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The Weekly Review (1 Jul, 05)
This week we've been eating nothing to the sounds of:-
Querelle 'S/T' CD on Sink and Stove
Burd Early 'Falling Feather' CD on Acuarela
Suicide '1st album' (ace ace ace ace on Blast First)
Saint Etienne 'Smash the System singles 1990-99' (first 4 songs only on
Heavenly)
Colder 'Warmth' (CD on Output)
Scaramanga Six 'Horrible Face' (ace 7" on Wrath, Leeds' home of the hits)
Hello afternoon campers...it's that slack jawed yokel Fats here after feeding
himself like a warthog on kibbles and bibbets. Here's some words about records
I've been listening to inbetween my kibble feastings. But firstly congrats to
all those who braved Glastonbury. From what I saw on telly it looked like that
crap Kevin Costner film Waterworld but with mud and music.
Also on the site we have a fantastic new facility which enables you to search through our reviews. ie you type in a band/ artist name and every time we've mentioned that name in a review, that review will come up. So you can now see how we've double backed on just about every band and how hypocritical we are. Also you'll hopefully buy some more records which I guess is the point. We'll see eh.... There is a small problem with searching for 3 letters words so I'm afraid for bands like Ash or Kid 606 you're fucked if you'll pardon my crudities. Our site dude is a total genius though and if he can work it out it will be sorted. Wow... all this and we have orange lav paper for the first time... things are looking up!
And one more bit of news is I'll be off doing my civil duty as a juror for a couple of weeks but the boys will be dealing with everything while I'm off. I will be in in the evenings for a few hours every night I suspect sorting special things out. Oh and there's a Jonathon Whiskey sale thing on. Some of 'em have been sat on the shelves here for ages and I'd rather them be in folks record collections than being sat here even if it means selling 'em off cheaper!
Enough boringness. Bring on the tunes I hear being shouted.... OK so here's a CD by Julien Neto (not son of famous bargain food chain.... that's spelt differently you dunce caps) on Type records. Type seem to be cornering the market on all things pretty and electronic at the mo and this is no exception. It says for fans of Max Richter, Colleen, Sylvain Chauveau & Susuma Yokota on the CD sleeve and for once they're telling the truth. This is simply lovely lovely lovely gear of the utmost pretty. It's instrumental, cinematic and it's all rather moving. Lush....
Enough already of the pretty. Bring on the noise.... So courtesy of Smerk Records of Canada (as in I'm smerking a tab like) we have a fun compilation of breakcore and nonsense. Featuring Belladonnakillz, Shitmat, Enduser, Maladroit, Skeeter, V/Vm and lots more. It's a tribute to the gods of hardcore Scooter! All of the above and Duran Duran Duran under a fake name are doing their own takes on Scooter tunes and if you like yr breakcore a bit raved up you'll be pooing your pant with excitement. It's a bit like Hellfish taking it easy if you ask me....
Woohoo! A new specialten DVD featuring Cat Power, Fog, Be Your Own Pet, Efterklang, Joanna Newsom, Jose Gonzalez, Psapp, Piano Magic, Magic Numbers, Jamie Lidell, Colder, Brakes, Colleen and lots lots more.... Comes with a limited print by Trevor Jackson who's that numpty from Output. This thing's so good it sells itself. Issue 10 folks!
We have this French import of a thing here by this band called Interpol. It's
called C'Mere and it's 5 tracks in total.... namely....
C'Mere
Narc (Paul Banks remix)
Fog Vs Mould For The Length of Love
Public Pervert (Carlos D Remix)
Not Even Jail (Daniel Kessler remix)
and it's very limited.... The majority haven't been out on compact disc before....(they were on those pesky ltd 7"s...). Hoorah for their French.
Another mention... The Artrocker mag from last week comes with a Tom Vek 5" record...... It's only a pound post paid..... Not got many left now and it's the 2 tracks from the last CD single which weren't on the 7"'s.
The Boy Least Likely To have a new 7" out on Too Young To Die Records. This sounds like Kings Of Convenience but with harmonicas. That and there's a bit of Badly Drawn Boy in there 'n all albeit a bit tweeer. It's reasonably infectious bedroom pop (if that's appealing, cos syphilis is infectious and we don't get any requests for that). Think of lollipops and teddy bears and you're half way there. Worth it for the cute picture on the cover which makes me want to go home and knit a pair of kittens.
