Album Reviews
V/A
- Dan Y Cownter 2
Radio 1
DJ Huw Stephens presents this FREE album – crammed with pop oddities
– unearthed in his own back yard. What’s the catch? It’s
all in Welsh!
Accompanied by exhaustive sleeve-notes detailing Welsh language organisations, venues, media, labels and festivals – this album is a timely showcase for some of the acts currently bubbling away in Wales. Although I didn’t understand a word of it, it really didn’t affect my enjoyment of it at all! In fact, on tracks by the likes of Genod Droog and Swci Boscawen, the Welsh language definitely enhances the woozy hypnotic flavour of the songs.
Other highlights include: a bewitching, folksy strum from Gorky’s mainstay Richard James; ex-Big Leaves types Sibrydion who – armed with kazoos – come closest to evoking the Super Furries playfulness; and Stitches who inject a welcome undercurrent of menace into proceedings. In fact: the only artists who didn’t work for me were Radio Luxembourg with their bizarre approximation of The Buzzcocks and Y Diwygiad with their rather stodgy brand of Welsh hip-hop. Nevertheless: much to celebrate here. Thanks Huw! 8/10
This
Et Al - Baby Machines
After a succession of rare singles on super-cool labels like Dance To
The Radio and Double Dragon, and positive press everywhere from the NME
to The Sun(!), Northern noiseniks This Et Al have finally given birth
to their debut album: the eagerly-anticipated ‘Baby Machine’.
Recorded and mixed by Richard Green of Ultrasound fame the album is an
urgent, self-assured piece of work that blends visions of a troubled future
with breathless vocals, skewed lyrics and nerve-wracked guitars. Indeed,
the band themselves describe the subject matter as: a “journey into
the disenchantment and paranoia of the new post-millenial underclasses”.
Oft-cited sonic references to the likes of Sonic Youth, Muse and …
Trail of Dead are all present and correct – apparent, but
brilliantly restrained at the same time. I say: dreamily-apocalyptic art-rock. This Et Al are teetering on the brink – in more than one way… 8/10
Bone-Box
- Death of a Prizefighter
Cementing
their reputation as England’s answer to Lambchop – with their
moody dark-hued Americana – it’s time to get reacquainted
with Bone-Box… Comparisons to Lambchop only tell half the story
though … On their boozy, murky new record Bone-Box offer up nods
to the distinctive oeuvre of Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Johnny Dowd and Jim
White, but it is always perfectly clear that chief Bone-Boxer Jay Taylor
is his own man. Across this tenderly misanthropic album, he stalks the
Manchester backwoods like an urban cowboy-turned-shabby preacherman –
reeling off his noir-flecked stories to a musical accompaniment that ranges
from brooding mariachi to twisted jazz freakout. File under amusingly-hellish
Northern Gothic. 8/10
Brisk, brutal album of short, sharp shock-pop from the Brighton trio - recently crowned champions of www.nme.com’s Breaking Bands competition. Far from being the kind of dreadful post-Libertines chancers we’ve come to expect from the NME, My Device are actually a much rawer proposition than I was expecting. Their ragged rock-outs combine discordant US underground noise with Fall-style idiosyncracy and contemporary angular poise. Single ‘I Was Brave Today’ stands out amid the frequently blistering noise and other tracks like ‘That’s All Folks’ also impress. However, overall the album is a bit of a mess – a likable mess – but a mess nonetheless. Not a convincing whole, but amongst the noise there is a great mini-album’s worth of spazzed-out alt.rock
waiting for you. Anyway - not at all what I expected from an NME-helmed internet talent contest – and all the more refreshing for that. 7/10
All reviews by Tom Leins