2pworth

Author: Marc A. Price

  • ELEFANT: THE BLACK MAGIC SHOW

    ELEFANT: THE BLACK MAGIC SHOW

    I’m sure that you are familiar with the fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes, where the Emperor swanned around butt-naked because he had been conned by an unscrupulous tailor. In this tale, the courtiers were terrified to inform said Emperor that his danglies were on show for fear of reprisal. It took the new kid on the block to point out that these magical new clothes that the boss man was sporting were not so innovative. It took an innocent child to burst the bubble of deception. Well, I am not exactly a child, but I hereby perform that function: As good as it is, Elefant’s new album Black Magic Show is nothing that hasn’t been heard before.

    ELEFANT

    THE BLACK MAGIC SHOW

    Hollywood

    2006-04-18

    Let’s just straighten something out before we go any further. I like this record. I wasn’t sure at first. I had a few misgivings, but it has an infectious quality that sort of grows on you. However, I sort of like it despite myself; it’s like a shallow, dirty little secret that I harbour. It is like that ABBA album that I own, or the Bay City Rollers record that I have in storage. I like it notwithstanding the fact that it has no substance, that it is bubble gum for the 21st century.

    As they are based in New York City, it would be too easy to compare them to other NYC darlings the Strokes. Indeed, this happened when Elefant’s debut, Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid, hit the streets in 2003. They are not alike. Where the Strokes emulate Lust For Life-era Iggy Pop, Elefant flirt with those that tried (and failed) to copy David Bowie in the ’80s. I also found it really difficult to listen to this CD without it conjuring impressions of Suede, and as evidence for this I offer you “My Apology”, which could easily be mistaken for a Butler/Anderson composition.

    Black Magic Show has really lush production values. Most tracks are full to the bursting point of really well crafted and rounded off recorded digital sounds. This has the effect of making it all border on sounding like a New Romantic record. This happens particularly on the more jolly tunes like “Don’t Wait” and “Sirens”. However, for the most part it just sounds like Suede. Sure, the album is full of really catchy melodies, infectious grooves, and Epicurean sonic landscapes. The music is all very O.C.-ready. That is to say that none of it would be out of place on the soundtrack of whatever the hit TV show is this week. Case in point is “Uh Oh Hello”, which sounds like it was lifted directly from a Vodafone commercial. I wouldn’t get very good odds on it being used for some cell phone company at some point in 2006.

    The best songs on this album are the ones where they just don’t bother to be original. The aforementioned “My Apology” and “Uh Oh Hello” sound like Suede (are you getting the subliminal message yet?) and the Lightning Seeds respectively, and “Lolita” borrows heavily from Elastica. That said, nothing contained herein could be accused of being deep and thoughtful. Diego Garcia’s lyrics promise to share with you experiences from other cultures gleaned from his erudite mind, but actually deliver fist-in-the-air stompers more akin to Gary Glitter than Nabokov.

    So, no matter what you hear from the PR spinners, this album is not groundbreaking. It is not a work of magic. In fact, any attempt to portray it as such would indeed require a conjuring trick of its own. It is quite good pop music. I would even go so far as to say it was good. It is probably worth your hard-earned cash, but you shouldn’t get swept along on the coat tails of the oncoming hype.

    originally on pop matters.com

    https://www.popmatters.com/elefant_the_black_magic_show-2495676709.html
  • VERNON REID AND MASQUE: OTHER TRUE SELF

    VERNON REID AND MASQUE: OTHER TRUE SELF

    Despite the fact that the band seemed to go their separate ways in 1995, it is difficult to discuss Vernon Reid without mentioning Living Colour, so I will get it out of the way right at the beginning, but I can’t promise that I won’t mention it again. When Living Colour hit the scene back in the 1980s, they promised to be a fusion of metal and funk and soul. This was a promise that they almost made good on, and they went on to spearhead the funk-o-metal carpet ride that rock music became between 1988 and 1990. They took up a lot of column inches and they brought with them into the limelight such acts as Fishbone, Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, and (ahem) the Dan Reed Network. The stand out members of the band were Corey Glover, for his powerful and sometimes soulful vocals, and Vernon Reid, for his amazing technical ability to make the guitar sound like it was a wild beast that needed taming. Since 1995, Reid has done turns for the likes of Tracey Chapman, Jack Bruce, and DJ Spooky, as well as recording another Living Colour album in 2003.

