Land Of Talk - Applause Cheer Boo Hiss (One Little Indian) 22/10/2007

N: Well, from the outset, this sounds promising. I just hope it doesn't turn out to be some collection of spotty faced kids.

T: Don't worry, I've already played it, and it isn't. It's a damnn good album.

N: Need we go further?

T: Well yes, something like this merits a more in depth review surely? They've been described as the missing link between shoegazing and Sonic Youth and you can definitely see where they're coming from at times.

N: I can hear that. Grinding guitars over a steady pace which does indeed conjure images of this lost genre in music, and this is their debut album? Pretty much a solid investment for a thousand dollars.

T: A lot of it makes me think of Tanya Donnelly stripping naked and smearing herself in ice cream. I LIKE this album.

N: I think it does have to be mentioned that the slow initial wind up is certainly worth overcoming to benefit from the bountiful edgier sounds later on. I like this album too.

T: No seedy thoughts akin to mine then?

N: I've given up trying to fathom you out, but you want to be careful - you'll get yourself in trouble.

T: Oh I hope so. Anyway, seeing as we haven't mentioned any of the tracks here, can I just say that "Summer Special", "Breaxxboxx" and "All My Friends" are all utterly brilliant tunes, and well...actually...so are all the others. Great, great album. 9/10

web site - myspace

To Rococo Rot - ABC123 (Domino) 22/10/2007

T: This trio seems to be going down the "dreamscape" route on their latest long player, and my personal opinion is they shouldn't have bothered. It sounds like Kraftwerk picking their noses. Music for flotation tanks and little else. Occasionally I'll admit it edges closer to The Future Sound Of London's brilliant seminal classic "Lifeforms", but all too often it diminishes into the musical equivalent of boredom. If this was the only album I was allowed to own, I WOULD turn into a serial killer.

N: You're pretty much seething, I can see, but the fact the band hail from Berlin & Duesseldorf might explain the Kraftwerk leaning.

T: No, BUT TELL IT TO FUCK OFF. NOW!!!

N: I don't think you're in the right frame of mind. Pretty much monged and flat on your back might allow you to absorb this sound in a more accepting manner.

T: Even then, I reckon this would bore the crap out of me. Anyone who claims this is cutting edge music needs a reality check. I like IDM (as much as I hate the term) but this is as annoying as The Krankies.

N: I think you might be in need of a lobotomy. Linear sounds for the brain dead. But before you make up your mind it's certainly worth checking out the band's myspace to get inside those heads and they use Apple Macs, I'm warming to them already. 2/10

myspace

Various Artists - Club Azuli 5 - Winter 2007 (Azuli Records) 22/10/2007

N: You're going to hate this...

T: O ye of little faith...

N: "Azuli are one of the most respected names in dance music. Their club Azuli imprint has spawned some of the coolest club nights in the UK, spectacular residences at the legendary Space Ibiza and an album series that sets the standard in dance music compilations"...

T: You're just reading off the press release aren't you?

N: Note - that's why I was using quotes! But it does help to give a little insight into this set of songs from this double CD.

T: Well, I must admit it's started well. I'm enjoying this so far.

CD player: You are listening to an Azuli Records promotional CD...

N: WHY HAVE I GOT THIS ON A PROMOTIONAL CD? Print BIG BLACK LETTERS on the disc! Stick a sticker on the box...but DON'T interfere with the music I'm listening to, however brief...

T: They've obviously seen your other stuff on Ebay.

N: You've SEEN my creaking shelves. They DON'T go on ebay.

T: Readers, I can vouch for this. He has so little room left he'll be having to stick them up his arse soon.

N: How did you know that was why it was so painful to sit down? The doctor just thinks it's piles!

T: Because your doctor's very straight laced, whereas to me it just looks like someone's rammed a dildo up your jaxie.

N: We won't go there. Anyway, the music...I am enjoying this not tv advertised collection of tunes, somewhat like comparing Creation to EMI. Uh? Didn't they BUY Creation in the end?

T: No. I bought Creation. That was the best song by Stereo MCs.

