REVIEW: Tinariwen - Emmaar

Tinariwen are the face of gritty desert blues. Human, nomadic, lacquered with a relentless and hypnotic rhythm, the Malian group have carved an enduring critical and commercial niche from the blossoming wilderness of their homeland and the guitar style of Jimi Hendrix, whom they cite as an influence.

For those who don't know, the band were soldiers in Algeria/Libya (I won't pretend to know the details). As guitar slinging desert warriors fighting for their homeland though, they are pretty much musical mana for anyone with a belief that music means, and must mean, something. A political, social outlet. Whatever. That music has communicative powers  is what Tinariwen are all about. Watch the short 15-minute for their last album Tassili (it's the first result for Tinariwen on youtube) and the emotional pining of their beat dances unflinchingly to the fore.  

Emmaar, their sixth album, is the first not recorded in the sahara, but the States. But don't be worried. It retains all the self-possession of its predecessors and doesn't concede to fancy effects.

Like most of the tracks on this and other albums (which, I'm not gonna lie, all sound pretty similar) Imidiwan Ahi Sigdim is a brave, stomping slow-burner. Things get a little more unusual on Tahalamot where we get a more sombre vocal and guitar style, but otherwise this is business as usual. Standout track Chaghaybou thrives on chants and flickering licks.

      

JAI PAUL - JASMINE (DEMO)

In the background of Jai Paul’s website for‘Jasmine’ is a repeated and unexplained picture of a Mercedes Benz and a random dude smiling. Arranged in the headache-inducing style of Microsoft’s tile background option, it brings to mind a very bad graphics student’s attempt at a collage, or a teenager’s quickly thrown together Myspace page.

According to XL, Jai has a DIY ethic. Like the band website that seems deliberately shit and brings to mind nostalgia for the internet’s blocky early design era, Jai’s taste in an unwavering self-effacing public image chimes with the fact that offsetting music against an incongruous and shambolic aesthetic is distinguishing. This is especially when most around you are trying to do crisp, clear and easy to comprehend.

Jai Paul is far from that though. He is an iconoclast. ‘Taking a break’ or so it would seem after self-produced ‘BTSTU(Edit)’, he reclaimed the critical limelight with ease after five years out with only track, and formerly only one track to his name. Now ladies and gents, we have ‘Jasmine’. The song was on Pitchfork and other leading music blogs almost immediately after it was posted to Soundcloud and was invariably lavished with praise.

Despite being released by XL (Adele, The XX, Willis Earl Beal), ‘Jasmine’ has the interesting qualification ‘(demo)’. To me this is interesting because a demo that’s brill, as opposed to a single that’s brill, makes you think the ‘real thing’ will be even better. Except because the ‘demo’ is actually the ‘real thing’ / the version that’s being released in stores near you, this is clearly not a demo at all! ‘Demo’ both excuses ‘Jasmine’s vague crackly production and smartly suggests that this clearly brilliant record is not Jai in full flow, but half-formed, casual demo…ism. This might be the thinking anyway.

Also, when you hear ‘Jasmine’s cassette-like muffling, you’ll swear you’ve ‘discovered’ Jai, even if you do notice it’s already clocked 700,000 odd plays on Soundcloud. It has that demo quality; that personal touch that ‘BTSTU (Edit)’ had. Where the latter went "Don’t fuck with me, don’t fuck with me" in its disturbingly gentle opening, this pulses with a skittery funk beat whose distant production sounds like it was recorded in a church confessions booth.  

Jai is enigmatic. At only 21 odd when XL signed him, ‘BTSTU (Edit)’ was I believe his only available track online, which makes you wonder what XL knew about him that we didn’t (or don’t), particularly given that he seems to be a songwriter/producer first of all. Yet Stereogum have called him ‘possibly visionary’; in an interview with XL owner Richard Russell about XL's success, Russell said ‘Jai is a wizard.’ The BBC even cast him in their Sound of 2011 poll for 2011's most promising artist or band, such was the furore surrounding Jai’s exceptionally good but small output. That year, RockFeedback’s feature on Jai (complete with his provisional driving licence photo) just concluded “There’s not much we can do with Jai Paul nowapart from to carrying on listening to the pop genius of ‘BTSTU.” That’s then.

The story of Jai Paul is certainly intriguing so far. Whatever happens next though, ‘Jasmine’, I’m sure you’ll agree, is indeed superb, worthy of the praise lavished upon it. If ‘BTSTU (Edit)’ struck music’s beating heart once, ‘Jasmine’ can do so again.


Pre-order 'Jasmine' on limited vinyl here.

FRIENDS - MANIFEST!

