FEBRUARY 2006

Forward, Russia! - Twelve (Dance To The Radio 7")

I didn't think I actually liked Forward, Russia! until I heard this single. I bought their last one and I'll confess my laughable unhipness now, I don't even remember how it goes. But this one is awesome. The first truly great single of 2006. I dunno about all the Einstein guff or what exactly the image of Pyrite trickling down the spine is supposed to signify - in a way it's all a bit second-year undergraduate over-excited by McLusky records, Will Self or, I dunno, some critical theory dude giving it all hell-yeah over blow-jobs in the age of deconstruction (and even the way they give their songs numbers for titles is so playfully knowing - will it go on forever?) - and yet it is so much more. The central refrain 'give me a call' goes straight for the beating heart like some frenzied Aztec, tears it out and shows it ya. Or maybe, simply, it is just a moment of humanity in their machine. A truly moving record.

Spires That In The Sunset Rise / Panicsville (Nihilist split 7")

I have such high regard for Josephine Foster that I'm somewhat frustrated by this single on which she features. She doesn't feature enough for my satisfaction. Sure, in possession of one of the most extraordinary, evocative and edifying voices in Western popular music, she co-works 'Are You Going To Leave Me' with Panicsville - of whom I'm positively ignorant. It should be great. But the problem is the mix which buries her (still haunting) vocals just a little too deep and, perversely, behind a clunky piano - the sort more redolent of Old Westerns or an East End knees-up. I don't mind the accompanying 'clicks, creaks and bumps in the night' because that's the sort of context we find ourselves in at the moment. Spires That In The Sunset Rise are supreme exponents of the art: 'Little For A Lot' is considerably less spooky than some of their other stuff (their first album had me sleeping with the lights on for several weeks) but still - all zither, cold steel, and sixteenth century chic - it's not the sort of thing you're gonna be playing on a first date with the girl from work. That said, however, this is still an essential record for your collection and not just for it's limited availability (I imagine all 400 copies will be gone by Spring).

Pete Dale & The Beta Males - Betrayed By Folk (Fortuna Pop! CD)

Politics. Protest. Counter-culture in the Internet age. I always get myself into a quandary when considering such work as this. Does one prehend it politically or aesthetically? I guess I wouldn't ask that question normally as 99.9% of the stuff I listen to is vacuous pop. Great vacuous pop but as overtly political as beans on toast. Politically, this Pete Dale CD is spot on - I find myself in agreement with much of what he argues. Aesthetically, it's not bad either: the middle section from 'Saint Bob' through to 'Money (That's What I Hate)' is really quite impressive, and even momentarily captures the aura of the great protest records of the past. It's always a difficult balance to strike between style and substance but I think Dale has got it right, on the whole, despite the odd weaker moment, 'Meat-Eating Hippies,' and his controversial preference for Ochs over Dylan. Makes sense I suppose - Ochs was political, Dylan wasn't. But Ochs has dated while Dylan hasn't. Pause for thought. Yet I think Dale's music is sufficiently varied, informed and anchored that, at least, for now, the message gets through and the lyrics hit the mark, and like Ochs he has the sort of voice that discomfits and distracts at first but eventually wins you over. Whether this album transcends its present concerns and excites people in ten years time is another matter. Personally, I am incapable of indulging in anything but pleasure, and therefore my favourite moment of the CD is also the prettiest, the title track itself, 'Betrayed by Folk' with its evocative banjo and violin complement. Tony Blair will be gone by Christmas but a good banjo lives forever.

This CD is a must for all who are disillusioned by the thought of Billy Bragg behind the wheel of his 4x4 - just cos there's a little puddle at the end of the drive apparently. Futureheads completionists will also have to buy this album - which is probably no bad thing either.

Cannonball Jane - Street Vernacular (Fortuna Pop! CD)

It's probably bad manners to refer to another, superior record in the opening sentence of a review for a new CD, but Street Vernacular is something of a lo-budget Thunder Lightning Strike! The Go! Team album was quite remarkable for many reasons but, for one, they made it sound easy. Which it ain't. Even The Go! Team themselves may struggle to recapture that energy, that force. I can easily envisage second album syndrome striking again. And they're a collective; Cannonball Jane is working pretty much on her lonesome. Street Vernacular ain't bad by any means. It's good. It has a gorgeous opening track, 'Slumber Party', coming on like Sarah Cracknell covered in slow-fudge sauce. 'Add A Wrap' is nice too, as is 'The Force Of Gravity.' On the whole, we kinda like have here the musical equivalent of Quality Street: some are hard, some are soft, some you love, some you don't. Funnily enough it tends to be the guitar-driven moments, such as 'Let's Go', that lack the energy, although I do detect a deeper soulfulness just bubbling under the surface, not quite strong enough to really satisfy. 'Automatic Knockout' is cute - you can't beat those string sections that shiver - be they real, artificial or sampled - but I'm always put off by applause and whooping on studio albums: it's the sort of caper Disco Tex or Ed Ball would pull. Actually, this is a much, much better CD that I'm painting it out to be, but in the field of pick'n'mix The Go! Team have raised the bar so sadistically high that we're ruined for anyone else. I'm sure there are many kooky young types in the record stores of America who will swear by Street Vernacular.

