Many albums have appeared during the past few weeks in what seems to be an early dash for album of the year.
Of course, there's a long way to go yet but Django Django's Marble Skies (6/10) is a surprising contender - a collection of keen indie-pop anthems delivered in the spirit of Dutch Uncles meets Everything Everything with an element of tropicalia and gritty moodiness, best demonstrated on Champagne and Further. Gone are the earthier experimental elements of the band's debut - instead, songs are structured and bar the celestial and acid-house informed Real Gone, done and dusted in under five minutes. It all gets a bit samey towards the end but Marble Skies is doable.
The once so very mysterious Hookworms have also opted for conventional song structures on Microshift (6/10) albeit with an insistent twist. They've gone all Factory Floor on the opening Negative Space and then ramped up the pace on the motorik Static Resistance like there's a three-minute warning about to end the world. Throughout this mixed album, twittering synths pulsate like Hawkwind or Toy and I'm left wondering if they've been at the psychedelic tea and by the time the chattering synth-rock of Ullswater thumps into earshot, I am convinced their dealer has got it right. They've paid his/her mortgage off.
If there's one thing an already great album doesn't need and that is a ream of pointless remixes. Thankfully the rather marvellous Hidden Orchestra haven't scrimped on this revisit of this site's favourite album of 2017. Remixers include Max Cooper who manages to avoid clouding the super Wingbeats with too much beardy hipsterness, instead concentrating on busy brushed snares and the original's portentous strings, Matthew Herbert, Wrongtom and the band themselves who give East London Street a respectful toeing. Dawn Chorus Remixes (7/10) supercedes other remix projects with aplomb by being respectful, not showy.
Jim Kerr and his valiant charges originally hit something of a creative peak in the '80s with Empires and Dance, Sons and Fascination and New Gold Dream. So it came as something of a surprise when 2015's Big Music knocked 'em dead with gargantuan anthems and those Eurodisco vibes of old. Walk Between Worlds (5/10) has recently provided Simple Minds with their first Top 5 LP since 1995's arguably forgettable Good News From The Next World and contains enough arena pomp to rival their best - and also their worst. Opening track Magic is something of a stunner - trademark shimmering synths marry up with Kerr's typical lyrical references of enlightenment, love and worship - while the strident The Signal and the Noise takes us back to the often-derided Neapolis era. The reflective Barrowland Star recalls Alive and Kicking minus the big chorus, Summer is a slight variation on Magic but by now, for these ears at least, the Minds are now retreading old paths with what turns out to become an overlong album of worn-out synth rock bluster. All of which is a shame, given their heritage. Honest question from a fan at this point - why include a live rendition of Dirty Old Town as a bonus on an album of admittedly rousing stadium rockers? It just doesn't need to be here.
Of course, there's a long way to go yet but Django Django's Marble Skies (6/10) is a surprising contender - a collection of keen indie-pop anthems delivered in the spirit of Dutch Uncles meets Everything Everything with an element of tropicalia and gritty moodiness, best demonstrated on Champagne and Further. Gone are the earthier experimental elements of the band's debut - instead, songs are structured and bar the celestial and acid-house informed Real Gone, done and dusted in under five minutes. It all gets a bit samey towards the end but Marble Skies is doable.
The once so very mysterious Hookworms have also opted for conventional song structures on Microshift (6/10) albeit with an insistent twist. They've gone all Factory Floor on the opening Negative Space and then ramped up the pace on the motorik Static Resistance like there's a three-minute warning about to end the world. Throughout this mixed album, twittering synths pulsate like Hawkwind or Toy and I'm left wondering if they've been at the psychedelic tea and by the time the chattering synth-rock of Ullswater thumps into earshot, I am convinced their dealer has got it right. They've paid his/her mortgage off.
If there's one thing an already great album doesn't need and that is a ream of pointless remixes. Thankfully the rather marvellous Hidden Orchestra haven't scrimped on this revisit of this site's favourite album of 2017. Remixers include Max Cooper who manages to avoid clouding the super Wingbeats with too much beardy hipsterness, instead concentrating on busy brushed snares and the original's portentous strings, Matthew Herbert, Wrongtom and the band themselves who give East London Street a respectful toeing. Dawn Chorus Remixes (7/10) supercedes other remix projects with aplomb by being respectful, not showy.
Jim Kerr and his valiant charges originally hit something of a creative peak in the '80s with Empires and Dance, Sons and Fascination and New Gold Dream. So it came as something of a surprise when 2015's Big Music knocked 'em dead with gargantuan anthems and those Eurodisco vibes of old. Walk Between Worlds (5/10) has recently provided Simple Minds with their first Top 5 LP since 1995's arguably forgettable Good News From The Next World and contains enough arena pomp to rival their best - and also their worst. Opening track Magic is something of a stunner - trademark shimmering synths marry up with Kerr's typical lyrical references of enlightenment, love and worship - while the strident The Signal and the Noise takes us back to the often-derided Neapolis era. The reflective Barrowland Star recalls Alive and Kicking minus the big chorus, Summer is a slight variation on Magic but by now, for these ears at least, the Minds are now retreading old paths with what turns out to become an overlong album of worn-out synth rock bluster. All of which is a shame, given their heritage. Honest question from a fan at this point - why include a live rendition of Dirty Old Town as a bonus on an album of admittedly rousing stadium rockers? It just doesn't need to be here.
