Apparently, Clearlake number Jarvis Cocker, Mark & Lard and The Delgados amongst their fans. A fairly diverse bunch, you might say – and characteristic of the stupendous second offering from Hove’s finest.

Cedars is quite a dark album in more than one sense – lead singer Jason Pegg’s lyrics are sometimes unsettling, yet sometimes bordering on the brink of hilarity.  On I’d Like To Hurt You, he sings “I wouldn’t hurt a fly/ But I’d really like to punish you/ D’you want to know why/ ‘Cos I don’t have a good excuse” and with song titles like Come Into The Darkness and The Mind Is Evil, you expect the accompanying soundtrack to be appropriately gloomy. Surprisingly, the majority of tracks on Cedars contain catchy riffs and clever arrangements – and are not as depressing or disturbing as they perhaps should be. Trees In The City pay testament to this, along with the lovely Keep Smiling, which is as close to a soppy ballad as you’ll find on the album.

There are shades of early Suede, a non-electronica Simian and even early Mercury Rev in Clearlake’s music. Pegg’s distinctive vocals are even slightly reminiscent of Bernard Sumner at times. However, there’s no Blue Monday to be found here, or anything even remotely like it. Instead, there’s a beautiful album of disturbing, yet strangely uplifting well-crafted songs and all produced by ex-Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde, no less. I daresay that Cedars will be one of the best albums released by a UK outfit this year.

Reviewed by Lauren M
Top | Comment on this artist or review on the Forum

Signs were worrying for the latest offering from Will Oldham. A recent tendency to pick his most depressing songs for concerts.  Interview hints that he dropped songs from the album because people liked them too much. These pointed to a return to the deliberately difficult songs of side projects and the Arise, Therefore album.  As it turns out this does hark back to the Bonnie Prince’s past, but to the basic, delicately tuneful constructs of the magnificent Palace Brothers album (otherwise known as Days in the Wake) and of a similar short duration.  The songs lilt along with his trademark off-kilter phrasing and accompaniment is stripped back to the minimum - the sound of fingers on guitar strings as high in the mix as anything. What is preserved from more recent outings is an earthiness at odds with the slight backing (“let your unloved parts be loved”) and a peculiar self-assertiveness that is almost the alt.folk equivalent of the rappers’ braggadocio (he’s “a servant for everyone, but a servant to none” and “a wolf among wolves, not a man among men”).  There’s no more to say, as with all great records the songs sound instantly familiar on the second listen.  Will Oldham is simply the best songwriter of recent years, a beautiful album essential for anyone who doesn’t equate noise and fireworks with impact.

Reviewed by Matthew H
Top | Comment on this artist or review on the Forum

Denmark’s The Raveonettes are a two-piece on record – Sune Rose Wagner and Sharon Foo – and a four-piece live.  Their first album kicks off with their debut UK single Attack of the Ghost Riders and what an opener!  The first notes are screaming feedback by loud guitars with a primitive drumbeat a la Moe Tucker and by this stage I’m already in love with this band.  Only eight songs long and lasting 21 minutes, the album has the energy of a young and fresh Jesus and Mary Chain with the garage stomp of the Cramps.  The sleeve tells us that it’s “recorded in glorious B Minor”, with the next album already recorded “in booming B Major”.  It’s in wonderful black and white but they have more colour in their sound than most bands have in their whole careers.

They are definitely where I’m coming from; they love noisy guitar bands, 50s schlock horror and sci-fi, beat attitudes and cool grooves.  The album has an otherworldly feel to it, as if you may not know who you’re talking to: are they real or alien?  The cover shot looks like a front of house still or a cop shot for two lunatics on the run: “have you seen these two?”  Veronica Fever feels a bit like ‘Darklands’ in approach with a more garagey 60s feel.  This is without doubt the greatest album since ‘Psychocandy’.  Do You Believe Her has double barrel shotgun guitars that just floor you.  For a mere two-piece, this is the best sex I’ve ever had and, as music fans know, Rock ‘n’ Roll is the best sex ever. 

Apart from having the loudest and dirtiest guitars, the album has a big American feel, which is not bad for a couple of Danes.  My first view of the cover told me that they liked 50s sci-fi and Cops On Our Tail comes at us with the sound of a trashy spacecraft circa 1955.  Add to this a stunning girl in the band and fantastic riffs to die for and you’ve got a fucking great and absolutely compelling band who have already made this year’s album of the year, no doubt about it.       

Reviewed by Tony S
Top | Comment on this artist or review on the Forum 

After the hushed success of 2001's The Optimist Lp, Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian - the duo also known as Turin Brakes - are back with another healthy serving of pitch-perfect indie-pop in the form of the aptly-titled Ether Song.  With The Optimist, Knights and Paridjanian succeeded in creating a substantial and enjoyable collection of folky, acoustically-based songs - yet with the exception of single Underdog (Save Me) they failed to really break into the mainstream, instead obtaining a cult following of sorts.

