Slipped Discs - February 2009
Discs you may have missed | by John Noyd
As the second month of the New Year rolls around things come together two by two. Conjuring everything from majestic Euro-pop to post-modern hip-hop to all-American country blues the month is overflowing with marvelous musical twosomes. No two ways around it, February holds a special affection for talented music-making pairs.
The Bee And The Bird
Ray Guns Are Not Just The FutureRecord Label: Manhattan Records
Review published: February 2009
Baroque toasts, post-millennial torch-songs, gift-wrapped galas and space-age cabaret swoon in woozy angelic caresses firing meticulous missiles, infiltrating cosmopolitan lifestyles. “Ray,” hosts sly cheesecake concertos bursting with zest and cooing with cool, coy élan - champagne jazz dressed in glamorous gossamer rocketing into chiffon and sherbet.
Reader Votes: 0
An Horse
Rearrange BedsRecord Label: Mom and Pop
Review published: February 2009
Forceful phrases cement sentry-guard sincerity as Australians Kate Cooper and Damon Cox chop up blockbuster guitar and lock-jaw drums into barricade-bashing heartache and uncaged outrage. Honestly wrought bitterness thrash past social conventions, galvanized sympathies rebel uncorked and poised for pavement-pounding storms drenched in desire as, “Beds,” binge on wide-eyed no-nonsense indie-rock romance.
Reader Votes: 0
Matt And Kim
GrandRecord Label: Fader
Review published: February 2009
Parades of pneumatic analogue thump and pummel, emphatic word slams punctuate robust shout-outs, chipper pep rallies rejoice, reinforcing the duo’s sing-along salvos in pressure-cooker choruses, thundering downbeats and consistently insistent grooves whose in your face tastes prove innocent, intelligent and irresistible. Catapulting convictions cheer, steering old school synthesizers into infectious messages and relentless entertainments.
Reader Votes: 0
PSAPP
The Camel’s BackRecord Label: Domino Records
Review published: February 2009
Rube Goldberg whimsy haunts the charming ticks, bells and whistles perforating the toy-box ballet of tropical melodies in Psapp’s chic, elliptical art-pop. Posh, polished shenanigans bring an edgy restlessness to the subtly playful, “Camel,” where cross-stitched syncopation meets eloquent studio tomfoolery for a computer-soothed jungle gym of twittering symphonies, slithering samples and classical flashes.
Reader Votes: 0
Dex Romweber Duo
Ruins of BerlinRecord Label: Bloodshot Records
Review published: February 2009
Rodeo skiffle blends into alleyway noir bleeding between surf-rock riffs and vintage rockabilly licks as long-lost woefulness surrounds DRD’s noble, ravaged aesthetics. A slew of eclectic standards and roots-rock cameos turn, “Berlin,” monumental - six strings strum and rumble, ambling over finger-picking confessions while bristling twang and tremolo gallop through frontier gallows.
Reader Votes: 0
Dalek
Gutter TacticsRecord Label: Ipecac Recordings
Review published: February 2009
War-torn warnings, terminator trance rock, Dalek’s aftermath raps activate sci-fi assaults for post-nuclear enlightenment, wading knee-deep in cosmic sludge. Air-raid siren Bryons utter sniper-fire rhymes cataloging cataclysmic consciousness, shaking awake the saturated masses through terror-riddled electronics and industrial-strength polemics. Historical facts attack in overloaded circuitry, civil unrest washed in collapsing technology, “Tactics,” survives and defies.
Reader Votes: 0
Final Thoughts
Shrouded in mystery, BRIGHTON PORT AUTHORITY’s, “We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat,” is a brilliant piece of danceable synergy. Auteur NORMAN COOK corralled a dozen artists, including PETE YORK, IGGY POP and DIZEEE RASCAL to devise marauding jive, slippery soul and hip party music that proves greater than the sum of their parts. Fourteen indie artists take a fond look back on the time-tripping, “Guilt by Association Volume 2.” The likes of TOTO, INXS, BILLY JOEL and NEW EDITION get reworked and updated, resurrecting sentimental pleasures into deserving second chances.
