Von Südenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions (Domino) 21/05/2007

T: Mark E Smith messing around with synths and the like. Who'd have thought it? It all makes for a hugely entertaining listen and the funny thing is he doesn't even sound that grumpy. Sounds like the music world's Victor Meldrew has just discovered a new toy and does he love it or what?

N: Following the band's debut single, "Fliedermaus Can't Get Enough", I was eager to hear this full lenght offering, and I wasn't disappointed. Mark's freeform vocal offering simply oozes fun; his exclamation "I am the DJ tonight" to "So I flooded the club" speak more than music alone on "Flooded". If we're talking of music in the more traditional form, this certainly isn't it, but if we're talking of music in terms of creativity, then this is one huge, pulsating mass of the stuff. It's like giving an aging bloke, just turned out of the legion several skins heavier, free reign with all the toys, samplers and mikes in the recording studio, and taking the best of what resulted. Thing is, I think they used the lot. This is simply wonderful. 9/10

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The Beach Boys - The Warmth Of The Sun (EMI) 21/05/2007

T: A group of lads singing about sun, sea, sand, surfing and girls? Specifically in California? Pffft, it'll never catch on...

N: That as it may be, but it did, some forty years ago, when these songs were first recorded. With production and sequencing reworked by the band themselves, for completists this will give this album new relevance and afterall, the sound is cracking. 7/10

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The Maccabees - Colour It In (Fiction Records) 14/05/2007

T: A fine debut by a band who appear to have got the trick of lo-fi choruses down to a fine art. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the wonderful "Latchmere", where somehow the words "Latchmere's got a wave machine" becomes a statement of emotional beauty. At other times, such as on opening track "Good Old Bill", vocalist Felix is reminiscent of gramophone age crooners. Certainly several of these compositions wouldn't have been out of place on a Sinatra album. Now, on first listen, it's true that some of the tunes here make little impact, but one thing's for sure - upon repeated plays, each one of these little iced gems takes on a persona of their own. Take "Precious Time" for instance; this is a track which I initially believed lacked the necessary impetus for inclusion on the album, but once I'd heard it several more times, it just couldn't be left out, and although there are quite a few soundalike bands doing the rounds out there at the moment, it's fundamentally apparent that the Maccabees have far more lasting power than any of their contemporaries.

N: Perhaps a band adhering to the sound of the moment, but also a band who lose nothing from it. If reports from a lengthy tour is anything to go by, a band that have managed to bring to the album the feeling and substance of their live show. Well, as much as anyone can do in a recording studio anyway. A collection of thirteen songs appears on "Colour It In", each one of them filled with passion and energy. 9/10

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Alberta Cross - The Thief & The Heartbreaker (Fiction Records) 14/05/2007

N: Each time I catch a glimpse of this album's title, I think I'm about to hear 'Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' and the funny thing is that alough it's only the album's title that is making me think this way, although the 2nd track posseses 'rings' of Jeff Buckly, by the time I'm hearing 'Hard Breaks', third on the tracklisting, Alberta is sounding a little closer to my initial mistake. This is his self produced debut and these timeless warblings could be any one of a number of his luminaries, a rich pallete of sounds, accompanied by cracked vocals.

T: More than anyone else, this sounds very much like The Band. Clearly, Alberta Cross have been listening to those deep Southern artists, as well as their North American counterparts Neil Young and Crazy Horse. It's a pleasant enough alt.country sound that really needs the sun shining to be fully appreciated. 8/10

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Bjork - Volta (One Little Indian) 07/05/2007

T: Let me once again sing the praises of producer Timbaland. I've never been a huge fan of the latter producer's before, but he's definitely shown that, quite aside from producing the likes of Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake and so forth and giving them an edgier feel, he can also take an already edgy artist like Bjork and enhance her sound for the better. True, there are instances in the album where the sound gets a little muddy, but I'd rather see this happen than to have a watered down version of the same artist, which was my initial fear. My only complaint is that the tracklisting is fecking impossible to read!

N: An album which almost appears as a quilted version of Bjork's own creativity. Songs which she has layered with so much content and majesty that it leaves the listener exhausted. Whether this be from pace or filling I'm yet to work out, but certainly in the value for money stakes, Bjork has more than delivered. 8/10

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Green On Red - The BBC Sessions (Cooking Vinyl) 07/05/2007

T: This is one of those bands that I remember liking at the time, but couldn't for the life of me remember what they sounded like - it's been that long since I heard the name. Funnily enough though, as soon as the first bars of "Busted" ring out, you're instantly transported back to their "John Ford meets Creedence" sound, and soaked with sunshine as you remember what it was like to be a spotty teenager. Having said that, I'm spottier today than I was back then...anyway I digress - it's a pity that the late, great John Peel was never too fond of Green On Red. As founding member Dan Stuart says "We ran into him once in the lobby of Radio One. I told him that if he did a session with us I would go down on him. What followed was a look of total horror. Christ, it wasn't like I was going to swallow or anything".

