Pavement - Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed (1997) Re-issue (Domino) 17/11/2008

T: (sits there with big beaming grin on his face)

N: If not necesarily one of their greatest albums, this album is indeed great in its own place. Pavement are one of those seminal bands that crop up referred to by today's artists, their music comes with a wonderful "beaming grin" on its face. Great slices of a grunge the band were able to keep under control, not letting the music run away with its self and just be. This set Domino have put together is described a "Deluxe Edition" and not only features the original release, remastered for this purpose, but a second disc with sessions and media recordings including Radio One sessions from an Evening Session taken from January 1997 and a Peel live session from August 1997. Truly deluxe and a must for the many followers and a tremendous introduction for the curious. Nuff said.

T: (beaming grin turns to sour frown) What do you mean "not one of their greatest albums? It bloody IS.

N: Look Pavement were a great band and all of their recordings deserve this moniker, how can I decide between them? But if you want me to be more precise, this album is a heaving chunky mass of brilliance. Alright?

T: Alright (big grin returns). 10/10

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burningpilot - Cold Caller (Transgressive) 17/11/2008

N: It does strike me that the lead singer of this band has been overdoing his Fall listening a bit.

T: Apparently he listens a lot in Summer, Spring and Winter as well.

N: But when the Autumn leaves turn golden, it can be so inspiring-uh.

T: Oh ok, I knew what you meant - the truth is he seems to morph between Mark E Smith and Terry Hall, but then if you're going to do this, I couldn't think of many better role models, and the whole thing is highly appealing.

N: Retro might come to mind, but should this be considered a bad thing? Enjoyable stuff. 9/10

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Pat Monahan - Last Of Seven Acoustic (Columbia) 27/10/2008

T: I'd like to stress, if I may, the negative effects of having an egg and spoon race in the school sportsday.

N: As I recall, in these races, the egg was never in fact an egg and was in fact an egg shaped lump of plaster or something similar. So the competitors were never going to get 'egg on their faces', the only embarrassment coming from mothers who had failed to secure their skirts correctly, or more over laddering their tights. Can you now see it's all perfectly clear.

T: I admit, that was a problem as well, but at the end of the day that race was a chance for the jocks to laugh at the geeks and the fat kids. I was scarred for life, and Pat sounds like the sort of bloke who was one of those jocks. Sounds very smug with himself to me. That said, it's quite a pretty, acoustic album and you can see the appeal, but this particular alley is too neat and tidy for me to travel up it too often. Even the dustbin appears to sparkle with the shine of Mr. Sheen, and that's just not right.

N: Fair point, but this is a very well recorded album, in keeping with the composer's acoustic leaning. Pat's songs draw the listener into this world of his six string, and it may be some considerable time before it strikes his audience that this audience is performing without instrumentation the bulk of the time. 7/10

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Various Artists - Sleepwalk - A Selection By Optimo (Domino) 03/11/2008

T: Beginning a bit like it was the promotional membership video for the Runcorn Ramblers' Club, "Sleepwalk" is actually a collection of the more industrial side of music. It'll never be performed on crappy (un)reality tv talent shows, that's for sure. In fact, I would be pretty sure Cowell and Walsh and their cronies would be shitting bricks and packed off to the funny farm if they were forced to listen to it for long. This is, of course, a very good thing, as the music here is of a truly organic quality, rather than any pre-packaged, oversaturated pomp pop that appalls us on such a regular basis. Dreamlike and incessantly rustic, this is perhaps the truest form of music left.

N: Or put another way, like seeing Glasgow through someone else's spectacles, retrieved after colliding on the pavement. You could be lucky, and prefer the world in this vista. However, it might be like waking in the early hours from a nightmare, bathed in sweat with the central heating kicking out far too much energy, as part of these nightmare are the escalating fuel prices.

T: It should be noted that this album includes tracks by such luminaries as Coil, Nurse With Wound, Brian Eno, Arthur Russell, Duke Ellington and Lee Hazlewood. A classy compilation with a star studded cast, most of which never really actually became stars at all. 9/10

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Threatmantics - Upbeat Love (Double Six) 03/11/2008

N: Unlike reviewing "NYC", this album arrived with a greater immediacy, like using a sledgehammer to crack the shell on an egg. Messy!

T: But it's not always as unsubtle as that. Witness the beginning of "Don't Care", which introduces a sweeping violin sound before tearing off its clothes and sitting on your face with a song that could have been composed by Mark E Smith. And "Get Outta Town" is like a feisty version of The Fire Engines' "Candy Skin".

N: In fact, in some places, at times it turns into a rock 'n' roll country music fusion, with lyrics that do urge further investigation.

T: Bizarrely, on occasion, it does sound like Joy Division at a barn dance. If you can possibly imagine that. 8/10

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Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid - NYC (Domino) 03/11/2008

N: It's interesting getting in the mind of the musician when their plumber comes in to unblock the sink, and what transpires thereafter.

T: Oddly enough, I know exactly what you mean. Last time I heard Hebden and Reid together, I was pretty sure they'd left a mighty great turd in the pan, but this time around, the plunger has worked a treat and they've got rid of the unsightly stains. This is ultra cool - Olympic Runners style disco meets the white noise at the airport at 3am. Absorbing.

N: As my friend has suggested, it's worth sticking with this album, no matter that you've rubbed red raw your scalp trying to get a handle on this. It's a monumental slab on jazz fusion that makes its point clear with size twelve ballet pumps, but no tutu.

T: That wasn't your friend, it was me.

N: (Nick shrugs shoulders and makes weird huffing sound with nose) 8/10

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The Cure - 4:13 Dream (Geffen) 27/10/2008

T: Who would have thought that The Cure would actually become a "dinosaur band"? I remember years ago when we gave Status Quo grief for being around for even fifteen years. That Smith's outfit have been around for twice that amount of time - albeit in various different line ups - actually garners praise rather than ridicule, but then I guess they've consistently put out high quality albums rather than releasing cheesy covers and glory boy songs with successful football teams. Of course, "4:13 Dream" sounds umistakeably like The Cure we've always known and loved, opening track "Underneath The Stars" being a hark back to the early eighties whilst "The Only One" holds more of the pop factor we witnessed in "Friday I'm In Love". The man might be pushing fifty, but his vocal and songwriting prowess are in fine fettle. On this form, long may it continue.

N: Always familiar, Robert Smith and boys launch into their thirteenth studio album. Now we're used to Smith's downcast tones, we're used to Gallup's deep drum patterns, so it's almost as if this band are part of the family. They've been around as long as grandma has sat in the corner, the difference being I have no idea whether they can be relied upon for the Christmas jumper. In essence, this album could easily be one of the group's strongest. It's not like they're going through the paces. They've even brought something new to the party, adopting in places classic patterns circa seventies punk, proving they've not forgotten their roots, but again in some sidewards glance, never standing still. 9/10

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