Latest releases reviewed
DO ME BAD THINGS
Yes! Atlantic
****
With a debut album of vibrant colour, warmth, fun and excitement, Do Me Bad Things aim to puncture any preconceived notions about their worthiness (a nine-piece band from Croydon might not make too much sense in the cold light of a black-and-white newspaper page). Genre blending is the game; on paper it shouldn't work, but listening to their joyous, occasionally unpredictable mix of soul, metal and glam rock really blows away the cobwebs. The reference points come thick and fast: Detroit Cobras sharing a beer with The Supremes; Led Zeppelin fighting with The Glitter Band. And so on. Original? Not really. Contrived? Quite likely. Extra ordinary? Bang on. www.domewebthings.com
Tony Clayton-Lea
I AM KLOOT
Gods and Monsters Echo
****
I Am Kloot have spent their career in the shadow of fellow Manchester mood rockers Doves and Elbow. Their first two albums saw a particular blend of folksy acoustic songs that mildly diverted rather than set the juices flowing. That's changed abruptly this time round. From the opening, charged thrash of No Direction Home, this is the sound of a band who have suddenly come of age. New single Over My Shoulder sees frontman Johnny Bramwell channel John Lennon, while An Ordinary Girl has murderous echoes of The Bad Seeds. Elsewhere, Leonard Cohen looms large and the entire album has a dark, lyrical heart that suggests Elvis Costello at his most malicious and playful. Not mired in any scene and timeless in their preoccupations with love and death, I Am Kloot have suddenly become an important band. Who'd have thunk it? www.iamkloot.com
Paul McNamee
CRUMB
Evenings and Weekends Disques Fridge
***
As the post-punk black hole shows no sign of collapsing in on itself, a new hope glints on the guitar band horizon. Crumb (comprised of ex-members of Dublin bands Mexican Pets, Sewing Room and Hey Paulette) fit their own musical stencil around some of the best bygone bands of the last two decades. Thanks to the gorgeous jangly twang of Derrick Dalton's Rickenbacker, The Go-Betweens, The Blue Aeroplanes and a touch of early REM (when they were good) segue in. American bands such as The Feelies and The Replacements, exponents of melodic guitars and small-town lyricism, are obvious references. Lights of the City is supremely hummable, while Wrecked Or is the soundtrack to latenight melancholy. With this guitar pop tour de force, Crumb may just have started the post-Rickenbacker revival. www.crumbmusic.com
Sinéad Gleeson
SHIPPING NEWS
Flies The Field Quarterstick Records
**
Post-rock just isn't what it used to be. When bands such as Tortoise and Mogwai cast off the shackles of song-structure for an exciting nexus of instrumental rock and electronics, anything seemed possible. Flash forward to The Shipping News and their third album of predictable drones, precise guitars and occasional songs, and the engine of experimentation seems to be running on empty. Offering little advance on the tricky time signatures and intertwining phrases, oceans of calm and sudden guitar squalls, this four-piece from Louisville and Chicago get little return on their investment. The distant frenzy of (Morays or) Dreams, the pinched progression and final splutter of The Human Face and the fidgety jangle of Untitled w/Drums do throw up some intriguingly stormy waters, but there are still too many stagnant ponds here to navigate. www.tgrec.com
Peter Crawley
EMMETT TINLEY
Attic Faith Independent Records
****
It's an Irish singer-songwriter's prerogative to appear joylessly introspective these days, and Emmett Tinley's solo debut certainly wears its artfully anxious physiognomy on its sleeve. Yet Attic Faith is far from the ode to miserablism it first seems. While revealing something of a poetic midlife crisis in his lyrics of romantic regret and artistic angst, the former Prayer Boat frontman expertly elevates and balances the moods with cleverly uplifting chord sequences and heart-tugging string arrangements. In careless hands, these beautifully crafted songs may well have sounded cold and bleak, but thanks to Victor Van Vugt's warm, velvety production, such bittersweet tearjerkers as Christmastreet and Amsterdam Weeps become luxuriously satisfying, like hot chocolate on a winter's day. Up there with the albums of Rufus Wainwright or Jeff Buckley, this is easily Tinley's best work. Truly sublime. www.emmett-tinley.com
Johnnie Craig