    VERNON REID AND MASQUE

    OTHER TRUE SELF

    Favored Nations

    2006-04-18

    “Masque is about identity,” claims Reid. He maintains that it is this question that has informed everything that he has done from the beginning of his solo career. On listening to Other True Self, it is difficult to see how Mr. Reid has spent his time exploring this question. As an analytical tool, the compact disc format is not exactly foolproof, but it does offer a snapshot of time that one can look at in more depth. Regrettably, he offers no insight into his true self, unless this particular self is disjointed and confused and asks more questions than it answers. As a closet social psychologist, I am willing to believe that is the case. Even more problematic, this particular exploration of the psyche can be a trying experience at times.

    The album opens with “Game Is Rigged”, the kind of instrumental that tended to uncomfortably sit on a Living Colour album. It sets the tone for the rest of the album in terms of temperament. The song is poorly behaved; it refuses to stay in one place, like a hyperactive child desperate to grab your attention. One second it is harmonics and hammer-ons, the next it is syncopated beats with a lounge style organ and lots — and I mean LOTS — of guitar. Next up, we get a cover of Radiohead’s “National Anthem”, from their Kid A album. Musically, it is note perfect, but robbed of Thom Yorke’s paranoid ramblings the song loses all of its tension and claustrophobia. The pinnacle of this album has to be the instrumental (did I mention that this album was an instrumental?) version of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence”. This is another note-perfect tune that almost lifts off, but then just falls into yet another safe guitar noodle. Reid explores his identity all over Martin Gore’s masterwork, replacing its dark and moody conclusions with diddlydiddlydiddlywahwah followed by a jazz club-style bass solo. You can almost hear bass player Hank Schroy’s head nodding as it happens. Mine too, but for a different reason. Frankly, I would have enjoyed the silence had there been any.

    That’s the main issue with this collection and albums of this type. Vernon Reid is clearly a very talented guitar player. However, guitar players do not need to breathe in between musical phrases, thus instrumental sections lack natural gaps and pauses. As Emperor Joseph II said in Amadeus, “It’s quality work. But there are simply too many notes, that’s all.” After a while, the rambunctious noodling becomes tiresome, and when you add this to the scarcity of any songs, or even tunes masquerading as songs, you find yourself wishing the whole experience was just over. I mentioned Living Colour so much at the beginning of this piece because when you listen to this album you realise precisely what it was that made them great. They had songs with words in them that allowed the listener a little recovery time before the next guitar offensive.

    originally on popmatters.com

    https://www.popmatters.com/vernon_reid_and_masque_other_true_self-2495676723.html
  • PÉREZ PRADO: THE BEST OF PÉREZ PRADO – THE ORIGINAL MAMBO NO. 5

    PÉREZ PRADO: THE BEST OF PÉREZ PRADO – THE ORIGINAL MAMBO NO. 5

    Before Lou Bega ripped off “Mambo #5”, and even before a well-known beer manufacturer borrowed “Guaglione” for their success commercial campaign in the UK, Pérez Prado was already a legend. He was one of the more influential bandleaders of the 1940s and 1950s and helped carve out a genre of music that (although considered a fad at the time) has long outlived him. As result of this longevity, it’s extremely difficult to think of things to say about the music on this album that hasn’t already been said, as most of it has been around for 60 years or more. However, it is almost impossible to guess the age from the sound quality of these recordings. They have been lovingly restored and re-mastered for this 22- track retrospective that covers pretty much all of the bases of Prado’s career.

    PÉREZ PRADO

    THE BEST OF PÉREZ PRADO – THE ORIGINAL MAMBO NO. 5

    Legacy

    2006-02-07

    If you have had any interaction with popular culture in the last half a century, then you will have at some point encountered some of the music that appears on this set. You may remember “Patricia” for its use in the fountain scene in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, or (if you are from the UK) “Guaglione” when it was employed on a really creepy Guinness advert in the 1990s. That music that David Letterman uses for his “comedy” montages is nearly always Prado. You know this music even if you think that you don’t.