The Sunshine Underground - Commercial Breakdown (City Rockers 7")

This is pretty slick stuff from The Sunshine Underground - there's a dash of Killers, a hint of Manics, and two pounds of healthy swagger. In essence, they are chartbound. Read the sleeve notes on the back and it's all management speak and barcode. Good record though, one can't deny that - and the b-side is pretty funky with its nifty handclap track and cowbell combination. It's the sort of record the producer can put in the portfolio and dine on for a couple of months. Class act but lacks soul. Yeah? Maybe I'm right, or maybe I'm wrong. My opinion is irrelevant - it's the producer of TOTP this record is aimed at.

The Mules - Polly-O (Marquis Cha Cha 7")

This is electrobilly apparently. Some styles I like - for example: bluegrass, punk rock, folktronic, ladies of the seventies, modern drone, and all this arty shit that's big at the moment. And some styles just ain't for me: disco, pub-rock, marching band and military, and any blues record made since 1945. Yeah, and Electrobilly ain't for me neither. Sure, The Mules maybe on the hippest damn record label of 2006 but 'Polly-O'? They could be singing about poly-filler for all I'm aware. Rather like Vincent Vincent & The Villians and the rockabilly revival, it's a leap of faith too far.

We Start Fires - Hot Metal (Marquis Cha Cha 7")

This is more like it. Rollocking good stuff here from We Start Fires. Another superb single, following on the heels of last year's 'Strut.' Raucous, exciting, noisy, threatening, brilliant. Both sides. The title, 'Hot Metal', invites some sort of comparison with branding irons: is this not the musical equivalent of being branded? Sorry, that was pretty lame but I lack imagination. 'Hip Shake' is brash, stuttery yet wanton, all blood, thunder and body parts. Hit yr head knockout.

The Violets - Mirror Mirror (Angular 7")

Visiting The Violets website I noticed that they included reviews that not only praised them but slagged them off too. One review spoke of excrement. I can't imagine The Kaiser Chiefs being so welcoming to bad press. Maybe it's naivety; maybe it's thick skin. Either way, I find it sweet and somewhat endearing. Perhaps their early stuff was shit but this one isn't. Perhaps they pressed their songs onto vinyl too soon - so many records you hear have potential but come out six months too early, before the band in question have really honed it. But not this one. The Violets are ready and this is a rattling good post-punk thumpalong full of swerves and handbrake turns and the most persuasive, delectable vocal performance (comparisons with female-fronted first-gen punk rockers abound so I'll avoid them). I'm not sure what the theme is: shattering mirrors? Fate and catastrophe? Snow White on the rampage covered in dwarf blood. I dunno. It's just sounds great.

The Editors - Munich (Kitchenware 7")

Yet another reissued single appears in the racks down at the megastore! I don't know why they do it. Then again, I do. Any halfway successful band (such as The Editors, Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs - serial reissuers) on the touring treadmill dare not let their profile sag. As soon as one record falls out of the chart they need to get something else out. The reissue buys time. It's either that or get yourself on Celebrity Big Brother and show everyone how remarkably boring and conservative you actually are that it makes us wonder how you ever managed to write two or three decent pop songs in the first place. The braver (riskier) approach would be to put the past behind you and, perhaps, stick out a brand new track even if the album's not ready. I think 'Area' by The Futureheads is one such worthy example. Can there really be 5,000 new Editors fans queuing up to buy a copy of 'Munich' because they missed out six months ago? I doubt it. I think merely that existing fans are being exploited. I bet there's a new b-side or an exclusive live track or something. Why not write some new songs instead, get in and out of the studio in two days, stick it out when it's done and not when the schedule dictates, and do something scary, test your mettle! Test the strength of your songwriting. Don't do what every other second division band has done for the past twenty years - i.e. tow the company line, cos that way leads to the terminated contract. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and quickly. Two or three years ago The Stands, The 22-20s, Babyshambles were the bright young things. Where are they now?

