NLF3 - Pink Renaissance - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
For the past half-decade, inventive Paris-based nu-progressive trio NLF3 have been quietly (sometimes noisily) carving out their own brand of expressive instrumental prog-pop, music that wouldn't sound out of place during a wildlife documentary or modern dance exhibition. A blend of Afrique and indie-rock, NLF3's sound isn't too dissimilar to Dutch Uncles if they stopped singing and didn't sound so hurried - it's quite Steve Reich-esque in places, with balls. In the past, they've been on the same live bill as Animal Collective, Gang Gang dance and Battles, which may or may not give you a slight indication of where their Gallic little chops fit in. Kalimba Song, Chromatic and the single Three Dances rank as highlights on a clever album.
Duncan Reid and the Big Heads - The Difficult Second Album - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
Some associates of mine have suggested I (sometimes) take life far too seriously while others wish I'd grow the fuck up. Duncan Reid strikes me as a similar sort of bloke - formerly a teenage punk in the '70s, a bassist in pop-punk outfit The Boys (before pop-punk meant wankers in slacker trousers), singing on The Ramones Baby I Love You and recording a Christmas single as The Yobs, Reid finally started growing old disgracefully with debut solo album Little Big Head a couple of years ago. Now its 2014 and Reid isn't getting any younger or older - he's stuck in 1978 when Generation X were snarling at cameras and The Monkees were on the TV again (probably). Proof turns up on Little Fingers and Toes, a ridiculously catchy pop number that echoes the former's Dancing With Myself and the latter's Daydream Believer in places. The rest of the album sounds like the late '70s/ early '80s. The Motors Airport, A Flock Of Seagulls I Ran, The Boomtown Rats Rat Trap - they're all around here somewhere if you listen hard enough. Although a bit lightweight for my tastes, Reid's ear for a tune can only be admired.
Laetitia Sadier - Something Shines - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
If her first two solo albums grabbed you by the earholes, Sadier's third will do exactly the same - it's business as usual, if a little more refined and intimate in nature. The trademark psychedelic bent is all here, there's plucked electric-bass rearing its head, some mournful harmonies here and there, retro elements sourced from ageing synths and the occasional nod back to Stereolab days, particularly with the truly lovely Release From The Centre Of Your Heart which wouldn't sound out of place on Dusty Springfield's In Memphis album - it's that good. OK, I'm a sucker for a chunk of brass and mid-tempo soul thrown into my leftfield jazz-pop classics. As for the rest of Something Shines, it's all a bit of a plod in places but the first half-dozen songs are among her best.
Flying Lotus - I'm Dead - ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I just don't get the hoo-hah surrounding this man's noodling - three tracks into I'm Dead and I want to harpoon my nipples to a cat's arsehole. Distorted drums, Hendrixy guitars, gabbled raps and oddball psychedelia manage to make Fkn Dead less of a handful by song four and by Dead Man's Tetris (with Snoop Dogg and Captain Murphy), I'm back to wondering what's the point of it all. Turtles is another busy hodgepodge of free-jazz and electro-funk, Coronus The Terminator is the closest we get to some semblance of a tune and the strange Moment Of Hesitation evolves into a whirling dervish of busy brushwork and smokey sax sputterings. I've tried my damnedest but I really don't get on with this.
Hannah Schneider - Red Lines - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
Joining the likes of Lykke Li and Agnes Obel is Danish songwriter Schneider who sings her cheerful lightweight pop in a cutesy theatrical way, sometimes triumphant, sometimes way short of the mark. Red Lines isn't so bad - opening song Butterfly Lovers is pleasing radio-friendly fare while Harbor isn't dissimilar to Obel's choral extravagance, albeit a more concise interpretation. The remainder of Red Lines is the sort of generic hopeful stop-start-stop-start-stop pop that seems to occupy just about every chart-placing in the UK at present, something I'm weary of. Wild Geese bucks this trend to some degree, a brooding mid-tempo number co-written with her synth-wielding band member Paul Statham and Weightless emulates Victorialand-era Cocteau Twins, probably unintentionally. Some nice moments but lacking in oomph.
El May - The Other Person Is You - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Also resident on the LoJinx roster alongside Hannah Schneider etc is Aussie singer-songwriter El May aka Lara Meyerratken whose approach to music-making isn't dissimilar to her Danish label-mate. There are yet more anthemic pop-numbers on this her second full-length album, but perhaps with a bit more flair and despite not having a powerful voice, El May breathes and coos her way through ten jangle-pop ditties that range from string-laden blue-eyed '60s pop such as Lessons Appear, past gleeful catchy hip-wigglers like the perky single I Played a Role, up to the intimate, acoustic Atlantic, Pacific, all capably written by the singer and infrequently ably assisted by one-third of The Pierces and one Dean Wareham. The Other Person Is You won't blow your mind but will give you a hug and a cheeky tickle under the chin - and sometimes, that's all we need.
Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
With Fleetwood Mac having recently regrouped for a swathe of tour-dates around the globe, it's not entirely surprising to experience a new solo set from the band's most prolific singer. Following up Nicks' 2011 set In Your Dreams, 24 Karat Gold gathers up a hefty selection of tracks originally composed in rougher form between 1969 and the mid-'90s and comes in two forms, a standard and deluxe that curiously differ in running-order with extra songs. As usual, Nicks is on her best form when wielding the candle of melancholia or introspection as on If You Were My Love, or getting all Mac-like as on the descriptive and lyrical Mabel Normand. When the riffs kick in and drudgery abounds, things drag - for a start, 72 minutes is perhaps 25 minutes too many in today's world but as there is an underlying theme with this album, you can forgive her - wrap your ears around the superior cuts such as Lady or The Dealer and everything's alright. Possibly her best since the '80s.
