His royal funkiness is back with something that
starts at the nursery and keeps the light touch and
limited bandwidth going pretty much all through. It's
scratch the booty rather than shake it.
Dark tinged light metal that rocks along in a moderately
intelligent way with some nice tunes and riffs on the way
through. There's a duo with Michael Stipe in there too.
Low, of the long melodies and sweet harmonies, created
a bit of lowkey fuss when this was released over a year ago
in the US. There was big, thick, guitar in there! Rock out
guys! Well, in fact, it is very much a Low thing and they
haven't actually gone heavy metal or anything and at least
half the songs have more muted guitar work.
It is a sweet thing. In tracks like the opening 'Monkey'
the distortion adds a nice edge while Alan and Mimi craft
their harmonies over the top with Mimi sounding particularly
angelic.
You can catch a conversation with Alan as well as bits of
the opening and closing tracks from next month's (June 06) main
Mstation Podcast.
Ages ago, Steely Dan produced a scrumptious-looking model-du-jour
from LA. The result was, as you'd expect, a pretty nice album in
all sorts of ways but it didn't enjoy huge commercial success and
I can't remember her name now, but I should.
Jane Birkin wasn't produced by SD. And she's not du-jour at all.
She's English, was born in 1946 and was the long time
partner of Frenchman Serge Gainsbourg with whom she managed to create
a scandal and lots of free publicity with a song called "Je t'aime moi non plus"
in 1969. And this is
a French album with no particular pandering to the world market
except for songs presented in English. Here's an excerpt from
a biographical page about her ...
Some of the songs are French chanson-like and some are more
rocky in the crafted Steely Dan way that reminded me of the LA
woman. They don't actually sound like SD songs at all I should
add. There's also an electro-dancy song 'Ou est la ville' (where
is the town) which is nicely put together.
So what's that all got to do with Steely Dan and the forgotten model?
(thunderfinger)
Moody beats from progressive house DJ James Holden.
"Progressive" suggests there's some art to be found
floating around, and indeed there is ... but in a
nice way. There are 32 tracks all told.
Oh yes, and the next promo we get that's altered to
make it worthless (this one has periodic annoying voiceovers)
goes straight in the rubbish bin.
So why should we pay attention to the guy who wrote
Smoke on the Water and sang with Black Sabbath and Deep Purple?
If you don't like guitar or metalish things then there's no
reason why you should. If you do, even just a little bit,
this double-sided disc (CD and DVD) is a lot of fun. We
have Satriani, Michael Lee Jackson, Uli Jon Roth, Steve Morse,
Jeff Healey, Dean Howard, Tony Iommi and Redd Volkaert amongst
others, playing tight heavy stuff with some lightning breaks
thrown in.
The really nice thing about the whole thing is its honesty --
no efforts to be trendy, no faux electronica, no PC themes (fuck
off weenies), no short hair! It's a rollicking celebration
of big guitar, big steps, and big hair days, as well as being
a blues tribute in a kind of a way. And boy is it tight! There's
also a cast-of-thousands remake of Smoke on the Water.
(thunderfinger)
This is a sampler from Domino which includes Franz Ferdinand, The Kills,
Four Tet, Sons and Daughters, Psapp, Clearlake, Adem, and Juana Molina
amongst others. This is the same label that brought you the Arctic Monkeys
but they're not here.
It's a pretty interesting collection of indy world stuff -- mostly
guitar-based with the exception of a bleep-funk track from the Junior
Boys which is cool. And there's the guitar soundscapey stuff from
Juana Molina as well.
Quite a nice package.
(Dr Boots)
Funky licks and dirty guitar with blaxsploitation
fashion sense.
Cutesy-pie disco dance funk stuff from NYC with remixes
from Zoo Brazil, Christopher Just, Magik Johnson and Rob Mello.
Have some Earth, Wind, and Fire moments.
Mstation Pop etc Commentary, Reviews
pre Dec 04 reviews are here
Mon, 01 May 2006
Prince, 3121
LP, Universal
Placebo, Meds
LP, EMI
Low, The Great Destroyer
LP, Sub Pop in USA, Rough Trade in UK/EU
Jane Birkin, Fictions
LP, Capitol
www.janebirkin.fr
'Jane, who had spent so many years of her career performing and reworking
songs by her legendary Pygmalion, Gainsbourg, branched out in a new
direction on her album, "Fictions" (released in March 2006). For the
first time in her career, she went back to singing almost exclusively in
English and explored new musical territory thanks to collaborations with
artists from the new music scene on both sides of the Channel. Anglo
guest songwriters included Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy), who
contributed a poignant ballad about childhood entitled "Home", Beth
Gibbons (ex-Portishead) who penned a song called "My Secret" and the
Canadian Gonzales (who also arranged the album) .wrote "Living in
Limbo."
Other highlights on "Fictions" included cover versions of "Alice" (Tom
Waits) and "Mother Stands for Comfort" (Kate Bush). French songwriters
also starred on JaneÕs new album, Dominique A contributing the superb
"Ou est la ville?", Cali giving Jane "Sans toi" and Arthur H penning the
remarkable "La reine sans royaume." These musical vignettes, tinged with
a certain melancholy and nostalgia, made "Fictions" one of JaneÕs most
intimate and personal albums to date.'
(www.rfimusique.com/siteen/biographie/biographie_6157.asp)
James Holden, At The Controls
2 CD's, Resist Music
www.jamesholden.org
Ian Gillan, Gillan's Inn
LP and DVD, Immergent
www.gillan.com
various, They'll Have to Catch Us First
LP, Domino
www.dominorecordco.com
Ben Harper, Both Sides of the Gun
LP, Virgin
33Hz, Hot Flashes/Crazy All the Time
6 track 7" or download, defDrive
www.defdrive.net