We did get the new Mystery Jets 7" in but we got utterly stiffed by the distro and they all went on pre order. Everyone who pre ordered one got one but if you didn't then I'm sorry. Not much we can do about it. The little shops always get stuffed went bands get bigger. You can blame HMV and Virgin for that cos all the copies will be in there! That keeps little shops little and big shops big.... That's my gripe over with.....
We got this CD in the other day by Afrirampo on Tzadik and I was racking my brains trying to remember what it was and then it came back to me. My rep (bless him) said it was a winner cos it's these bonker Japanese birds who are mates with Boredoms and The Acid Mothers making some pretty extreme music. How excited? So here I am playing it and he wasn't lying..... It rolls in somewhere in between earlier Sonic Youth, Melt Banana and Boredoms. We never hear any normal music from Japan over here. All we have hear is the extreme music.... I mean there's The 5,6,7,8's but how many crazy Japanese bands are there? Where does the normal music go? is there a machine that turns all of these normal pop songs into 40 minute droney workouts or 16 second ear splitting brainsquashers? I want it! On a closer listen this is pretty interesting stuff and not as extreme as I initially thought as there's some quieter bits here and there as well as a healthy dose of the theatrical.
And on to Fear Of Music who have a 6 track EP on Blowout records which sounds a bit like Cooper Temple Clause to me. It's a bit Britpop and a bit shouty.... cue the noisy guitars and hey presto you have indie shouty anthemic gear which is kind of OK ish but it's all been done a squillion times before. There's a bit of Muse and Marion in there of all things. Who'd have thought that. The 2nd track sounds like a track from Pablo Honey by Radiohead which is universally acclaimed (by me) as the only thing which resembles a fat steaming poo on their otherwise glittering career. At which point my headache decided to get worse and off it went.
Something a bit mellower now. Ola Bergman CD on New Speak which has their debut deleted and gone forever EP on plus selected tracks from the last few EP's. AND there's 4 new tracks on there. Lovely melodic electronica bringing mid period Kraftwerk, some of the Analord series and more things by aching head can't think of. I asked Brian and he said it sounded like my dad being bummed but he's a horrid boy and if he ever says anything like that again we'll all kick his face off together and watch him as a he scrabbles around on the floor trying to find it. Quality.....
After a brief hiatus Awkward Silence Records is back albeit in a smaller more digital form. They have ditched the in vogue 7" format for the more compact and bijou 3" CD, but the sleeves are identical so they look like they've been shrunk in my washing machine (you should see my formerly white large pants... now tiny and pink..). The first one is by Nautilis and Uga. Nautilus swings in with 2 tracks with the 1st sounding just like Autechre/ Gescom. Harsh and abrasive yet machine like and metronomical. The 2nd track is a much more laid back affair but my cash is on the killer lead track. Uga is apparently a mate of said Nautilis chappie and here we have one track of spaazzed out electronica! OK but not as good as the lead Nautilis track. The other single is a split between Maps And Diagrams and Verbose. You'd be excused for thinking it should be on Cactus Island. This is a 6 track EP with 3 track by each band. The Maps as ever throw their usual brand of high quality melodic ambient yet twizzly electronica at my speakers. Which makes me ears happy. For me the real surprise is the quality of the 3 Verbose tracks which are stunning. Emminently tuneful electronica which sounds like post rock but played with electronics. If you're a fan of Godspeed, Sigur Ros or the Expanding label you'll be equally happy with this. fecking smart. Both are limited to just 300 copies. Quick sharp!
Speaking of Cactus Island they're back with a new 3" CD single by those fine purveyors of Russian electronica, EU. Once more it's stupidly limited and we don't have many at all. These things go ridiculously quick so I could say it's great or its pants and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. As it is it's an enjoyable piece of electronic funk bringing to mind a less annoying Vibert. Be quick....
So are you a fan of the Dudley Corporation? If so get yr spare pants ready cos we have a 19 track CD in a handmade sleeve limited to just 100 copies. It seems to be full of odds and sods, ie demoes, tracks from singles, early things, unreleased things yada yada yada..... Mid paced heartfelt indie which we describe as mid fi stoppy starty gear. Possibly bits of Pinback in there? Thoroughly enjoyed what I heard of this one.
