Some recent ones from the Sunday Tribune.Turin Brakes
Dark On Fire (48:42)
Source
**
Does earnestness really have a place in indie music when the best music being made in that genre is about fun, life, energy? Turin Brakes are stuck in a sincere limbo, and no doubt this album will be drowned by a sea of indie kids who just want to dance. It’s annoying in its sincerity, with the emphasis on vocals that are clearly not as good as the Brakes think they are, and do not deserve such a large platform amongst the rest of the production. It’s not completely irrelevant or redundant, but The Veils do this kind of dramatic indie much better. Lyrically, it’s quite presumptuous too: “I am the ghost / that you need the most.” Um, no.
Download: ‘Dark On Fire’
The CasualtiesMade In N.Y.C.
Side One Dummy Records
****
If stage-diving, spitting and tipping your fag ash into 40 ounce bottles of malt liquor are your favourite passed times, then I suggest you buy this record. It’s a rawkus, deliciously clichéd punk romp from one of New York’s most enduring independent bands. 22 live tracks come with a DVD that documents the band’s current state, the demise of punk rock around the Lower East Side and live footage that will make you want to swim all the way to the Knitting Factory. Messy, entertaining and occasionally great with ‘Made In N.Y.C.’ and ‘Punx Unite’ as essential for any punk fan as the obligatory ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ cover is. Great fun.
Download: ‘Made In N.Y.C.’, ’40 OZ. Casualty’, ‘On The Streets’
RadioheadIn Rainbows (37:26)
Digital release / no label
****
With all the hype surrounding Radiohead’s revolutionary distribution technique of providing an honesty box online so fans can decide how much their record is worth - and the repercussions that has for the music industry - you could almost have forgotten the music. Almost. But ‘In Rainbows’, Radiohead’s best album in seven years doesn’t allow for that. ‘This one’s optimistic’, Thom Yorke sung on track six of their groundbreaking fourth album ‘Kid A’ in 2000. It wasn’t of course. And since then, the band delved into a dark and sometimes unsatisfactory journey aiming to become more complex, more adventurous, more affected than their indie peers. It may come as a surprise then, four years in the making, Radiohead have produced a rather simple record. There are no fireworks, no slaps on the face, no ‘oh my god, what have they done’ headlines screaming from music magazines that greeted both ‘Ok Computer’ and ‘Kid A’. It sounds like a band who have calmed down. There is a sense of comfort throughout, summed up by a song that has been around for the best part of a decade, ‘Nude’, finally making the cut. After a false start with the hasty ’15 Step’ and the angry ‘Bodysnatchers’, ‘In Rainbows’ shows its colours. Almost every track is stripped of busyness and instead, acoustic guitars, strings and a mellowness reign. Radiohead has substituted ambition and density with beauty. ‘House Of Cards’ is one of the most perfect, most tender tracks they’ve ever written. ‘All I Need’ and ‘Faust Arp’ are two incredibly effortless and soothing songs. And in spite of a couple of loud interruptions, the softness conspires to create that ability that a good Radiohead album always had: to transport you into their headspace. ‘Today has been has been the most perfect day I’ve ever seen’, announces the final track ‘Videotape’, summing up a band at peace with their talents and their creation.
Download: ‘House of Cards’, ‘Videotape’, ‘Nude’
Prefuse 73Preparations (46:12)
Warp
***
Scott Herren is nothing if not prolific, managing to make, produce and release around ten albums in the last seven years, along with producing and managing other artists. No wonder then, that ‘Preparations’ sounds a little frantic. Samples, in true glitch-hop style, are spliced within an inch of their lives. Miraculously, as a lolloping flow takes hold of the sometimes free form style of the record, the whole thing appears quite chilled despite the frenzied architecture of the sounds. It’s a testimony to Herren’s talent as a producer, even is he frequently favours frivolous trickery over hooks and melody.
Download: ‘I Knew You Were Gonna Go’
Star Little Thing
It’s East To Be Alive You Just Are (47:12)
Rollin Cloud
***
Splicing fashionable sounds together in the hope that a song will emerge, Star Little Thing have created a rather self-indulgent record not without moments of quality. Everything is here; 8-bit blips, robotic vocals, David Byrne slurs, spacey guitars, worked-on drums. Song titles are replaced with existential phraseology that probably necessitates a large amount of weed to garner any understanding. ‘Thinking All Along In One Line’ is a great sweeping mish mash of an introduction. A half to two thirds of each song is generally great musically, even if the lyrics are . All of the elements are there; current sounds, nice tempos, catchy sections, some nice progressions. But the oomph is missing. Still, impressive enough if achingly self-consciously ‘cool’.
Download: ‘‘Thinking All Along In One Line’, ‘Where Is The Child Is Gone’, ‘Doin It Fixin It’
James Murphy & Pat MahoneyFabriclive 36 (1:00:06)
Fabric
****
Well, there’s your winter party soundtrack sorted. Murphy and Mahoney of LCD Soundsystem dig into the past, present and future to find rare and forgotten disco, funk and electronic miscellaneous gems for this great mix tape. From the groovy 1970’s bass lines of Lenny Williams to Chic, Was (Was Not), Junior Bryon and LCD Soundsystem themselves, there’s so much great stuff here. Despite the variety of the artists, the hour of music is put together with such comprehensive precision that it flows perfectly, which is some achievement. Any self-respecting bar or restaurant owner looking for some decent music to play at their spot should pick this up.
Download: ‘Tell Me That I’m Dreaming’, ‘Dance To The Music’, ‘Tablakone’
StarsIn Our Bedroom After The War (55:48)
City Slang
**
Stars, one of the many off-shoot bands of Broken Social Scene, released a great album three years ago. Unfortunately, this follow-up is disappointing. Instead of sparkling indie, we’re treated to flat, self-indulgent bland pop. ‘The Ghost of Genova Heights’ is desperate 80s pedestrian stuff and the embarrassing ‘Barricade’ lyrics detailing love at a riot are almost intolerable. Amy Milan’s voice is far more palatable than Torquil Campbell’s, but this doesn’t stop him from taking charge of most of the tracks, most annoyingly on the melodramatic Morrissey-lite of ‘Life 2: Unhappy Ending’. ‘Take Me To The Riot’ and ‘The Night Stars Here’ save the record from true boredom.
Download: ‘The Night Starts Here’
PJ Harvey
White Chalk
Universal
****
In the sixteenth year of her recording career, Harvey has reached yet another pinnacle of excellence. This utterly haunting piano driven album draws melodies out of the sparsest of riffs and floating high-pitched vocal melodies. It’s one of those rare modern records where you can actually hear the recording, the room where the music was made and the atmosphere within it. Lyrically, she draws from her familiar subjects of loneliness, isolation, nature and dark love. The real instrument - her voice - sounds stripped and purposely anaemic. She sings almost like a small girl lost in a forest of the recordings. For once, producer Flood doesn’t smother anything, and lets the delicateness of the songs speak on their own. One of the finest yet most frail albums released this year.
Download: ‘To Talk To You’, ‘When Under Ether’, ‘Dear Darkness’
Happy Hallowe'en everyone!
