The Coral – Roots & Echoes (Deltasonic, new release)
The Coral’s 5th and best since their 2nd. After the patchy disappointment of the Portishead produced last album this is a return to form. Skelly’s song writing ability keeps growing and growing, with this his most mature selection yet. The album has a lovely earthy feel, something that The Invisible Invasion lacked sorely lacked. The bands little psych freak-outs are just about still there, better deployed on this release than any since their brilliant debut, but have been mostly replaced by far more mature, less ‘I’m a stoner, check out mystical gobbledegook’ songs. A major highlight is Bill Ryder-Jones’ guitar which is superfluous throughout. Good news as he left the band for a while, almost resulting in their break-up. After coming back from the edge, The Coral have come up with their best collection of songs to date. Peep it.
Tunng – Good Arrows (Full Time Hobby, new release)
I’ve seen Tunng live twice now, both times at Moseley Folk Festival (http://www.myspace.com/moseleyfolk), and their growth as a band is as hugely evident on stage as it is on their second album, Good Arrows. They’re a folk band but not as we know it – current line up includes a percussionist, three guitarists (all of whom sing), a beautiful girl that plays gadgets and also sings and a DJ/sample triggerer/drum programmer type bloke. The basic premise for this album is nice layer vocals over folky guitars, beats and noises. Funny little songs and funny little things, ‘a cracking little album,’ said I.
Shape of Broad Minds – Craft of the Lost Art (Lex, new release)
Lex is one of those new labels where everything they release seems to be quality, a bit like Rawkus and Def Jux used to be. This release is no different. I only bought it because it was on Lex and it was a total stab in the dark. I wasn’t disappointed. Dark, murky, funk infused beats, a bit like a Lootpack for ’07. It’s quite long at 23 tracks but well worth ploughing through in its entirety; some tracks like ‘Opr8r’ are even quite catchy. It seems that main man Jneiro Jarel is quite a talented wee chappy and chooses some good names to pop up with cameo’s – MF Doom, Count Bass D… One of the best, and most different sounding (i.e. not backpack) independent hip hop albums of the last few years.
Dr Who Dat? – Beat Journey (Lex, 2006)
Sitting within spitting distance of the Shape of Broad Minds album was this, also on Lex. Dr Who Dat? is a member of SBM and this is an album comprised entirely of his instrumental works. The beats are quite expansive having a nice open feel to them, often having several samples weaving in and out of each other creating quite a jazzy (due to the nature of the samples) and layered sound. Unlike a lot of instrumental hip hop albums, say ones my certain turnablists, its not just a showcase scratching skills – in fact there isn’t really any noticeable on the album, which makes a nice change. The emphasis is on abstract but accessible beats that reveal more with each listen. An album best enjoyed at night, preferably whilst driving.
The White Stripes - Icky Thump (XL, new release)
I used to think The White Stripes were crap. I mean I liked ‘Hello Operator’ and bought its parent album De Stijl because it was alright. Thought that White Blood Cells was derivative bollox and looked on perplexed as the entire planet gave ‘Seven Nation Army’ a thorough and exhaustive rim job (I means its ok but Christ!). I also thought the album it was taken from, Elephant, was a load of gash. It was only ‘Doorbell’ and the rest of the Get Behind Me Satan album that made me really take notice, and Icky Thump has made me continue to pay attention. The guitars that left briefly for Satan are back this time around and Jack serves up some of his best riffs to date with a more beefed up sound. Singles, ‘Icky Thump’ and ‘You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told)’ are great little openers for the album and set the tone well. While the lack of much guitar on Satan focussed the attention on Jack’s songs, this album is distinctly guitar led but also has songs to ensure repeated listens. A big album packed full of quality Americana and even some fucking bagpipes!
Fairport Convention – Liege and Lief (Island, 1969)
Fucking straight up stone cold classic! Not really sure why another reissue was needed, they did one only a few years back. This is one of Universal’s Deluxe series with a second cd of outtakes and BBC sessions, a couple of which are quite essential. I saw Fairport this weekend at Moseley Folk Festival and although a tad cheesy they were as tight as fuck (little Dave ‘I’ve got new lungs’ Swarbrick even made an appearance for a couple of tracks). Anyway, the extra cd is a nice little bonus but it’s the main album that is all killer no filler. I can’t be arsed to go on about it because you can read about it elsewhere in more depth than I can afford here – ‘The most important folk album of all time’ proclaims the cover. Not a bad shout. As Missy said, ‘Cop dat shit.’
M.I.A – Kala (XL, new release)
The first time I saw M.I.A was on Pop World; a monkey pissed on her and she came over as an absolute moron. Her first album, Arular, came out and everybody bummed it – I still thought she was a moron but had to concede to the fact that I would dance to ‘Galang’ when pissed. Kala is her second album and I pretty sure I don’t she’s a moron anymore. Darker, more political and peppered with nods to distinctly ‘whiter’ music (Jonathon Richman and Pixies for example), Kala is a winner. Tracks like ‘Bamboo Banga’ and ’20 Dollar’ do indeed bang, although the Timbaland collaboration is a bit of a disappointment. If you’re feeling a bit cool and worldly this week, this is definitely an album worth checking out.
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock (Polydor, 1991)
I’m a big fan of Talk Talk and have been looking for this album for ages. It’s not currently available in this country, even though the others have been the subject of nice reissues (it was released by Polydor not EMI) but I managed to finally pick it up as a nice cheap import in HMV (£9.99). Basically the evolution that had been occurring since the bands debut continues with this, their final album. Even more jazz infused than Spirit of Eden but without the synth-y feel, this album is another Mark Hollis helmed masterpiece. His hushed vocals hit perfectly in this organic sounding mix of ambience, jazz (think Miles’ In a Silent Way), found sounds and splashes of quietly crunching guitars. An album that really has to be heard…
Foals – Matheletics (Transgressive, new release)
Trendy little indie band make vital sounding single, fail to follow through with decent album. Happens every bloody week. Blame the NME. My brother tells me their first single sounded similar but better, so seems that the same may be true again. Prove me wrong you skinny little bastards.
Super Furry Animals – Hey Venus! (Rough Trade, new release)
I ain’t gonna lie to you, I fucking love the Super Furries. They’re simply a great British band. However, a couple of albums back they hit cruise control. Lucky for them they set this cruise control in ‘High Quality’ mode. The only problem with them at the moment is that although they keep churning out consistently good albums, they seem to be devoid of their moments of shear brilliance and genius. For instance Hey Venus! doesn’t have a single on it, let alone something that could compete with past greats in the ilk of ‘Northern Lights’, ‘Juxtaposed With You’ or ‘Herman Loves Pauline’. This is evidenced in the cool little single ‘Show Your Hand’ totally failing to hit the Top 40, while the album was this week’s highest new entry at 11. Basically, what SFA have given us is another great little album (short and sweet at 35 minutes) just lacking in their invention of old. Not to say it isn’t inventive though, there are more ideas on here than a band like Kaiser Chiefs could come up with in a whole time, like I said there just aren’t the highs of old. I will say however, that the cover is the worst of their career…
Samyo
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