February 2008
Beatmag’s rundown of the best to throw your hard-earned money at.
Sound 10
Beatmag Album of the Issue
1. Why?
Alopecia (Tomlab)
A few years ago, without much attention ever being paid to this advance, artists on Anticon Records invented a new way of writing songs, a way that involved fusing elements of hip hop, electronica, psychedelia and West Coast folkery. At first, the results were brilliant but hardly accessible (see cLOUDEAD) but eventually potential crossover material appeared. Top of the pile is Why?, AKA Yoni Wolf, whose new album (and, indeed, his last one, 2005’s ‘Elephant’s Eyelash’) showcase a lyricist of rarely matched ability. He will say anything, burble it out in an apparent stream of consciousness – “The kind of shit I won’t admit to my head-shrinker,” as he puts it on the porn-centric ‘Good Friday’. He’s funny, perceptive, observational and, crucially, light twinkling song structures leaven the density of his word-splurges. Less electronic this time round, but nonetheless unique, Why? really is the Californian James Joyce of pop.
www.myspace.com/whyanticon
2. Malcolm Middleton
Sleight Of Heart (Full Time Hobby)
If you want to hear the world’s most gloomy Madonna cover, turn to ‘Stay’ on Malcolm Middleton’s latest for a treat. Ex-Arab Strapper Middleton turns his back on the indie sound of his last album ‘A Brighter Beat’ (which included ‘We’re All Going To Die’, his unlikely stab at Christmas No.1) in favour of stripped acoustics, strings and piano. His lyrics, however, remain, the potent force in his music, following in the forlorn steps of Cohen, albeit with a thick Scottish accent. ‘Blue Plastic Bags’, for instance, is as poignant a skewering of modern life’s loneliness as you’re likely to hear this year. Middleton maintains his high quality threshold; he makes misery palatable and gives it a tune you can hum.
www.malcolmmiddleton.co.uk
3. Dusty Rhodes And The River Band
First You Live (Side One Dummy)
Despite a terrible name and even worse album cover art, this bunch from Anaheim, California, paint their country-tinged tales on a grand orchestral canvas. Lead singer Dustin Apodaca sings, roars himself hoarse and, occasionally, emotes through a mouthful of marbles while his five associates attack guitars, harmonicas, violins, mandolins and banjos with gusto. The resulting sound runs the gamut from Stonesy strutting to maudlin hoe-downs to modern folk tales. It’s ambitious while firmly grounded in ‘70s rock, never dull, and the lyrics are tight. It’s also easy to imagine them being absolutely massive, especially in the States.
www.myspace.com/dustyrhodes
4. Jim Noir
Jim Noir (My Dad)
Jim Noir’s last album was a jolly Mancunian take on Jonathan Richman’s eccentric troubadour persona and came off a treat, apparently selling around 50,000 copies, not bad for such a cheerfully offbeat project on a tiny indie label. The new one is a step upwards and onwards, a loose concept album about one Commander Jameson a Major Tom-type figure who’s heading into space and pondering his life. At least that’s what the press release says, but to most ears it will simply be a collection of slightly surreal snapshots of Englishness (see ‘Good Old Vinyl’ or ‘Look Around You’ for proof). The other change from his debut (‘Tower Of Love’) is the Sebastien Tellier-style sheen of electronics which gives his Beach Boys harmonies an added boost. All in all, affable, witty and approachable stuff.
www.myspace.com/jimnoir
5. The IRS
The World Is Theirs (Merciless)
Pretty much faultless and ticks all the boxes you’d want from a hip hop album, assuming you’re not a drone that worships at the church of Lakeside and who hums along to hymns about having shiny things. Of the 17 tracks, there are at least 10 potential classics, musically comparable to DJ Premier (‘Some Emcees’), D.I.T.C (‘Music’) and, on the comical, terrible-dance tribute ‘Gorilla Shuffle’, Ugly Duckling. There’s also much use of emotive, orchestral strings, especially on ‘Something Wrong’ and ‘Day With The Devil’ (arguably the two stand-out tracks) that creates a picturesque landscape for the intelligent lyrics that emcees King Kaiow, Superb and Random Deviation consistently deliver throughout. A word to the wise – buy. Check the video for ‘Day With The Devil’.
