Babe – Volery Flighty (Moshi Moshi Records)

Having lent his striking falsetto to experimental pop maestros Frànçois And The Atlas Mountains, Gerard Black defies easy categorisation. So it’s no surprise that each song on his debut with Scottish-French project Babe boasts a kaleidoscopic mix of funk, shoegaze and cinematic sweeps.

Although the Cocteau Twins-like opener ‘Dot And Carry One’ (below) suggests the band is still trying to find its own sound, unexpected country flecked highlight ‘Bx Betweenwhiles’ shows off Black’s wistful vocals and melodic sensibility.

When the upbeat closer ‘Bronco’, combining jangle-pop with a reggae-tinged beat, arrives, it shows how infectious this band could be if such brimming eclecticism had more focus.

6/10

Words: James Evans

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Published on ClashMusic.com. Article here.

Album review: Blood Red Shoes – Blood Red Shoes (Jazz Life)

With garage-punk songs about alienation and feral live shows fuelled by inter-band tensions, the idea of Brighton/London duo Blood Red Shoes self-producing their fourth album in a room in Kreuzberg, Berlin was an exciting one.

But despite drummer Steven Ansell sneering “keep me out of this uniform” in the thrillingly abrasive single ‘An Animal’ (video below), their scuzzy wall of sound established here soon becomes repetitive.

While the band’s previous long-player ‘In Time To Voices’  blended Americana and blues into their glossy noise-rock, meandering tracks on this eponymous set, like ‘Speech Coma’, lack similar sonic risks.

Intimate moments, however, like the haunting, heartbroken folk of ‘Tightwire’ show how primal this fourth studio collection could have been.

6/10

Words: James Evans

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Published on ClashMusic.com. Article here.

Album review: Maximo Park – Too Much Information (Daylight)

Since the frenetic rush of 2005’s top-20 single ‘Apply Some Pressure’, taken from debut LP ‘A Certain Trigger’, Newcastle’s Maxïmo Park haven’t strayed from their initial, winning formula of infectious indie-pop and witty, unconventional lyrics.

While this fifth album contains icier, rather Fever Ray inspired electronic soundscapes, frontman Paul Smith’s eccentric tales of nocturnal sports and deceased poets are mostly backed by the angular pop production fans of this band have come to expect.

This can prove frustrating at times, with the overproduced ‘My Bloody Mind’ sounding like an inferior repeat of past singles. However, unexpected moments of magic like the pulsing synths of ‘Leave This Island’ – with a tender, emotive delivery of “I’ll stand up for you” – make Smith’s lyrical observations all the more captivating.

7/10

Words: James Evans

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Published on ClashMusic.com. Article here.

Album review: Gardens & Villa – Dunes (Secretly Canadian)

For their second album ‘Dunes’, the Santa Barbara quintet have ditched the warm, surf-friendly climate of the west coast to record in a converted warehouse during a frozen winter in Michigan. Although it wasn’t an obvious relocation, the band have created a richer, more ambitious sound than the hazy psych-pop of their self-titled debut. Highpoint ‘Domino’ combines Prince-style funk with a catchy flute hook, while ‘Chysanthemums’ is a mercurial piano-led trip-hop ballad. Despite the quality lagging slightly towards the end, triumphs like The Cure-esque distorted guitars in ‘Echosassy’ and an intimate vocal from Chris Lynch on ‘Minnesota’ make ‘Dunes’ a twinkling, sonically adventurous winter soundtrack. .

8/10

DIG IT? DIG DEEPER: YEASAYER, STILL CORNERS, SUMMER HEART

Published in Issue 92 of Clash magazine.

Album review: Death Vessel – Island Intervals (Sub Pop)

If traditional folk revivalist Joel Thibadeau’s past records bring to mind blissful campfire scenes, his third album conjures up windswept forests and stark, barren mountains. Recorded in Reykjavik with SigurRós collaborator Alex Somers and múm’sSamuliKosminen, the frosty twinkles and skittery beats complement the Rhode Island-based Thibadeau’s alt-folk leanings. While the hymnal ‘Ilsa Drown’ benefits from Jónsi’s eerie croon, there are times when the tracks try to imitate his collaborators’ lush dreamscapes without reaching their intimate beauty. However, when the frantic ‘Island Vapors’ arrives with crashing drums and Thibadeau’s swooping falsetto, it shows how original and bracing this album could have been.

7/10

DIG IT? DIG DEEPER: SIGUR RÓS, MÚM, LOW

Published in Issue 92 of Clash magazine.

Album review: Clams Casino – Instrumentals 3 (Self-released)

Clams Casino has been producing innovative beats for A$AP Rocky and Mac Miller since his soulful, R&B flecked first ‘Instrumentals’ mixtape arrived in 2011. Having proved he can create tracks that work as forward-thinking instrumentals and memorable, hook filled tracks for well-known artists, he returns with the third and final instalment of the series.

Opener ‘Crystals’ is an apocalyptic wall of sound, while the instrumental version of A$AP Rocky collaboration ‘Lvl’ allows its hypnotising, trip-hop style groove to flourish. Of the unreleased tracks, ‘Cry For Me’ boasts nostalgic ‘80’s synths and echoey, distorted vocals and the hazy dreamscapes of ‘Melthru’ also impress. While it’s doesn’t quite hit the experimental heights of his first ‘Instrumentals’ tape, it confirms Clams Casino’s versatility in incorporating eclectic sounds into his sonically adventurous soundscapes.