    Nevertheless, this is not a dry and dusty archive record. What is on offer on this CD is golden summer magic. It is the kind of music that you should listen to while sitting outside drinking margaritas and getting sunstroke. In fact, this collection goes so well with sun and cocktails I am transported, while listening, to such a sun-kissed place. Instead of a wet and windy April afternoon in Amsterdam, I can see girls in skimpy swimwear carrying salted tequila mixed drinks out of my window. (That is, until “Guaglione” comes on, and then they are carrying Guinness.) Are you wishing you were here yet?

    Most of the tracks on this compilation are quite fine examples of Cuban music from the post-Second World War era. Despite this, there were many complaints levelled at Prado in his lifetime for whitening his sound. In this nostalgic glance over his career you can kind of hear that happening, too. For example, on “Quién Será”, which unfortunately sounds not unlike the theme from the Munsters and the frankly awful “Heigh-Ho (The Dwarf’s Marching Song)”. Yes, you heard that right, a mambo version of a Disney tune. The sleeve notes would have you believe that this is some kind of knowing subversion on the part of Prado. He was some kind of mambo punk rocker. Nope, horrible cash-in, I’m afraid.

    Which brings me to the “Why does this record even exist?” question. Surely there are already multiple versions of Pérez Prado compilations on the market? To my knowledge it is not his birthday or the anniversary of his death, so why did RCA/Legacy choose now to release this addition to the Prado catalogue? This mystery remains unsolved. Unless, of course, some fat cat in a business suit decided that the CD should be released because the music is good rather than because it will make money. Hmmm. Wonders will never cease.

    Sure, there have been cooler artists to come from Cuba, Omara Portuondo being one of them, and several other artists “discovered” by Ry Cooder. I am sure that their records will live on after they are no longer with us. However, none of them have touched the mainstream of pop music quite like, or for as long as, Pérez Prado. That track record is almost enough in itself for you to want some of his music in your collection, and if that isn’t enough, it will make you hallucinate that the sun is shining when it plainly ain’t.

    originally posted on popmatters.com

    https://www.popmatters.com/prez_prado_the_best_of_prez_prado_the_original_mambo_no_5-2495676624.html
  • RÖYKSOPP: RÖYKSOPP’S NIGHT OUT

    RÖYKSOPP: RÖYKSOPP’S NIGHT OUT

    Röyksopp’s debut single “Eple” was pinched by Belgian turntable train spotters 2 Many DJs (AKA Soulwax) and mixed with Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” on their As Heard on Radio Soulwax – Part 2. The song was then also bought by Apple (a small computer company that also makes some kind of music playing device) and is the first thing that new Mac owners hear when they boot up their purchase for the first time. It is a wonderful, catchy tune that is also great to dance to. Sadly, “Eple” does not feature on this 40-minute live EP. What we do get is a selection of the cream from their 2002 debut Melody A.M. and last year’s The Understanding and a crowd-pleasing cover version as the penultimate track. If I cut to the chase straight away I have to ask “what is it for?”

    RÖYKSOPP

    RÖYKSOPP’S NIGHT OUT

    Astralwerks

    2006-03-21

    In the main this Norwegian duo (Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge) deliver an energy filled performance, handling most of the duties themselves with the exception of a few guest vocalists and the occasional bit of extra guitar and bass. If you like cool sounding analogue keyboards mixed with really obvious sounding drum machines then this album will be your bag. Like Daft Punk and Underworld, Röyksopp are the obvious next stage in the evolution of the musical project begun by the likes of Tangerine Dream and Neu! Say what you like, this is prog rock to a dance beat. It is not the kind of dry, serious Teutonic experiment in wave forms that you might expect from those German originators. Röyksopp entertain with a kind of techno geeky soul that is not without some humour. It is the kind of music that you get off your chair and party to.

    There are times where they go off the rails. An example of this is on “Alpha Male”. In places it just sounds like a couple of guys jamming in their bedroom to a Tangerine Dream record. This may be where this teams musical roots lie but I am not certain that people will want to fork out actual cash money to hear it. With the exception of this track the performance is note perfect with most of the guest vocalists from the two albums reprising their roles. However, in between songs there is the obligatory crowd noise that intrudes like the laughter track on “Happy Days” (those are dead people laughing), I understand that this is a live album but turn the crowd down and let me listen to the performance of the band.