Stream the album here courtesy of The Guardian

Well this is quite simply the album I’ve been waiting for. Samantha Urbani’s uber-cool Friends finally release their debut album this Jubilee bank holiday Monday- well done Lucky Number, we knew your Britishness would be good for something- to the full spangliness of stars in the Sunday media supplements and lengthy blogger comment (see….what you’re reading). For some reason it seems like aeons since second single ‘I’m His Girl’ was first released (although it’s actually only eight months ago), but perhaps that’s because a lot has changed for that band who, on playing their first UK concertback in October 2011, had played only a handful of gigs in local Brooklyn venues and had barely formed long enough for their story about the band’s name to be more than a recent recollection. But, since then, ‘I’m His Girl’, freely sold on 7”at that gig days before release, flew off the shelves, and return gigs at The Lexington and XOYO this February sold out. The latter gig was filmed for Youtube, and despite being a little bit over-played for the cameras, it helped confirm the band’s joyous live reputation. Somehow, it feels as though the Brooklynites couldn’t get this album out soon enough. Urbani’s evident enthusiasm charmed many and irritated a few, but a bigger, 1000 strong throng headed to the seriously big venue, London’s Scala on 9 May, her band beating their headline capacity best by selling it out. Today (literally-ish), they eat swordfish with The Independent. Things just got serious.

So now that Manifest! aptly manifests on the horizon, the album delivers a topical title brimming with potential. We start at the chronological germination, first release ‘Friend Crush’, which is reassuringly at the top of the bill. Its breezy, stomping off-kilter pop was one of the best singles of last year in my view (we featured it hereski). Its younger boobier ‘I’m His Girl’ cousin is here too, but unfortunately not its lesser-boobier but even funkier sister, Ghost Town DJs cover ‘My Boo’. Are these the highlights of the now filled out repertoire? The Guardian seems tothink so, yes.

But that is not to say that it’s so. ‘Sorry’s percussive rhythm rivals ‘Feelin Dank’. Tropical touches and over-done chants make this a little song you can listen to over and over again, that belies its carefree triviality. But perhaps the biggest argument for Friends with this material is ‘A Thing Like This’. When Urbani thrashed this out at the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen in October, where literally no one in the audience would have heard this song, my friend and I only looked at each other in knowing excitement: we knew we had just found a fucking awesome band. It’s one of those rare moments. The crowd injected with a sort of groovilicious liquid, girls started dancing, boys watched them dancing as they started dancing themselves, and secretly hoped Urbani would give them a cheeky sensual pout. This sort of carefree stuff doesn’t usually happen at gigs for cool people in London. So, with its translation to record, it should, if I was Lucky Number, have been Friends’ first single on/around the album’s release by virtue of it being radio-friendly (and representative) best foot forward. Sweet as a button, tough as a nut, it slips and slides with a synth-heavy, bass-heavy arrangement that epitomises their sound. Urbani sighs sensually, swoons delicately and confidently. She’s sexy again. And you can hear it. And the band is sexy too.  

‘A Light’ is another funky number. One of the more serious groovers, crumply lo-fi production gives Urbani a dampened touch, giving way to eminently danceable ‘Ideas on Ghosts’. That is three seriously danceable tracks in a row by the way, in case I should have made that clear. If that level of result makes Friends more self-conscious trying-too-hard than disconnected whatever dance-groove effortless tropical-pop, then so be it. The fact that this album isn’t rougher around the edges shouldn’t be held against it. ‘Ruins’ is clearly the attempt at off the beaten track, rocky rebelliousness, and really it doesn’t quite work. But fortunately, the band have stuck to what they know best: much like their American sitcom namesake, using every living moment to dance (ok, maybe not that bit) and have fun. Live favourite and closer, Swedish sung ‘Va Fan Gor Du’ retains its immediacy and swings around with the half-drunk stupor you just wanted from it. Finally ‘Mind Control’ wades in to pull down the curtain.

There are small signs that Friends’ luminous ascent from formation to fringe-of-the-mainstream may be gently stabilising. The band play 500-capacity Dingwalls in a couple of days, not a venue comparable to with the Scala, and Matthew Molnar, on bass and keyboards- although I don’t want to say it- has looked more than a little tired or bored (well....both) at recent gigs, perhaps due to the amount of touring. But, to judge longevity on these things would be ridiculous. I’m going to see Friends play Rough Trade East on Monday 4 June when this album is released. Because for all Manifest’s sophisticated fun, they retain the looseness on record to keep me intrigued; the hooks to keep me horribly hooked. And will the band continue to jostle for their ‘tropical pop’ DIY ethic to be seen and heard? As long as they’re having fun, you can be sure they will.

NZCA/LINES - Compass Points

Ok so I’m gonna be honest I was a little disappointed with NCZA/Lines’ album, especially after the awesome awesome track ‘Compass Points’ above. Michael Lovett is clearly an intriguing talent, though.


You can download a FREE copy of 'Okinawa Channels' on the website.  

James Carr - A Man Needs A Woman

A common misconception about alternative music is that people buy into it because they want to be different. More specifically, they want to be seen to be different. Music charts because it is ‘better’- by what objective measure I don’t know- and consequently, those who revel in non-chart music must be making an effort to do so. This is why it’s very easy to bash people who don’t like Lady Gaga, have an allergy to Adele or recoil at Rihanna.

