Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Black Acetate


John Cale turned 63 this year. The Welsh art rocker, former Velvet Underground member and sometime Eno collaborator released one of his hardest hitting records ever to celebrate. Black Acetate jettisons most of the hip electronics that were all over his last LP, Hobosapien (produced by Nick Franglen from Lemon Jelly). This record is all about power trio rock, with a bit of electro embellishment added for occasional effect. It's powerful stuff, loud and aggressive and riff-tastic. Turn The Lights On means business from the get go - big snarling riff, John's booming baritone, that fierce squalling solo. It's heavy stuff for such an old geezer. Hush is more experimental like some of the material from the last album. It's sparse, squlechy art funk - a basic beat, wah wah guitars, lots of vocal interplay and effects. A loud and in my face album that is one of my fave rock records of the year.

No comments: