MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE - THE DEPARTED
PAUL SIMON - SURPRISE
ABIGAIL - CREEP
PAUL HARTNOLL - PATCHWORK GUILT
NICK HOWARD - A RIP IN THE SKY
HERBERT - 100LBS
LOCI - FILTERED TO FUNCTION
AGORIA - BABOUL HAIR CUTTIN
TD LIND - COME IN FROM THE COLD
BLACK STROBE - A REMIX SELECTION
MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE - THE DEPARTED
Roger Waters, Van Morrison, The Band>Comfortably Numb
The Beach Boys>Sail On Sailor
The Rolling Stones>Let It Loose
Roy Buchanan>Sweet Dreams
The Allman Brothers Band>One Way Out
Badfinger>Baby Blue
Dropkick Murphys>I'm Shipping Up To Boston
The Human Beinz>Nobody But Me
LaVern Baker>Tweedle Dee
Patsy Cline>Sweet Dreams (Of You)
Howard Shore>The Departed Tango
Howard Shore>Beacon Hill
You can always rely on Martin Scorcese to put together an impeccably eclectic and classy soundtrack to his films; following the likes of Mean Streets, Goodfellas and Casino; THE DEPARTED sees Marty pulling the same trick of providing a carnival of sound to accompany his visuals.
Just as the movie is a definite return to top form, the soundtrack recalls the magic of his earlier material too; the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers Band and Roy Buchanan rubbing shoulders with Howard Shore and LaVern Baker. If the stodgy opening of Roger Waters, Van Morrison and The Bands sleepwalking run through a live version of COMFORTABLY NUMB is a rare low point, things soon pick up with The Beach Boys impossibly camp SAIL ON SAILOR; a song guaranteed to leave a smile on your face and the barnstorming I'M SHIPPING UP TO BOSTON from Irish/American punks Dropkick Murphys, just think The Pogues drunkenly brawling with GBH.
The Human Beinz weigh in with a glorious slice of shambolic garage rock on NOBODY BUT ME whilst the swooning SWEET DREAMS (OF YOU) from Patsy Cline is about as perfect a love song as has ever been performed.
Another impeccable soundtrack from Martin Scorcese; THE DEPARTED makes for classy and timeless listening.
PAUL SIMON - SURPRISE
WARNER BROS. RECORDS
How Can You Live In The Northeast?
Everything About It Is A Love Song
Outrageous
Sure Don't Feel Like Love
Wartime Prayers
Beautiful
I Don't Believe
Another Galaxy
Once Upon A Time There Was An Ocean
That's Me
Father And Daughter
Seemingly following in Paul McCartney's footsteps of sonic reinvention for his latest album, SURPRISE finds the veteran singer/songwriter teaming up with Brian Eno on a record that sees Paul Simon at his most adventurous and invigorated in decades.
From the grunge ridden guitars and playful electronica that heralds album opener HOW CAN YOU LIVE IN THE NORTHEAST? its clear that this is a fired up and musically inspired Paul Simon we're dealing with here; an artist taking a few musical risks and chances for a change. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS A LOVE SONG, is a maybe more traditional acoustic folk tune; albeit one that still finds time to launch into some stylish electronic directions ala Radiohead era Kid A, whilst SURE DON'T FEEL LIKE LOVE rides along on a throbbing bass rumble and stark guitar stabs.
OUTRAGEOUS proves that things aren't altogether inspiring as Simon indulges in some weak funk rock posturing, the dull WARTIME PRAYERS another disappointment; the kind of lifeless dreariness that brings forth images of Sting at his most worthy. On BEAUTIFUL, Paul Simon revisits the afrobeat rhythms of his Graceland work to delightful effect whilst ANOTHER GALAXY is a sublime slice of melancholy full of haunting atmospherics and mesmerising beauty. Tucked away right at the end, the pretty FATHER AND DAUGHTER is perhaps SURPRISE'S defining moment; a song that finds Simon mixing heartfelt sentiment to musical adventure, a gorgeously realised treat.
His best record in decades, SURPRISE finds Paul Simon at the top of his game; an album thats both musically adventurous and heart-warmingly beautiful.
ABIGAIL - CREEP
BLUE IRIS RECORDS
Creep
Essentially, a piano led cover version of a Radiohead song by another fresh faced pop wannabe, CREEP is hardly the kind of single to inspire excitement or enthusiasm.
Reeking of your typical Fame Academy/X Factor vibe, Abigail sounds like yet another in a seemingly endless line of karaoke singers here; not exactly putting a unique spin on the song, her voice competent and all but hardly awe inspiring or jaw dropping. There's just something amazingly average and dull about CREEP, nothing particularly terrible; just something that screams bland and competent, nothing that suggests anything special.
