The latest releases reviewed.
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EMI
Each of Sigur Rós' previous albums ( Von, Aegetis Byrjun, ()and Takk, as well as mini-album Baba-Tikki- Dodo) has marked a dynamic new stage in their musical evolution. But their fifth studio album in 10 years (the title translates as With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly) offers a stunning new direction. With it the Icelandic post-rockers embrace the exuberant improvisational quality of their blistering live performances, and playfully incorporate alt.folk, prog-rock, pop and world-music idioms into their signature numinous sound of droning guitars, driving polyrhythms, spare electronica and vocalist Jonsi Thor Birgisson's haunting falsetto.
From the giddy percussion of Gobbledigookand the nine-minute chorale of Ára bátur (Row boat)to the solo acoustic guitar of Illgresi' (Weeds)and the delicate vocal intimacy of All Alright, the album is nothing less than a bold, exciting and joyous reinvention. www.sigurros.com
JOCELYN CLARKE
Download tracks: Gobbledigook, Ára bátur
New West Records
****
If there is life in the great beyond, I'd make a safe bet that Warren Zevon is savouring one of his trademark evils grins mixed with a healthy dose of pride - this first album by his son Jordan, on the cusp of his 40th birthday, is a welcome if surprising blast of impressive power pop. Zevon snr, who passed on almost five years ago, was a maverick with a magnificent track record. Jordan and friends don't offer anything as distinctive or as character-filled, but they have compiled a collection of songs that are smart, engaging, entertaining and well played.
He includes one of his father's (the stoical Studebaker), but it is a measure of the album's persuasive power that this is more a nod to a huge influence than an opportunistic piggyback. Jordan Zevon may be cut of his father, especially in his urbane lyrics, but he is also very much his own man. www.jordanzevon.com
JOE BREEN
Download tracks: This Girl, Home, Too Late to Be Saved
Shouty pop is alive and well and living in Birmingham, where these three exuberant youngsters come from. In common with their tour buddies Los Campesinos!, JF squeeze as many syllables as possible into a 4-4 beat and take off at breakneck speed, particularly on Yes! You Talk Too Fast. The social commentary of Cranes and Cranes and Cranes, bemoaning the construction-dominated skylines of their hometown, is countered by the single Eyes Wide Terrified, with its sweetly romantic storyline and slightly softer melody. While Hennings Favourite(note the lack of an apostrophe) shows a greater musical maturity than other tracks, Salt, Pepper and Spindarellais the strongest, most memorable melody, with an ear-catching, throbbing electronic bassline and solid guitar-led finale. The album starts with a bang and ends with a wallop. www.myspace. com/johnnyforeigner
CLAIRE LOOBY
Download tracks: Hennings Favourite, Salt, Pepper and Spindarella, Yr All Just Jealous
Further proof that interesting pop music is now enjoying a lengthy Swedish massage can be found throughout the wonderfully suave and warm debut album from Andreas Kleerup. The stock of the former Meat Boys drummer has risen thanks to work as a producer for the likes of Robyn - which explains the fine gallery of vocalists recruited for his album. Robyn features here, as do Lykke Li, Neneh Cherry, her sister Titiyo, Lisa Milberg (ex-Concretes) and Marit Bergman. But it's Kleerup's wonderful ability to transform simple grooves into dramatic sweeps of sound that really makes this album soar. A reworked version of With Every Heartbeatcasts Robyn as a troubled diva at the disco at the end of the world, while the spacey, bleepy soul of Until We Bleedis perfect for Lykke Li's ghostly vocals. A fantastic calling card for Kleerup and his sound. www.my space.com/kleerup
JIM CARROLL
Download tracks: Until We Bleed, With Every Heartbeat, Thank You for Nothing
There's nothing light about Lite; rather, the Japanese instrumentalists (guitarist Nobuyuki Takeda, bassist Jun Izawa, guitarist Kozo Kusumoto and drummer Akinori Yamamoto) are as heavy as you can imagine. This quartet are masters of fusion, and amid the stoner rockisms you can detect precisely executed math-rock, jazz-rock, psych-rock, Kraut-rock and that special type of all-kinds-of- rock that our Asian friends excel at. Anyone with a record collection that places Killing Joke next to King Crimson and/or Yello next to Yes will recognise the output of Lite; their instrumental prowess is little short of astonishing, their intricacy a feat of musical strength.
Inevitably, however, it all becomes a tad wearing. The full-scale guitar assaults and the motorik rhythms occasionally coalesce into a nondescript aural quicksand that barely sustains itself - the glop that eats itself, no less. Still, if fusion-fury is your thing, look no further. www.transductionrecords. com
TONY CLAYTON-LEA
Download tracks: Infinite Mirror, Phantasia
Somewhere in this label's vaults lies the formula for what is being marketed as an r'n'b/pop hybrid (marketing to teenage girls x pretty boy image + a touch of infant Justin Timberlake vocals = loads of money). In actual fact, it's aural leprosy.
McCartney's third (yes, third) album has been produced by a clutch of r'n'b veterans, including the team behind Rihanna's climate change-inducing Umbrella, but not even they could disguise McCartney's whingeing voice. So they back the vocals with milk-and-water synths, unoriginal keyboards, saccharine harmonies and predictable drumbeats. In barely justifiable fairness, singer/actor McCartney is only 21, so he can't be blamed for believing his PR people when they say this drivel is worth the airtime it'll probably receive. www.myspace.com/jesse mccartney
CLAIRE LOOBY
Download track: It's Over