I don’t believe in an objective standard of music, and certainly not once I met people who got a kick out of mad atonal music or twenty minutes of screaming. The reality is that we get turned on by different things. Music is after all an emotional experience, and the way you might be hooked is unique to you. It's a mystery in some ways. Sometimes it’s even simply a memory that ties a certain band or genre up with nostalgia that draws you in. For me, I don’t hear the ultra-simple ‘Tell Me Why’ by The Beatles and think ‘my god, this sounds like a nursery rhyme’. I think ‘I’m in the early 90s again. And I can smell the year. And I can see the old wallpaper on the living room walls.’ Had The Gladiators’ reggae sermon ‘Chatty Chatty Mouth’ been played to me when I was a kid like one of my good friends, no doubt its tune would be resonating deep in my belly instead. (So if you're one of these people who wants your kids to have a good music taste- firstly, god help you- and secondly, play them shit).

A second misconception is that non-chart music is ‘weird’. Some people I know are reluctant to listen to new things even though they love what they like and even that they heard everything for the first time once, so why not try something else? It’s silly to say 'if it's good, I've already heard it', notwithstanding the fact that even chart music is constantly changing week by week.

A music buff’s feeling is usually the opposite: there is so much more out there that you want to actively seek it out. It’s far more empowering and positive approach. Just as with the above misconception, the internet has made it clear that just because you haven’t seen an advert for it on the tube, doesn’t mean it will be ultra-left field. Not only does the above point apply here regarding one’s individual idiosyncratic and unpredictable taste, but if you are only concerned with commercial success as a measure of interest, every successful chart artist went through a period of anonymity at some stage. If you think that those without many likes on their facebook page aren’t worth your time therefore, remember that it is very often because they haven't yet been discovered. One day you might hear them on Radio 1. In my experience, people are reluctant to hear an apparently soppy band called Bon Iver when he’s an unknown quantity, or ‘this great new Brooklyn band called Friends’ when they’re small, but once word-of-mouth and radio play accelerates, it’s like you’re recommending a different band altogether. People are wary of the pub, the support act and the boutique festival, as harbingers of inaccessible music. But sooner or later if you're recommending things people will enjoy, they will be pleased to know you told them.

This has already been a very long post, but I want to move on to my featured artist who I think illustrates wonderfully the above ideas. Not many people have heard of James Carr. He’s almost a nobody, even though he had a couple of charting singles in the late 60s. However among southern blues and soul enthusiasts his album A Man Needs a Woman is considered a timeless great. He’s up there with Marvin and Aretha. He is considered one of the greatest soul artists of all time.

When I went into the record store Intoxica in London to buy this (yes, I am only in my early 20s but I still buy records), I learnt it was re-released in 2003 on Kent Soul, part of Ace Records, which has had artists as disparate as The Impressions (Curtis Mayfield’s original band), Joan Baez and speed metal giants Motorhead on its label-roster. A Carr record arriving at the counter woke the assistant.

A Man Needs A Woman is pretty much back-to-back gospel-inspired soul and longing, romantic lyrics. Carr has a raw, commanding voice, not dissimilar to Otis’. On ‘Life Turned Her That Way’ he sings in a typically personal style about a reason for a woman’s bitterness and on ‘A Losing Game’ he swoons over a shit-hot blues riff. It’s ballsy and passionate; he grabs your attention. Taken together, the full 14 tracks are an example of music that is a) considered a niche concern; b) very very underpublicised; and c) simply a straight awesome pop record, no different from any well known Motown or Stax artist, but possibly ‘better’ if you like that sort of thing. The original label Goldwax label remains the preserve of those who know.....or, those open to finding out.

See below to stream from youtube. I hope you enjoy- and please remember kids that if you don’t listen to it, you’ll never know what you might be missing.

1. A Man Needs A Woman

2. Stronger Than Love

3. More Love

4. You Didn't Know It But You Had Me

5. A Woman Is A Man's Best Friend

6. I'm A Fool For You

7. Life Turned Her That Way

8. I'm Gonna Send You Back To Georgia

9. The Dark End Of The Street

10. I Sowed Love And Reaped A Heartache

11. You've Got My Mind Messed Up

12. A Losing Game

13. A Message To Young Lovers

14. Let It Happen

Philco Fiction review - Live @ The Lexington, London, 26 January 2012

I featured Philco Fiction a few months ago on this blog, and last night they played their first gig in London since their debut released in Norway. It was a great experience. I had heard that they were good live and they didn’t disappoint. The trio play a brand of electro pop that is something like The Knife covering every genre under the sun. Folk is on the record (‘Take it Personal’), as is experimental Bjork-type stuff and just some simply brilliant hook-driven tunes. What’s so exciting about them though is that they do their own thing. Lyrically, they they're intelligent and silly, and they have a humour and self-effacingness that doesn't take anything too damn seriously.

On the night they hit it. Taking the stage wearing an eye-catching slanted hat, Turid Alida Solberg did this upper-bodydis.loc.a.ting.shoulderdance.thing. Her singing is confident and outward looking. She is also really quite beautiful...which made me want to go to Norway a bit.

This album is a must buy when it comes out in the UK. The Norwegian release on Brilliance Records is stupidly difficult to find and you basically have to import it from Norway at present (not fun with exchange rate and shipping costs), so kudos to anyone that bought it at the gig (although if you bought vinyl, there’s no mp3 despite the claim on the sleeve, unless I'm completely retarded). In fact, I now think you can’t even stream this album online! It was taken down from Ja Ja Ja.