With Ether Song, they manage to retain the winning formula that made The Optimist a critical success - two blokes playing guitars in tandem, whilst harmonising gloriously over goosebump-inducing melodies - yet they've also made an album that's more accessible than it's predecessor, which should appeal to the casual music fan much more. Tracks like the excellent forthcoming single Pain Killer, the sweepingly beautiful opener Blue Hour and previous single Long Distance will almost certainly earn a lot of radio play - although Little Brother and Panic Attack see Turin Brakes leaning towards the heavier, darker side of indie-rock, which may leave some fans surprised.

A prerequisite to any album that's worth more than three or four plays is its ability to flow continuously and effortlessly - this, Ether Song does, maintaining its momentum throughout and peaking at various intervals, most notably the aforementioned Long Distance, Pain Killer and the superb 'hidden track' Ether Song, which brings a satisfactorily epic close to proceedings. As wonderful a debut as The Optimist was, this collection of songs just marginally eclipses it in the accessibility stakes. Ether Song lifts the shroud from Turin Brakes and sees Knights and Paridjanian maturing nicely. With any luck and a dollop of sense from the record-buying public, Ether Song will out-chart its fine predecessor. Top-notch stuff.

Reviewed by Lauren M
Top | Comment on this artist or review on the Forum

Until SOAD treat us to a new album we’ll have to console ourselves with this, a selection of unreleased tracks from over the last 8 years or so.  The band stress that these are not outtakes or B-sides.   The packaging is about as minimal as it gets, no inserts, lyrics sheets etc., just a black and white cover with the band name and album title.  I didn’t actually steal it, but I did get it for a tenner in a cheapo shop.

Opening track Chic ‘N’ Stu is straight into one of SOAD’s bugbears; capitalism and consumerism, represented by…er…the evil of pizza; ‘pepperoni and green peppers, mushrooms, olives, chives’.  Mid-song it all goes mellow with Serj Tankian crooning ‘advertising’s got you on the run’ before the song finishes at 100mph.  Boom! is an anti-war rant with some heavy Sabbathy riffing in the mid-scetion; ‘four thousand hungry children leave us per hour from starvation while billions are spent on bombs creating death showers’.  36 is 46 seconds of shouting, tub thumping and some bizarrely reggae-like guitar chopping.  Highway Song is much calmer, more mainstream rock where Serj proves he can actually sing while following track F**k The System (their asterisks, not mine) features some of his more ridiculous vocal effects.  Ego Brain has some balladic moments but the really uncharacteristic track is the plaintive acoustic ballad Roulette, complete with strings.       

It’s all here; frenetic playing, Armenian influences, politics, Serj’s maniacal vocals (how he gets his tongue round the lyrics is a wonder – check out I-E-A-I-A-I-O, which also features a snatch of the ‘Knight Rider’ theme – this guy could run US cattle auctions).  This is not all top drawer SOAD but even their bottom drawer is better than most bands’ complete range of furniture.   

Review by Graham S
Top | Comment on this artist or review on the Forum

Refreshingly free of revolutionary overheated hype, this does what it says on the tin…err, the sleeve.  It’s a collection of 8 bands (two songs apiece) playing unabashed rock ‘n’ roll.  Of course, by all recognised timelines rock ‘n’ roll is about 50 years new, but the newness of this release is in the (UK) bands, most of which aren’t particularly well known.   It’s all as simple and uncomplicated as the 3D card sleeve. 

Selected by the staff in Rough Trade Shops it endeavours to capture some of the highlights of what was a particularly good year for music.  Inevitably with a shop that, on the whole, avoids the obvious and pushes the obscure and unusual, it covers a wide variety of musical genres from indie, garage, rap, electronica, bluegrass to breakbeat, the only common theme being that within its field it’s probably pretty good.  Whether you want to be in that field, pitching your tent amongst the bull turds is another matter but it’s there to open minds and for all but the musical Mr Magoos it will succeed.   

A small handful of the tracks will be very familiar to readers of this site but remain top tunes.  There’s the camp disco rock fusion of Danger! High Voltage (Electric Six), the Siouxsie goes garage of Bang (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), the gospel rock of Soldier Girl (Polyphonic Spree) and the celtic schwoon of St Patrick (James Yorkston).  But it’s not these nor the orchestral majesty of Lover You Don’t Have to Love (Bright Eyes) that get the old juices flowing, it’s the oddballs, the quirkies and the strange fruits.  That moment when you hear something completely unlike your  current playlist and sprint off to Google or Amazon to find out more or buy.  The 1950s calypso of Lord Kitchener and his naïve but lovely London is the Place for me is one such track.   The glam garage of Johnny are You Queer? By Glass Candy and the Shattered Theatre and the Teutonic industrial techno of Photographt by Crossover are others.  Then there’s the little buried gems like 2002 single b-side Midas by the Rubicks which is New Order fronted by a yelpy Claire Grogan. 

It’s like a year of listening to John Peel with all the crud removed.  No Peruvian nose floots.  Well only the really good ones.  You get the picture, now get this album.

Reviewed by Paul M
Top | Comment on this artist or review on the Forum

Bjork is, to me, one of the world’s finest artistes who promotes art and music and crosses boundaries.  ‘Family Tree’ has its bad points but it’s not because of the music, that’s for sure.  ‘Family Tree’ consists of 5 3-inch CDs and one standard 5-inch CD.   It comes with a booklet of lyrics and 28 photos in a pink plastic box wrapped in a white outer layer.  The packaging is very arty but starts to fall apart even if you look after it and it’s not cheap (retails about £45).  The music collected is mostly unreleased on the 3-inch discs, which are a total joy.  These very fashionable discs from about 1988 have made a return here, though each disc only lasts 15-20 minutes so in real terms it could have all been fitted onto 3 normal discs in a decent box at a more reasonable price.  But there’s nothing normal about Bjork, thank God. 

Fleetwood Mac's double-album reportedly cost $1 million to make, a huge amount for an album in 1979. As a follow up to Rumours it was regarded as a commercial flop, peculiar sounding arrangements to the nevertheless 20 well crafted songs, it didn't sit comfortably with the majority of Fleetwood Mac fans, but still manage to go double platinum.

The story behind Camper Van Beethoven's remake of the album couldn't be further from the original: While staying at a friend's parents house in the ski resort of Mammoth, during the early spring of 1986, the band recorded it over a number of days on a handy four track. Tusk was one of 5 or 6 albums in the otherwise empty house and therefore a logical conclusion to record it followed. An injury to drummer Chripsy Derson on a make shift toboggan run forced the rhythms to be tapped out on the then state-of-the-art- drummulator. Forgotten as a side project it wasn't until February 2000 that the tapes were rediscovered by guitarist Geg Lisher and that they weren't all that bad after all.

CVB's approach to the remake falls between an obvious dedication to the original with the occasional globule of sarcasm. Songs like: the line-dancing "The Ledge" quirky mocking vocals on "Think about me" and jug band "Save me a place" highlight the parody, but for the most part this is a serious undertaking. The pensive treatment to Buckingham's original thumping "What makes you think you're the one" and the softly reproduction of "Storms" with folk violin demonstrate CBV's admiration to FM's blue print. Damage to some of the original tapes forced reconstruction, demonstrated best on "Sisters of the moon", where the vox of a iBook substitutes for the vocals (Radiohead's "Fitter happier"). The title track "Tusk" is a 10 minute psychedelic stomp complete with heavy looping of samples that owe more to post production than the spontaneous renditions of most of the other songs.

Overall, it works in a diverse and strangely compelling way. Both fans of FM and CVB will find it a curiosity, the latter reforming to perform the songs live. If you enjoy this, check out Dougal Reed's reworking of Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" - great fun!

Reviewed by Colin B
Top | Comment on this artist or review on the Forum

These knob twiddling, keyboard pounding, electronic Europeans sure have a sense of rhythm. Combing a friendly pulsating beat hidden underneath a mass of crisp electro-noises and not forgetting the hypnotic robotic female vocals has always pleased the punters. Although the inventiveness and creativity of this brand of music is questionable, Toktok and their good friend Soffy O seem to have sidestepped this criticism without actually doing anything noticeably extravagant.

To give you an idea of what Toktok and Soffy sound like: think of a less chart friendly Fischerspooner and sticking more to a hardcore electronic sound than Ladytron. I don’t like this Electroclash thing that people seem to jibber on about, just because it’s got a synth here and a repetitive keyboard there gets it lumped together with all sorts. Who cares though? As long as we can all do the robot dance to it.

Reviewed by Richard C
Top | Comment on this artist or review on the Forum

When the Teenage Fanclub first set out they were singing from a different song sheet from many of their contemporaries.   Whilst the good yeomen and women of Blighty tripped their ride in a baggy buggy or gazed at their tootsies in a floppy fringed fuzz of feedback, the Fannies looked longingly over the great sea at a little known long disbanded combo.  The influence of the melancholic pop outfit Big Star seeps through most of their output which is of course certainly no bad thing but what is amazing is the sheer quality of the product; this album comprises twenty one marvellous guitar gems, some, particularly the early ones slightly off-key, but every one pitched at levels of pop perfection. 

Where do you start with listing the waxy highlights?  With the sun bleached Beach Boys harmonies of Ain’t That Enough? The thrashing mosh of Star Sign? The pa-pa-pa-pomming accompaniment to I Need Direction?  Perhaps it’d be easier to say, where do you finish?  But are the Fannies finished?  Is there still a place for them in 2003 beyond replaying their back catalogue?  On the evidence of the three new tracks aired on this album, the answer is a resounding YES.  Two of the three are possibly the best things they have ever done.  The World’ll Be Ok would make a brilliant soundtrack to an advert; it’s catchy, repetitive in a good way and of course the chorus is uplifting, reminiscent of The Charlatans at their middle period best and Did I Say is a sugary string led pop dreamer – surely the Our Tune for lovers who know where to stick Celine Dion. The third, Empty Space, whilst not as instant, is far from out of place on this comp.  All in all a marvellous album - spend 4760 seconds of your time wisely.  And buy this comp.

Reviewed by Paul M
Top | Comment on this artist or review on the Forum