[http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pz3QDNH-Hg] (Black Belt Jonez)
www.myspace.com/theirsonline
6. Los Campesinos
Hold On Now, Youngster… (Wichita)
You’ve got to like an album with a song on it called ‘Don’t Tell Me To Do The Math(s)’. Los Campesinos are Cardiff students who got lucky – a hobby band that became a hot name in ‘the biz’. Fortunately, they’re a lot more than the latest tedious indie sensation (although they may be that as well). Unlike the tired thirty year old new wave template utilized by so many of their peers, Los Campesinos tout stop-start rhythms, sparring girl-boy vocals and stylistically recall the oddball world of Anticon Records crossed with The Go Team and Pavement. It’s a unique formula which they inject with eager pizzazz, pithy Brit wordage and a fortunate ability to nail a decent tune.
www.loscampesinos.com
7. Does It Offend You, Yeah?
You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into (Virgin)
Very, very of the moment, DIOYY definitively represent kids who like dance music but formed a band rather than become DJ/producers. Thus their songs are joyfully bespattered with squawling techno noises that, even when the tune at the core is lacking, make them sound brain-battering fun (check ‘With A Heavy Heart (I Regret To Inform You)’ for evidence). Produced by Rich Costey, who successfully helmed albums by Franc Ferdinand and MUSE, ‘You Have No Idea…’ is never predictable – ‘We Are Rock Stars’ is pure Daft Punk but is immediately followed by ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ which recalls The Cars at their ‘80s slickest. Provided they stay away from US FM radio tendencies and stick with the dance trash ethic (as represented by the garagey ‘60 Ft Octopus’) their future looks bright.
www.myspace.com/doesitoffendyou
8. Miss Kittin
Batbox (Nobody’s Bizznizz)
Caroline Herve has now been around for at least a decade in her Miss Kittin persona. She initially provided vocals for a series of releases with The Hacker on International Deejay Gigolos that provided the blueprint for electroclash and, indeed, much 21st century electro-rock music. Her second solo album is a distinct improvement on her debut ‘I.Com’, perhaps, due to the involvement of Kylie/Dido collaborator and former Bomb The Basser Pascal Gabriel who directs her Teutonic techno instincts towards tasty pop melody. Kittin delivers her trademark dry chats but also sings and her new album has an unlikely Bauhaus-go-clubbing gothic appeal.
www.kittinbatbox.com
9. Zero dB
Heavyweight Gringos (Ninja Tune)
Beatmag only has a sampler of this album but, as far as we’re concerned the tunes you need to get hold of are on it – Dibaba’s mix of ‘Bongos, Bleeps & Basslines’ and Dave da Gato’s mix of ‘A Pomba Girou’. The whole is a collection of remixes of Zero dB’s 2006 album ‘Bongos, Bleeps & Basslines’, taking in dub moves, hip hop rewrites and more but let’s stick initially with Dibaba’s take, a lethal electro stab that will reduce dancefloors to jelly. Once they’re pulverised, let Dave da Gato’s version loose on them; rolling along on a humdinger of a bassline, sizzling robot hoover chaos and clattering South American percussion go to war, leaving a trail of twitching devastation in their wake. Yum yum.
http://zero-db.com/
10. The High Wire
Ahead Of The Rain (Impatio)
Tim Crompton has been on the scene for many years in various ventures (notably the band Bettina Motive) without garnering much success but his latest incarnation has a honeyed blissfulness that might see him finally gain some attention. The High Wire combine orchestral flourishes with hazy narcotic pop of the type that Lou Reed might have made in the early ‘70s had he had access to the London Symphony Orchestra. Not every song is a winner but the best of on ‘Ahead Of The Rain’ has a drowsy opiated quality that warms the cockles.
www.myspace.com/thehighwire
Black Belt Battering
Flowriders
Ruedy (Mr Bongo)
If you’re an aspiring Poi ‘artist’ and you’re on the hunt for some pointless music to accompany your equally pointless ‘act’ then search no more; Dutch outfit Flowriders’ ‘Ruedy’ is a classic (for classic, read ‘typical’) Mr Bongo release. It sounds like Terence-Trent D’Arby on daddy’s pony, trotting through a Brazilian favela with a copy of The Guardian and The Celestine Prophecy in his Luis Vuitton knapsack. Terence dismounts and to stoppy-starty garage beats, recounts stories of how terrible war is and how we should all, y’know, get along and stuff, as if it were some groundbreaking revelation unconsidered before. Ultra-positive music so nauseating it can only be created by either the deeply religious or the deeply disturbed. Its teeth are clenched so hard in a manic grin; only a crack around the head from a flaming Poi-Stick can awaken it from its honey-drenched psycho-vision of a rose-tinted world.
