Kaiser Chiefs



Kaiser Chiefs are this year's "next big thing" if you believe the hype. Their debut Employment got it's US release this week, and after reading a few blurbs about them I picked it up. Turns out the hype is right again. They fit right in with the current crop of post-punk influenced acts that are all over the place - Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party et al. They take it a step further though, and include a hefty dose of Blur-esque Britpop circa Parklife - no coincidence since they share the same producer, Stephen Street. There is even a credit for ex-Blur guitarist Graham Coxon's motorcycle (a Kaiser Chief), which you hear revving up on Saturday Night. So, you've got the post-punk thing, the Britpop thing, the classic Brit-rock (think Kinks), and bit of punk all smashed together, with catchy, sing-along choruses and nice shiny production. Sounds good to my ears. Here's the first single, I Predict A Riot, a rocking tune with big la-la-la-la-la-la's, whizzing synths and buzzing guitars. This record is priced cheap to sell - I found it for $8.00 at my local emporium, so I encourage you to go and get your own!

Double Dose Of Goodness On A Funky Friday



I first encountered Van Hunt a year and a half ago when I saw one of his videos on VH1Soul. Since then I've caught a few more, including his latest for Dust, a simple performance video set on a tour boat floating down the Seine in Paris. The tune is nice and funky, and features some great guitar licks by Van. I decided to finally buy the record, and have been caning it for the last month now. It's some seriously quality neo-soul with all kinds of influences - Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder and Lenny Kravitz all come to mind. Van's guitar playing is ace, there are nice touches of modernism, and the songs are hooky and sweet. Out Of The Sky definitely owes a great deal to Sly and The Family Stone - it's percolating drum machine beats in particular. Feel the funk.

Over the last week I've rediscovered the joys of legendary hip hop producer Pete Rock's 2001 release Petestrumentals. Like the title says, it's largely instrumental hip hop stuff, full of head nodding goodness. A Little Soul kicks off the album in supremely snazzy style, with lots of nice jazzy piano samples and a bumping beat.

Diamonds In The Gruff



One of my favourite voices in rock music today is that of Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys. It's hard to put a finger on - it just sounds good to me, capable of both rocking out and being mellow and melancholic. This week saw the US release of his first solo album, Yr Atal Genhedlaeth. Written mostly in Welsh, it's a really fun listen, filled with the kind of quirky stuff his band is known for. It's definitely not as polished as an SFA album, but it continues their fine tradition of combining scruffy rock and electronics. I read some review that compared it to Damon Albarn's solo DemoCrazy - rough hewn and not really complete, and I don't agree. It's much more together than that. Caerffosiaeth is one of the more electro tunes, with a bumping old school beat and goofy sing song rhymes. A lot of fun. He also turns up on folk-tronic boffin Boom Bip's great new album Blue Eyed In The Red Room, handling vocals on the track Do's And Don'ts. It's a mellow, mid-tempo track that builds slowly into an uptempo rocker, and Gruff's voice is a very nice fit with the music.

David Bowie's Stage



Released as a double LP in 1978, Stage chronicled the Thin White Duke's world tour of that year. It showcases his arty Berlin years (Low, Station To Station) as well as a few of the classic hits (Ziggy Stardust). The band is great, and includes both Adrian Belew and Carlos Alomar on guitars, so you know it's rocking - this band went right into the studio after this tour to record Lodger, one of my personal fave Bowie records. This week saw it finally get the remastered reissue treatment in the US (I don't think it's ever been on CD), and it's fantastic. I've always loved how this group of musicians were able to pull off the arty, icy synth stuff as well as some of the more traditionally rocking tunes, and it's so nice to hear it "beefed up" a little. Stay sounds particularly good to me - the funky bass and drums, the big riffing guitars, Bowie's croon - it's all super tight. Another much welcomed reissue that if you're a Bowie fan you need to check out.