Maybe Abigail has more impressive material waiting in the wings, only time will tell; but as things stand, CREEP is a dull and uninspiring single that only suggests her as a competent karaoke artist.
PAUL HARTNOLL - PATCHWORK GUILT
KIDS
Patchwork Guilt
Gloopy
Neatly carrying on from the point where Orbital left off, Paul Hartnoll; one half of that seminal dance duo here releases his long awaited debut solo single, PATCHWORK GUILT.
Hardly the most extreme change in musical direction, PATCHWORK GUILT could easily have fitted onto the last Orbital record; a collage of moody atmospherics, textured ambience and stripped back beats. Effortlessly cool and considered of course, Paul Hartnoll by now a veteran at this kind of thing. Taking certain musical cues from the likes of Boards Of Canada and Aphex Twin also though, PATCHWORK GUILT suggests Hartnoll is still someone actively taking his influences and moulding them into unique, spectacular results. Backed by the more immediate sounding GLOOPY, Hartnoll proves he can still bang out the anthemic dance tunes with style too.
A stylish and atmospheric return, PATCHWORK GUILT finds Paul Hartnoll still on the cutting edge of atmospheric electronica; a single that stands up to anything he produced with Orbital and one that promises extremely good things for next years forthcoming album.
NICK HOWARD - A RIP IN THE SKY
BELIEF AND HUSTLE RECORDS
Miss Music
Look Up
Familiar Face
Little Morning
Take Care
Through The Phone
Fire's Burning
Overgrown Child
Keep It Low
Waiting For Yesterday
An undoubtedly slick and smooth collection of soulful pop, A RIP IN THE SKY, the debut album from New York based singer/producer/songwriter Nick Howard is a record its perhaps easier to admire than it is to love. A little too slick and polished for its own good perhaps, the songs here tending to pass you by rather than grabbing you by the throat.
The likes of MISS MUSIC and LOOK UP are pleasant examples of smooth pop that take musical cues from Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder and Jamiroquai, LITTLE MORNING a jazzy number that suits Howard's falsetto croon. FAMILIAR FACE is a less successful entry, a forgettable affair that boasts dreary blues rock guitar clichés by the bucketload whilst OVERGROWN CHILD is another less than impressive attempt, this time Nick Howard edging into stodgy funk rock territory. Closing number WAITING FOR YESTERDAY shows off his impressive vocal range, adopting a feminine croon that recalls Ella Fitzgerald over a dub like bass line and jazz fuelled drum hits; a classy climax.
Though a little too slick and smooth in places, A RIP IN THE SKY suggests Nick Howard as an artist well worth keeping an eye on in the future. This may not be a spectacular debut, but A RIP IN THE SKY holds enough moments of promise and potential to indicate a future star in the making.
Rude
Desire
Thinking Of You
OO Licky
Friday They Dance
Pen
100LBS
Take Me Back
Deeper
Resident
See You On Monday
With restrained atmospherics and a moody ambience that suggests Moby at his darkest and most disturbed, Matthew Herbert sculpts atmospheric trance soundscapes and hypnotic downbeat house on latest release 100LBS.
Opening tracks RUDE and DESIRE set a tone that permeates throughout the rest of the record, gentle synth textures and almost skeletal beats that soothe as much as they unsettle; a hypnotic and dreamlike musical landscape which nods towards the dark and menacing at times. The more house driven THINKING OF YOU finds Herbert exploring more traditional dance territory; though still within his twisted neo-funk parameters. Title track 100LBS is a bass heavy slice of trance that slowly but surely insinuates its way into your brain and starts messing sinisterly with your head; an effect not a million miles away from Aphex Twin remixing Josh Wink's A Higher State Of Consciousness.
Elsewhere on the trancelike but no less atmospheric TAKE ME BACK, Herbert dabbles further into downtempo dance territory whilst RESIDENT is an insistent and foreboding climax to proceedings.
A classy lesson in downtempo trance atmospherics, 100LBS finds Herbert on suitably impressive form.
Zweifel
Iodine
Fluke
Trinity
Cult Of Insects
Sad Lonely Stereotype
Refreshingly noisy, chaotic and rough around the edges, Loci harness the power of distortion, big riffs and attitude; a band bringing back the spirit of raw rock n roll and evoking memories of all those Jack Endino produced early Seattle bands like Mudhoney, The Melvins, Earth and Nirvana.
As the massive riffs that herald ZWEIFEL practically rip out of your speakers and knock you halfway across the room, Loci unleash an unholy barrage of bruised melodies and ferocious noise. But Loci are a band about more than aggressive noise and attitude, this is a band whose songs twist and turn throughout; taking in quieter moments and inventive psychedelic tinged turns along the way, think Smashing Pumpkins era Siamese Dream by way of The Melvins.