Radio 1 recently played ‘Portrait of Silence’, and there was a bloke there who said he had introduced Philco to Huw Stephens. So good work! If you saw the show, there’s plenty more tunes where that came from.

Set went something like...

Finally
Help!
The Youth
The City
Too Close
Portrait of Silence

Can't remember it now exactly, so apologies if it's wrong. Also if anyone can get a me digital download for the vinyl I'll be your friend!

Lucky Number Music, Friends and the Independent Label Market, London

Hello pop pickers! Sorry it’s been so long since I last posted, but there so is a lot to talk about, so I’ll get right down to business. First post first: Independent Label Market. Now this was a…well…market in Spitalfields, London, put on today to hawk the wares of predominantly small independent record labels who had had stock destroyed at the Sony warehouse during the London rioting in August (did those rioters know they had caused such callous artistic destruction?! I should hope not.) Anyway, the fruits of their violent labour have clearly produced one good outcome.

The twist I so love about this event is that the stalls were manned by label bosses themselves. For my part, this gave me an opportunity to chat with one of my favourite labels, Lucky Number Music, who are behind Friends and Caged Animals (see below).

Now, I believe among all those stalls there, Lucky Number are onto something unique with their artists, and have a really special eye for detail. I discussed this with co-guru leader man, Michael Morley, and he said that within its sound, the label hopes to build a common thread among its artists, an identity if you will, that speaks for the label, or if you want to be more market-speak about it, a ‘brand’. This is evident in everything about them. The artists appear to stand for creativity above pop perfection; product above packaging. If those ideas sounds hoity-toity, consider Darwin Deez, Caged Animals, Friends and Sebastian Tellier; all esoteric, idiosyncratic, different from one another, although this, (and a noticeable zeal for music) is what they all have in common. I mentioned Friends’ September London gig: “Did you meet them afterwards?” Morley said, matter-of-factly. I had. The band were there after the gig, talking to everyone and were genuinely interested in what people had to say. They sold ‘I’m His Girl’ a month or so before its official release (review below), and guess who bought one based on their performance that night and a good chat about London? Two spare copies were brought along today apparently, and sold even before the stall had opened.

Friends are arguably becoming the label’s biggest ever artist. Morley and co-founder Stephen Richards saw them at their sixth ever gig. Pretty incredible. It’s now widely known that Friends have been together only a year. The pair were immediately impressed by the band, and additionally, a rarity in live indie music, Urbani’s uncanny ability to bring girls to the front of the crowd. The band were signed up soon after, and debut ‘Friend Crush’ was released, now a 250-copy Ebay rarity, never to be pressed again if the label is true to its word.

While I don’t think a label can set the world alight, it's interesting to know that in an industry now bombarding us with new artists, information and ‘packaging’, someone is focusing on product and letting music speak for itself. Multi-linguist Sebastien Tellier’s 2008 album Sexuality was a great coup; a well-received record which included ‘Divine’, a song Tellier later sang when he entered 2008's Eurovision song-contest!

Tellier is typical of the independent-minded creatives Lucky Number seems to like. Reflecting now on Friends’ inclusion in the BBC Sound of 2012 poll, a veritable hype machine, Morley had mixed feelings about whether a top-5 finish is important considering it would produce expectation from the rest of the industry for Friends to sell loads of records: a mixed blessing. I didn’t raise the suggestion that a critical lift like that could be a self-fulfilling prophecy in the shops, even for a too-cool indie band like Friends, but I’m sure deep down, the duo would be completely chuffed if that were to happen.

Seventeen Evergreen are their newest project, but it's still early days for their other artists. Friends will have an album out in early 2012, a tentative, tentative, release date of April 23rd, preceded by two shows in London (Lexington- Feb 7^th sold out, XOYO- Feb 8^th) and Caged Animals have Vincent Cacchione’s astro orbit creativity and energy to harness in promoting their debut (check out recent single ‘Teflon Heart’ by the way).

Enough from me. There will be more posts to come.

Philco Fiction- Take It Personal

We join Philco Fiction at their international germination but over eight years into their career. The Norwegian trio (website) are warming us with ballads, but not ordinary ones. Stomachs do flips and journo brains get a bit sweaty. Take It Personal (stream it here) is a neon gas heater of sound, driving down artificial, impersonal warmth onto your head.

This is a very unusual record. Philco rush from Florence & The Machine esque soaring pop ballad to electro anthem, to orchestra-led avant garde experimentation. Throughout, The Knife’s off-kilter unpredictable bombast runs through the tracks. First there's the confident but dispassionate female vocal like Karin Dreijer Andersson and then there's the unnerving changes of atmosphere between sideways pop splashes (like The Knife's Deep Cuts), dark twists (like Silent Shout) and orchestras (like Tomorrow, In a Year). The confusing undertones of sophomore and potential breakthrough Take it Personal are endless.

