By Rodney Evans
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Amy Winehouse
Back to Black
Republic
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England’s Amy Winehouse is making huge waves in her home country, and Back to Black showcases her talents. This is, principally, her fine, rasping voice; an instrument as seductive as silk but as abrasive as new denim. Taking her cues from Aretha Franklin, Mary Wells and the Ronnettes, Winehouse’s smoky vocal curls around every song.
The opening track, a huge hit in her native Britain, provides a perfect summation of the entire album. Mowtown/60’s girl group instrumentation (jaunty-jerking rhythm tambourines, piano, warm horns and strings), catchy deja-vu melody, and her late night voice.
Winehouse and her producer certainly know how to reproduce the sounds of black 60s pop-soul, but this could be the problem. In striving for ‘authenticity’ of sound, Winehouse seems to be denying the past 40 years of pop music. Listening to the album is like opening a time-capsule sealed in 1968, certainly enjoyable, but you find yourself questioning its relevance well in to the 21st century. Maybe ‘Back to Black and White’ would be a more fitting title.
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Arcade FIRE
Neon bible
Merge records
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With their previous album Arcade Fire created some lofty expectations, and Neon Bible looks set to live up to them.
The band progress their concept of dense, dark rock that could belong somewhere among Modest Mouse, Mew and Mercury Rev.
On the title track, deep piano lurks behind a swelling melody and spectral guitar while brushes pitter-patter on the drums like a lonely silver rain. The song finishes with a swaying chorus of trumpets, like mournful mariachis playing for the last day of Earth.
Brisk “Keep the Car Running” bounces on a bed of violins and mandolins whilst “Black Wave / Bad Vibrations” comes at us like Susie and the Banshees before morphing into a dark rock stomp.
The array of instruments includes accordions, slide guitar, funereal organ and horns; a mostly organic assembly that paints the music in hues of deep blue, brown and copper. The album sounds like a night in a forest with a fire crackling at your feet, and occasional glimpses of the star-filled sky to remind you you’re not alone in the world
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The Klaxons
Myths of the Near Future
Geffen Records |
With their blaring sirens, helium vocal samples and twitching electronics Myths of the Near Future is an electro-indie collision. The Klaxons have been called ‘new rave’ in the UK, referring to the DIY banging electronic music that soundtracked summers of ecstasy and huge parties. The outfit mix the day-glo feel-good synths and samples of early 90s rave music – the Prodigy, Altern8, 808-State – with the song-driven sensibilities of Hard-Fi, Franz Ferdinand and Blur. The album presents their manifesto – a combined love of raw electronic dance music and quirky guitar pop.
The track “Atlantis to Interzone” conforms most to the ‘new rave’ label. Speeded up vocal snippets, echoing football horns (klaxons, in fact) and thumping beat make you feel like you’re in an illegal warehouse party in 1991. Elsewhere on the disc lurks the spirit of Iggy Pop during his electro/grunge experiments of the late 70s (“Isle of Her”), and the ghost of Adam Ant (“Four Horsemen of 2012”).
The beats are loud enough and right for the night, and the tunes will stick with you long after the hangover has faded
The Pipettes
We are the pippetes
Memphis Industries |
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The Pipettes announce their arrival on We Are The Pipettes, an album that’s as pink and sticky as the bubble-gum pop they adore. Hand-claps, hammonds, and harmonies bring you that sunny Phil Spector girl-group sound.
If Amy Winehouse recreates the serious, bluesy side of 60s female music, the Pipettes bring us the fun, disposable pop of that era. The Ronnettes, the Crystals and Grease are put into pop liquidizer along with a good measure of the Spice Girls, Beach Boys, Madness and Grupo Aroma. The result is a sweet milkshake that gives you a temporary, albeit welcome, sugar buzz.
The lyrics revolve around the tried and tested teenage topics – boy trouble, dancing, jealousy among friends. ‘I just want to move, I don’t care what the song’s about’ they sing at one stage, and, unless you’re a 14 year old girl, or a pederast, this would seem like good advice. Don’t worry too much about the words. Pack away your cynicism for an hour and give yourself over to these well-crafted, contagious girl-group gems
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