Latest releases reviewed
RODRIGO Y GABRIELA Rodrigo y Gabriela Rubyworks ***
One girl, one boy, two classical guitars, and a whole lotta love - the guitar-slamming Mexicans have found a huge following among rock fans who have warmed to their infectious mix of flamenco, jazz and early 1980s thrash metal. Classical guitar purists will despair at the duo's shameless disregard for musical decorum, but this album is not for them - Rod and Gab are playing directly to the headbangers in the Metallica T-shirts who regularly pack their live gigs. Diablo Rojo dips and turns with speed and skill; unsurprisingly, it's named after a rollercoaster ride. Vikingman is interrupted mid-flight by a burst of static, only to return with even more force, but surely they could have found a less-threadbare tune to cover than Stairway to Heaven. Gabriela sets the breakneck rhythm while Rodrigo tears through the melody lines with the speed of Steve Vai on tequila. The heavy reliance on rock's building blocks, however, threatens to barricade the pair into a stylistic barrio. www.rodgab.com
Kevin Courtney
ROBERT POLLARD From a Compound Eye Must Destroy Music ***
Guided By Voices were the kind of US cult rock act that survived more than 20 years of being in the eye of a thundercloud by coming up with mostly good, occasionally great psych-out pop/ rock material. When they disbanded at the end of 2004, distraught fans ever wondered if they'd hear their likes again. Well, here's the debut solo album of former GBV lead singer and songwriter Robert Pollard, and boy, does it sound like he's never been away. Combining rounded rock songs (The Right Thing, I'm a Widow, The Numbered Head) with slight but no less effective vignettes (A Flowering Orphan, Fresh Threats Salad Shooter and Zip Guns), Pollard distils contemporary pop/rock that references classic UK '60s acts like The Who and The Kinks. And with a track listing that amounts to 26 songs of overall high quality, that's no mean feat. www.robertpollard.net
Tony Clayton-Lea
THE SPINTO BAND Nice and Nicely Done Alex the Great Recordings ****
When Nick Krill's guitar-playing granddad Roy Spinto died, he left behind a bunch of lyrics scribbled on Crackerjack boxes. Krill and his friends turned these lyrics into songs and The Spinto Band was born. Well, that's their story and they're sticking to it. But whatever the truth about their origins, there's no doubt that the Delaware six-piece have evolved into a cracking indie powerpop band over seven self-released albums. They're only just out of their teens, so it's hardly surprising to find fumbling frat-boy tunes (Direct to Helmet) and lovelorn high-school anthems (Oh Mandy), not to mention a kazoo solo (Brown Boxes). What is surprising is how mature and accomplished it all sounds - there may be silliness aplenty, but it's not overdone, and it's not allowed to get in the way of such fine tunes as Did I Tell You, Spy vs Spy, Late and So Kind, Stacy. Roy would have been proud.
Kevin Courtney
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN Late Night Tales Azuli ***
These "Late Night" mix albums always come in under the radar, and previous curators (Flaming Lips, Four Tet, Sly & Robbie) have provided unexpected delights. The deal is that you put together a bunch of songs without any thought given to notions of fashionability. This becomes very apparent when early on in Belle and Sebastian's collection they have a Demis Roussos song (O My Friends You've Been Untrue to Me, if you must know). Mind you, good ol' Demis sounds in fine vocal form here. It's somewhat jarring, but interesting all the same, that Roussos is followed by Stereolab - if anyone can find a connection between these very disparate artists, I'd be happy to hear it. And on we go, through Johnny Cash (Ring of Fire), the really quite awful Steve Miller Band (Fly Like an Eagle) and Donovan (Get Thy Bearings) until some semblance of sanity is restored with Big Star's Watch the Sunrise. And there's a spoken word track by David Shrigley to round things off. As mad as a window maybe, but there's still some intriguing stuff here. Demis Roussos and Stereolab? They might be on to something.
Brian Boyd
TWO GALLANTS What the Toll Tells Saddle Creek ***
Named for a James Joyce short story, Adam Stephenson and Tyson Vogel sound like a couple of been-around-the block bowsies. Last year's debut from the 21-year-old San Franciscans had Pitchfork Media in a tizzy with its triple-pronged brand of country/folk/punk. Stephenson belts out vocals, harmonica and guitar over Vogel's brushed drums, but don't be fooled - single Las Cruces Jail opens with a tumbleweed soundtrack before heading full throttle into a hoedown. 16th Street Dozens does the reverse, jumping out of the blocks with a punk flourish before putting the brakes on. This frantic/slow pace is a hallmark of the album, as is Stephenson's voice, which can be tenderly craggy or irritatingly grating. His vocals work best on bottom-of-a-glass country blues (Some Slender Rest), but they just might be an acquired taste. www.twogallants.com
Sinéad Gleeson