Take It Personal won’t so much hit you, as lower you gently into a cauldron of bubbling stew. The introduction, ‘Help!’, uses dark, rumbling bass reminiscent of Fever Ray before breaking into a soaring electro anthem of safer pop chart climbs. Even then, Turid Alida Solberg’s voice belies the song's familiarity, keeping it tethered to a dark undercurrent. Slowly, Philco's air of definiteness comes apart. ‘The Youth’ opens with creepy synths and the soundtrack to a child tiptoeing in fairy-tale haunted woods. Violins, cellos (?) and whirring gadgetry in the bridge show that this record might indeed be one odd mother. Streaks of ‘One For You’ or ‘Rock Classics’ from Deep Cuts break out as ‘The City’ confirms our expectations: Gloomy, uncertain, dark…congratulations- you are into Philco Fiction's mad mad world.

The band navigate genres and styles like a croupier shuffling cards. From ‘Finally’ onwards, they let rip and open up into a plethora of directions that even the most able reviewer would find daunting. 'Finally' opens with XX-like guitars that join broad strokes of gentle piano chords part-way through. Into six minute number ‘Too Nice’, and the slow-burning sound starts to get asphyxiating; warped, almost, as it progresses. The section comes to a head with ‘I Want You’, an edgy track that pulsates with non sequitur lyrics a la that Swedish duo (once again):

"My intentions are no longer good. My intentions aren't acting like they should. I never decide what to eat. I never lose my sleep."

It builds to a gloriously melodic soulful climax, twirling to victory.

Now for the most surprising part. Seconds after the layered, triumphant climax, a delicate folk number eases into ear-shot. Pizzicato violins? Joanna Newsom? Almost. With Turid's soothing, swooning elegance, this particularly stunning juxtaposition of songs finally blows out. Snaking its path, calming you down, 'Too Close' ably steers you out of madness, towards sobriety and into the next section. The diversity on this album, but particularly, these four middle tracks, is amazing. Each one is boldly sonically independent. They stare you down with such confident directness that even on repeated listens you forget what you’ve just heard once the next track's begun. Take It Personal demands it. It demands all your focus. 'Take It Personal' is very apt indeed.

The final three tracks are no less unusual. ‘Horizon’, the most upbeat number on the album preens with sparkle. It's easy to see why lady vocalist led electro acts have had such blog exposure this year: with double-track recording, Turid's voice comes out in a way that I don't think a male vocalist's could.

Take It Personal is one of my favourite records of 2011 so far, and one of the most unclassifiable, deep, stunning albums broadly fitting within the parameters of popular alternative music I’ve ever heard. There isn’t a duffer, and even towards the end when you finally think you've consolidated the swathes of sonic territory there are to contend with, 80s pop inspired ‘Time is a Fly’ comes in and smashes the little picket-fence you think you've built to house it. If someone could tell me from where Philco Fiction draw their inspiration apart from ‘everywhere’ I would be interested to hear it. The way music can be in the self-referential, post-modern internet world is an incredible thing. And it’s not for the first time that I love it. Philco Fiction, I hope, will become one of the world's most popular new alternative bands.

Out Now on Brilliance Records (label here).

Philco Fiction - Finally by Brilliance Records


Philco Fiction - Help! by Brilliance Records

Tennis- 'Tell Her No' (The Zombies cover)

Tell Her No by tennisinc

Ahhh it feels good to be back.

I had an email Q&A exchange with the awesome Lucky Number Music (home of Caged Animals and Friends), which was rudely botched by a website I occasionally do some writing for- but never mind: my musical mojo is still intact. I’m going to endeavour to bring you everything great and spongy that I’ve heard of late, for your great and spongy ears!

The first piece- saying that- is lifted from gorillavsbear.net- a recent post about husband and wife duo Tennis, who we featured earlier this year on the site.

They’ve covered (download here) The Zombies’ 1965 chart hit ‘Tell Her No’. It’s a classic Beatles-cum-Beach Boys-esque song but with a cruel anti-romance twist. The lyrics go: “And if she tempts you with her charms, Tell her no, no, no […] Don’t hurt me now for her love belongs to me.” It could have fitted pretty well on their debut LP Cape Dory if you ask me, due to all the 60s-style throwbacks.

A follow-up to 2011's debut is in the pipeline. Here’re some words:

“We’ve spent the last several months writing and preparing for what we hope will keep us busy all winter. We will be announcing a Forest Family release in the next couple of weeks as well as tour dates to make up for the Vaccines tour cancellations. Also, we are excited to announce the existence of our next album (produced by our new friend Patrick Carney coming out early next year. In the meantime, we made this cover of the Zombies “Tell Her No.” It’s been a long time favorite of ours and is the best use of a lone-clap we’ve ever heard.”

Neon Indian- Era Extraña

Neon Indian- Era Extraña

(2011, Static Tongues/ Mom+Pop)

Neon Indian: pioneer of 2009/10 phenomenon ‘chillwave’; talented young 23 year old from Texas; man who sellotaped together some random electronic flotsam and jetsam in 2009 and stood back to reveal a completed work called Psychic Chasms that stunned and excited listening hoards in equal measure. Neon Indian’s creator Alan Palomo has been treated kindly by the internet. His music is innovative, bright and colourful; he is also clearly serious about his machines and the way they are used so prominently and consistently in his work, which is I think part of his wide appeal.