    It does make you wonder though, as pretty much all of the music on this CD is available elsewhere in better versions (well at least versions without screaming Norwegians on it), who is going to buy it? Röyksopp apparently maintain that this release was primarily aimed at the Japanese fans who in their view are the most enthusiastic. Perhaps in order to appease their other fans there is the inclusion of a cracking version of Queens of the Stone Age’s “Go with the Flow”. In including this tune Röyksopp add some value to the release. It is a vivacious rendition that the band should be really proud of and the audience clearly enjoyed it. However, it is not quite enough to justify the price tag. If you have yet to discover this fine act and you can stand the background noise that accompanies this live outing then it may serve as a primer. However, if you are already a fan but not a completist or you have one of the albums already, then Röyksopp’s Night Out is probably not for you.

    originally on popmatters.com this was

    https://www.popmatters.com/royksopp_royksopps_night_out-2495675919.html

  • SOME BY SEA: ON FIRE (IGLOO)

    SOME BY SEA: ON FIRE (IGLOO)

    Apparently, Some by Sea will be throwing a launch party with fellow Seattleites Hypatia Lake. When I discovered this news, I felt a little concerned. I hoped to all of the deities that I could think of that On Fire(Igloo), the debut album proper from Some by Sea, was nothing like the Hypatia Lake album. After my review of that album, I doubt if I made it on to HL’s Christmas card list and I didn’t want a repeat performance. My concern was misplaced, it seems, as Some by Sea are a different kind of animal altogether; nevertheless, there is some kind of inkling that they are from the same habitat. Some by Sea are not happy, and they write complicated and clever songs.

    SOME BY SEA

    ON FIRE (IGLOO)

    SideCho

    2006-03-07

    Indeed, Some by Sea have cleverly crafted a compendium of cracking compositions that are solid gold whimsy. On Fire (Igloo) may not win any prizes this year for Album Title of the Year but the CD that lies within its understated packaging is likely to win the hearts and minds of a large portion of those that listen to it. And quite right, too. It is a record that reminds one of a time when LPs (like a CD, only bigger and blacker) were only beginning to lose their dominance and popsters wrote songs that demonstrated how Existential and well-read they were. This platter stirs up a few images of Prefab Sprout, Aztec Camera, the Lilac Time, and, less pleasantly, Deacon Blue, because of its swish production values and knowing lyrical content.

    They describe themselves on their website as “[y]our broken-hearted best friend that made you listen to Carissa’s Wierd, R.E.M., Matt Pond PA, and Built to Spill.” The band contend further that they are “hip without being slick.” I’m not sure quite what that means, but they have produced a collection of tunes that have an insidious quality about them. The choruses are by and large not big and boisterous; indeed they creep up on you like some kind of musical Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster where the gold brick is replaced by the distilled essence of little fluffy clouds. In fact, on first listen I was convinced that this record had no choruses at all. After several listens, they were clearly there for all to hear. Or perhaps you have to prime you mind with one listen first.

    If I were to pick some of the highlights it would have to be “Look What I Made Without Your Heart Getting In The Way” for its charming look at toxic relationships and the classic line “. . . and I know the things that go wrong when you can’t stop making out with all of your friends”. “One More Day Goes By” is similarly well observed, but in other places, such as the gargantuan “Only One Bullet”, they go into Deacon Blue overdrive. Here they clearly forget where to draw the line of editorial control and the presence of this track alone tends to temper the overall album enjoyment experience.

    Yes, in fact my major gripe about this record is that the songs are just too long. Pop songs have absolutely no business being over 5 minutes in length. The final track, the aforementioned “Only One Bullet”, is a whopping 12:21. Twelve minutes and twenty-one seconds. Perhaps they were trying for some magic palindromic (I made that word up I think) number that would bless this release with unimaginable success, but I reckon that 3:13 might have been a better choice. The result of this excess is that the album clocks in at just over seventy minutes. Some might say value for money and fair dues; you do get a lot of quality pop for your cash. However, there are attention span issues to consider here. There is only so much cleverly crafted pop your brain can take in one sitting before it melts into mush. Like the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, once mixed this record should be listened to very, very carefully. Even if only to stop your brain simple shutting down.

