Recent Published Work...

Here's some I made earlier...

Album Reviews
The Fall - Your Future Our Clutter
Sweet Apple - Love and Desperation
Eli 'Paperboy' Reed - Come and Get It
Ganglians - Monster Head Room

Interviews
Surfer Blood
Thao and the Get Down Stay Down
Cymbals Eat Guitars
The Drums
The Soft Pack
Good Shoes

Short Cuts! New Releases 25/1/10: Part 2

*** Digestible run-downs of this week’s new releases, including track recommendations from THE POPSCENER***

Laura Veirs - July Flame

At first glance, this record appeared to be more of the kind of twiddly folk music tailor made for Waitrose adverts. At second glance, it still is, but in contrast to the perpetually disappointing ‘nu-folk’ from this side of the Atlantic, Veirs’ Portland residence gives this a more satisfying slant – dryer, less faux-authentic, and far less sorry for itself. Two dazzling tracks (‘Where are you driving’ and ‘Life is Good Blues’) help, whilst the others lope along in a soothingly pleasant, if unremarkable, manner.

Choice Cuts: ‘Where Are You Driving’, ‘Life Is Good Blues’

7/10

Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM

Sacre bleu! The brain haemorrhage debacle around which this concept-ish effort is based not only makes IRM a remarkable achievement in itself, but also provides a complimentary sub-plot to the songs, without ever becoming intrusive. Musically, writer/producer/arranger extraordinaire Beck leaves his indelible mark – notably dry beats and squirming sound effects – across tracks such as ‘IRM’, whilst Gainsbourg does her Francoise Hardy bit on couple tracks (‘Le Chat du Cafes des Artistes’), and the slightly unlikely collaborators even manage to enliven honky blues run throughs such as ‘Dandelion’. Bon.

Choice Cuts: ‘Master’s Hands’, ‘Le Chat Du Cafe Des Artistes’, ‘Time of the Assassins’

7.5/10

Beach House – Teen Dream

Objective as ever I am, seeing the ‘dream-pop’ label on Wikipedia made me feel I should like this more, but unfortunately I don’t. Minor problems thus: Legrand’s vocals approach Nico-esque baritone but are drowned in the mix; ‘Zebra’ could have been great but has one wrong chord choice in the chorus. Major problems thus: too pedestrian to convey emotion through energy but also lacks the sonic histrionics to do it via bursts of sound – in short, the whole thing strolls with such sloth that it ends up as the musical equivalent of the tortoise who doesn’t end up winning the race. An unmitigated disappointment.

Choice Cuts: ‘Norway’

3.5/10

Magnetic Fields - Realism

Whilst a healthy portion of the music on offer here makes me yawn with indifference and yearn for creative thrust Stephin Merritt to plug in as with previous efforts, thankfully enough quality exists elsewhere to redeem Realism. For instance, rib-tickling lyrics such as “seduced and abandoned and what can I do, I think I might drink a few” recall Neil Hannon at his most childishly subversive, and Merritt’s voice remains the measure of dry indifference. Sufficient for now.

Choice Cuts: ‘You Must Be Out’, ‘Seduced and Abandoned’

6/10

Short Cuts! New Releases 18/01/10

*** Digestible run-downs of this week’s new releases, including track recommendations from THE POPSCENER***

Note: Eels to follow shortly...

These New Puritans - Hidden

At the very least a startling achievement in genre dynamics, asserting that Hidden successfully melds Hot Chip glitchery with drum ‘n’ bass aggression and schizophrenic world-rhythms damns it with the faintest of praise. True, it does all of the above, but offers a far richer aural tapestry – namely funereal organs, forlorn horns and chillingly sinister operatic backing vocals. Indeed, songs like ‘Attack Music’ and ‘We Want War’ are not alone in harbouring a kind of unrelenting dystopian menace, while the incomprehensible, juvenile closing chant of ‘Orion’ should bestow the shivers on anyone with a pulse. As intelligent and progressive as it is unsettling: demands to be heard.

Choice Cuts: ‘We Want War’, ‘Orion’, ‘Hologram’, ‘Drum Courts – Where Corals Lie’

8.5/10

Lostprophets - The Betrayed

Lostprophets’ flirtation with the mainstream means they’re perpetually doomed to suffer from a self-inflicted damned-if-they-do/damned-if-they-don’t syndrome. Accordingly, here they can’t decide whether they want to play the puffed up nu-metal (‘DYSTRYR’) of their debut, or the studio-softened emo-pop (‘Darkest Blue’) of their more recent efforts. They’ll get over-criticised for both, but more worrying is that the band thought it wise to sneak the pomp-rock power-balladry of ‘Where We Belong’ and ‘Dirty Little Heart’ on – I can almost taste Steve Perry, and it tastes like 1981. And all the while my dream of a full album of new wave rockers like Start Something’s ‘Last Summer’ seems ever more distant. Sigh...

Choice Cuts: ‘Darkest Blue’, ‘Streets of Nowhere’

5/10