N: Very good.

T: Anyway, I guess the fact that we're both sitting here pretty much gyrating to the music....well, at least I'M gyrating to the music, I'm not sure what you're doing...

N: Making better use of my time. It has to be said that this compilation comes in both mixed and unmixed forms. You can either buy the commercial release "Winter 2007" or "Unmixed", to allow aspirng club DJs the freedom to do what they want with the music.

T: I still think we should mark it down a bit purely because of that rude interruption within the Cd earlier! 7/10

web site - myspace

Jackie Balfour - Chip Pan Fire (Cooking Vinyl) 22/10/2007

T: I'm not entirely sure about the relevance of this "album", being as it is just a set of monologues from the irrepressible Scot. Would you really want to buy it? I did this in about 1991 with an REM interview CD, and of course, by the time you've played it once, there's little point in ever playing it again. What's the deal here Nick?

N: Well, Gordon Brown has a great deal to say about the man, but I'm not sure whether this is a party political broadcast, and would he listen to us anyway? No, you're right - we're here to experience some great music. Let's do just that. Impossible to mark/10

web site - myspace

Underworld - Oblivion with Bells (Vital) 15/10/2007

Why am I getting this band confused with Orbital? Alright they're both bands who listeners might casually lump together as bands with a dance leaning, but it was more than that. Why am I confusing the two? Then it came to me as I referenced both together, it was that I had got 'monged' to both. Underworld's 'Second Toughest in the Infants' would take me in to an evening , well 'in', and Orbital's 'Snivilisation' would really wind down the pace, like when I would become one with my surroundings, like the closing seconds of it's opening track 'Forever' and going into the second, boy can I count the times 'I Wish I Had Duck Feet'.

Ok, so now I've remembered who these band's were and what exactly they meant to me, it was time to switch pace and embark on Underworld's latest epic, Oblivion, but this time with bells. The band that made Ewan McGregor so much more in 'Trainspotting', with their 'Born Slippy', turned 'A Life Less Ordinary' into a familiar landscape, with, well Ewan McGregor and turned 'Human Traffic' into a late decade Trainspotting, and John Simm into an actor who so easily have been Ewan McGregor. So why was it I was stuck on the band's soundtrack work, oh and the fact I had previously found it experience enhancing, to well, you know, perhaps it was because the track that the album opened with, 'Crocodile' was just a little too safe. And the track this wound into 'Beautiful Burnout' was again, for a start too damn long, trying to capture what the band had once meant to me and I'm sure many others. 'Holding The Moth' the following track was where the album took a sharp turn and then doubled back, Hyde and Smith had devised the repetitive, but creative otherworld of taking the listener into another dimension, or at least perception "...with the glass eye on you, electric eye on you... who could dance like you? Pleasure all day..." While stringing along that bassline and constant beats that were so, well like that of their breakthrough.

It had seemed that this band were working to the old adage of "If it ain't bust..." or even refusing to reinvent the wheel, but as we slip into 'To Heal' it would appear the guys had been watching endless re-runs of The Simpsons, the opening chords were all too familiar, then the track, well flat. But just like the boxer, ducking, weaving I was struck by the leather of the glove as 'Ring Road' hit home or was that the drum? Another vocal onslaught of social observation was brought to the fore, the 'ASBO', the football fan, the unemployed, like we all moan, "praying for rain, the next minute a scorched earth..", then the next minute it became all too clear, Underworld were expanding their palette, as another seemingly drab tune met my ears, 'Glam Bucket' was a segue into the next, not a moment of dead air, this was a musical tapestry and 'Boy, Boy, Boy' was a collection of words, cut from the pages of a story, but together the listener could make sense of them. Then it struck me, this was Underworld's concept album, not exactly commercial, not even their 'White Album', but for Underworld just as valid, a brave statement in a world of disorder, as the final number 'Best Mamgu Ever' slipped away. 7/10

Nick James

web site - myspace

Big Arm - Radiator (Universal/Turn On Tunes) 15/10/2007

The late eighties, early nineties music scene that was drenched in that baggy cum indie dance that The Happy Mondays et al were great ambassadors of, was indeed a wonderful time and although he has attempted several reincarnations, it is this that truly ignited special interest. That's right Shaun's brother the menacing Paul Ryder has once again ridden his 'horse' into town, gathering a cast of usual suspects to assist in the production of this 10 track long player, 'Radiator'.