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Is This Love? (Wichita 7")

Here is a voice that might take some getting used to. I think 'nasally' is the term, although I'm tempted to use some sort of strangled aardvark analogy but, alas, I really have no idea what a strangled aardvark sounds like - other than what I've read in books. Nevertheless, they're on the NME Cool List and those punters rarely back a donkey. So, love it or hate it, this could be the voice of 2006. It's a good little single this - starts off very weak and insipid but builds steadily. It farts a bit too but that could be the vinyl. But the chorus is nice, the voice multiplying itself to effect, and by the time we get to the coda he's wooahing and uurghing like the best of them, e.g. David Byrne. Impressive.

Nancy Wallace - Young Hearts EP (Spinney / Hungry Hill CD single)

Anyone who's seen The Memory Band in the last eighteenth months will be aware of a distinct 1970s influence popping in to augment their acoustic folk charm. I'm sure they do Carly Simon and Janis Ian numbers. It's little surprise then that Nancy Wallace has released a solo EP of Seventies classics. Woman cannot live on instrumentals alone. Her tentative but evocative rendition of 'Young Hearts Run Free', made famous by Candi Staton of course, is the stand out track, and so palpable is the reminder of 1976 that I feel I'm back in its high summer now, splashing about in the paddling pool, lounging under the sprinklers, hosing down the Chrysler. [Yeah, I know. So sue me.] I especially like the sound of the fingers travelling along the frets although some people - sound engineers, I think - tend to be irritated by it. Anyway, the folk take on disco-era camp-anthems certainly works but whether the world is ready for it, I don't know. A few spins on Radio 2 is probably as far as it goes.

Queens Of Sheeba / Lavender Diamond (Cold Sweat split 7")

It's probably a bit lazy and unfair to call this the Devendra Banhart Christmas Single - but hands up anyone who'd have bought this record if his name wasn't on it? Exactly. The Queens of Sheeba's 'Christmas Time Celebration' is a throwaway ditty and probably goes on for about two minutes longer than it needs to, and nor can I retrieve any Christmas spirit cos it was three weeks ago and that's a lifetime (not the fault of the Los Angeles-based record label of course, but Geography. I'm in the wrong place. Let's be honest about it, if the whole of Great Britain could be dragged across the Atlantic and fastened onto the East Coast of America, somewhere near New York with option of floating down to Florida when the weather goes cold, the happier we would all be.) But anyway, that said, Banhart's genius is his relaxed, carefree style which permeates everything he touches - his hugely productive tendency is probably the result of damn hard work but he makes it sound so easy, natural and, most importantly of all, consistently entertaining. There's a nice flip to this split too. Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond has a lovely voice that drifts back and forth between Amelia Fletcher and Vashti Bunyan - how heavenly is that?

Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down (Domino 7")

Changing the subject: I had a vivid dream last night. I dreamt about Glastonbury 2006. Basically, I thought I'd go down to the farm anyway even though there's no festival, y'know, take a walk around the fields (trespass they used to call it) and simply imagine all the sights, smells and sounds. Gaze longingly at the Pyramid with all them dairy cows shuffling through and under. But it turned out that it wasn't just me with the same crazy notion - about three thousands other folk had their boots on too and were wandering around all lost and forlorn and empty. No music, no festival, no unemployed actors on stilts - although some people were selling bad food from white vans, and coaches from Liverpool were dropping off and picking up. But no tipis, no Lost Vagueness, no rice throwing at the cabaret! The dream ended at that funny little tunnel between the Greenpeace and Green Futures fields and some yokel type giving it all 'off moi land'. Sigh. Could go to The World Cup I suppose, but it's a pretty poor second. I wonder if anyone else has had a similar dream - I can't be the only one. Anyway the point, if there ever was one, might be this: where would the most hyped band of our generation be on this year's bill had the event been staged? Top on the John Peel Stage? Penultimate on the NME? Or 8-ish on the Pyramid as the sun goes down? It doesn't seem enough for a band with two No.1 singles and a No.1 album and such insatiable followers. It's an interesting question though and one that will occupy the minds of the other organisers this year. Can a band go from absolute obscurity to festival headliners in eighteen months? What does that say about the music scene? Discuss. Don't get me wrong - I like The Arctic Monkeys and I think this is a noble (but dare I say lightweight) single. And scanning the 'Tracks' pages of the NME (14th Jan 2006) I can see at least five equally fine records without a cat in hell's chance of going Top 10: and FYI they are by We Start Fires, The Sunshine Underground, The Early Years, Bromhead's Jacket and, er, Belle & Sebastian - although anyone under 25 maybe excused from the latter.