N: A collection of songs that almost veers into that of progressive rock, but is brought down to earth fairly swiftly in the band's true to life countryesque form. I can almost hear the sadly missed Mr. Peel stirring in his grave as we listen to this sometimes awkward album that really does defy the preconceived. 8/10

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Gary Numan - The Complete John Peel Sessions (Cooking Vinyl) 07/05/2007

T: You just cannot underestimate the impact that Gary Numan had on the world of music. There was a time when it was considered slightly embarrassing - or humiliating even - to admit to being a fan. Luckily Trent Reznor was able to dispel this rather elitist way of thinking when he cited Numan as one of the biggest influences on his career. There followed a rush of other illustrious artists from the past fifteen years quick to concur with Reznor and the general consensus now is that the palefaced doomster is a cult hero from the musical underworld. This is more than proved on the three Peel Sessions included here, from both his earlier, perhaps more urgent work with the sublime Tubeway Army, to his later, more cynical, hellishly dark solo work from the present decade. Numan's music has, by all accounts, not only stood the test of time but turned it backwards to prove he really was always this good.

N: So you're a fan then? But such a stripped bare collection of Peel Sessions tracks prove just how, in their rawest form, he was able to create some of the most influential material of the last three and a half decades that he's able to garner praise from such diverse artists as Reznor to Afrika Bambaata, Basement Jaxx and beyond, stands as testimony to his ability to an artist. So we're both in agreement. 9/10

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Carlton Patterson & King Tubby - Black & White In Dub (Cooking Vinyl) 07/05/2007

T: This is a re-issue of a classic dub compilation, and Stranglers fans will be relieved to know that it is not a dub version of their 1979 release of the same name. Personally I'm very fond of dub, and this is a very easy on the ear, uncomplicated long player that would make a pefect introduction to the genre to any newcomers. I'd have loved to see "A Serious Version" included here, but still, the content is impressive enough and still holds up pretty well today.

N: A fairly treacle like blend that a number of artists had obviously been listening to before writing some of their most famous works, Joe Strummer and Green Gartside to name just two. The fact that coming out of the seventies, dub went hand in hand with punk, it's perhaps not surprising that such an influence can be laid. Certainly I hope artists today continue to gain influence from this breed of basslines and melody. 8/10

Trademark - Raise The Stakes (Truck Records) 23/04/2007

N: Formed around the time Oxford was mourning the departure of Ride and welcoming the rise of Gaz Coombes and his Supergrass (alas not that kind of grass), cousins Oliver Horton and Stuart Meads were in their teenage adolecscence and exploring a discipline in electronics in what might have been a less profitable, although more lucrative manner than going to college for their 'City & Guilds' qualifications. Trademark was the result.

T: It's clear that Trademark have been heavily influenced by the early eighties sound of such luminaries as Visage and Soft Cell, especially the latter's seminal classic "Non-stop Erotic Cabaret" album, but then they've taken two steps further and delved into New Order, The Beloved and even the Lightning Seeds to give the whole thing a more modern feel. The fact that I am partial to ALL those bands leaves me with a warm tingle on my tongue, as does the fact that the musical phrasing is often similar to that of Carter USM. Great stuff. 7/10

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Cowboy Junkies – At The End Of Paths Taken (Cooking Vinyl) 09/04/2007

Are the Cowboy Junkies boring? This is a question I was contemplating whilst taking a much needed soak in the bath, listening to the first few tracks from their umpteenth studio album.

Now, I don’t know whether Margo Timmins has ever studied witchcraft in some shape or form, but suffice to say that this train of thought nearly killed me, as the next thing I knew, I was snoozing with my nozzle inhaling Radox bubbles by the nostrilful. So, no, I guess they’re not boring…

Anyway, this is pretty much what you’d expect from the band but there ARE surprises, notably in the form of “Cutting Board Blues”, which recalls Jefferson Airplane at the pinnacle of their “Surrealistic Pillow” period, and “Mountain”, a “Dark Side Of The Moon” homage if ever I’ve heard one.

Other than that though, it’s pretty much as you were – a romanticised All About Eve with some sweeping string arrangements. The only problem is that there are a few too many tracks that sound like I wrote them when I was fifteen and performed them with my school band – especially in the early part of the album. It does get better though, and while this album is far from the strongest Cowboy Junkies have ever released, it does have some truly majestic moments. 6/10

Tone E

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This Et Al – Baby Machine (Monotones) 09/04/2007

It seems like it’s been AGES coming, This Et Al’s debut long player, but was it worth the wait? Well, half and half is the answer if you ask me. On the one hand you have the remarkable, sweeping altitudes of such gorgeous numbers as “Of National Importance” and the magnanimous “Catscan”, but somehow the slower tracks, such as “Cabin Hum”, don’t really do it for me, and “Can You Speak European?” seems rather too cluttered to make the impact it ought to.

Don’t get me wrong – when these tracks hit the heady heights of the formerly mentioned gems it’s like Shoegazing has had a brand new fancy makeover in order to appeal to slacker, cool kids, rich kids, poor kids and the kids who’ve been put back two years alike. The raging penultimate number, the charmingly titled “Pigs Make Children Sick”, for example, is a wondrous hunk of unabashed fervour, bursting with energy and making its dramatic exit through an excessive white noise and what sounds like Radio Luxembourg! This is what This Et Al do best, and it all paves the way for an intense finale, “Transmit The Ends”, which I can only describe as Wire on hallucinogens.

Anyway, I guess my “half and half” comment was a tad wide of the mark earlier in this review. This album is well worth any self respecting music lover’s cash. It’ll never make the mainstream public’s I-pods, but is that necessarily a bad thing? This is something a bit different and for that, you have to doff your cap. 8/10

Tone E

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