Latest releases reviewed.
BJÖRK The Music from Drawing Restraint 9 Polydor ***
Not a record, but a project - or at least that's what Björk says. Perhaps she's right, as this is (like Björk's previous album, the perplexing but still rather beguiling Medulla) not your average pop/rock release from a major name. Instead, it's a soundtrack suite for visual artist (and The Cremaster Cycle creator) Matthew Barney's latest work; shot in Japan, its core theme is the relationship between open and self-repressed creativity. Accordingly, Björk's soundtrack flits between traditional Japanese musical forms (utilising one of the culture's oldest instruments, the sho) and cutting edge electronics (collaborations with Leila, Valgeir Sigurdsson, and Mark Bell). Anyone expecting a return to song-based works will be disappointed; there is, however, much here to quietly thrill - gorgeous ambient music trinkets, inventive use of instrumentation and, not least, Björk's liquid, elemental voice.
Tony Clayton-Lea
MADNESS The Dangermen Sessions, Volume One V2 ***
With only compilations and re-releases taking up space in their corner since 1999's Wonderful, any new Madness material is a welcome sight. Although "new" may be a somewhat dubious term for this selection of ska favourites that the band have been touting live in various London clubs and bars under the Dangermen name, it's an interesting experiment nonetheless as they return to their roots and old stylistic haunts. Certainly, the likes of The Kinks' Lola, and The Supremes' You Keep Me Hanging On were never intended for ska dubbings. Yet, in these hands strange things happen and a trippy, skanking groove emerges from unlikely sources. Whether it's passionately reworking the over-familiar Israelites (Desmond Dekker) or emphasising the eerie sides of Max Romeo's Chase the Devil, there are many examples here of the old foxes cannily doing just what you don't expect. www.madness.co.uk
Jim Carroll
VARIOUS Tom Dunne's Alternative Irish Anthems Rubyworks ***
Any visitors who found themselves at an Irish disco during the latter years of the 20th century might have been bemused at the sight of revellers rocking to such local favourites as Celebrate and Brewing up a Storm. An Emotional Fish and The Stunning may have been complete unknowns outside Ireland, but to their Irish fans they were godlike purveyors of homegrown classic hits. The rubbish cover aside, this two-CD set contains songs you know and probably loved at one time or another, but Dunne has gone a little left-field, choosing tunes such as The Undertones' It's Gonna Happen and The 4 of Us's Sunlight over the more obvious Teenage Kicks and Mary. If you haven't pogoed to Horslips' Dearg Doom or snogged to The Golden Horde's Friends in Time, then you were probably spending too much time at the bar - or in London. U2's Vertigo and Thin Lizzy's Dancing in the Moonlight add weight, but it's the long-lost songs by Microdisney, The Blades and Stars of Heaven that add the historical depth.
Kevin Courtney
VARIOUS London Is The Place For Me 2 Honest Jons/EMI ****
Post-war immigration transformed British society, and the music that those who arrived on the SS Windrush brought with them from the Caribbean also had a major social and cultural impact on many London communities. But such changes in the late 1950s and early 1960s weren't just coming on the breeze from Trinidad and the West Indies alone. As the second volume of Honest Jon's excellent retrospective of that particular era shows, Nigerian, Malian and South African immigrant musicians in the British capital were also stepping out and making their mark. There are thrills galore on this collection of vintage cuts, from the peppery, joyous swing of Ambrose Campbell to the classic calypso swag of Young Tiger, the sweet delights of Lord Kitchener and the steel drum symphonies of Russ Henderson. Possibly the sweetest-sounding history lesson you will hear this year on the roots of black Britain. www.honestjons.com
Jim Carroll
VARIOUS Trans-Siberian Express Mute ***
Kraftwerk, the daddies of electronic Krautrock, have a lot to answer for. The band that launched a thousand laptop wannabes are honoured here with covers from Slovenia's finest (and not so fine) musicians. It's kicked off by big guns Laibach, with a typically no-wave number riddled with robotic tics. There are much noodley shenanigans, interesting only from a reinterpretative slant. Octex and Torul (aren't they eyedrop brands?) opt for uber-minimalist techno and Siddharta offer a metal mash-up of The Robots. If Kraftwerk are the original prism white light, the refracted results - and the ones that work best - are at the lighter end of the spectrum. Step forward the electro-pop of MOBB, Alenia and OST's breakneck breakbeat. Imagine how good a Trans-Dublin Express could be. www.mute.com
Sinéad Gleeson
CLOR Clor Regal **
If music adapts to its times, then Clor's choppy electronic chirrup would fit nicely in with the bleep of Space Invaders, digital watches and MS-DOS computers. Luckily for singer Barry Dobbin and guitarist Luke Smith, their relentless retro-electro beat also suits these days of loud ringtones, computer start-up sounds and car dashboard alerts. Best turn off your Nokia while listening to such tracks as Good Stuff, Love + Pain, Hearts on Fire and Dangerzone, though, because you'll keep imagining you hear it ringing. Clor have been hailed as an electro interface between Eno and Devo, Can and Talking Heads, but the band's decadent New Wave dance stance also tips its hat to Wire and very early XTC, when keyboard player Barry Andrews was still with them. Singular as this album is - and you won't hear anything similar to Outlines, Magic Touch and Garden of Love, at least not this year - Clor seem to be leaning too heavily on those old synth keys; if they were suddenly pulled away, I fear the band might just collapse in a heap of wires and components. www.clor.co.uk
Kevin Courtney
