Baby Bird, forever burdened by the fame of "that" hit. Well, maybe not. Here
Stephen Jones shows himself to be a talented and intelligent songwriter. Recent
singles " the F Word" and the outstanding "Out Of Your Sight" are easy matches
for any previous hits. The whole album swells with invention and reminds you
why he created such a stir when he emerged. The stand out track is probably "Fireflies" a
moving yet thoughtful account of how insects suffer at
the hands of children. Unique, accessible and timeless. Nice one.
 OK, a brief
history lesson. Badly Drawn Boy (aka Damon Gough) and his mate Andy Votel
decided to set up a record label in their home of Manchester. First release
was a limited Badly Drawn Boy EP. All hell broke loose. All the major labels
came sniffing. They wisely avoided them and release Badly Drawn Boy records
with XL, home of the Prodigy amongst others. Twisted Nerve blossoms as a
home of the weird and wonderful. Badly Drawn Boy releases a succession of
very excellent singles. The first two EPs are now supposed to sell for about £40,
not that I have managed to find any for sale anywhere. So, this album has to
meet with very high expectations. It comes as no surprise to find that it surpasses
all expectations. Featuring collaborations with Twisted Nerve artists Alfie,
Mum & Dad and Andy Votel, as well as fellow Mancunians Doves, this really
is a stunner. Only the last two singles ("Once Around the Block" and "Another
Pearl") are present and everything else is brand, spanking new and fantastic.
It kicks off with the beautiful sound of " the Shining" and does not let up
once. Sometimes the songs sound so fragile, like on "This Song" or "Stone on
the Water", others are more experimental and "Disillusion" is a groovy little
number, like Dylan fronting Sly & the Family Stone. The words "songwriting" and "genius" without
the word "boring" is the best way
to sum up this flawless debut.
the magic kicks off with "Jahquarius", a nice, chilled, dubby, song with good
reggae vocals. "Redemption Dub" picks the tempo up a little but still maintains
a mellow vibe with rolling, jazzy beats, and the dub influence is mainly noticeable,
in the clangy ,delayed, metallic like, chords . "Smooth Step" has fairly, tough,
2/2, skipping beats anda decent high end rift. "Chapter 6" throws a few more
things into the cooking pot adding a dark minimal melodic ,jungle stylised,
bass- line and beats, with also an old school house/breakbeat ,synth like,
vibe . "Detention" is more of a song like track ,similar vain to "Jahquarius",
but I feel this is the weaker of the two.
"Bills Gate" is yet another great example of "D'ulu's" diversity.
This track has got a Warp/ Artifficial Intelligence sound with
also a wicked, chilled acidic rift flowing through it. "44100" and "Vital
Sense" are great example of how Tech-House should sound and
have a lovely Dave Clarke like feel to them. "Wet Look", yet
another belter with nice, busy 2 step beats like "Smooth Step". "Rank",
which it is deffinately not, starts with a deep 4/4 beat and
is fairly minimal until a storming, U.S techno/house sounding
bassline kicks in and just to cap it off some nice cool dub
clangs are added towards the end. The album closes with"Mooger" which
returns the warpy like vibe of "Bill's Gate" with, arguably,
more of an acid house feel to it.
While there are no real catchy numbers, "Redemption" is
a shining example of how a dance album should sound. "Bandulu" do
a great job of merging the genres of music, mainly dub/reggae,
house and Techno to get a sound that they can ,with pride,
call their own. "Redemption" will surely re-affirm them as
a leading force in underground dance culture and hopefully
O'Connell, Bissmire and Thomson will not let us wait another
half decade for the next
album.
Review by Benji Moss
After
all the palaver about their proper debut album, following all
the praise of their initial EP's, the Beta's come back with
a magnificent and radically different second long player. Co-produced
by C-Swing, they've moved on from the gentle psychedelic whimsy
of their earlier material, and now have quite an urban feel. The influence of r'n'b and modern ragga can definitely be
felt, especially on tracks like the fantastic single, 'Broke'.
Of course, it's not all electro production, they are still
the Beta Band. Steve's voice and guitar work are still unmistakable
and their mastery of rhythm and melody is as spot on and warped
as ever. It's a surprising, yet thoroughly
enjoyable little romp that explodes with creativity and charm.
Welcome back.
 I remember first buying a Sugarcubes album when I was a
schoolboy. My classmates thought I was wrong in the head
when I played it to them. Here is a 15-track 'I told you
so'. Bjork is the greatest female solo artist music has
produced so far. How can you describe that incredible voice?