Speaking of the Duds I was gonna release a split single with them and Querelle some time back but then gave up on the label after I realised just how fickle the record buying public is. ah the bitterness is still strong within. It's a shame really cos Querelle are quite fantastic and Sink & Stove have the honour of bringing a 7 track CD to your attention. The obvious comparison is Blonde Redhead though less so than the earlier stuff I heard. Fantastically tuneful discordant indie guitar rock. Let's hope this band gets some success at some point.
Once more we have a new single in on Transgressive. This one is the second 7" by Ladyfuzz. I only just found out that Tom Vek was in Ladyfuzz recently as apparently Kele from Bloc Party was. Anyway this is better than their last single and it's jerky, catchy and shouty. Clint says Lene Lovich. He does love his obscure references. Me I think it sounds like Frightened Hamster crossed with The Happy Farmers with a possible dash of Fist Frenzy in there as well. Or more possibly a bit like Prolapse and Bloc Party with a hint of Britpoop. Nice!
Ooooh aaaarrrr. Brian here flooding the office with pear cider sweat & veggie burger breath (not). Yes I've just returned from some farmers idea of a trustafarian mudbath & the best thing i saw was a stack of jenga cows. Who the fedge are Coldplay anyway ferchrissakes??
Ampoule records delivers It's first offshoot release by Pliiant on Talent Hoover. Yes you've probably no idea what I'm saying. Bet you think I'm still high on crack donkey fumes. Well just check this mega cute double 3" CD package all housed in lovely textured card with pictures of technicolour plasticine things! Awwwww! It's all toooo cute! Dribble! Fawn! Coooo! Whaaat? Da tunes? Weeell. If you dig dinky melodic lo-fi, crunchy electronics, & warped acoustic weirdness then you'll have a ball with this. Only have a small handful of this & once they go they stay gone. Called 'The Very Dab' by the way! 100 copies pressed...
Fancy some more of that dark, funked up French hip-hop that we like here at the towers (see next week for our shameless plugging of Greek funk-punk & Belgian neo-classical doom metal) FreeDeal's 'Anticipation' on Arbouse, home of rabid Hood fanciers, Acetate Zero. This is interesting notably for the way the colourful accents twist, bend & flip round the perfectly competent beats & jerky D.I.Y samples. I do struggle with this stuff sometimes but this comes across as a fresh & vibrant listen. Like a more coherent Ghislain Poirier.
Further sonic adventures from over T'channel with miserablist doom sleaze boy Colder's 2nd full lengther (fnarr fnarr) 'Heat' opens with the Joy Division inspired single Clint wrote about last week continuing apace with more dark electronic goth bothering. Some intriguing loops, teutonically funky basic drum patterns & a clean airy production evident but to us the guy really has his limitations. He's got this sound down pat. Minimal with a huge debt to the early 80's & actually this reminds me of Tarwater loads in places. Nice GOTH ELECTRO packaging ripped off Adult.
We've had at least 2 albums in by Need New Body on eccentric stable Pickled Egg & now a newie arrives called 'Where Is Black Ben' (Olympia's 5RC release the CD counterpart) This is bizarre but irresistibly quirky & fresh stuff. Quite accessible too. Really across the board musically but I hear bits of organic punk funk & lo-fi acoustic hip hop with a huge doses of eccentric experimentation, wailing, psych folk touches, wibbling stop-start flailing & twisted US underground madness. You know the score. See earlier Flaming Lips & Thinking Fellers if yr an old codger like me & see yer psychiatrist if yr a young whipersnapper. The opening track reminds us of Denise Williams' 'Let's Hear It For The Boy' from the Footloose soundtrack.
The Chalets return with a slice of rather predictable but incredibly catchy new wave pop ('Feel the Machine' on Seatanta). All those hallmarks are in order. Lo-fi compressed drum sound, two-finger keyboard motif, ramalama cheerleader vocal & strokes-esque skinny tie guitar. Sounds muso this review I know but you try differentiating between this 5 piece & a hundred others. Dunno how that Artrocker rag does it I really bloody don't. Plus points for consistently FANTASTIC packaging & a hook from the ASDA advert on the flip side.
