Yourcodenameis: MILO PRINT IS DEAD VOL. 1. V2
This is fucked up and amazing! It’s like a compilation album, with loads of artists, but done by the one; a great idea that you feel can’t work, but does and so gloriously well. The juxtaposed sense of sound and melody truly takes this record from the bars to the stars via cars driving very fast with stereos on full tilt, rocking in the free world, rocking in a new world, rocking in a new way. Each track stands alone and stands to the one next to it, the consistency of delivering great songs is evident from the moment the needle hits the groove.
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Tiny Dancers Live
Barfly Liverpool: 15 November 2006
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Now It’s Overhead DARK LIGHT DAYBREAK. Saddle Creek
Independent labels in the UK and the USA are growing, mainly due to their ability to find and foster adventurous, distinctive, and generally new talent. Saddle Creek is one such USA label started by the artists themselves and boasting acts such as Bright Eyes, Azure Ray, Cursive, The Faint, and this band, Now It’s Overhead. DARK LIGHT DAYBREAK is a fine collection of rock songs, beautifully produced from a band worthy of greater recognition.
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Sparklehorse DREAMT FOR LIGHT YEARS IN THE BELLY OF A MOUNTAIN. Parlophone
Ever thought what the Beach Boys would sound like if they were still recording today? My guess is that this is the type of record they would make. Mark Linkous has taken five years to record his follow-up to the highly acclaimed IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, and that’s a long time in anyone’s language. The album was recorded in his studio in North Carolina with an extensive range of contributors and collaborators including Dangermouse, Johnny Hott, Sophie Michalitsianos, Scott Minor, Stephen Drodz (Flaming Lips), David Fridmann and Christian Fennesz. The album also includes a previously unreleased track with Tom Waits on piano.
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Humanzi TREMORS. Fiction
Over the last year there has been an influx of new guitar bands, some good, some bad, and some very average indeed. Ireland’s Humanzi is one of the better and rockier ones who have already won acclaim and many fans back home. On the strength of this record the guys should make a few friends here as well…
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Damien Rice 9. 14th Floor
We were the first UK music magazine to write about this formidable Irish singer/songwriter, many months before his first album O became public knowledge over here. Our album review left us in no doubt that he could be as popular as David Gray (who we also reviewed many months before the UK media caught on after finding out about him in Ireland), and so we hot-footed it over to Dublin to catch his Witnness Festival performance. The show confirmed to us that Damien Rice was one of the most important singer/songwriters to emerge in recent years. When he finally trod the boards in the UK we caught up with him again when he supported Kathryn Williams at the Liverpool Philharmonic, where he stole the show. That evening he stood by his merch stand in the foyer to sign albums and chat to punters. My associate still has the album he drew a strange little picture on – I wonder how much that is worth now… Rice’s second album has been slow in arriving, but given his almost continuous worldwide tour schedule (and in the process his conquest of the challenging USA market) it’s hardly surprising. It was worth the wait…
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Charlotte Gainsbourg 5:55. Atlantic
With song writing friends like Jarvis Cocker, Neil Hannon, Nicolas Godin, and Jean-Benoit Dunckel, who needs a voice? I’m being cynical here but I suspect even Charlotte herself would admit to not possessing the greatest voice in the popular music market. The trick therefore has to be to mould songs around the singer’s capabilities and persona – no easy task. So has this formidable song writing team and performer succeeded? I believe they have…
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Deftones SATURDAY NIGHT WRIST. Warner
Our eagerly awaited ‘albums of the year’ selection is close at hand, and as usual it will include an eclectic range of music including heavy metal. I’ll cut to the chase and state categorically that SATURDAY NIGHT WRIST will feature strongly.
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Patricia Barber MYTHOLOGIES. Blue Note
Over the past two years Patricia Barber, USA jazz singer/songwriter/pianist extraordinaire, has been recording an eleven-song cycle. She called it MYTHOLOGIES and based it on The Metamorphoris of Ovid - the centuries-old classic of Western literature written by Roman poet Ovid; filled with gods, mortals and apparently, humour. Sounds crazy? Sounds dense and incomprehensible? Think again… This is Barber’s ninth album and it’s as accessible as those that went before, i.e. to music lovers and jazz aficionados she is one of the most accomplished and accessible jazz artists around. MYTHOLOGIES is a supreme example of the artist’s song writing skill, and is a must-have for any lover of serious contemporary music.
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