Record Reviews
Goldfrapp
originally published March 8, 2006
Goldfrapp seems like a good idea on paper. Electro-pop without Madonna’s occasionally tiresome transgressionism or Kylie’s tendency toward cheez, it charts a course somewhere between that seems like Aeon Flux after she ditched her goth phase and started embracing retro. Having moved from trip-hop into full-blown new wave disco, complete with elaborate stage shows, Goldfrapp sounded like heaven.
The execution has some bumps, though: would that Ms. Flux had retained some of her gothiness, as this music could use some more dramatic flourishes. It’s all a bit flat, with many songs based around one progression, a trick that works a few times (“Ooh La La,” “Slide In”), but too often doesn’t. When the group does embrace song forms, it results in the two best songs on the album, “Ride a White Horse” and “Satin Chic,” even though the latter’s only concession is a folk-style two-chord refrain.
Overall, though, Supernature succeeds, in no small part because Goldfrapp’s trip-hop background allows it to do so where so many synth-poppers before have failed: with the ballads. The ensemble is able to slow things down without sounding limp, and lead singer Allison Goldfrapp really does have a good voice, which shines in the context of all those echoes, strings and twinkly synth noises. It even comforts the sick (believe me). Basically, it’s just a good album, and nicely captures the snuggly, sexy desolation that’s so en vogue these days - even if Goldfrapp isn’t En Vogue. (That would be Girls Aloud.)
Michael BarthelRecord Reviews
Tin Cup Prophette
originally published March 8, 2006
Seven days ago I had still never gotten around to hearing Amanda Kapousouz or her Tin Cup Prophette project. Now that I’ve given her new record Liar and the Thief several listens, I have firm plans to attend the release show. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Last year I saw the Arcade Fire perform, and opening for them was Final Fantasy, whose sound I was immediately into: Owen Pallett, who handles the Arcade Fire’s string arrangements, plays his violin, alternately with a bow and fingers, then loops it through his various pedals. It was a fresh, rawer take on what Andrew Bird has been doing for the past several years, and ever since that show I’ve been waiting for Pallett to deliver a proper album. Now I discover Athens’ own Kapousouz, who has been trafficking in this subgenre for longer than Final Fantasy.
Imagine a less-heartbroken Beth Gibbons of Portishead singing over the aforementioned looped and plucked violin with various other accompaniments, and you’re on the right track. The nine tracks on Liar and the Thief set a 38-minute mood that varies just enough to remain cohesive yet explore multiple avenues. Opener “Speak or Spill Down,” written by Hope For Agoldensummer’s Deb Davis, showcases Kapousouz’s beautiful voice over wailing and soaring violin loops. “Curses on Purses” sounds like a reverbed minstrel performance before going all pretty. All in all, that the looping effectively forms the foundation of Tin Cup Prophette’s sound without ever coming across as gimmicky is an impressive accomplishment.
Michael Wehunt Tin Cup Prophette is playing at the 40 Watt Club on Saturday, Mar. 11.Record Reviews
KT Tunstall
originally published March 8, 2006
There’s an important piece of context to KT Tunstall, without which I fear you would not properly appreciate her music: she was shortlisted for the prestigious UK Mercury Music Prize, the previous recipients of which include PJ Harvey, Franz Ferdinand and Dizzee Rascal. This is important to your appreciation because it is the only thing interesting at all about Eye to the Telescope, and thinking about that fact while listening to the album is the only tension you’ll find anywhere near Ms. Tunstall, because it’s utterly mystifying.
Describing this album requires a descriptor I thought long-retired: it’s Lilith Fair-esque. (Was that ever actually a descriptor? Eh, doesn’t matter.) She is a female singer-songwriter who sings with bluesy inflections, backed by a pretty perfunctory drums-bass-occasional electric guitar combo. Imagine Fiona Apple with more generic lyrics, a worse voice and default arrangements, and you’ve got a pretty good picture of mighty KT.
If there’s a saving grace to Eye to the Telescope, it’s “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” which injects some life into the proceedings via a discernible rhythm, the classic pop technique of alternating a cappella phrases with repeated musical breaks, and Stripes-y lyrics. (“Suddenly I See” tries its best with a strong backbeat, prominent electric guitar and a nice Beatles-derived pre-chorus, but pusses out on the actual chorus.)Maybe this is just indicative of my own biases, but it’s hard to find anything of interest in any of the other tracks, which are about as innovative as blue jeans and as engaging as a waiting room.
