reviews albums
ARCANE ROOTS **** Blood & Chemistry( Play It Again Sam)
Hailing from Kingston-Upon-Thames, Arcane Roots actually have a very Northern Irish reverence for The Riff™ and an American understanding of modern hardcore. While guitar-wielding frontman, Andrew Groves, can scream with the best of them, when he actually sings, the band soar compellingly. Akin to a uniquely aggressive Circa Survive or Brandon Boyd fighting a room full of punks, the resultant din is as original as anything British rock has heard since a perplexing apathy saw off In Case Of Fire. GP
CATHEDRAL ***** The Last Spire( Rise Above)
Droning guitars, feedback, reverberating bells and calls of“ Bring out your dead” welcome you to the final album from Cathedral. The themes of death, funerals and the injustices of life are rife, along with hulking Sabbath-esque riffs, gargantuan synths and mammoth drums. It’ s doom in every way, signalling the demise of a band that has been influential for decades. Better to end on a high than sacking your drummer to satisfy your money grubbing wife. GM
THE CHILD OF LOV *** The Child Of Lov( Double Six)
It’ s not hard to see where that missing E went; the production values on this recording are appalling. I suppose this is to give the album a lo-fi and kooky charm, aping the work of Beck in his pomp, but the results sound like a funky Darwin Deez. There are times when the quality of the songwriting breaks through; Warrior has“ B-list at 6 Music” written all over it and it’ s always good to hear a verse from Doom( Owl). Nice artwork too. SE
THE COMPUTERS *** Love Triangles, Hate Squares( One Little Indian)
It’ s always good to see a band not taking themselves too seriously, and with member names like Screaming Al and Fred E Stare, I have little qualms in describing them as goodtime boys who wouldn’ t be out of place supporting Elton John on his next worldwide flounce. Some great themes and lyrical sentiments – most notably on Single Beds and first single, Disco Sucks – add to their appeal and set them apart from others in the world of rockabilly-infused
BUZZ 40 indie. RH
DETHSCALATOR **** Racial Golf Course No Bitches( Riot Season)
Dethscalator, a London ensemble putting their own unruly slant on the last, oh, 28 years of slow and horrid noise-rock, are many-layered, like an onion. The top layer, their debut album’ s title, is inedible; songs from Aids Atlas to Shit Village are‘ a bit tangy’. As one slices through their music, though, they’ re first enthralled by the very well-orchestrated ugliness of their wall o’ riffs – urbane sludge topped by the ceaseless holler of vocalist Dan – then entranced by the subtle but screwy psychedelic weirdness which continually pops up. NG
GABRIELLE APLIN *** English Rain( Parlophone)
There are, at times, flashes of remarkable invention in this debut album from Gabrielle Aplin. The 20-year old multi-instrumentalist displays her formidable potential throughout, showing us exactly why she was chosen to support Ed Sheeran on his recent tour of Australia and New Zealand. It’ s a shame, then, that the inventive compositions of English Rain often tend to lead nowhere impressive, and are undermined by a certain lack of songwriting maturity: her powerful opening gambits leading, often, only to cliché. BK
GHOSTPOET **** Some Say I So I Say Light( Play It Again Sam)
Obaro Ejimiwe, aka Ghostpoet, smoothly slid onto the scene back in 2011 with a trip-hoppish debut self-produced in his own bedroom and later Mercury Prize-nominated. Inevitably, he’ s been afforded far more space and resources to pen its followup. From a production perspective the overall sound is still incredibly sparse, but the live instrumentation – not to mention numerous notable guest appearances – really add to an impressive sophomore effort ideal for willing away the wee hours or a lazy hot afternoon. JS
HOT 8 BRASS BAND ***** Tombstone( Tru Thoughts)
If you have had the pleasure of hearing any of the Hot 8’ s first two LPs then you certainly won’ t have any issues with this. The third offering from the New Orleans collective shows a more meaningful, sombre side to the group’ s latest influences. Deceased band members and dear friends of the band all get a mention here whilst Hot 8 remain the hottest brass band of the moment. Look out for the band in a festival near you this summer. JA
HUGH LAURIE **** Didn’ t It Rain( Warner Brothers)
Whether you like your bit of Laurie as a bumbling Edwardian Englishman or cynical American doctor it’ s hard to escape from the fact that, these personas aside, he’ s also currently producing some bloody good traditional blues music these days. This release kicks on in much the same vein as his acclaimed debut, featuring an array of deep-South-influenced blues standards with some delightful guest vocalists and Laurie tickling the ivories throughout. Surely hard to dislike, even if the genre itself doesn’ t grab you. JS
IGGY & THE STOOGES **** Ready To Die( Fat Possum)
Raw Power is an album that the Sex Pistols, The Clash and Primal Scream have taken note of when it comes to making guitars sound
like the devil burning down a stall at a church fete. Ready To Die is the sound of the church going up in flames. Iggy’ s voice sounds richer now than it did during the 1970s and James Williamson’ s guitar playing makes most rock guitarists sound like Val Doonican. Ready To Die is one mighty comeback. DN
JD TWITCH **** Optimo: The Underground Sound Of Glasgow( Glasgow Underground)
This is a great idea: mix albums comprised of music from the DJ’ s city of residence. Glasgow Underground have, quite reasonably, started at home, and roped in one of the brilliant Optimo DJs as selector. Twitch’ s own remix of Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat feeds into a 75-minute party pack which may not sound innately Glaswegian, in the case of folks like 6th Borough Project and Auntie Flo, but honours the old Weegie techno guard at the end via Funk D’ void’ s Jack Me Off. NG
MARK LANEGAN & DUKE GARWOOD **** Black Pudding( Heavenly)
Mark Lanegan has collaborated with multiinstrumentalist bluesman Duke Garwood for Black Pudding. The stripped back and experimental Delta blues sound of this album lies somewhere between Ballad Of The Broken Seas and Blues Funeral. Religion, love and death are put under the microscope once again by Lanegan, while Garwood provides a backdrop that sounds like a psychedelic John Lee Hooker fusion in places. As a whole, Black Pudding is an intriguing and addictive listen that reveals more with every play. DN
MELVINS **** Everybody Loves Sausages( Ipecac)
They’ re constantly changing their sound and release so much music that it’ s pretty much impossible to keep up. This is a departure, as it’ s a covers album with stuff you’ d expect and stuff that you won’ t. You get Warhead by Venom sitting comfortably next to the most epically wussy, chiptune-inflected … Best Friend by Queen, which both sound undeniably and unmistakably Melvins. A telling choice of songs that explain a lot about why they sound the way they do. GM
OUTBOXX *** Outboxx( Idle Hands)
House music has regained its spot as one of biggest sounds around( though house music never really dies) and Outboxx ride that wave with their debut album. It’ s all very competent and tidily put together; it duly spans tempos and subgenres like all good dance music long players with odd tech flourishes and the occasional dip into Ibiza Chillout 13 territory. Yet it doesn’ t quite have the requisite grit, punch or bump of, say, fellow Bristolian house don Julio Bashmore. SE
THE PIGEON DETECTIVES ** We Met At Sea( Cooking Vinyl)
Though they churn out the kind of polished upbeat indie used as filler on the Disney Channel’ s school-based comedies, The Pigeon Detectives are nonetheless going strong with this, their fourth album. The press release claims that it’ s“ rawer in sound”, which must have made the first three sound like they were co-written with the Easter bunny, but it’ s not a total one-star affair, with tight musicianship and solid tunage which will no doubt continue to enrapture their faithful. RH
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING **** Inform – Educate – Entertain( Test Card)
Original and good: the two most important things when releasing your debut album. London duo Public Service Broadcasting have achieved both using the, yes, public service broadcastings of yesteryear plus the instruments and sounds normally associated with an indie-type band. So they’ re basically the guitar-driven version of The Avalanches, or something. You may already be aware of single Everest, but it’ s just the tip of the iceberg here. Their date at Clwb Ifor Bach this month will, I imagine, be definitely worth getting to. JE
RUDIMENTAL **** Home( Asylum)
Although Feel The Love is the one song everyone will be familiar with, thankfully it isn’ t relied upon to carry Rudimental’ s debut album. Slower songs including Hide and Home provide a good balance amongst dancier tracks like Not Giving In and Right Here. Perhaps I enjoyed this album because it took me back to me, 10 years ago, throwing some shapes to Wookie, MJ Cole and other garage artists circa 2000 in a dodgy nightclub on a pier in Bognor Regis. AB
SAVAGES **** Silence Yourself( Matador)
“ Savages is not trying to give you something you didn’ t have already,” says the London band’ s mini-manifesto, its American-style syntax potentially a nod to their new record label. In that it’ s easy to make( half-) educated guesses at their ancestry – the drama and sinew of goth prototypes like the Banshees and The Cure; Throwing Muses on, notably, Strife – this is a fair enough pre-emptive strike. You likely don’ t have this courtesy of a band who are active right now, though, and if you do they surely aren’ t striking with the force of, say, She Will or Husbands. NG
SOFT HEARTED SCIENTISTS **** False Lights( The Hip Replacement)
They’ re an odd band, Soft Hearted Scientists. And they’ ve called this their‘ odd’ album. They’ re not wrong: False Lights is a selection of surreal stories( like Seaside Sid, who was eaten by a giant squid), accompanied by shifting, Syd Barrett-esque melodic lines. But it’ s not just selfconscious‘ odd’-ness on show, these Cardiffian psychedelicists are also incredibly inventive, weaving the mundane – Starbucks, Roath Park Lake, council tax – into vivid, imaginative scenes, to create something new, and really very interesting. BK
VARIOUS **** Grime 2.0( Big Dada)
Getting past the bitterness of the attendant PR bumph and back into the actual music supplied, you have what I would call a bargain of a double album in that it contains 35 tracks, most of which are actually better than good. At first I wondered“ where are the MCs?”, as I skipped through the first few sets of beats, but you soon get past this. Features appearances from Wiley( without vocals!), MRK-1, Royal T and Youngstar to name but a few. JA