    That said, the album is pretty solid. It is long, but persevere with it; after the first listen, you will find some charming little gems that you can put on your iPod that will cause you to knowingly smile as you truck on down the street.

    originally on popmatters.com

    https://www.popmatters.com/some_by_sea_on_fire_igloo-2495675854.html
  • KT TUNSTALL: EYE TO THE TELESCOPE

    KT TUNSTALL: EYE TO THE TELESCOPE

    The USA finally gets a release of KT Tunstall’s debut Eye to the Telescope. This album has been turning quite a few heads in the UK. It was reissued in January of 2005 after a stunning TV performance on Later with Jools Holland and has been in the UK album charts ever since. In July 2005 the album received a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize. All in all 2005 was a good year for KT. 2006 is shaping up pretty well too as in January Tunstall received three “Brit” nominations: Best British Live Act, British Breakthrough Act, and British Female Solo Artist. She won the latter.

    KT TUNSTALL

    EYE TO THE TELESCOPE

    Virgin

    2006-02-07

    It is no coincidence that Miss Tunstall was plucked from the wilderness after a live performance. Her voice is as silky and as potent as a pint of Guinness and if you were to look at one of the numerous videos available of her performing that are available on the Internet (her MySpace page or YouTube are good places to look) you would see that she is so at home in front of an audience. She brings a wonderful rawness and energy to the party that is thoroughly exciting and innovative, particularly her use of a loop pedal that she affectionately calls her “Wee Bastard”. It has been a long time coming for KT. Over the years she has been messed about and set back by unscrupulous record companies. However, rather than blow up the candy factory she stuck with it. In many ways her loss has been our gain as in the intervening years she has perfected her performance and her song writing abilities.

    As a songwriter Tunstall is to a certain extent an illusionist. With a precise slight of hand she draws your attention to what one hand is doing while the other is whipping the carpet from under your feet. The when she is not doing this she is a musical chameleon, blending into a certain musical style in order that she can get her prey. The two of these go hand in hand, one persona bounces off the other. Unfortunately, this approach can make you feel like you are not hearing anything new. Sometimes KT comes over all Edie Brickell (Under the WeatherӔ), sometimes she has shades of Melissa Etheridge (Another Place to FallӔ) on other occasions she is coming from the same sandpit as Fiona Apple (Miniature DisastersӔ). In between all of this you get some real originality in the form of the song that got her noticed “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”. In many, many ways KT reminds me more of that other musical chameleon Lenny Kravitz than any of the other examples. She wears her influences on her sleeve in a shameless fashion and in doing so comes up with something both new and familiar.

    I have one grumble about Eye to the Telescope and it has nothing to do with the lady herself, her performance or her songs. It is with the production values introduced by Steve Osborne. There is little doubt that Osborne is a talented man. In the 1990s he made his name as being partly (with Paul Oakenfold) responsible for the last good Happy Mondays album Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches and a host of remixes under the “Perfecto” imprint. Here he has no doubt introduced a number of nice grooves. Unfortunately, he seems to have sanded down all of KT’s rough edges. Even though the album probably has a larger market appeal as a result of this pristine approach, I think that it is a shame. I would really have liked to have heard the much more edgy record that I am certain Tunstall is capable of.

    When a talent such as KT Tunstall has been bubbling under for so long the breakthrough album that you get is often one that makes people sit up and take notice. Think of the hue and cry that was made of Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes when that finally hit the record shops for the second time. As with that album the fuss around this release in the UK is justified. Look out US of A, KT is coming and she’s bringing her “Wee Bastard” with her.

    originally on popmatters.com

    https://www.popmatters.com/kt_tunstall_eye_to_the_telescope-2495675749.html
  • HYPATIA LAKE: …AND WE SHALL CALL HIM JOSEPH

    HYPATIA LAKE: …AND WE SHALL CALL HIM JOSEPH

    Our goal is to help push humanity forward by utilizing music as a transcendental form of communication and by offering a relief from the monotony that is the byproduct of some of the pitfalls of the music industry. Our first priority is the quality of our music and its (sic) message, and our second is to entertain.

    — Hypatia Lake (from press release)

    If this review were a documentary on TV, the above quote would be used in voice-over while we see monochrome footage of CDs being relentlessly pressed and put into cases, unremittingly stacked on shelves, and tediously put into bags by some spotty nerd in a record shop (trust me, this is how it happens, for I was once that nerd). It would have an air of the World War II munitions industry about it, and the final sentence would be awash with echo and reverb so that we understand the gravity of what is being said. The subjects of this review, after all, do seem to take themselves very seriously indeed.