It soars with passion, backed by some of the finest contemporary
music of our time. From the epic strings of 'Joga', 'Bachelorette'
and 'Play Dead' to the dance floor infused sounds of 'Army
Of Me' and 'Big Time Sensuality', the songs still sound
ahead of their time.
Later songs like 'Pagan Poetry' and 'Hidden Place', where
Bjork produces herself, prove that she's a musical talent in
her own right. Unless you are one of the true fans who has
all the albums and singles, then you really do need this album
in your collection. Every track on here is pure genius. Only
the final new track 'It's In Our Hands' fails to exude pop
sensibilities. It's still genius, but lacks the crossover element
that everything else here has. Your older brother or sister
will stop the CD when it gets to that final track, but they
will still have loved the 14 songs that came first. We, on
the other hand, will lap up the whole thing. Never has the word
'great' been put to such appropriate use on a record. This
is sweet joy.
 BLOC PARTY - "SILENT ALARM REMIXED" (Wichita)
 Bloc Party's "Silent Alarm" album has definitely become my favourite album of the year, so it was interesting to find it landing on my desk this summer in a brand new form. This album has exactly the same tracklisting as "Silent Alarm", only every single track on it has been remixed. Essentially, the remixes fall into 2 camps. The album's indie-disco pleasing moments have been given faithful indie-disco bashing remixes from some of the finest producers on the scene. Into this camp fall Erol Alkan's bouncy dub remix of "She's Hearing Voices", Ladytron's electro vamp up of "Like Eating Glass" and the Phones (aka "Silent Alarm's producer Paul Epworth) soup up of "Banquet".
On the other side of the coin, the album's quieter, gentler moments have been passed to some of the finest avant-garde producers. Four Tet gives a shimmering remix of "So Here We Are", M83 take "The Pioneers" out into space, Mogwai sooth "Plans" and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs does a haunting take on "Compliments". So the lively gets livelier, the thoughtful becomes more contemplative and it all flows brilliantly to the original tracklisting. There's nothing commercial or bland here, so the purists should keep their mouths shut and their minds open, because "Silent Alarm Remixed" really does work wonderfully and breaths new life into a work that was already full of life anyway.
One of the main criticisms that moaners pop at the 'chill-out'
genre is a lack of depth or substance. If you know any
of these doubting types, tie them up, gag them and then
play them this. Blue States is the vision of Andy Dragazis,
a man possessed of an enviable amount of musical skill and a flair for innovation.
This album explores many moods, flirting with both darkness and light, all
with a widescreen panache that defies categorization.
It's an ambitious album, reaching far and wide
with a heart full of emotions. Reference points come thick
and fast - for example 'Only Today' makes you think of Bacharach
one moment and then moves on to Echo & the Bunnymen circa
'Ocean Rain' with rhythms from Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo
Band, all topped off with the rather marvelous vocals of Tahita
Bulmer aka Ty. It's not surprising that Blue States have caught
the ear of the ever-shrewd XL. If you think about their last
few signings (Lemon Jelly, Badly Drawn Boy and the White Stripes)
then you're probably beginning to realise that this is a very
special album indeed. This is music to dream to, music to enjoy
life to. You can listen to this in green fields on a midsummer's
evening or at a friend's urban flat in the bleak midwinter.
If this man does not score
a movie in the next five years, heads should roll.
This CD should be subtitled 'A bluffer's guide to Broadway
Project'. Here, in one tidy little double CD package, is
Broadway Project's 'Compassion' which has been unavailable
for a while and all the rare 12"s are compiled on the
bonus CD. Thank God. How to describe the music? Hmmmm. Probably the best starting
point would be someone like the Cinematic Orchestra. A widescreen musical soundtrack
based around sampling as much as instruments. The Broadway Project sound has
been likened to Portishead, Tom Waits, Air, Pink Floyd, Boards Of Canada and
the Orb. However, it really sounds like none of them. There elements of jazz,
classical, beats, guitar solos and e thereal samples. It's uplifting in places
and sometimes dark. Gilles Peterson and John Peel have both shown their enthusiasm.
It's a broad sound taking in many views, many moods and many sounds. It's coming
out at the end of May, just in time for the Summer of 2002. It's not the soundtrack
to a Sunny day in the garden, it's thesounds of evening with the windows open
and warm fresh air blowing through
your room. An incredible acheivement. |