First off listen to the vocals front man Paul is contributing and you realise just why it was Shaun who headed the Mondays. I don't feel I'm being too harsh here and forgiving the rough edges present in those tunes, but those vocals were full of a life that just seems to be missing here. A similar criticism might be laid at the music, it's not the Happy Mondays, of course it isn't, but can be left feeling a little flat. This music though does explore pastures not previously considered, listening to the tune 'Ska 3000' this takes those heavy bass lines and beats, blends them with a little house music and creates a whole new edge. So when in the track 'Love Is...' Paul sings the lines "...love is a black sports car, love is my green guitar, love is a lover like no other, love is loving you like a brother, love is seeing you from afar, cause I hate you just the way you are..." this cheeky little number displays both a materialistic personality and one that is truly human and from here on I discounted any failings and warmed completely to the album.

Alright so looking at this creation through these new lenses, I realised that what it was I was hearing maybe not the most eloquent of works, perhaps best described as like using a hammer to crack a nut (maybe this has gone a little too far), but collecting such words together and ladelling on heaps of bass, beats and soupy melodies might be considered such. Then again without this I suppose it wouldn't be coming from the minds that brought us "Madchester", so described as "...a positively cataclysmic shift from dark annals of Mondays twisted delerium...", this album is certainly that, albeit of the budget variety.

But having drawn together the minds of techno guru Pete Smith, aka DJ Blue, an artist who's worked with hip hop outfit P Love and Blue written with Moloko's Roisin Murphy, collaborated with A Certain Ratio, Mike Joyce, Lamb and Gus Gus, this budget starts to stack up. As the album draws to a close in the track 'Flexin'' and the temperature rises, I should also make it known that Ryder has worked with Manchester guitar luminary Gaz Gilkinson, drummer Danny Short, former Mondays percussionist Lea Mullen, as well as Martin Hannett protege John Pennington, a favorite of Moby on production credits, I hope that this incarnation will not be a flash in the pan, but like the New Romantic comeback that never really happened, is the world ready for another Madchester? Whatever the answer be to this question, Radiator is not an album of high production and shiny bells & whistles, but it is an album that it's evident you'll have to live with for a while to get the most from it. 6/10

Nick James

web site - myspace

Neurosonic - Drama Queen (Bodog Music) 15/10/2007

T: I'm sat firmly on the fence at the moment. It started quite majestically, as though it was going into something like Rico or Nine Inch Nails, but Jason Darr's voice reminds me a bit too much of Sum 41's Deryck Wibley and that geeky college rock doesn't entirely appeal to me. Having said that, they have their moments, with several amusing lyrical gambits. It's also alarming that "Are Solar" is like Fergie's "London Bridge" as played by Linkin Park. Really I feel like I should be hating this, but for some unfathomable reason I'm quite enjoying it. Can't say I'd rush out and buy it but it's worth a listen all the same.

N: Nervous energy is present in the music and echoes of Jane's Addiction are felt. I still take out "Ritual Lo Habitual" occasionally, and I feel this might possess that quality, and "Drama Queen" is certainly above those throwaway bands you've pviously mentioned. I may be proved wrong, but it could so easily go the other way.

T: Certainly.

N: Did I also mention that I occasionally take out and play...

T: Steady on...

N: ..."Youthquake", and quite enjoy the experience.

T: Fucking weirdo.