    Hypatia Lake live, as do we all, in a world where pop music is churned out like candy from a candy factory by an uncaring, money-grabbing music industry. This industry has its eyes only on the bottom line of its profit and loss account, and not the quality of its product. These Luddites from Seattle have seen this evil and they critique it through the medium of music, chiefly using the weapon of metaphor. The metaphor that they employ for this concept album is that of… a candy factory producing candy. I wonder how long it took them to think that one up?

    The overall sound and feel of …And They Shall Call Him Joseph is lifted from some scratchpads that the Flaming Lips, Spiritualized, and Pink Floyd must have left lying around somewhere. Sure enough, Hypatia Lake make some interesting and artistic noises of their own, but these noises have a tendency to wash over you and leave you with the prickly feeling that there just aren’t any real songs in this collection. That’s the key problem with the album. It is perfectly fine musically, it contains lots of music, some of it very catchy, a lot of it quite dark and moody, none of it very original, and not one song that has the ability to stand on its own two feet. But should this be a problem? After all, it is a concept album and should be taken more as a whole. Who takes a chapter from a book and judges the whole book based on that chapter?

    Nevertheless, the best concept albums have at least one shiny diamond in the rough. Of the eleven tracks on offer, two — “Farmers Can Be Jedi, Too” and “The Paradigm of the Introvert” — come closest to sticking in your head for more than 5 minutes. This is no mean feat, as both songs themselves border on 5 minutes in length. Apart from these, “He Could Not Save Her from the Cold Blade in the Pale Moonlight” (you’ve got to love that title) also stands out, but only because it is a direct rip-off of Pink Floyd. It sound just like “Be Careful With That Axe While You Shine On By the Dark Side of the Interstellar Overdriven Bike”, or whatever it is called.

    Have we come to a point in musical history where the current establishment, the MTV pop “candy factory”, needs a rebellious group of prog rockers to usher in a new and exciting age? If so, and if it is Hypatia Lake’s intention to “push humanity forward by utilizing music as a transcendental form of communication,” they might be better off finding their own voice rather than speaking over the shoulder of the Flaming Lips. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with …And They Shall Call Him Joseph. Hypatia Lake has made a very listenable album, but it won’t the world on fire. It will not blow up their hated “candy factory”, and it is unlikely to push humanity any further forward, as it’s hardly pressing against any boundaries itself.

    this review originally destroyed people’s dreams on pop matters.com

    https://www.popmatters.com/hypatia_lake_and_we_shall_call_him_joseph-2495675428.html
  • POLYSICS: NOW IS THE TIME

    POLYSICS: NOW IS THE TIME

    To paraphrase the late John Peel, this record does not fade in rather slowly. It wakes you up to the possibility that music can be simultaneously unusual, raucous, and catchy by kicking you in the private parts.

    POLYSICS

    NOW IS THE TIME

    Tofu

    2006-02-21

    The new album from Polysics Now Is the Time contains their familiar assortment of DEVOesque “technicolor pogo punk”. For the uninitiated this means that the record is a blend of punk sensibilities and synth-pop much in the way that DEVO promised but never quite delivered. The band may look like the aforementioned DEVO with their Day-Glo boiler suits, but musically they use Mark Mothersbaugh & Co. really only as a jumping off point. They are like DEVO only in the same way that The Ramones were inspired by surf and bubble gum. That is to say that you can hear where they are coming from but they sound like their source material cranked up to eleven to the power of the first number that comes into your head.

    Polysics are Japanese, which means that it is hard for this Westerner to decipher what the songs on this album are actually about. Frankly, lead singer Hiroyuki Hayashi could be reading his shopping list. Moreover, Hayashi’s libretto jumps around all over the place; he sometimes uses English, sometimes Japanese, and sometimes their own invented “space language”. So the potential language barrier is leapt over by simply rendering language itself irrelevant. Indeed, the music does the talking here, and the music mostly wants you to mosh around and bang your head. In fact, this review took longer than anticipated because I had to leave it paused on my Mac while I did just that around my office.

