ALBUMS ROUND-UP MARCH 2016 inc The Gloaming, Edward Penfold, The Mining Co, Steve Mason etc

The Gloaming - 2 - Real World

It's all too easy to label The Gloaming as a folk supergroup but essentially that's what they are. Occasional Afro-Celt Soundsystem man Iarla Ó Raghallaigh, fiddle maestro Martin Hayes, pianist Thomas Bartlett and others have all contributed towards what is a languid reflective celtic-oriented album of carefree individualism and timeless collaborative power.  '2' will be remembered for its superb music not its title that's for sure - Fáinleog is painfully beautiful, a soundtrack to some other time while The Hare is as deft as string-driven laments can be. The Booley House ably demonstrates Martin Hayes lyrical fiddle playing, beginning with a slow build-up before the final few minutes light up with the luminescence of piano, fiddle and guitar in a perfect summer's evening brightness. As contemporary as it is timeless, The Gloaming's second misty-eyed long-player is a triumph. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆


Steve Mason - Meet The Humans - Domino

Mason is one of those songwriters labelled as 'treasured' or 'underrated'. And it's for these very stereotypical tags that you really ought to dip into this man's canon, starting with Meet The Humans. His third solo set after founding and subsequently departing The Beta Band, Meet The Humans is possibly his best and most consistent set thus far. After the Top 40 placing of the previous album Monkey Minds in the Devil's Eye, all eyes are on Mason to deliver and he doesn't disappoint. Elements of Badly Drawn Boy, Elbow and Stephen Duffy abounds on the jaunty To a Door and Alive while opener Water Bored is a gloriously fidgety groove that has undertones of the Charlatans about it. And if you don't find joy in Planet Sizes' wistful moods, you don't deserve to belong to the Mason's ever-growing army of fans. There's even a slice of '90s breakbeat on the closing magnificence that is Words in my Head. Steve Mason's unstoppable on Meet The Humans. ★★★★★★★★☆☆


Edward Penfold - Caulkhead - Stolen Body

The title relates to the name given to Isle of Wight residents, of which Penfold is one of them. His music is trippy lo-fi half-speed psychedelia that wouldn't sound out of place on Deram, such is its musical bent. Clipped English vocals pour out of a melange of muted guitars, stoned drums and organ with the occasional requisite retro flutes that hurl this mainly agreeable album back to the sixties. Think The Kinks, Martin Newell, The Bevis Frond and The Small Faces and you're someway there except the whole thing sounds like it was recorded in an outside loo. Up Down and Sunny Day are the pick of the bunch while the award for most blissed out track goes to Hogwash which sounds like Fleetwood Mac's Albatross at half-speed - it is of course rather pleasing if also soporific. None of the songs accelerate out of first gear which is fine if you have nothing better to do than hang out with the closing epic Song For Joan. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆


The Mining Co. - Burning Sun and the Atomic Powers Within - Self-released

As the word Americana becomes an over-used dirty word, so the genre of sorts continues to flourish with occasional flashes of brilliance. Elements of Mark Kozelek, Marc Ford, M Ward and Nebraska-era Springsteen coat songwriter Michael Gallagher's down-tempo and heartfelt country-tinged jewels without subjecting the whole exercise in schmaltzy parody or wilful homage. London-based Irish-descended Gallagher might not possess the most versatile of tonsils but he sings from the heart without dressing up the songs in rinky-dinky pretension. The title-track and Country Heart are deserted mid-west lullabies while Copper Ghosts and Ballad of the Mining Company are widescreen weepies that evoke barren moorlands and long winding highways. At under 30 minutes, there's a surprisingly rich seam mined by Gallagher who's creative light deserves to keep on burning. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆


Anthrax - For All Kings - Nuclear Blast

Album number eleven for one of the Big Four thrash icons that shows no sign of Anthrax mellowing out anytime soon. The terrific opening track You Gotta Believe has some empowering shredding from Shadows Fall guitarist Jon Donais as well as some fearsome drumming and pedal-work from Charlie Benante and so it continues. Monster at the End is almost commercial for Anthrax but don't panic because the title-track riffs frenziedly enough to keep stalwart fans locked into this engaging set. Suzerain starts like a kick-drum jackhammer before morphing into a gargantuan Ministry-like riff that takes no prisoners and while the back-end of the album might tail off a tad, the closer Zero Tolerance pays homage to its thrash roots by becoming an unrelenting racket breaking the sound barrier. Enjoyable hokum from one of the best and most resilient thrash-metal bands worth the bother. "What have you got to say to that muthafuckas...?" intones singer Joey Belladonna on Zero Tolerance. Well, quite. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆


Mavis Staples - Livin' on a High Note - Anti

Lately, husky soul-blues troubadour Staples has mixed it with a few familiar names for her recent albums. Ry Cooder steered 2007's gospel-tinged We'll Never Turn Back to some modicum of success and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy oversaw 2010's Grammy-garnering You Are Not Alone. For 2016, she's gone the whole hog and enlisted the likes of M Ward as producer and contributor, plus Nick Cave, Tune-Yards, Neko Case and Benjamin Booker to name but a carload. From the off, Livin' on a High Note treads similar ground with smoky blues and soul such as Take Us Back and Love and Lust and the occasional reflective ballad such as the very pretty If It's a Light. Staples is in fine voice if a little older and most of this album won't trouble you for anything more than an attentive knowing nod. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆


Jack Garratt - Phase - Island

There's no doubting Garratt's abilities and talents but the one glaring omission from this album is tunes. Everything is precise, an emotional white-out, looped stop-start beats, oh-woah-ohs a-plenty and the kind of overall effect of standing in the middle of a Pret-a-Manger when the sandwiches have run out. It's all a bit generic and, as one wag christened him, a tad Urban Outfitters blues. Garratt is also reputedly the BBC Sound of 2016. Hmmm...
Still, it's not all bad news. The Love You've Given is quite leftfield compared to the rest of Phase - an unsettling operatic motif ushers in some warm bass and hefty post-rave techno synths - and Breathe Life still resonates nicely despite being very familiar. Earlier EP tracks such as Water and Falling have been left out of the running order but you can find them on the deluxe edition. ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆


LNZNDRF - LNZNDRF - 4AD

Formed of members from The National and Beirut, LNZNDRF sounds like neither, nor does it sound like anything else on 4AD which is something of a blessing in a way. Stripped down from lengthier jamming sessions and tracks originally lasting over half an hour, this self-titled clear-vinyl release is rather engaging. Progressive in nature, the threesome of Ben Lanz and the Devendorf brothers have created an amorphous hybrid of Mercury Rev and The Besnard Lakes that is more in tune with spontaneous, esoteric, atmospheric drone-rock than the poppier side of the members' day-job bands. Mt Storm and Hypno-Skate rank as highlights with big drums and widescreen melodies straight from a mid-western road-movie. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆


Chin of Britain - The Weasel is at the Bridge

CoB is solo musical catalyst Chin Keeler of Firestations and Dark Captain fame whose lone foray into music can be summed up as understated enjoyable riff-laden vignettes. The opening gambit on this his second solo collection is a case in point - Last Seen Alive is infuriatingly perky with belly-deep bass and gut-level guitars busily driving the simple melody along in much the same way as the following Feel It. Part of me wants to turn the vocals up - Keeler is buried in the fuzzy mix just a bit too much in places. Annoying because his songs are really rather good. In fact you might just snap your neck muscles to the supercharged romp that is Don't Make a Sound while you may just have flashbacks to former psychedelic ravers World of Twist when you cop an earful of the pilled-up Until the Sun Goes Down. The second half changes tack somewhat with only DWMT really repeating the brilliance of the first. Eccentric and good fun. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆


School of Seven Bells - SVIIB - Vagrant

The fourth album from School of Seven Bells is also last remaining member Alejandra Deheza's final committal under that name. After co-founder Benjamin Curtis' untimely passing a few years ago and the earlier departure of Deheza's keyboard-wielding sister, perhaps it is time to move on. Unsurprisingly, SVIIB is the usual ethereal electro-pop we've come to expect from a trio that always hovered around the mainstream without truly diving into it. Curtis has been quoted as naming Section 25, Blonde Redhead and Kraftwerk as influences, although I'm hearing Ladytron and Cocteau Twins in here as well. Opener Ablaze is terrific mid-tempo synth-driven Eurodisco, while A Thousand Times More and Signals continue this trend still further and darker. The remainder reminds us of how their sound preceded Grimes, London Grammar and the like with slower downbeat offerings sometimes veering dangerously close to Eurovision territory. A respectable epitaph, nonetheless. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

The 1975 - I Like It When You Sleep etc etc

Three years after their humungous success of their self-titled debut, The 1975 follow it up with more of the same and a ridiculously fey moniker to boot. Matthew Healy's charges have confounded critics - they sound like Notorious-era Duran Duran, they echo INXS in sexual chemistry rankings and hardly trouble Pulitzer Prize panels with the lyrics - "I'll quote 'On The Road' like a twat and wind my way out of the city..." (city annoyingly pronouced ci-ee) being the pick of Change of Heart. Yet the songs slot nicely into today's ineffectual popworld - neat quirky machined grooves, slick double-speed vocals, profanities to spice things up and retreads of '80s classics. Best tracks on the album for me are the euphoric instrumental Please Be Naked and the epic Lostmyhead which collides with The Blue Nile, Mogwai and M83 via some rejigged lyrics from older track Facetime. But what starts as something of an enjoyable concept at the heart of the album - which essentially sticks to the mundanities of break-ups, shagging, break-ups, more shagging and unrequited desire - ends with more magnolia soul-pop numbers like Somebody Else and the truly awful Loving Someone. Things take a turn for the better with the elegiac title-track and the odd The Sound which has me wondering whether The 1975 would consider making an album of instrumental/near-instrumental pieces rather than burying them alongside the pap. OK, I'm being a bit glib - Healy and pals occasionally make interesting hypnotic electro ballads and quote the greatest line from '70s masterpiece Get Carter - "...pissholes in the snow..." - but have The 1975 really got anything timeless in that locker of theirs? ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