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Single Of The Week ! : Pardon this poetic notion, but hope, it’s a habitually fallible condition of the mind isn’t it? Just when your convinced something is going to be great, that something more than often turns out to be an overrated orifice of arse. So when reading up on relative new comer, Jim Noir, I felt said suspect condition- hope. Not only is hope a fallible condition, ‘tis also a fickle one, because Noir’s second EP, ‘My Patch’, is breathtakingly beautiful. He somehow recounts a cautionary tale of modern technology (-‘Computer Song’) with such supple splendour that you can’t help but (in the words of the second song from the EP) ‘Turn Your Frown Into A Smile’. Noir manages to fraternise the optimism in the gloom of The Beach Boys with the wit and fragility of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci with the euphony of the Super Furry Animals. This is Pop-Noir.
In a recent Gigwise interview The Black Velvets vehemently denied claims that they are merely a sub-Jets, 2003 hangover band from the ill-fated garage rock scene, with this curious statement: “Jet are doing something that’s rehashed and so are we, but we’re doing two completely different things.” Well, they’ve got one thing right! ‘3345’ positively dwells in the contentment that no musical boundaries were hurt, or even pushed, in this amiable guitar-swaggering pop stomp-along that most definitely does nothing to dispel the analogy of glorified pub-rockers Jet.
After the quite frankly barmy, verging on genial, debut album by The Mars Volta, De-Loused In The Crematorium, you would expect nothing less than a gratuitous barbaric siege upon the musical boundaries following the release of their second album, ‘Frances the Mute’. Never the predictable types, The Mars Volta release a single (as if that wasn’t surprising enough!), ‘The Widow’, that isn’t as off the wall as you might think…it’s barely three minutes long! Whilst not following the punk-y-ness of The Mars Volta’s predessors, At The Drive-In, ‘The Widow’ carries similar lingering sensibilities. As ever, Bixler-Zavala’s extraordinary timbre remains luminary and guide the melancholic melodies to cacophonous climaxes. Ironically, ‘The Widow’ betrays the reason that was core to the At The Drive-In disembodiment, the need to experiment, as ‘The Widow’ produces the duo’s most commercial song to date - no matter, it is simply stunning.
You were informed by Gigwise a couple of weeks ago that 2005 is the year of camp, and as ever, Gwen Stefani, is right on it, with ‘Rich Girl’, a song deriving from the musical, Carousel- yep, camp as Christmas! Stefani creates an insanely catchy pop record that almost equals the sheer hum-a-bilty of her debut, ‘What You Waiting For’. Eve gets roped in for the obligatory token rap, but hey, it worked on ‘Let Me Blow Your Mind’ and Eve executes it to a tee once again, her cadence fitting the ragga beat perfectly. Stefani can console the fact that she narrowly missed out on single of the week by virtue that she’ll most likely be popstar of the year, but to quote Ash’s Charlotte Hatherley, she’s still a “skank”!
“Make way for the S.O.V”, the foul-mouthed, helium addicted (not strictly true!) 19-year-old chav (most likely true!), Lady Sovereign, releases another non-prescribed dose of grime-garage-hip-hop. “Er’ body in da club gettin’ tipsy, oh fuck that, just whine like gypsy”, not the type of girl you’re gonna take home to your parents now is she? ‘Random’ showcases Sovereign’s fight inducing beats that accompany the Lady’s vitriolic rants of gettin’ “random”. Grimey to the uttermost, Lady Sovereign creates a monster of a track that will prize open the record exec doors to other garrulous girly gobs all over the land.
If you feel dirtied by Sovereign’s profuse profanity then this is the perfect antidote, Ambrose Tompkins. Fear not, Ambrose Tompkins is not the next Michel Buble, Ambrose Tompkins are the next big folk band…yeah…I can’t remember the last big folk band either. The title track from the four-song EP, ‘Every Now and Then’ acts as the Accident+Emergency department for listeners, where mandolins, harmonicas, violins and harps will gradually soothe all ailments, but like any A+E you get an initial scare- for a few seconds I thought the song was goin’ all Rod Stewart on my ass! Fear not, the Leicester four piece produce luscious soundscapes akin to Beck, the Beta Band, and The Earlies, but with less electronic shenanigans and more mangoes- yes, they play a mango!
Talking of Beck…’E-Pro’ hails the return of the arty-minstrel of pop who, for the last three years, has been hibernating in the warm glow of his own self-importance no doubt. Don’t worry, ‘E-Pro’ is zealous fun, fun, fun! The sound descends back to Beck’s stoner-folk ‘Loser’ days, and ‘E-Pro’ is all the better for it. Sampling drums from Beastie Boys ‘Whatcha’ Want’ fused with poppy guitar hooks to devastating effect, Beck is back on form with this sure-fire-festival hit.
Picture this, our protagonist (in this completely fictional film scene), Ethan, has been hit by the sudden epiphany that his long-serving soul mate, Mischa, is in fact the woman of his dreams, but wait, Mischa’s about to board the aeroplane to leave the beautiful suburbia of Indianapolis behind to study, er…penguins at Yale. Ethan’s running desperately in a bid to embrace the love that he cannot do without…and also in a bid to save the air fare to Yale. It’s too late, Ethan witnesses the plane takeoff, Mischa’s gone. Dejected, Ethan holds his head in his hands, only for the vision of beauty, that is Mischa, to tap Ethan’s forlorn shoulder…you know the rest. Cherryfalls ‘My Drug’ accompanies this slow motion montage. Saccharine sweet acoustic ode that only the cynical would dismiss.
Here to blow those Cherryfalls fruits off the Gigwise radar are the Queens Of The Stone Age with their menacing meaty riffage from hell…well, in theory that’s what head Queen Josh Homme would have had in mind with ‘Little Sister’. Sadly, their first show of material in the last two years fails to live up to the omnipotence of ‘No One Knows’ - what could? ‘Little Sister’ , whilst being a fairly decent soulful punk-metal offering, seems to digress back to the sound of ‘Rated R’, rather than progressing from ‘Songs For The Deaf’. Perhaps they’re missing more than just (ex-bass player/loon) Oliveri’s bare bottom!
Turkey Of The Week ! : ………….oh sorry, am I supposed to be reviewing this!? Must of dozed off, cos this is complete drivel. You’ve been in America far too long Joss Stone, cos this tiresome jabber you call ‘Spoiled’ won’t wash with us Brits…what’s that, the Stereophonics are at number one…well ok, maybe this tiresome jabber will wash with us Brits! Devoid of any funk inclinations that Stoney’s exhibited in the past, we just get an imitation Alicia Keys goin’ on about being ‘Spoiled’, yeah whatever, you’ll get no Ferrero Roche advert analogies in this review!
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