An '80s Obscurity Remastered



Franco-Belgian trio Antena originally released Camino Del Sol as a 5 track EP in 1985 on reknowned Euro indie label Les Disques Crepescule. Their music was a blend of electronic instrumentation and samba rhythms and jazzy touches. Their initial recording sessions were helmed by John Foxx, who with his first solo album Metamatic had laid a blueprint for icy electronic soundscaping. This music was largely ignored at the time, and it's only now with this loving reissue of the original EP plus a handful of B sides and rarities that their impact can be heard. You can hear their influence in the music of bands like Stereolab, or the eclectic experimentation of Beck or David Byrne. It's fascinating stuff, such cold renditions of warm music. Handling the vocals is Isabelle Antena, who went solo when the band fell apart soon after releasing the EP, and her voice is a big part of the band's charms. Here is their very oddball renedition of the old classic "Girl From Ipanema", changed to The Boy From Ipanema. A much warmer sounding track is the lovely Seaside Weekend with it's breezy melody and doo-bee-doos. This is one of those reissues that really makes you thankful for whoever took the time to get it together - in this case the recently formed Numero label, a specialty label that only does remastered reissues of "lost classics".

Flaming Lips Versus Thievery Corporation



The new Thievery Corporation album The Cosmic Game was released a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure whether I was going to pick it up - I've got all of the other albums, and I was feeling like maybe they were a little played out. Then I read something about some of their new collaborators and my interest was piqued. Perry Farrell handles vocals on one tune, a dubby track where he tries a bit of toasting that leaves me unimpressed. David Byrne co-writes and sings on Lonely Hunter, and it works pretty well - an uptempo, Afropop flavored tune given the glossy sonic treatment by the Thievery boys. The name that really grabbed me though was the Flaming Lips. Credited for vocals, guitar and additional orchestration on Marching the Hate Machines (Into the Sun), it's a downtempo beauty featuring lush keys, some great twangy guitar bits, a nice mellow beat and Wayne's vocals about robots. Their two styles blend very well. As for the rest of the record, it's business as usual - reggae, raga and Latin influences sprinkled over breakbeats and hip hop beats. Nice, but nothing new.

Funky Friday On The Old School Soul Tip



The Stylistics formed in the late '60s out of the dying doo wop scene, and rose to prominence in the early '70s with a string of memorable Philly soul hits like Betcha By Golly Wow and People Make The World Go Round. Produced and written by Thom Bell and co-writer Linda Creed, it was Philly soul at it's well orchestrated best. Main vocalist Russell Thompkins Jr. has the sweetest falsetto, and is ably backed up by the rest of the band's blissful harmonies. They specialised in mid tempo grooves and balladry, and they also did a handful of covers. From their second LP, 1972's Round 2 comes this supremely soulful rendition of Carole King's classic pop hit It's Too Late. It rides almost the same groove as People Make The World Go Round and is just as lushly orchestrated - great horns too. A lovely rendition.

Bettie Serveert's Attagirl



I fell in love with Carol van Dyk's voice the firt time I heard Kid's Allright back in '92. The track was from their debut LP Palomine, and that voice - capable of rocking hard, yet at other times so soft and quivering and vulnerable, like (sigh) Chrissie Hynde. The Dutch band plied a mix of indie rock, a love for Neil Young and Velvet Underground riffs, and were going to be the next big thing. It didn't quite play out that way and they parted with label Matador, but have continued to put out records on their own. The last few have shown them unafraid to experiment, getting quieter and adding strings. Their latest is Attagirl, and they continue to play with their sound. This record finds them adding synths and drum machines, and the result has them sounding a bit more pop-tastic. It is only on a couple of the LP's tracks where this is evident, and the rest is the same quality stuff they've been doing for years. Here's Dreamaniacs, a shiny, glossy tune. And ooh, that voice. If you don't feel this new direction, take solace in the fact that the US version of the CD has acoustic versions of these tunes on it. Me, I like the slight shift.