For an album title, Era Extrana sounds like it was rejected as a wacky Coldplay concept name. Mixed by the guy who recorded Tame Impala’s Innerspeaker and both MGMT records, it picks up where Psychic Chasms left off. Fizzling with synthetic spark, beats and video game samples, it delves back in to the fun but delicate papier-mâché universe that Psychic Chasms created for itself to indulge in spaceship dreams and psychedelic story-telling.

Best start with the equivalent of the debut’s hit ‘Deadbeat Summer’ and look at ‘Polish Girl’: overall an incredible poppy stunner to rival Deadbeat’s breezy underplayed emotion and playful energy. There’s no doubt this will be a favourite for Neon Indian sets. The video is also representative of what it seems Palomo wanted to achieve: that eccentric Flaming Lips-esque abstraction. A world that wilfully will not be placed in space or time. Posing like the opening video for a Daft Punk gig, a futuristic astronaut-cum-welder DJ is teased away from his twiddly noise boxes by a young woman and goes on a journey to re-connect with her using what seems to be VHS, or Betamax, or some quasi-vintage equipment cobbled together in the year 2050 because all technology is sort of wiped out but we’ve invented this weird hybrid breed. It’s kitsch and textured. Computers rule in Palomo’s world, even in his videos.

The album is divided into three parts: ‘Attack’, ‘Decay’ and ‘Release’ but some bits struggle to find their voice. ‘Blindside Kiss’ (from ‘Attack’, it seems) tries this kind of detached, drug-infused drudgery that just seems a little aloof for my taste and sort of floats off into space. ‘Future Sick’ (mmm, lovely name) and ‘Suns Irrupt’ follow it into the dark-matter abyss. Feedback and hiss on this album threaten to stop Palomo in mid-song at every turn, even though many of them are strong, and drag him into the vacant dreaminess of his artistic universe. His feel for a good melody is in attendance on ‘Hex Girlfriend’ with its catchy backing vocal and ‘Heart: Decay’ is a classic 1980s Sci-Fi throwback, steeped in muffled effects. Indian acquired his chillwave credentials from the dimension of nostalgia that underlines his oddly apathetic party music, and that is clearly not lost. ‘Halogen (I Could Be A Shadow)’s indie pop structure and danceable tendencies are wrapped by echoic effects added to the vocal and the gentle thrum of high-end hiss.

The detachment of the latter half of the album is arguably annoying. It’s the result of Neon Indian’s insistence on delivering woozy futurism very persistently and deliberately. But you can’t begrudge him for that. The electronic, future….mash concept is clearly strong and sounds like Lucky Charms marshmallows might do if they scrapped cereal and did music instead. Sometimes that can be a little too riddled with synthesisers but the good bits make it worth it, (much like Lucky Charms themselves!) Luck Charms and Neon Indian are surely a marketing tie-in made in heaven when you think about it.

What Palomo does for his third album will really be interesting (not to diminish the obviously considerable effort he must have put in to making this one.) I guess when you’ve made an album as mad as this, what do you do next?!

The album is out now so you can buy it, or you can wait till 10th October for one of these deluxe synthesiser bundles that Rough Trade are doing. Up to you really, innit?

a bit of a New Look fiend at present but...

...summary of recent New Look news:

1. New Look will be touring the UK and Europe from October onwards, including two nights in London. See their website for details.

2. On 7th October during the day they will be playing a special gig at Rough Trade East, London for those who purchased the album. Entry by wristband only: click here for details

3. The self-titled album will be released on 26th September. Click here to check out three of the tracks (Nap on the Bow, You & I and Drive You Home).

4. New Look got mainstream British attention by being The Guardian's New Band of the Day for 14th September. In it, the upcoming record was hailed as "one of the albums of the year."

Wow, all this New Look news in only three days! The internet works in mysterious ways.

New Look- Janet

New Look- Janet

(September 27th 2011)

New Look- Nap on the Bow

New Look- The Ballad

I’d like to thank a blog called WDPK 83.7 fm, which looks right up my alley according to a cursory viewing for they've revealed to me a band called New Look, who were featured on Jamie xx’s IMMENSE BBC Radio 1 mix broadcast 27^th August. Somehow they passed me by.

Information on New Look proved hard to come by but I got hold of some in the end. An album is due on 26th September via !K7 Records- although I can't find a name- and the band, consisting of married couple Sarah Ruba and Adam Pavao hail from Canada. It won't be their first release. An EP called How's My Hair was out in 2008 (listen to it here).

Anyway, head over to WDPK 83.7 fm to download ‘The Ballad’ and ‘Nap on the Bow’, which show that New Look really have some special vibes, or check them out above. Haunting electro ballads with deep R&B hooks. 'Nap on the Bow' is my favourite. It's an absolute belter.

Their website is http://newlookmusic.com/

Also find Jamie xx mix containing other aural nuggets.

Jamie xx Essential Mix by Young Turks

Polock Getting Down From the Trees

Polock are Spanish but write the kind of indie that became endemic in England between about 2004 and 2008: vocal-led; about the pub, about chips; lots of jangly guitars: real guys, having a lark. There’s no NME-suited stuff going on here anymore…generally, but coming from a different geographical place entirely anyway, Polock were unlikely to have ever been party to it.