For the past half-decade, inventive Paris-based nu-progressive trio NLF3 have been quietly (sometimes noisily) carving out their own brand of expressive instrumental prog-pop, music that wouldn't sound out of place during a wildlife documentary or modern dance exhibition. A blend of Afrique and indie-rock, NLF3's sound isn't too dissimilar to Dutch Uncles if they stopped singing and didn't sound so hurried - it's quite Steve Reich-esque in places, with balls. In the past, they've been on the same live bill as Animal Collective, Gang Gang dance and Battles, which may or may not give you a slight indication of where their Gallic little chops fit in. Kalimba Song, Chromatic and the single Three Dances rank as highlights on a clever album.
Duncan Reid and the Big Heads - The Difficult Second Album - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
Some associates of mine have suggested I (sometimes) take life far too seriously while others wish I'd grow the fuck up. Duncan Reid strikes me as a similar sort of bloke - formerly a teenage punk in the '70s, a bassist in pop-punk outfit The Boys (before pop-punk meant wankers in slacker trousers), singing on The Ramones Baby I Love You and recording a Christmas single as The Yobs, Reid finally started growing old disgracefully with debut solo album Little Big Head a couple of years ago. Now its 2014 and Reid isn't getting any younger or older - he's stuck in 1978 when Generation X were snarling at cameras and The Monkees were on the TV again (probably). Proof turns up on Little Fingers and Toes, a ridiculously catchy pop number that echoes the former's Dancing With Myself and the latter's Daydream Believer in places. The rest of the album sounds like the late '70s/ early '80s. The Motors Airport, A Flock Of Seagulls I Ran, The Boomtown Rats Rat Trap - they're all around here somewhere if you listen hard enough. Although a bit lightweight for my tastes, Reid's ear for a tune can only be admired.
Laetitia Sadier - Something Shines - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
If her first two solo albums grabbed you by the earholes, Sadier's third will do exactly the same - it's business as usual, if a little more refined and intimate in nature. The trademark psychedelic bent is all here, there's plucked electric-bass rearing its head, some mournful harmonies here and there, retro elements sourced from ageing synths and the occasional nod back to Stereolab days, particularly with the truly lovely Release From The Centre Of Your Heart which wouldn't sound out of place on Dusty Springfield's In Memphis album - it's that good. OK, I'm a sucker for a chunk of brass and mid-tempo soul thrown into my leftfield jazz-pop classics. As for the rest of Something Shines, it's all a bit of a plod in places but the first half-dozen songs are among her best.
Flying Lotus - I'm Dead - ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I just don't get the hoo-hah surrounding this man's noodling - three tracks into I'm Dead and I want to harpoon my nipples to a cat's arsehole. Distorted drums, Hendrixy guitars, gabbled raps and oddball psychedelia manage to make Fkn Dead less of a handful by song four and by Dead Man's Tetris (with Snoop Dogg and Captain Murphy), I'm back to wondering what's the point of it all. Turtles is another busy hodgepodge of free-jazz and electro-funk, Coronus The Terminator is the closest we get to some semblance of a tune and the strange Moment Of Hesitation evolves into a whirling dervish of busy brushwork and smokey sax sputterings. I've tried my damnedest but I really don't get on with this.
Hannah Schneider - Red Lines - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
Joining the likes of Lykke Li and Agnes Obel is Danish songwriter Schneider who sings her cheerful lightweight pop in a cutesy theatrical way, sometimes triumphant, sometimes way short of the mark. Red Lines isn't so bad - opening song Butterfly Lovers is pleasing radio-friendly fare while Harbor isn't dissimilar to Obel's choral extravagance, albeit a more concise interpretation. The remainder of Red Lines is the sort of generic hopeful stop-start-stop-start-stop pop that seems to occupy just about every chart-placing in the UK at present, something I'm weary of. Wild Geese bucks this trend to some degree, a brooding mid-tempo number co-written with her synth-wielding band member Paul Statham and Weightless emulates Victorialand-era Cocteau Twins, probably unintentionally. Some nice moments but lacking in oomph.
El May - The Other Person Is You - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Also resident on the LoJinx roster alongside Hannah Schneider etc is Aussie singer-songwriter El May aka Lara Meyerratken whose approach to music-making isn't dissimilar to her Danish label-mate. There are yet more anthemic pop-numbers on this her second full-length album, but perhaps with a bit more flair and despite not having a powerful voice, El May breathes and coos her way through ten jangle-pop ditties that range from string-laden blue-eyed '60s pop such as Lessons Appear, past gleeful catchy hip-wigglers like the perky single I Played a Role, up to the intimate, acoustic Atlantic, Pacific, all capably written by the singer and infrequently ably assisted by one-third of The Pierces and one Dean Wareham. The Other Person Is You won't blow your mind but will give you a hug and a cheeky tickle under the chin - and sometimes, that's all we need.
Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
With Fleetwood Mac having recently regrouped for a swathe of tour-dates around the globe, it's not entirely surprising to experience a new solo set from the band's most prolific singer. Following up Nicks' 2011 set In Your Dreams, 24 Karat Gold gathers up a hefty selection of tracks originally composed in rougher form between 1969 and the mid-'90s and comes in two forms, a standard and deluxe that curiously differ in running-order with extra songs. As usual, Nicks is on her best form when wielding the candle of melancholia or introspection as on If You Were My Love, or getting all Mac-like as on the descriptive and lyrical Mabel Normand. When the riffs kick in and drudgery abounds, things drag - for a start, 72 minutes is perhaps 25 minutes too many in today's world but as there is an underlying theme with this album, you can forgive her - wrap your ears around the superior cuts such as Lady or The Dealer and everything's alright. Possibly her best since the '80s.