N: That's a given. I'll take that as a compliment. 7/10

web site - myspace

The Undertones - Dig Yourself Deep (Cooking Vinyl) 15/10/2007

T: Did The Undertones lose it when Feargal Sharkey left the band? On this evidence, absolutely not. "Dig Yourself Deep" features some of the punchiest pop songs you'll have heard since their debut nearly thirty years ago. They're seasoned professionals of course, so really it's no surprise. From the salivating title track right through fourteen glorious four minute wonders, the O'Neill brothers prove they've still got what it takes. Choice cuts for me are "Everything You Say Is Right" and the mindblowing finale "I'm Recommending Me", but really you could pick any track at random and be equally impressed.

N: So Feargal Sharkey left the band then?

T: Er. Yes.

N: But weren't you quite excited when we received this album? Didn't you want to interview him?

T: (sheepishly) No.

N: Ok, so being serious, this album actually reminds me of a lot of those old punk bands when they bring an album out nowadays. The Buzzcocks, for example. They may not exactly sound the same, but there's something in the chemistry - the feel of it all. The energy is clearly still present and their ability as songwriters, well they've lost nothing of that. More or less as you've said really. A sharp album. 8/10

web site - myspace

The Zico Chain - Food (Hassle Records) 15/10/2007

N: Were the Zico Chain always this heavy, I really can't remember?

T: Yes they were, and I seem to recall that I was a lot fonder of them than you were.

N: That would explain it then.

T: I like the fact that they're extremely easy to listen to. After all, "Where Would You Rather Be?" could be Queens Of The Stone Age on a good day, and despite being riotously heavy, they're accessible enough to appeal to a mainstream audience. It's yet to happen admittedly, but I could quite easily believe they're destined for the top 40 in the near future. Just listen to the raucous simplicity of "Roll Over" and you'll see how well they can put their commerciality over.

T: Actually, listening to this album and its content, it's this time that's really encouraging me to do so - maybe the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I'm really quite enjoying the experience. 8/10

web site - myspace

Prefuse 73 - Preparations (Warp) 15/10/2007

T: The name DJ Shadow is bounding forth and slapping me round the chops...

N: Well it's certainly of the ilk, some ten years on.

T: I'm not sure it has the immediate impact that, say, "Endtroducing" had, but it's not without its merits. You could definitely crash out in the chillout tent to this stuff, perhaps having taken a cocktail of drink and drugs before having your stomach pumped once more...

N: I'm liking how this album is shaping up. Easy listening music for the mind, body and soul. Textured patterns are presented here and alright, it's not Shadow, but Warp Records is certainly a home for Prefuse.

T: Nice album. 8/10

web site - myspace

Robert Wyatt - Comicopera (Domino) 08/10/2007

T: ...and it IS quite operatic, in a Rufus Wainwright kind of way, which is quite coincidental seeing as you were waving your Rufus CDs in front of my nose earlier on. It was a bit like the old Harry Enfield character, except that you were shouting "LoadsaRufus. Look at me, I've got LoadsaRufus". Anyway, this is a rather fragile sounding record that is also clearly a tragedy. It may be called "Comicopera" but it's not going to make you laugh, that's for sure. Robert Wyatt has long been making a higher class of music, somewhat on a different plain, and this is no exception.

N: Beautiful melodies, coupled with a darker undercurrent, leave no doubt of this man's heritage as an older statesman in the musical stakes. No doubt an album of heavyweight standing. 7/10

web site - myspace

Babyshambles - Shotters Nation (Pharlophone) 01/10/2007

Finally, that difficult second album from Pete Doherty and co. comes as more than a welcome surprise, if not for the fact Pete has managed to string his life together enough to see himself into the recording studio, but also because this is a damn fine sounding album. From the opening strings of 'Carry On Up The Morning', a film Sid James never made, instead Doherty puts it into words and attacks the number like scrapping fingernails down a blackboard, notes on the fret board not quite seeing eye to eye. Following this comes 'Delivery' and we're back in the school yard, dealing with the trails that this exposes, the fights, loves and the struggles, eloquently conveyed in the lines; "here comes a delivery, straight from the heart of my misery.." and whereas much of what is heard could so easy delve the depths of dispair, never once showing a glimmer above the darkness, these shadows are dealt with a resigned flick of the head and the forthright manner in which Doherty deals with life itself.