    “I My Me Mine” is a prime example of this and of what Polysics have to offer. The song pogos along at furious rate until the chorus blows in, replete with recorder. This instrument adds a cutesy or sinister element depending on your perspective. The track itself is somewhat spikey and recalls some of the more punky elements of Toni Basil. (Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would write that sentence.) The opener “Teil Teil Teil” is a straight ahead punker that sounds more like the bastard child of The Damned, Big Black and (alright they do sound like them quite a bit) DEVO. Further on in running order they change tack slightly by employing a Talking Heads-style white funk on the rather first-rate “Boy’s Head”. All in all what we have here is the awkward reminder of big hair, (really) bright colours, and shoulder pads. Yep, it’s the 1980s baby!

    It might be easy, because of their quirky dress sense and quirkier still tunes, to write Polysics off as a novelty act. Do that at you peril. Sure there is humour in a lot of the tunes on Now Is the Time, perhaps more than it is possible to discern. However, this is not a comedy act. The energy of their live performance bleeds into this studio recording. Main man Hayashi owns the audience on stage and provides a raw and honest performance that you would not usually associate with electro tinged music.

    If you have never come across Polysics before, this album would be quite a good jumping on point. You should also check out Neu and the “best of” from last year Polysics or Die!!!! or better still go and see them live at some point on their current tour. I can see no reason why this album should not increase the cohort of Polysics fans outside of Japan (where they are already big news). Granted, if you are 30-something then you may have heard similar sounds before, but never played with such vim or vigour.

    this review originally pogoed onto popmatters.com

    https://www.popmatters.com/polysics_now_is_the_time-2495675417.html
  • JEFF HANSON: JEFF HANSON

    JEFF HANSON: JEFF HANSON

    When Jeff Hanson’s first album Son was released in 2003, everyone banged on about his voice. Many, many column inches about how his voice was just so… girly. Forget that! So the guy sings a little high. So when he sings he bears more than a passing resemblance to Alison Krauss or Nanci Griffith. These comparisons are meaningless, albeit founded somewhere in the real world. Jeff Hanson shows on his latest self-titled album that both he and his music have balls.

    It is a very brave man with a huge amount of conviction who opens an album with a number that is so frail that it barely can support the weight of its own chorus. It is not until four minutes into “Losing a Year” that the song finally picks up enough nerve to step forward. Then, for the remaining (nearly) four minutes, it sways at you in a trance, like someone who has temporarily lost their mind. Strings come and go, and you are left there, inexplicably with a lighter in your hand, alone, and in a dark, dark place. Just you, your tears, and the lighter burning your fingers.

    If you are coming to Jeff Hanson fresh, you are in for a real treat. His music is a subtle blend of all the songwriters who provide the soundtrack to those important moments in your life. Like his voice, the songs possess a brittle quality, so much so that when he rocks out (as in “Welcome Home”) it comes as such a shock that you feel uncomfortable and almost want it to stop. However, for the largest part Jeff Hanson is an introspective offering that is very easy on the ear and offers few such shocks.

    This may make the record sound a little bland. It really isn’t. Sure, it borders on a kind of “stadium folk” in places, but not to the point of absurdity. Nonetheless, Hanson’s work is drawn with the same fine pencils as the Cowboy Junkies or Mary Black (see “Something About” and “This Time It Will”, respectively, for examples). He is often compared to the late Elliott Smith in terms of his songwriting, and indeed there is darkness to be found. But as with Smith, it is a sweet darkness that is not at all cold, but like a warm duvet on a chilly, rainy Sunday afternoon. I think the word I am searching for here is “bittersweet.”

    Lyrically, Hanson takes you on a journey through a landscape of short tales of loss, laughter, and hope. There is not much mirth here. Yet there always seems to be a silver lining somewhere, with the implicit warning that behind each silver lining there may be a cloud. I have a horrible feeling that I am making it all sound a little gloomy. In a way it is, but only in the same way that going to see a sad film can give you such a feeling of release that you experience euphoria afterwards.

    The majority of these songs have a certain “ahhh” quality that is usually associated with fluffy kittens or newborn babies. If you are a guy, your girlfriend will probably like this album, and if you don’t like it too, where is your soul? If you are a girl and you don’t like this, I don’t want to hear about it, because you are definitely the kind of girl my mother warned me against. All in all Jeff Hanson is a lovely record that will not disappoint fans of his debut and can only serve to increase the popularity of this talented singer/songwriter.

    originally on https://www.popmatters.com/jeff_hanson_jeff_hanson-2495675330.html