Indie decade

(Morning Star, Friday 12 October 2007)

ALBUM: Idlewild - Scottish Fiction: Best of 1997-2007
(Parlophone)

INDIE folkster Roddy Woomble's Celtic indie songsters Idlewild have been chart-bothering for 10 years.

Idlewild's original incarnation as youthful noiseniks is fully represented here, with the unsurpassable When I Argue I See Shapes and These Wooden Ideas making an appearance, but, as with all best-of collections, it is astonishing to see the path that they have followed, through the REM-style tuneful mediocrity of American English, the more traditional stylings of Live in a Hiding Place and the 1980s rock sound of No Promises.

Enthralling and inspiring when at their best, this band will last at least another decade and, going by their current record, they'll yield some corkers.

Scottish treasure shines again

(Morning Star, Friday 05 October 2007)

ALBUM: Edwyn Collins - Home Again
(Heavenly Records)

EDWYN Collins should be up there with castles, shortbread and devolution - he's something that the Scottish have got absolutely right.

There are column inches about his stroke a couple of years ago, filled with patronising platitudes.

The truth is that Collins is a national treasure who, even with his unfortunate change in circumstances, has brought out one of the freshest, most enduring, most exciting records of the year.

Let no-one consider patronising here, of a man with a grasp on a rhyming couplet roundly denied most artists to reach the top 10 these days.

Home Again is an album for lovers and family, about youth and heartache, getting older and being loved.

One is a Lonely Number is a cracking opener, with an Orange Juice-style rhythm and plenty in the way of strangely prophetic lyrics which could almost foretell his stroke were one to be looking.

Elsewhere, the title track wouldn't sound out of place on a Richard Hawley record, which is an astounding compliment and You'll Never Know My Lovetakes the best soul of the Style Council and melds it with Collins's own uniquely moving voice.

The high point Leviathan pays homage to the great wilderness of Collins's own country, all brooding and Scottish.

It would have been to music fans' cost had Collins given up on recording. Home Again is his gift to the listener and it's a rich and wonderful record, shot through with hope and aspiration alongside realistic darknesses. Collins on this album, after all this time, truly is home again.

THE MONKS KITCHEN – THE WIND MAY HOWL

(AU magazine September 2007)

(1965 Records)

Dealing in the psychedelic pop normally associated with the Summer of Love, listeners would be forgiven for imagining they’ve taken a step back in time with The Wind May Howl.
Although this is the London band’s debut release, the presence here – as founder member – of Alfie’s Lee Gorton tells you all you need to know about sweet harmonies aplenty and melodies refracted through youthful memories of exuberant days in the park with friends.
The Monks Kitchen’s way of taking the innocence of the 1960s and planting it in NOW! will either delight or exasperate. Let heart rule head and it will be the former.

More than Allen

(Morning Star, Friday 31 August 2007)

ALBUM: Kate Nash - Made of Bricks
(Polydor)

SOME media darlings are in the frame for so long that it feels like they've been recording since nursery. Kate Nash is just one such performer.

It is astounding that this is only her debut release, so in the public eye has she been since Lily Allen sainted her all those moons ago.

Nash takes her cue from Allen as regards her Estuary accent and pitching her lyrics at a modern, fun level. The words here are shot through with cultural references and sassy language, but Nash's folky roots and the essence of her music go far beyond Allen's oeuvre, finding a magic and beauty in love stories, such as Birds, and break-ups, such as in radio favourite Foundations, that Allen misses time and again.

The 19-year-old Londoner may be a passing fad, but the songs which she has committed to record on Made of Bricks stand by themselves regardless of this year's musical landscape.

With an absolute high point in Merry Happy, the record is the essence of summer spent with your very best friend, checking out boys and bitching about girls. It's all a laugh, innit?

Average emo

(Morning Star, Friday 27 July 2007)

ALBUM: Reuben - In Nothing We Trust
(Hideous Records)

RESEARCHING Reuben, distinctiveness is the central theme. "Distinctive, vigorous style" and "distinctive nasal vocals" pop up, but not one of the reviews or pundits refers to Reuben as "distinctly average," which is a bit of a misstep.

The Farnborough trio of emo underdogs have come far since 2001 saw their inception in this form, but their aggressive guitar and introspective lyrics even on this, their third record, show that they took their musical cue from early noughties emotional hardcore compadres such as Hundred Reasons.

On album opener Cities on Fire, the guys step away from the heavy guitar for a few bars, before the quiet rhythm and bass blasts into a big dirty riff and thrashing percussion.

The band's musical maturity is evident on Suffocation of Soul, a track which utilises harmonising and howling in pretty much equal measure.

But attacking Joy Division and Morrissey on Crushed Under the Weight of the Enormous Bullshit is probably the nadir, considering that these young upstarts have yet to earn their musical legend stripes.

Considering the tone of the record, one would have to surmise that Reuben are pissed off being unknown. But don't call them underdogs - their bite may well be worse than their bark.

