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2008-01-10
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LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION
FALLING OFF THE LAVENDER BRIDGE
DOMINO
ALT-COUNTRY
Littered as ex-Test Icicle Dev Hynes’ lyrics under his Lightspeed Champion moniker are with death wishes that are barely disguised and only half-joking, but enveloped all the same in astonishingly beautiful music, ‘Falling Off The Lavender Bridge,’ is one apt album title. ‘The comfort of hitting the floor’ is a conundrum Hynes contemplates above urging, upright violins with a contradictory effect that is typical of this genius record. Steered by Saddle Creek producer extraordinaire Mike Mogis and taking root in Omaha, Nebraska, sun-downer country-rock guitars are the perfect antidote to the greyer, tragi-comic days-in-the-life of Lightspeed Champion: a luckless lover; a hangover patient; a disillusioned Londoner. Add to that tumbling drums, generous, aching string parts and jaunty piano – texture, movements and contrast are key, with this rousing music always serving to insulate us somewhat from sadness, longing, disbelief. With fellow nu-folker Emmy The Great lending her tones throughout, backing vocals abound: sometimes in rounds reminiscent of the school yard, sometimes layered to marry answers to questions, sometimes with choir-like majesty. Self-blinding or the abandonment of sleep is a figure to which the Champion continually returns - ‘scratching out my eyes’; ‘staple down my eyes’; ‘shut my eyes’; ‘stars I cannot see’ – on a record that is a sonic exercise in chiarroscurro. But this is Lightspeed, after all: you get the feeling that Hynes’ alter-ego has been wrought to have comic-book character resilience specifically because the voice that casually challenges, ‘Take me, galaxy!’ belongs to a man with an equal lust for living, startled by a magic that is made audible here via all manner of instruments. Bright Eyed melodies, near-Eagles atmospherics and even a snuck-in Queen guitar solo bring ‘Falling Off…’ back to earth; otherwise it rotates about its own unique orbit. Subtle, accomplished and stylish – let Lightspeed take you for a spin. |
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2008-01-10
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JOHNNY FOREIGNER
ARCS ACROSS THE CITY
BEST BEFORE
INDIE
Johnny Foreigner are something a little different. These are pop songs drowned in feedback, a potentially popular act that might just hate the very idea of it, pristine melodicism fucked up for the sake of it. And somehow this shambolic approach works. For a three-piece they make a tremendous racket, male and female vocals battling it out for prominence over an excitable backing of fractured guitar, toy-town keyboards and scattergun drums. As such, noticeable blog hype has surrounded this act for a little while and with these six tracks (well, seven if you count the hidden track) it looks far from fading. With the overriding influence being that of the lo-fi paired to the early sentiments of DC hardcore, Johnny Foreigner's sound is something fresh in British territories. The EP is a brief one: clocking in at 21 vital minutes and with fast tempos the order of the day here there is barely a pause for breath until the Pavement-esque closer, ‘This Band Is Killing Us.’ One of the highlights comes halfway with ‘Yes! You Talk Too Fast,’ a bastardised and furious piece of genius, smothered with guitar histrionics and smart dual vocals. The introduction to ‘Suicide Pact’ deserves some kudos too, if only for the kind of irresponsible lyrics that you hope aren't meant quite as literally as they might be. Try to imagine that The Pixies have been reborn in a village outside Birmingham, and Frank Black has decided, hey, he won't eat so much after all. If they somehow got it together and started writing songs, the results would probably sound a whole lot like this.
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2007-11-16
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FAT BOY SLIM
LATENIGHT TALES
AZULI
MISH MASH
The freshest release from the ‘LateNight Tales’ series sees Brighton veteran Norman Cook – aka Fatboy Slim – dust off the vinyl and take us on a mixtape-style journey through his musical influences. Although it’s a bit of a well-worn formula (‘Back to Mine’ and ‘Under The Influence’ have already rinsed this sink pretty thoroughly), it does seem to be a failsafe winner. Things kick off with ‘Spanish Stroll’ by Mick Deville, a pleasingly quirky little summer number that combines the Beach Boys’ melodic innocence with Lou Reed-esque skag-soaked vocals. Jonathan Richman’s 70s clean-living classic ‘Roadrunner’ is up next, before we dive into a merry rum barrel of underrated, unhinged reggae favourites including Trinity’s seminal ‘Three Piece Suit’ (‘I’m still in love with you, boy…’). Track lengths are kept nice and short, which keeps the momentum up and excites regular shouts of ‘Tune!’ when you recognise a familiar gem. As you might expect from Norman, there’s a good sprinkling of cheddar, but the sheer quantity of unheard tracks he digs out more than makes up for it. A feel-good party vibe is generally the order of the day, with little nuggets of joy like The Sandpebble’s ridiculously bouncy ‘Zombie Jamborie,’ guaranteed to spread smiles and move bodies (‘Back to back / And belly to belly / It was a zombie jamborie’). At times there are laugh-out-loud moments, like the chorus from Robert Mitchum’s ‘From A Logical Point Of View,’ (‘Better marry a woman uglier than you!’). All in all, this is a cracking compilation – if only Fatboy Slim’s own productions were as good as this. |
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2007-11-16
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SHAPE OF BROAD MINDS
CRAFT OF THE LOST ART
LEX RECORDS
HIP HOP
Released on Tom Brown’s remarkable Lex Records imprint, Shape of Broad Minds’ debut album is unlikely to follow the same commercial path as label-mates Cee-Lo Green and Dangermouse’s Gnarls Barkley project, yet Jneiro Jarels allstar team of Jawaad, Rocque Won, Panama Black and Dr. Who Dat? himself, will undoubtedly find a place in true hip hop fans’ record collections as one of the best albums of the past five years. Whilst owing a certain debt to the beat mastery of Dilla, Madlib and MF Doom (who features here on the boom bap party stomp of ‘Lets’s Go’), what Jarel excels at through the course of this record is the interweaving of dust covered, rootsy hip hop beats and intelligent, on-point rhymes, with a dense fabric of underlying psychedelia and soul. This is flawlessly encapsulated on the crushingly introspective bounce of ‘BuddaFly Away’, where space age synths are entwined with a serious kick drum and melancholy harmony almost reminiscent of early Def Jux. Elsewhere, tracks like the sun-soaked ‘Changes’ (“Keep it movin’ over there / Don’t be talkin’ all that boomp boomp around here”) and the echoing keys, filtered edits and old school rhyming of ‘Electric Blue’ combine to bring a sensuality to hip hop that The Game could only dream of, if only he was interested. This isn’t to say that Jarel lacks the ability to rock it when needs be, as the warped vocal effects and oppressively treated brass samples of ‘Beast From Da East’ displays perfectly. With its myriad of layers and twisting half skits, ‘Craft Of The Lost Art’ brings some much needed realness and originality to modern hip hop. And the best part about it? Four of the five members of SOBM are all characters invented by Jneiro Jarel. Pure fire! |
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