Pop Levi - ‘The Return To Form Black Magick Party’ (Counter) Released 12/02/07

We at Gigwise often wonder what it would be like if we could set up artists to perform duets. Dani Filth fronting Snow Patrol or perhaps James Blunt with one of those Swedish death metal bands keen on cannibalism. Imagine though that an artist existed that could morph into the coolest and most talented acts of the past forty years and encapsulate their sound and style yet remaining fresh at the same time, making those dream duets a reality. You would be interested yes? Let us introduce you to Pop Levi.

Kicking off with ‘Sugar Assault Me Now’, essentially Prince fronting Death From Above 1979 (imagine that!) it’s three minutes of faultless glam rock with a stacked heel firmly raised up on the amplifier. A song that positively reeks of style and seduction. ‘Pick Me Up Uppercut’ sounds like a sleazy Good Shoes whilst ‘Crying Chic’ is Syd Barrett lounging around in his dressing gown, nursing a Sunday morning hangover. Think of Pop’s music not so much as  plagiarism but more like ‘Channelling’. Levi channels the spirit of the musical greats and produces futuristic pop music with a healthy dose of nostalgia. It all sounds familiar but also new and exciting, a perfect mix.

‘Return To Form..’ is a smorgasbord of influences that range from jazz to blues, glam to electro. Like a child with ADHD it doesn’t sit still for a minute jumping from genre to genre, the slower tracks like ‘Skip Ghetto’ act merely as a break from the break neck speed of tracks like ‘Dollar Bill Rock and ‘Mournin’ Light’. It all goes together to form a musical collage, a collection of songs varying greatly in style but all with Pop’s definitive charisma running through them.

Inevitably the album is not perfect. It runs out of steam three quarters of the way through and goes off in a stoner avant garde direction that might have sounded great in the studio but does not translate well on CD. ‘See My Lord’ and ‘Hades’ Day’ drag and lack the joie de vivre of the albums previous output. However in 2007, the time of downloading, Ipods and broadband who really even listens to whole albums any more, ‘Return To Form…’ is a downloaders dream with about seven amazing tunes on it (Roughly four more than most albums).

When talking about their new album Kasabian said “It’s like Marc Bolan smoking Crack with Doctor Who”, obviously this was Oasis influenced hyperbole because Pop Levi was also there and he got it all down and made it into this album. Welcome to the Dark Side.