Michael Barthel KT Tunstall is playing at the Loft in Atlanta on Saturday, Mar. 11.Record Reviews
Liz Durrett
originally published March 8, 2006
There’s something ceremonial about Liz Durrett’s new album The Mezzanine. Durrett’s precise guitar combines with Vic Chesnutt’s sparse percussion, creating sounds that steadily circle themselves. When Durrett multi-layers her smoky vocals, as on the album’s title track or on the song “Creepy as Kudzu,” the sense of ritual remains. And it’s appropriate, too; after all, what are ceremonies but markers of significant points in time? Celebrating certain times of the year, recognizing achievement, delineating rites of passage.
And there’s an implication that with The Mezzanine, her second album, Durrett is growing more confident. Chesnutt’s backing vocals only (identifiably) appear on the opening track, and the further into the album Durrett goes, Chesnutt becomes less her frequently mentioned uncle, and more another one of her instruments. It’s not really necessary anymore. Durrett’s also exploring new ideas. Last year’s debut Husk was an excellent record, but maintained the same tone throughout. The Mezzanine isn’t all over the place, but it does feature forays into variety: the somber solo piano of the instrumental “Silent Partner” fits well right after the vocal lines Durrett explores on “Marlene,” and “Cup on the Counter,” featuring Tina Chesnutt’s steady bass and one of the album’s immediate standouts, is the most up-tempo song of Durrett’s so far.
The Mezzanine suggests religious experiences (and Durrett raises questions of faith in the lyrics to several songs), but not the sweaty, conflicted passion more typical of neo-Gothic Southern work; those ceremonial rhythms conjure pervading senses of wonder and confusion, and The Mezzanine captures an artist deciphering herself as well as the mystery.
Chris Hassiotis Liz Durrett is playing at the 40 Watt Club on Saturday, Mar. 11.Record Reviews
Mogwai
originally published March 8, 2006
The Scottish post-rock, soft loud pioneers in Mogwai have in recent years seen their younger peers surpass them, namely Sigur Rós and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Nowadays I only listen to Mogwai for nostalgic reasons, or when I want more straightforward post-rock, i.e. without strings and such.
So Mr. Beast arrives as an important album for the band, and the four-and-a-half-minute intro already has my eyebrows up. A simple but pretty piano melody tinkles along while electronics ping beneath and a menacing drone builds in the distance. That menace never fully arrives, and “Glasgow Mega-Snake” jumps into the mix, sounding… whoa, not very Mogwai at all. Something like Fugazi or even Don Caballero comes to mind. All kinetic, happy rock. And I always thought the band’s last album would prove its shiny one, especially with the title (Happy Music for Happy People) and cover (reflective silver foil). Next is “Acid Food.” It’s basically a Hood rip-off, but that is in no way an insult. I think I’ve finally gotten used to Mogwai with vocals, so maybe that’s why on this album it seems to come off so well.
“I Chose Horses” really should be a Lou Reed song. It certainly beats anything he’s done recently. Finishing things off is “We’re No Here,” the closest thing to vintage guitar-heavy Mogwai here, and even this is run through an Isis/ post-metal decoder ring. Has Mr. Beast returned Mogwai to the throne? No, but it gives you new reasons to dig them, and that’s way better than nostalgia.
Michael Wehunt Mogwai is playing at Whirlyball in Alpharetta on Saturday, Mar. 11 and Sunday, Mar. 12.Record Reviews
The Robocop Kraus
originally published March 8, 2006
With a name like The Robocop Kraus, how could this German band be good? This is a valid question, and certainly the album They Think They Are The Robocop Kraus (agh!), does not start promisingly, with a standard-issue indie-dance beat and a bloopy but otherwise unremarkable synth line. Things only get less encouraging when singer Thomas Lang comes in with a vocal line more or less directly taken from the Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime.
But then, after a scratchy guitar break that’s verging on good, The Robocop Kraus spins suddenly into a lush, melodic section replete with choral backup vocals. Lyrically, the song, “After Laughter Comes Tears,” indulges in the cliché of “people-as-machines,” but breath-catching turns like this are exactly what that jaded view needs to seem actually, you know, human.
Sadly, it’s by far the high point of the album, with a lot of songs resembling nothing so much as that unpromising first section of the first song, without even the frisson of a referential vocal line. On “Laughter,” it works, because the dullness of the beginning makes the gush in the middle seem even more outsized, but what breakouts the band does manage to achieve on the rest of this disc are nearly as dull. They seem to be Gang of Four without the tension, U2 without the release, dance without the disco. The Robocop Kraus, j’accuse!
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