I write about ‘Fireworks’ today, simply because it is a gorgeous day here in London. The sun is out and its mild warmth brightens the trees and city skyscrapers. Specifically, if you go around listening to ‘Fireworks’ in that sort of primed environment, it will be hard (rest assured) to break into a contented smile, or at the very teeniest, a strutting step to the melody. There is an excellent melody to this song you see, even if you can’t tell what the Valencian dude is saying, which I’m sure most people can’t.

Oddly, it is difficult to find much about the band, which is a great shame. Their album ‘Getting Down From the Trees’ is a stomping straight indie number. Much like The Wombats, much like Vampire Weekend (check out ‘Nightshot’ and ‘Sometimes’ for the obvious comparison), much like Sweden’s Shout Out Louds, the songs creep under your nails, into your tissue and through your system, sounding so clearly inoffensive that it would rarely be noticed.

The interesting question is where we stand now with music like this. Where is mainstream indie? Perhaps I am out of touch, but are people out there still listening to the radio? Has anything happened to the commercial centre ground?

Polock - Fireworks by Mushroom Pillow

Even New-er James Blake!

Well I'm acutely aware this is being focused on disproportionately but as an example of an album not being everything in this digital world, three unreleased songs from James Blake have surfaced recently.

'Love What Happened Here' featured on a mix by the suitably named Fantastic Mr Fox last year (just to demonstrated the link between these two young UK producers a little more). You can listen to it below, courtesy of The Up Turn. (For more on Fantastic Mr Fox, check out my other posts).

And in other JB news, Some Kind of Awesome have posted 'You Know Your Youth'. This is a scatty b-side that features as a bonus track on the vinyl version of the album, as if hearing the rest of it on the warmth of record wasn't enough. LISTEN BELOW! Post-Dubstep have posted another (!_) vinyl-only bonus track, 'Tep And The Logic', which iiiiiiiss, HERE. What a lovely bunch!

James Blake- James Blake LP, The Much Anticipated Debut

When the final moment of James Blake’s meteoric rise to fame took place, newspapers, magazines and websites looked back together on five months in which a 22 year old music student from London went from a virtual unknown- a barely featured artist on the national dubstep scene- to the darling of Radio 1, cleared from the shelves, wonder producer. When playing a set on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show, Lowe treated him like near-messianic pop royalty, inquiring after the album in such a way as it had already set as a classic. Check your local store for CMYK. You won't find it. Then check Ebay. Try and buy a ticket for his upcoming London shows. Then check Ebay. Appetites gorged on opportunities to see and hear him like the first hour of the Sales. Blake saw, or perhaps more accurately, he was seen, and he conquered, beyond all recognition.

Since shedding the petals of a first bloom, James Blake- the LP- picked up the mantle a few days ago from the 2 EPs that clearly spoke to music lovers for much longer than their 15 minute run times. Here the big posturing, media work and endless London Underground adverts really took over. Atlas, owned by Polydor released it in the UK. An expected immediate entry into the UK top 10. Universal in the US. Tours on both sides of the Atlantic. There really is no overstating the change that took place, nor the intensity and focus of our interest.

To that reception, a quiet animal arises. James Blake is a brooding and discordant record such that one would expect a well-known and already seasoned creative artist to make to compliment their work. This is Neil Young jumping straight to the digi-stuff on Trans without years of classic rock and traditional songsmanship. It is ambitious, does away with CMYK and Klavierwerke to a large extent and forgets what everyone might expect James Blake, a young cool producer, to be and sound like. If you’ve already read a review of this album, you have almost certainly seen a comparison with Bon Iver and that is a view I take too. As incomprehensible as it seems, the minimal dubstep of CMYK and piano/vocal combination of Klavierwerke are smashed together and toned down about three notches on the scale of druggy dance. The result is, oddly enough, down-tempo slow-building laments that stew in a pickle of electronics, clicks and auto-tuned vocals a la Blood Bank more than For Emma, Forever Ago. If that sounds horrible, James Blake’s Feist cover ‘Limit To Your Love’ (which features on this album) showed four months ago that Blake is versatile, adaptable and brimming with ideas. The core of this album is at ‘Lindesfarne I’ and ‘Lindesfarne II’- one song really, but split into the bit that’s almost completely vocal-only (yes, that’s right), and the bit that’s almost completely vocal-only with a few rhythmic flicks of a guitar here and there. Busy it is not. Silent moments on these and other tracks such as ‘I Never Learnt To Share’ (again, very much devoid of instrumentation) and ‘Why Don’t You Call Me’ serve as nervy seconds of reflection to stress and package the real sound that is carefully dotted around. Is it complicated? No, I wouldn’t say so either. The creations are just excellently crafted- like ‘I Mind’, perhaps the closest thing to Blake’s CMYK with its pitch-altering and dizzying sample, rarely places more than a chord and a carefully selected sound effect in any one place, breaking them up intermittently and unexpectedly for a new, sparing but deliberate ration of sound.

