Wire:
Nocturnal Koreans:
Pinkflag:
CD/LP/DD:
Out Now:
Eight songs, 26 minutes in length, no fanfare, no filler. No problem. Wire's proliferations continue with their fifth album in eight years - compare this with their previous five (it took them almost twice as long) - and it's business as usual. Big business honed down to under half an hour, you might say. Nocturnal Koreans' title-track kickstarts the album in typical energetic style, a hurried scurry through tangential lyrical couplets and busy drums, before the slower lumbering Internal Exile recalls the same sashaying beast of The King Of Ur and the Queen of Um from A Bell Is A Cup.
Nocturnal Koreans soon starts to feel like a reliable friend and a companion release to their self-titled full-length set issued in 2015. But this doesn't make 2016's addition to their catalogue any more predictable or any less essential. Nor does it lack any pivotal centrepiece. Forward Position dispenses with any drums, leaving the wash of keyboards, guitar gloom and Colin Newman's voice to drive the song home.
Despite the obvious studio enhancements, Wire can still do spiky and electrified - check the waspish Numbered and the insistent mid-paced rocker Still - but prefer to call a halt to proceedings with the slower moodier Pilgrim Trade and the Graham Lewis-fronted powerhouse Fishes Bones. The latter sticks out like a sore proverbial but will surely evolve into a fan's live favourite before long.
That's five decent albums on the bounce for a band that will 'celebrate' 40 years since its debut-album Pink Flag inspired a generation and lent its moniker to Wire's own imprint.
★★★★★★★★★☆
Nocturnal Koreans:
Pinkflag:
CD/LP/DD:
Out Now:
Nocturnal Koreans soon starts to feel like a reliable friend and a companion release to their self-titled full-length set issued in 2015. But this doesn't make 2016's addition to their catalogue any more predictable or any less essential. Nor does it lack any pivotal centrepiece. Forward Position dispenses with any drums, leaving the wash of keyboards, guitar gloom and Colin Newman's voice to drive the song home.
Despite the obvious studio enhancements, Wire can still do spiky and electrified - check the waspish Numbered and the insistent mid-paced rocker Still - but prefer to call a halt to proceedings with the slower moodier Pilgrim Trade and the Graham Lewis-fronted powerhouse Fishes Bones. The latter sticks out like a sore proverbial but will surely evolve into a fan's live favourite before long.
That's five decent albums on the bounce for a band that will 'celebrate' 40 years since its debut-album Pink Flag inspired a generation and lent its moniker to Wire's own imprint.
★★★★★★★★★☆