The band have collectively drawn together influences from far beyond their years. So the "Doors-y-groove" of 'Crumb Bagging Baghead' mentioned in the pr came like a set of headlights screeching through the night, as the Manzarek influenced keys ran amuck throughout these verses. But just like those influences that seemed just out of reach of this band, those that weren't came just as easily like the Mani guided bass line that was evident like the faint glimmer of a star, as the number cracked off.

Initially it has to be said that musically in all areas this album is a fine piece of work, laying out its wears in a punchy form that cannot be ignored. It's Doherty's story telling that is the sun at the centre of this band's sound, lines that leave the listener reeling..."Smoke your cigarettes down to the bone, since you vowed to back it in, you're too proud to sack it, you have to carry on alone..." a verse from the song 'Unstookie Titled' that stamped all over my initial reservations of the 'darling' who had courted adverse press, while sticking two fingers up to the world. This album is 'punk' with a small "p", the centre of this group having evidently grown up and now suffering a high point of his career. 9/10

Nick James

web site - myspace

Will Dailey - Back Flipping Forward (CBS) 01/10/2007

T: For some reason, when I saw the name Will Dailey, I was expecting either some over the top DJ or a second rate hip-hop artist. I was pleasantly surprised, as Dailey has more in common with Jack Johnson or maybe even Stephen Fretwell. They have an innocent charm about them, these tracks, and the easygoing nature of the album is not difficult to embrace. Pretty, laid back pop music.

N: I can't disagree with both the conclusion you initially drew or that you have come to accept. This artist is a serious contender, his music weighty, soulful and appeals on so many different levels. Easy listening maybe, but don't write him off, he's far more than that and American to a tee.

T: You mean a coffee.

N: Well ok then, mine's not too much milk and one good sugar, thanks. What I would have said, had I been allowed to continue, was the music almost transports you to that sidewalk outside a New York coffee bar, smooth and rich, but of course that only happens in 'Heroes', I'm not delusional you know. 8/10

web site - myspace

Various - The Simpsons - Testify (Shout Factory) 18/09/2007

N: The Simpsons, a cartoon that is able to appeal on all levels, both children and adults alike (well almost). This is a set of tunes that found themselves in episodes from the series (as well as a few who are so far unaired), but of course feature Kelsey Grammer, Ricky Gervais, Jackson Browne, need I go on?...

T: I would suggest that it's only really for Simpsons completists though. As far as I'm concerned, while I'm sure they'd be highly entertaining within the context of the show, I really do not have any desire to listen to these tunes outside that environment, clever and amusing though they may be.

N: Oh, and did I mention blatant commercial marketing? Certainly what you've said holds its place, clever though they may be. 6/10

Oh, and if you like anything Simpson related check out the video playback available on the myspace link we've provided, sweeeeet.

web site - myspace

The Donnas - Bitchin' (Cooking Vinyl) 01/10/2007

T: Chicks with dicks? Is that how you get the female equivalent of cock rock? Or should it be minge metal?

N: I think to be honest, that's being derogatory, and as "new men", haven't we been conditioned to react that way?

T: No.

N: Does that mean you're not a new man, or a man?

T: No.

N: You're a little of both then!

T: No.

N: You're not terribly impressed are you? And admittedly, this kind of female rock went out for milk when Margaret Thatcher was still preaching her...erm...

T: ...shit.

N: Well, I was going to say "politics", and never returned, after finding the pub and alcopops.

T: She did return. She just changed her name to Tony.

N: Very good point. Touche.

T: Anyway, the music - it's not terribly appealing to me, although there's the odd track here and there that reminds me of L7. When it gets to those moments, they're a lot more palatable. Or maybe that's just because it reminds me of their performance on "The Word"...like I said, minge metal...