The lack of general confusion here, every action seemingly precision-engineered, makes for a focused and seriously engaging record. As though it were a dance of electronic hypnosis, each apparently immaterial singular blip or background chord hits a deeper place than it ought to. This is James Blake’s real crowning achievement. If ‘Limit To Your Love’ was its show piece, there might have been a sense of disappointment among keen followers, asking why a producer with a seemingly natural ear for choreographed minimalism and general creativity would conform to neat song structure or allow an excellent radio smash to take control of the record musically. But ‘Wilhelms Scream’, ‘Lindesfarne’ and seven other tracks do thrust Blake into an excellent direction, and, most promisingly, nothing sounds like it was a labour of pain or self-conscious worry. For a man on top of the world right now, Blake has a lot to be pleased about, and hopefully, a long career to look forward to.

Stream the album HERE courtesy of eminently lovely 'Pretty Much Amazing'

root of it all

The turbulent political climate in the US today reminds citizens of the battles fought over the Vietnam War, civil rights and social norms in the late 1960s. It was and remains a rich cultural stomping ground. When the divide between left and right hardens beyond a certain point, many artists still choose to up politics; they remember the way in which fundamentals of musical evolution in the 20th century were linked to politics- poverty, anti-war, black struggle- and they have various and vivid reference points from which to begin: “Bill Withers recorded this song at the end of the Vietnam War. As I record this now, America- the land of peace and prosperity is in the middle of two wars.” After Bill spoke to a young man who had served, he wrote ‘I Can’t Write Left-Handed’. Social consciousness is the central tenet in this part-heated, part-laid back collaboration between The Roots and John Legend, and yet, what seems so unusual about it, is how despite the above quote, it is pretty much isolated as an activist record by a high profile artist or artists. I mean really; you have to be daft not to figure out that this is a concept album- a clear, unambiguous plea for anti-war and liberal politics. “War is hell. It always has been and always will be.” ‘What this music is about- indeed why it was made, is so important to bear in mind. ‘Wake Up!’ is about America today; informed by it, holding up a mirror to it and making bold statements about it, with protest songs. It is something so alien to the chart today as political musicians- at most- aren’t putting their thoughts into their music, if considering it part of their modus at all. For The Roots and Legend then, big-selling commercial artists, the need for this to be a record that fans can take into their hearts just as much as any other, and enjoy- simply- ‘for the music’ is a naturally restraining force on the activist statements. It makes the idea of ‘Wake Up!’, which evokes the extreme, urgent militancy of The Last Poets’ seminal ‘This is Madness’, an uncomfortable, somewhat cringe-worthy proposition in principle and often on listening.

Legend’s six-grammy award winning, philanthropic juggernaut of soul man is a natural partner musically for a band whose focus is the soulful, instrument-led end of hip-hop. We arrive on ‘Hard Times’; a quite self-explanatory suggestion of the themes and general messages to come. But it is not, in any way, an expression of how you will feel about the music. Legend’s silky tones are first exemplified by Questlove’s excellent signature hollowed out percussion, and then by Black Thought, who raps on alternate verses. It’s a blend of direct, sobering vocals and Legend’s typically reassuring tones, but from the very beginning, the soul and hip-hop directions self-evidently complement one another.

When you listen to ‘Wake Up!’, the oozing swagger of ‘Wake Up Everybody!’ is hard to miss. Melanie Fiona delivers a refreshing zing on guest vocals, emanating the clarity, harmony and sunny optimism of the song’s uplifting message (established by Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes more than 30 years ago): “Wake up all the teachers, time to teach a new way. Maybe then they’ll listen to what you have to say.” The block by block repetition of the structure, with doctors, builders and everybody(!) builds a disarmingly anthemic message. I recommend listening to both versions for an interesting comparison on how this bad boy looked in 1975.

The Roots draw inspiration from the various strands of black culture that have entwined with messages of social consciousness over the past 50 years, some radical, and some moderate, like the gospel references on ‘I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free’. ‘Humanity’s reggae vibe, for example, sits quite uncomfortably alongside Legend’s unmistakably jazz-lounge style- an example of one of those instances where pushing a tempered, accessible sound as well as an honest replication of a genre’s political essence hasn’t really worked. Generally-speaking however, smooth intonements and production do successfully elevate the messages, rather than obstructing them. The 11-minute march ‘I Can’t Write Left-Handed’ and ‘Our Generation (Hope of the World)’ also show that loosely hung together, spontaneous outbursts of feeling are never outshone by more comfortable, softer numbers (‘Shine’ and ‘Holy’).

‘Wake Up!’ is an exciting, rich and diverse accomplishment that has clearly been produced with much thought and evaluation. Not only are The Roots and John Legend pillars of modern music today in their own rights, but the coming together of the former’s driving brass and lyrics, and the latter’s unmatched urban sophistication make this an album of different shades and dimensions, painting mellow, pretty and insular pictures at times, and at others outward, angry and revolutionary ones. Across the spectrum, this is a tale of political feeling and thought. Yet, perhaps, what rings out truest is that there was a time when every artist seemed to have something to say. From Bill Withers to Nina Simone, this album does its rich cultural ancestry proud.

John Legend & The Roots- I Can't Write Left-Handed
John Legend & The Roots- Wake Up Everybody
John Legend & The Roots- I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free