www.myspace.com/flowriders
Compilations And Reissues
Disco Not Disco
(Strut)
This album couldn’t sound more contemporary if it tried. As the hipsters across Britain finally tire of the I-am-a-robot electro moves that have defined the last couple of years, where next? The answer is writ large in these 14 songs culled from the period between 1974 and 1986, all ham-fisted attempts to make funk and disco by bands whose roots lay in punk and the avant-garde. The way they interpret the sounds they’re imitating has a delicious bass-heavy tribal rawness that the likes of LCD Sound System picked up on years ago. Bands such as Quango Quango, Delta 5, Shriekback, as well as a host of names only NY No Wave trainspotters will have heard of, muster a collection that’s thumping, sassy and lollopingly danceable.
Wild Style – 25th Anniversary Edition
(Mr Bongo)
“Before Public Enemy, before Eminem, before the Cristal, the bling, before Diddy, 50 Cent and Crunk…there was Wild Style. A milestone in hip-hop history, Wild Style is the most influential street film of the last three decades.”
The PR blurb is riggedy-right (although personally I preferred ‘Beat Street’) and this release is a milestone in that it’s quite amazing how far a musical genre has advanced (and arguably eaten-up and digested itself) in little over 25 years. However, if you’ve not seen the movie then maybe that would be the logical place to start because, out of context, this soundtrack simply won’t do itself justice (which would be a shame). Fortunately, to celebrate the anniversary of the original hip-hop movie, there are three simultaneous releases – the film itself (presumably digitally re-mastered); a book written by the director Charlie Ahearn and of course the CD. For anyone even vaguely interested in the culture of Hip Hop from it’s early days, Beatmag recommends indulging in all three, but for those with pockets flat not fat, watch the film and save pennies for the CD and book. (Black Belt Jonez)
Fabric Live 37: Caspa & Rusko
(Fabric)
The latest darlings of dubstep prove to be well worth their spot in the clubland limelight. Where much dubstep simply sounds like the ‘90s digital disco of Basic Channel reinterpreted by kids who weren’t there, the newer material, mutating into techno, has a sharper edge and electro-psychedelic effects reverberating throughout that add something new to the gumbo. Caspa & Rusko drop many of their own tunes and are unafraid to let jazz and drum & bass licks crash about amongst the room-shaking basslines and oddball vocal samples. The true spirit of acid house, ie electronic dance music with a futurist hypnotic minimalist edge, lies here.
AND FINALLY – Black Belt Jonez’ Tale Of Two Mix-Tapes
Jehst ‘Mengi Bus Mixtape’ (YNR) vs. LDZ ‘ Living Long Ting’ (Dented)
Guru once said that it’s “mostly the voice” and while that sentiment is applicable with Jhest, a man with the wickedest of flows, he comes a close second to LDZ with Beatmag’s unofficial battle of the mix-tapes. Jehst’s ‘Mengi Bus Mixtape’ feels like more of a stop-gap before he drops his next gem, ensuring he keeps his name on our lips with some great exclusives, remixes and guest-spots, though those unfamiliar with the concept of the mix-tape may find the spin-backs and frequent chopping up of tracks an irritant. However, it’s LDZ who take the trophy (a baked bean atop a cocktail stick) with the cracking debut ‘Living Long Ting’. At times it’s vulgar and childish, but when much of today’s hip hop is about posturing and boasting it’s refreshing to have some tongue-in-cheek, Benny Hill-type fun over the ruggedest of beats. It’s not all dick jokes though (although the Borat-sampling ‘Wawawee Wah’ is a tummy-tickling treat) as Dabbla shows on ‘Cheddar’ commenting on the reality of money and it’s inevitable negative influence on society. A close call, then, but our advice is simple – Jehst fans should jump on the ‘Mengi Bus’ as there’s enough fresh material to warrant a purchase that won’t disappoint and the heads that fancy a bit of a giggle while bobbing their heads should splash the cash on LDZ. (Black Bekt Jonez)
Albums for review should be sent to…
Thomas H Green, Beatmag, PO Box 4653, Worthing BN11 9FG
Filed under: Reviews - Albums by Flexmaster Nylon
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