Lost Classic Of The Original Post Punk Era



When I first heard today's tune in 1981 I thought it was going to be a huge hit. Sadly, it was not. The Scottish four piece Scars had the looks and the hooks. All About You has gloriously sharp guitars, a nice pounding disco-ish beat, vaguely funky bass, and a super catchy melody. It's remarkable how good this tune still sounds, though in light of the recent second wave of post punkers it shouldn't be too surprising. It's a great song from a pretty good album that is in desperate need of the remastered reissue treatment. Guitarist Paul Research continues to do music and maintains a website with photos and stories about the band. Included there is the news that Lemon Jelly sampled a big chunk of the Scars tune Horrorshow for their recent hit single Shouty Track, and several members of Scars joined the band live on stage for a performance of the song.

Sergio Mendes On An Easy Listening Tuesday

     
     

Ever since I was 3 or 4 years old, Sergio Mendes and his music has been a part of my life. It started with my parents, who bought a lot of those early Brasil '66 records, and carried into the '70s where my family and I actually went and saw Brasil '77 live in concert. I've always had a soft spot for their music - sure, it's easy listening, but it's so well crafted and I'm a sucker for a bossa nova beat. In the '60s it was swanky, bachelor pad music - Brazilian rhythms + jazz applied to classic western pop tunes by the likes of Bacharach or Simon & Garfunkle or the Beatles. In the early '70s the group embraced their musical roots, and became an earthier, more traditionally Brazilian band - lots of crazy percussion and chants. By the time the '80s rolled around they had morphed into too much of an MOR act, and I lost interest. The older stuff still gets me going though, and I will buy the records if I come across them in the used bins, or if they are remastered and reissued on CD - which hasn't happened enough! Here are a couple of tunes from two different eras of the band. Pretty World is Brasil '66 at it's prettiest - gorgeous orchestration, lovely horns and the sweet voice of Lani Hall, plus a great melody all make this one a treat. By the time 1975 rolled around Sergio was making the transition to a more American style of pop music, and from his self titled LP of that year comes If I Ever Lose This Heaven. Kicking off with a wicked little breakbeat riff (can't believe this one hasn't been sampled!), it's pure r'n'b - funky bass and drums, disco strings and horns perfectly orchestrated by Dave Grusin, and the soulful vocals of Bonnie Bowden and Sondra Catton. Very groovy.

The Return Of The Moody Ones



Brit trio Doves released their third LP stateside last week. Some Cities is clearly their attempt to break out of the moody, mopey, melancholic groove they've perfected over the last couple of records. The record kicks off with two fast and loud songs in a row, which is almost unheard of on a Doves record. First single Black And White Town even rides an upbeat, Motown rhythm. It's a much more direct album, but they haven't forsaken the spaced out-ness altogether. As always they push a nice mix of classic, epic British rock, Northern soul and psychedelia. The production (by Ben Hillier who did Blur's Think Tank) is really clean - it's not nearly as murky souding as the previous stuff, and I think it heightens the whole experience to hear everything so clearly. Despite talking up the rockers I'm giving you The Storm, one of the slower, moodier tracks on the album. Featuring a lovely Ryuichi Sakamoto string sample and a chunky Gainsbourg-esque bass line, it builds and builds into a squall of feedback guitars and harmonica. Very tasty.

Funky Friday's Brazilian Girls



I didn't want to like the new self titled LP from Brazilian Girls. Does the world really need another culture-hopping, genre mashing (cringe) trip hop album? I had read a few reviews, and listened to a bit of it on a listening station at my local music emporium when I took the plunge. A few spins later I was sold. Musically it jumps from downtempo to house to dubby ska to latin jazz and a bit of rock, all expertly played by the 3 guys in the band and warmly sung by the lovely, forthright Sabina Sciubba. It's warm and melodic and sexy, and often quirky and amusing. Sabina sings in French, Spanish, German and English, and the band backs her up with slick precision, adding all manner of nice sonic touches. To answer my own question at the beginning of this post - yes, when a record is this warm and witty and groovy and fun, we do need it. Here's a couple of tracks - Don't Stop is a warm house-y number, and Lazy Lover is one of the slinky slower tunes. "Lazy lover, Casanova, you roll over when I want more." Perfect...