Doormouse. Funny noisy bloke whose gibbercore breaks & hard twisted gabber fixation has mutated into something more twisted jazz/music hall in recent times. See what comedy nutter End does with all those quirky organ pumps & speeded up double bass, marrying it all to frantic pogo beats? Well this is the more free jazz end (sic), reminding me a bit of Squarepusher's more indulgent stuff spliced with some intriguing treated vocal snippets. So you also get some seriously weird tv theme/old Americana inspired nonsense masquerading as a listenable CD here on 'Major Changes' All you mental heads will no doubt dig it. On Addict, the dude's own imprint. Also see a totally buggered Art Of Noise falling down some stairs.
Crazy Girl next. Shit name. A single called 'Miss USA' was sold into us as sounding like the B-52s but as a huge fan of Schneider & co I can honestly say that's a lazy comparison. See maybe a twangy Raveonettes crossed with a bit of Yeah Yeah Yeah's - deffo an intriguing grower from this ex-pat Yank lady. Along with the completely different B-side 'Kick Ya Booty' (chanty new wave stomp with a bit of a cowbell led funk beat making for an exercise in rump wiggling fun) I'd say you got a cool little single from the folks who found Tom Vek.
Cripes. One of the best mashup 12"s I ever heard was the incredible Speedhall comp on Koolpop. This Berlin imprint unleashed some terrorcore genius with a track from Amboss which is revisited here with a frantic reprise (some well skanking vocals over possibly the most pummeling approximation of a dancehall beat ever). This is the nightmare side of The Bug being eaten by Society Suckers or some such warped genius. And so the 2nd track (also Amboss) just shows how LAZY some of these novelty beat & pop sample splicers have become. It's a hydra headed beast with some very recognisable & contemporary R'n' B samples buried under a storm of fucked up mentalism that Shitmat would sell his fly shades for. More subtle shades explored on flip side by Geroyche & Unsane Virusez. Excellent!
Zombina & the Skeletones 2nd E.P. is a wholly enjoyable blend of bouncy ska, old-skool Spectorish indie & frantic psychobilly fun that draws you in with It's frantic enthusiasm & deft musicianship. Not really one for novelty records but this 4 tracker is a step back to the days when going down yer local store & coming home clutching a 7" spilling with quality tunes was the order of the day. Actually leaves you wanting a whole album of the stuff, It's that joyfully executed ! 'Mondo Zombina' is the title!
Well you all dug that The Lodger single the other week didn't cha? Oh joy you exclaim when informed of a split single between them & Being 747 on Leeds' baby D.I.Y. imprint Wrath. This to me is pure Britpop. Wonky vocals, charming strummy guitar, awkwardly funky bass etc. Sounds like the perfect Leeds band. There's a splash of that Sarah/555 naiveté about it too & should appeal to all fans of old skool indie ala Ballboy & that. Being 747 are a jerkier mod punk affair with nods to the Cardiacs & The Fall. If anyone remembers Landspeed Loungers this is their singer & the 2 lovely brothers from Scaramanga 6. The other split on Wrath (yes, there's two...) is by Stuffy/The Fuses -seemingly a singing drummer & his erm....backing band if photos I've seem are owt to go by. Just more good quality jerky British guitar pop with a sprinkling of old fashioned cabaret. The Secret Hairdresser lalalala their way into your hearts with a euphoric quirk of a tune, all fuzzy guitar, keyboard fizzes & whirls & harmonic boy girl vox. Good fun!
Lastly, we've unearthed a handful of 7"s of an ancient LFO single, 'We Are Back'. A Warp classic all said & done & obviously long deleted so dunno what the story there is.
Skam weirdos Wevie Stonder have a headwank of a new CD/LP out called 'The Wooden Horse Of Troy' How do you categorise these people? It's like The League Of Gentlemen crossed with the more impenetrable sections of Blue Jam set to "music". It's one to play to people you don't like after feeding them toilet duck laced with bad acid. Hyuck hyuck hyuck. Prime Butthole Surfers spring to mind.........
Mr.76ix. Cor that's a snappy old moniker. Got the double 12" "white" labels of 'Hits Of 76ix par2" in for your delectation now and It's basically a bunch of really quality whipcrack Willy Wonka techno for minimal heads. Lots of stuttering breaks & freaked out wobbly samples, bits of eerie aquatic strangeness & future DnB that will keep any fan of the initial volume creaming their baggy £200 isolationist twat pants. Be aware that no one will love you any more if you buy this now or wait for the cheaper version with the picture sleeve in (allegedly) September. You may however feel infinitely superior to your fellow plebs for about half an hour until you file it away under "enigmatic wibblecore" & watch Big Brother ;0)
He's an odd feller this Kid Carpet dude. Obviously a huge fan of ancient children's TV & toys, He's like the bontempi Patrick Wolf with a soupcon of Go-Kart Mozart (Lawrence from Felt's comedy breakdown nom-de-plume) Debut long playing CD 'Ideas & Oh Dears' (genius!!!!) has that wonderful charm & tongue in cheek passion that made Baby Bird a household name. So you get a real wobbly mixed bag of toytown D.I.Y. sketches, exotica & daft samples plus a most healthy dose of respect for future music. Invest in this crazy's innovative vision.....
Ex Ligament chaps, Part Chimp return to resounding applause with a noisy
mother of an almighty nervous breakdown of noise. It's called 'War Machine'
& begins like Drive Like Jehu before going nuclear meltdown collapsing
amped-up-to-11 Sonic Youth eating Mogwai. Then you realise It's like
Ligament on
horse crack & Fat Barry's jumping up down on his computer like one of those
monkeys from the Basement Jaxx video & the rooms falling over and
and
.........................on Rock Action. Just buy it.
Clint here. I had a dream last night where I was at a music festival somewhere in Europe and Thom Yorke came up to me and asked to borrow my hair. He was also dressed as a clown. What can it all mean?
First up and single of the week is new on Duophonic. Its by Seeland who is a feller from Plone and a feller from Broadcast. With that kind of pedigree its bound to be good....and it is. The A side is the most wonderful slab of sunny textural acoustic pop somewhere between Tenderfoot, Tunng and Broadcast (plus added wierd bits). The B side again is great. Its an instrumental launched by accordian and crazed drum machine. Again the noises that are wrenched out are amazing. This should be the new Doctor Who theme. Its amazing. Limited to 750 to go buy!!
After the funk lite of 'Midinite Vultures' and the snooze-fest of 'Sea Change ' - its great to see Beck back with a great record in 'Guero'. If that doesn't tempt you just listen to the new single out now on 7" picture disc and CD. Its called 'Girl' and its an absolutely brilliant pop song - you can't argue with it. It does everything that Beck does well in 3 marvelous minutes.
Burd Early is a guy called James out of New York He has had a few records out on Western Vinyl and appeared on last years fabbo Misplaced Pets comp. He's one of these guys who has obviously listened to a lot of Will Oldham in the past but on this 5 track EP on Acuarela he comes across very much like Smog. The vocal is very similar and it has that same drifting narrative that the recent Smog album has. The first track has some really interesting cut up drums that emerge half way through. Brian has just barked Adrian Crowley at me. Burd Early's records just get better and better with each release. You should try one.
Missing My Bloody Valentine? Missing The Swirlies? Then try Estonia's Pia Fraus. They've previously had records on Clairecords. Here we have a Japanese compilation of both their EP's plus some bonus tracks and mixes by Guther and Hood. They are very good at what they do - its melodic shoegazy pop songs just staying on the right side of twee with male female vocals alternating back and forth. Hints of the Pale Saints in one or two songs.
I'm not sure about this new thing on Fence. Its by Reuben Taylor the keyboard player in James Yorkston's band along with Vic Galloway. There's a lot of twinkly piano's in it that Fats really likes. I guess the nearest comparison is maybe some of Unpoc's stuff and there's a couple of clever XTC/Cardiacs style tumbling melodies but on the whole its too far into Elvis Costello territory for my tastes but that's not to say other people may not love it. In fact there's bits I really like ......
The Silent League with a 7". There's a lot of music like this -quasi orchestral somewhere between Grandaddy and Mercury Rev. Also think of Dennis Wilson's solo album and ELO......who they go and darn well cover on the B side. The difference between ELO's plodders and the entire Grandaddy back catalogue is so tiny as to be completely invisible to the naked ear despite what Brian may have you believe. On Something in Construction (70's orchestral rock revival maybe).