N: Fair enough, I'll concede, but I don't like it. The music I mean. 4/10

web site - myspace

Various Artists - Out Of The Woods And Trees (Dance To The Radio) 01/10/2007

N: Dance to the Radio once again offer up a suitably varied collection of tunes, that sets the head racing and the feet itching. Originally due to be 'Part 2' of the labels last compilation, coming out a little later than intended , this 4th compilation follows 2005's 'What We All Want' and this years 'Something I Learned Today' and is presented "as the labels most ambitious compilation yet". Tone, your thoughts please?

T: Well it has Leicester's very own band The Displacements on the compilation, and that makes me warm to it even more, especially when their track is the best thing on it. That's not me being biased either - it really is. Not every track is a killer, but the vast majority of the tunes here, from Bobby Cook to Sky Larkin, or iForwardRussia! to the charmingly named You Slut!, are eclectic enough to put a smile on the faces of the gloomiest doom mongers.

N: Well I don't know about "ambitious" but I'm certainly liking this infectious collection of tunes, which are as varied as they are original. 8/10

web site - myspace

The Checks - Hunting Whales (Full Time Hobby) 01/10/2007

T: Upon pressing play, thoughts of Lynyrd Skynyrd have come flooding through my head, and certainly that kind of seventies cred-rock leaps out at you from the speakers. Then we reach "Take Me There" which is like a hybrid of Jonathan Richman, The Strokes and Creedence Clearwater Revival. It's remarkably effective and the sleazy guitar solos make your mind wander off to a room full of ashtrays and a haze of spliff smoke while various band members and road crew lay cabbaged around the floor.

N: From a rather lacklustre opening gambit, the album does open up somewhat, setting feet tapping and setting nerves on edge as the guitarist does his best to mimic nails sliding down a blackboard...

T: But the guitar work is impeccable. Are you saying it's grating on you?

N: What I'm saying is that he's doing a very effective job at setting nerves on edge. My initial impression...

T: ...is Tommy Cooper.

N: Shut your cakehole and let me finish.

T: Just like that?

N: Alright I'll concede, BUT my initial impression was that this was an album created using the rock 'n' roll by numbers colouring book. On further passage through the album, I can hear this band's own creativity bursting from the speakers.

T: Better turn it off then, before it does any more damage.

N: I was going to say like my muscles burst from my shirt. 8/10

T: ...No, that was that thing from "Alien".

web site - myspace

Jakobinarina - The First Crusade (Regal) 01/10/2007

N: Are they Scottish?

T: Er...no...they're Icelandic.

N: Still North of the border anyway.

T: Hmmm. Right then, moving on, Jakobinarina are one of the few bands I am feeling truly excited about at the moment. They set their stall out from the outset with their bold brash bravado and invigorating bent on "Monday I'm In Vain" and continue this unforgiving assault with the furious "His Lyrics Are Disastrous". This whole album powers through twelve astoundingly short and snappy numbers and gives little time for you to catch your breath. It's also quite immature sounding, which I love, and if you don't like it I'm going to poo in your mouth.

N: Don't do that, I don't want to have to brush my teeth again just yet. Shall I continue? Indie with post punk pretenses. Angry, aggressive and Aout There. Does that count?

T: You're just not as good at alliteration as me. Anyway this is just a ruthlessly fantastic album. 9/10+

web site - myspace

Pram - The Moving Frontier (Domino) 01/10/2007

T: Don't you think this begins like a fast moving current affairs tv theme tune?

N: Mmm. Not quite sure about that, although I am half expecting Clint Eastwood to walk through the door at any moment, in his cowboy days of course...

T: He still IS a cowboy. Did you see the state he made of my fence?

N: When we received this, I went feverishly through my record collection in an attempt to find a previous album by this group, but sadly to no avail, although I do recall this band from perhaps ten or so years ago.

T: They remind me of Broadcast to an extent - a dark and moody stetson wearing version of them, and there are even elements of jazz fuelled fervour akin to that of the second Specials album. It's quite an enchanting listen and it's nice to know the group still have a knack of keeping a bit of mystique about them.

N: It's certainly avant-garde, there's no mistaking that. Playing to a smoke filled jazz club...but of course that wouldn't happen now! 8/10

web site - myspace