IODINE is another barrage of noise, though underpinned by soft passages and Janet Jauregui providing ghostlike dreamy backing vocals against Ben Rossers more guttural roar. Elsewhere here, FLUKE is a stomping slice of primal sludge rock, CULT OF INSECTS a pretty psychedelia tinged grunge epic and SAD LONELY STEREOTYPE a subdued and downbeat closing shot.
One of the rawest sounding bands to tear out of your stereos in a long while. Loci produce songs that leave you breathless and exhausted, crank up the volume and you'll swear the band are playing right in your living room. Honest, raw, brutal and bruised, Loci demand you sit up and take notice.
AGORIA - BABOUL HAIR CUTTIN
PIAS/WALL OF SOUND
Baboul Hair Cuttin (Gui Boratto Remix)
Baboul Hair Cuttin (Radio Slave Mix)
Baboul Hair Cuttin (Album Version)
Following up 2004's BLOSSOM with an equally ambitious and sprawling set of atmospheric electronica and moody techno on his THE GREEN ARMCHAIR record, Agoria further flexes his musical muscles here on latest single BABOUL HAIR CUTTIN.
BABOUL HAIR CUTTIN imagines the Beta Band locked in some eastern European techno club; dark, moody electronica that delivers your intelligent dance needs in one classy package. Teaming up with fellow Frenchman Scalde here, this is impeccably balanced stuff, all the blips, bleeps and beats coming up trumps on an ice cool slab of slinky electronica.
For intelligent electronica and techno, Agoria has come up trumps with BABOUL HAIR CUTTIN, a single that sees him taking the genre and giving it a classy and ambitious makeover.
TD LIND - COME IN FROM THE COLD
TALL TALE RECORDS
Come In From The Cold (Radio Edit)
Let's Get Lost
I Don't Miss You
Shimmering with a quiet majesty and an understated intensity, TD Lind is someone with an undeniable air of class and distinction. Touches of Damien Rice are evident in his vocal delivery, but there's also a hint of Bob Dylan, Ryan Adams and Wilco on the three songs that make up COME IN FROM THE COLD - songs that skulk along with minimalist urges, lilting guitar chords gradually giving way to an impassioned chorus.
COME IN FROM THE COLD itself finds Lind wearing his Dylan influences on his sleeve the boldest; his staccato delivery underpinning the rough around the edges guitar riffs. The tender LET'S GET LOST is a more surrealist take on events, swirling carnival vibes haunting the background; the piano ballad of I DON'T MISS YOU meanwhile sees Lind coming over all Broadway musical theatre in his delivery.
Proof of the power good songs and a mesmerising voice can have; TD Lind manages to hold your attention rapt and in awe over three song. A singer-songwriter with grace and majesty - understated, intense and beguiling, this is a single to cherish.
BLACK STROBE - A REMIX SELECTION
PLAYLOUDER RECORDINGS
Black Strobe>Shining Bright Star (Phones Industrial Version)
Tiefschwarz>Ghost Track (Black Strobe Remix)
Martini Bros>The Biggest Fan (Black Strobe Remix)
Rapture>Sister Saviour (Black Strobe Remix)
Depeche Mode>Something To Do (Black Strobe Alternative Remix)
Caretta, Hacker, Millimetric>Moscow Reisen (Black Strobe Remix)
Bloc Party>Like Eating Glass (Black Strobe Remix)
Dominatrix>Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Black Strobe Remix)
Rammstein>Keine Lust (Black Strobe Remix)
Sweet Light>Abusator (Black Strobe Remix)
Putting a dark and twisted spin on shiny electropop, Black Strobe are a Parisian dance duo who take as much from Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson as they do from Heaven 17 and Duran Duran.
Released ahead of their forthcoming debut album proper, A REMIX SELECTION collects together various remixes by the duo; where they get their hands on the likes of Bloc Party, The Rapture and Depeche Mode amongst others.
Opener SHINING BLACK STAR although, is an insistent and moody look at what Black Strobe are capable of on their own. Cold synth riffs and metronomic beats provide the backdrop whilst a sinister vocal does its best Marilyn Manson meets Trent Reznor impersonation and abrasive guitars scrawl industrial like in the background. Elsewhere Black Strobe manage to turn Bloc Party into a dark dancefloor monster with their take on LIKE EATING GLASS, whilst favourable mentions also go out to their storming takes on Depeche Mode's SOMETHING TO DO and the Rapture's SISTER SAVIOUR. Even managing to give the dance treatment to Ramstein on the industrial KEINE LUST, Black Strobe sure earn their eclectic remix stripes here.
Electropop meets sleazy industrial noise; A REMIX SELECTION is an insistent and intriguing introduction to Black Strobe; arresting stuff.