I read a few reviews of Spoon's new album that made me want to go out and buy it. Luckily I get to hear records at work and after one listen I relegated it to the increasingly huge 'disappointment' and 'its nothing like how they've described it in the reviews' file in my head. After this new 7" single nothing has changed. It's a falsetto vocal over minimilist two chord backing. It kind of sounds like everything else. Its a bit funky, a bit sleazy, a bit useless. On Matador
I have this single here by The Grief Brothers on Country Mile Records. I'm going to break with tradition here and review the B side first as its the most interesting track. Its kind of oddball country with clanging percussion. Fats reckons Billy Childish and the Blackhands........and I'm a little stuck - I'm thinking of The Proclaimers singing with Handsome Family playing children's instruments. The A side is a cover of 'Silo' by Scud Mountain Boys and although its a great song I'm finding this version a little rootsy for my delicate tastes. Limited to 500.
On Werk Records comes Stacs of Stamina. This is good energetic hip hop whose vocals sounds a bit like the Sole/Alias end of the Anticon stable but with beats that are more electronic like Gold Chains. Electro-hop. There's a sub genre for you. This is really good - it gets remixes by the ace dDamage (Planet Mu), Para One. Highly Recommended.
You can pretty much trust Soul Jazz. Here's a new compilation from them called Microsolutions to Megaproblems. I'm just going to list the artists. Kit Clayton, Secondo, Daeselus, Hu Vibrational, Kid 606, Sutekh, Ammon Contact. I'm sure its great.
Last weel we cocked up last week by a) forgetting to review the CD and b)spelling his name wrong on the website here is a new CD by Guy Blackman who is the feller in charge of the ace Chapter Music label of Australia. This CD is Guy performing music whilst living in Japan. The opening track is brilliant. A lazy slow lament featuring tired vocals and tumbling banjo's. There's lots of Japanese sounding wierd noises and percussion. I can't think what it sounds like or who to compare it to. Imagine Herman Dune if they were any good and had only ever listened to Australian music. That's the best I can do.
So I'm brilliant. Have you heard? I'm years ahead of my time. Good old me eh? You probably don't remember me rabbiting on and on droning endlessly about Sufjan Stevens 'Michigan' album years and years ago. Before you could even be bothered to be born. Hang on, I think I'm turning into Everett True. Anyway here's Sufjan's new album 'Illinoise' - its gonna be terribly difficult to review in 5 minutes as 'Michigan' is still growing on me to this day. Lets just buy it now and ask questions later eh? For the uninitiated its complicated folky music that takes influence from Nick Drake, Philip Glass, Elliott Smith, Speed the Plough (or the Trypes!!), Sea and Cake and Danielson Famile. On first listen it sounds worryingly chirpy but lets give it some time. The song titles are superb. On Rough Trade.
Another great album to tell you about. Hanne Hukkelberg it doesn't immediately grab you on the first couple of tracks but, honestly, bear with it its amazing. Hanne has a lovely mellifluous voice that drips like treacle across the beautifully crafted tunes. She's from Norway. That figures. Think somewhere between Psapp, Bjork, Jaga Jazzist (in the beautifully fiddly folky music). On Leaf. Hurrah!!
From the sublime....we have a hugely limited live single by The Bravery. Oh happy days!! Fats has asked me to write this review without using the words Duran Duran..............ooops!
New on Fierce Panda, the label who brought you a load of dribbling idiots and Coldplay. Here's a single by Apartment. It sounds like The Killers, The Departure, Interpol, The Bravery, The Colour and Franz Ferdinand all rolled into one. Listen to these words - THEY. CANNOT. FAIL.
Here come Youth Group. This sounds like Echo and the Bunnymen or something like that. The B side sounds like James a bit of the emo-ier end of Death Cab for Cutie. On Anti.
Finally from me - new on Trunk is a CD/LP by Desmond Leslie called 'Music of the Future'. This music is crazy. In 1960 it is probably what people thought music would sound like in the future. Little did they know. Anyway this is a series of bleeps, bloops, belches, crashing noises, squeaks, roars, twinkles, drones and beeps. It is the first ever pressing of a record that was only ever released on acetate and has never been commercially available.
thanks everybody
teamNORMAN xx