Download it here.

The tracklist for ‘Instrumentals 3’ is below:

01 Crystals
02 Hell (A$AP Rocky Instrumental)
03 Cry For Me
04 Pull Me Down (Mikky Ekko Instrumental)
05 LVL (A$AP Rocky Instrumental)
06 Bird Call (Mac Miller Instrumental)
07 Freeze (A$AP Rocky Instrumental)
08 Haunt
09 Melthru
10 Bookfiend (DOOM Instrumental)
11 Cold Feet (Mac Miller Instrumental)
12 Wizard (Remix)
13 Youforia (Mac Miller Instrumental)

 

Published on The Playground. Article here.

 

The Field’s Axel Willner debut Hands album

Axel Willner (AKA the Field) is set to release a new album ‘The Soul Is Quick’ under the moniker Hands on February 10th (via Ecstatic) next year. Each of the four extended, conceptual tracks on the Swedish producer’s upcoming record will be named after Beelitz Heilstätten, a 19th Century hospital complex southwest of Berlin, which became a military hospital during World War I (treating Adolf Hitler for thigh injuries at one point). Recorded between March and April 2012, it’s likely to be more noise/drone influenced and experimental than the sweeping techno-pop of the Field.Willner said: “It’s a protest record for when you’ve had enough of how the world works. When you find yourself taking inspiration from human decay rather then brighter things.”

Tracklist:

01. Beelitz-Heilstätten Part 6
02. Beelitz-Heilstätten Part 7
03. Beelitz-Heilstätten Part 10
04. Beelitz-Heilstätten Part 11

Listen to the title-track from the Fields’ latest album ‘Cupid’s Head’:

Published  on The Playground. Article here.

Gorgon City – Ready For Your Love (ft. MNEK) (Black Butter)

Having lent his rich vocals to tracks by Rudimental and penned hits like Duke Dumont’s ‘Need U (100 %)’, 19-year-old singer and songwriter Uzoechi Osisioma Emenike (AKA MNEK) looks on verge of becoming an eclectic soul prodigy. While Gorgon City’s polished, spacious house allows the BBC Sound Of 2014 nominee’s vocals to shine, ‘Ready For Your Love’ (released by Black Butter on January 26th) doesn’t stand out among the commercial, sleek house of acts like Disclosure and Rudimental. The simple, yet poignant lyrics (‘The stars burn bright./Everything has changed between you and I./I’m so apprehensive, but I don’t know why”) only highlight the fact that MNEK’s talent would be better suited to more interesting production techniques.

7/10

Listen to ‘Ready For Your Love (feat. MNEK)’ below:

Published on The Playground. Article here.

Four Tet gives away remixes and rare tracks

To celebrate reaching 100,000 followers on Twitter, Four Tet (AKA Kieran Hebden) has given away fifteen rare tracks and remixes via SendSpace. After giving a “shout out” to his 100,000 and counting followers yesterday, he shared remixes by Grimes, Atoms For Peace and Triumvirat. This follows Flying Lotus’s 24-track zip file of outtakes (named Ideas+drafts+loops) last week, which included a remix of ‘Black Skinhead’ by Kenye West.Having shared the tracks, Hebden posted on his Twitter feed: “Is sendspace indie label of the year 2013?”

Watch Four Tet’s Boiler Room set below:

Published on The Playground. Article here.

Boys Noize announces ‘Out Of The Black’ remix album

Berlin-based house producer and DJ Boys Noize (AKA Alexander Ridha) is set to release ‘Out Of The Black – The Remixes’ on his own Boysnoize record label on 3rd February next year. This follows the dark, grinding house of his critically acclaimed album ‘Out Of The Black’, released in October last year. Lending their electro-house talents to this remix album include Justice (who brings a hard edged French house groove to ‘Ich R U’) and The Chemical Brothers, who add buzzing basslines and restless beats to ‘XTC’. Jimmy Edger, Chromeo and Acid State will also feature on this experimental house collaboration.

Talking about Acid State’s remix of ‘Stop’, Ridha said: “It’s as if the song did its thing at one club, grabbed its coat and went to another club across town to take on a new life.”

Tracklist: 01. What You Want (Jimmy Edgar Unreleased Dub MixAlb)
02. XTC (MMM Remix Boys Noize Re-Did)
03. Missile (Boys Noize DJ Edit)
04. Conchord featuring Siriusmo (Oliver Remix)
05. Ich R U (Justice Remix)
06. Got It featuring Snoop Dogg (Blood Diamonds Remix)
07. What You Want (Chromeo Remix)
08. XTC (The Chemical Brothers Remix)
09. Stop (Audion’s Acid State Mix)
10. Circus Full Of Clowns feat. Gizzle (Housemeister Remix)

‘Out Of The Black – The Remixes’ is due out on 3rd February 2014 on Boyznoise Records.

Have a listen to ‘Ich R U (Justice Remix)’ below:

Boys Noize “Ich R U” (Justice Remix)-BNR100 by Boys Noize

Published on The Playground. Article here.