A real Latin feel

(Morning Star, Friday 27 July 2007)

ALBUM: Cat Empire - Two Shoes
(Universal)

IF Cat Empire could place a personal ad to attract new fans, it would go something like this: "Aussie six-piece with penchant for jazz fusion seeks ridiculously joy-filled listener for many hours of aural pleasure."

The Cat Empire make music for parties. They enjoy mixing styles up in a big pot of glee and spewing out rock-funk-ska-jazz all over their records. And so they should, they're bloody good at it.

Their third record Two Shoes is a winner for the world music-straddling colossus, reaching the dizzy heights of summer on virtually every track - a Cuban summer of heat and passion, not a soggy British summer.

There's a second on track Days Like This when the human heart is actually at its happiest, so thrilled with the clever lyricism and cheery salsa rhythms that it may well burst.

Recorded in Havana the album has a real Latin feeling, layering trumpets and sax with driving percussion and creating a rich wall of music to dance to. As far as music goes, this is designed to make your life better - all you have to do is bow down to the Cat Empire.

AIR TRAFFIC - FRACTURED LIFE

(AU magazine July 2007)

(Tiny Consumer/EMI)

A summertime record in 2007 has to try extra hard to keep its head above water - for every Holloways, there's a Tiny Dancers trying to out-pop them. Still, Air Traffic take the essence of sunshine and put it into 11 of the bounciest, most radio-friendly piano-driven hits this side of Magic Numbers.
From opener Just Abuse Me, through single Charlotte with its catchy ‘I’m wasted’ refrain, the Bournemouth quartet hold their own against all comers, stepping up the intensity for sweeping Shooting Star and melancholy Your Fractured Life.
Excellent as young indie scenesters, and their ability to slow it down makes them perfect all-rounders. Expect these to be the hit of the festival season, as this record will please 14-40 year olds with no effort.

Missing the hook

(Morning Star, Sunday 24 June 2007)

ALBUM: Editors - An End Has A Start
(Sony)

YOU have to hand it to Editors. Bringing elegiac guitar anthems to the masses straight outta Birmingham garnered them both critical and commercial success which would lead to any more mainstream band - ie Keane - facing accusations of selling out.

But Tom Smith's Midlands miserabilists wore their Echo-style coats and lyrics with all the aplomb of Interpol and the success of their debut album assures them a good hearing for this sophomore effort.

It's a shame, then, that they've made a change in direction. Not from the gloom - it's still front and centre, on the title track here especially.

No, the change of direction has been away from listenable pop music, leaving behind the anthems and the soaring sweep of breakout hit Munich.

From single Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors to When Anger Shows, there's not a hook on the whole record to make radio play a cert.

The guitar work by pixie-cute Chris Urbanowicz has remained passable, but the mourning tone of Smith's vocal makes for depressing listening from start to finish. By the time you get to album closer Well Worn Hand, you'll be glad the start has an end.

Putting the Left into a great big field: Glastonbury preview

(Morning Star, Thursday 21 June 2007)

The Fratellis
(Saturday, 7.45pm, Pyramid Stage)
For sheer festival exuberance and rousing pub songs drenched in singalong genius, Glasgow's best are the top draw on the Pyramid Stage's altogether wicked bill.

Maximo Park
(Saturday, 8pm, Other Stage)
Paul Smith delivers a live show to slay and the new record's strength is in its added rockiness. Mon the Park!

The Holloways
(Sunday, 11.40am, Other Stage)
With single Generator hitting the airwaves hard, there's nothing to stop these Londoners being a band of the weekend.

Young Knives
(Sunday, 4.45pm, John Peel Stage)
Punk reborn, with an edge of surrealism, not to be missed, if only for bassist The House of Lords' legendary banter.

Kate Nash
(Friday, 2.20pm, The Park Stage)
Beauteous Lahndan lady with more than a passing similarity to Jamie T (also one to see - Sunday, 9.25pm, John Peel Stage), Nash mixes feminine minxery with romantic daydreams and dazzles.

A bit backward

(Morning Star, Friday 08 June 2007)

ALBUM: Metro Riots - Night Time Angel Candy
(Universal)

BLAZING a trail, like a set of indie scenesters, straight through Camden, it will come as no surprise to all and sundry that the pseudo-politically monikered Metro Riots hail from London.

The mixing of their stylised indie-punk and standard blues here is quite a treat.

Single New Epidemic is a definite strength in the canon, giving lie to the assumption that young bands don't know what came before.

In fact, maybe Metro Riots' biggest problem would be looking backward a little too much. A band so aware of musical history cannot help but ape. On New Epidemic, as on the excellent Baby You've Become Another Habit, they do make the slip of throwing their punky blues influences into too small a pot, coming out with a 1970s garage band's wet dream of an anthem for disaffected youth.

Still, they rock and they look the part, so go on, Metro Riots, have your moment in the limelight. You've sort of earned it.