Mean Side or No Wow, but it shows that this allegedly platonic couple have lost none of their carnal musical chemistry. [Nick Mitchell] RELEASE DATE: 10 MAR THE KILLS PLAY ORAN MOR, GLASGOW ON 16 APR WWW.THEKILLS.TV
THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
MY BLOODY UNDERGROUND (A RECORDINGS)
rrrr Billed as BJM’s most ava ntgarde state ment to date, My Bloody Underground delivers psychedelic thrills in spades, together with some of Anton Newcombe’s most challenging compositions yet. Recorded in one take under a reassuringly heavy narcotic fug, the classic droning BJM sound is here augmented with subtle looping passages and programmed algorithms which give the songs an even more hallucinatory feel. Entirely free of modern production tics, this is an album that will baffle the indie flock and provide much sustenance to the listener who craves an authentically original listening experience. Ostensibly a ‘video album’, each track has an accompanying short film which adds further potency to the package, the highlight being the bombastic Golden Frost, which features artist Jón Sæmundur Audarson addressing Satan in Icelandic whilst superimposed against hypnotic images of pop cultural Armageddon. This is one of BJM’s most surprising curveballs to date and a reminder of how lucky we are to still have them around. [Jay Shukla]
TOP 5 ALBUMS 1. WHY? - ALOPECIA 2. FOALS - ANTIDOTES 3. A SILVER MT. ZION - 13 BLUES FOR THIRTEEN MOONS 4. THE BRIAN JONES TOWN MASSACRE MY BLOODY UNDERGROUND 5. MALCOM MIDDLETON - SLEIGHT OF HEART
ONLINE REVIEWS A much welcome respite – at least for my cynical self - from the Brit School’s backslapping and the paperboy’s class warrior ‘realness’, comes in the form of this third album proper from former cLOUDDEAD MC Jonathan ‘Yoni’ Wolf and his ever-nebulous outfit Why?. Once a solo affair, Wolf brought in his drumming brother Josiah and multi-instrumentalist Doug McDiarmid for 2005’s brilliant Elephant Eyelash. Now they’ve upped the ante further by joining forces with Fog mastermind Andrew Broder and cohort Mark Erickson to crank out an LP full of characteristically disjointed but ultimately digestible melodic nuggets.
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS DIG, LAZARUS, DIG!!! (MUTE) rrr
STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS REAL EMOTIONAL TRASH (DOMINO) rrrr
WHITE HINTERLAND
PHYLACTERY FACTORY (DEAD OCEANS) rrrr
ALEC EMPIRE
THE GOLDEN FORETASTE OF HEAVEN (EAT YOUR HEART OUT) rr
BLACK FRANCIS
SVN FNGRS (COOKING VINYL) rrr
Playful, xylophonic chimes and piano loops frame Wolf’s unique vocal rhythm as he vents melancholic epiphanies and stream-of-consciousness neuroses. With simple truths and a hazy cipher, he finds the mean between Stephen Malkmus and MF Doom with a set of compelling songs that mope and hope with a masochistic glee. The breezy, mid-album salvo of Song of the Sad Assassin and Gnashville marks itself out as the centrepiece from the outset, but it’s a line from the understated penultimate number By Torpedo or Crohn’s that etches the secret of this infectious anti-triumph on the brain: “This is a new kind of blues." Leadbelly fanatics might disagree, but this is Grade A magic regardless. [Dave Kerr] RELEASE DATE: 10 MAR WWW.MYSPACE.COM/WHYANTICON
MESHUGGAH
OBZEN (NUCLEAR BLAST) rrrr
YOUTHMOVIES
HUMAN NATURE (DIS) rr
FRAM
THIS IS HOW WE LIVE NOW (EAST GRAND RAPIDS) rr
BILLY BRAGG
MR LOVE & JUSTICE (COOKING VINYL) rrr
THE GUTTER TWINS
SATURNALIA (SUB POP) rrr
SON LUX
AT WAR WITH WALLS AND MAZES (ANTICON.) rrr
SOUNDS