The latest CD releases reviewed
JACK SAVORETTI Between The Minds De Angelis Records ****
The broken English conjured by the title of much-vaunted newcomer Savoretti's debut barely hints at the lyrical freshness of his songwriting. In the vein of Jim Croce and James Taylor, there's a curious and appealing old-fashionedness to Savoretti's music. Free of many of the pyrotechnics available in any ten-a-penny studio, Savoretti's songs rest on the wide-open vistas and dark corners of his fine songwriting: from the insights that friendship can yield (Lovely Fool) to the unlikely common ground we share with one of fiction's greatest creations - Dr Frankenstein. The unforced fluidity of Between the Minds, replete with harmonica and acoustic guitar, might all be thanks to Damien Rice in all his indie glory, and the stark idiosyncrasy of Savoretti's voice suggests a singer who's in it for the long haul. www.jacksavoretti.com Siobhan Long
Download tracks: Dr Frankenstein, Chemical Courage
MONEY MARK Brand New By Tomorrow Brushfire ***
Brushfire is surfing folkie Jack Johnson's label, but don't take this hook-up to mean that Mark Ramos-Nishita has turned into a Johnson clone. On the contrary, the man most famed for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys has turned in a hugely entertaining and often surprising album. Recent releases from Money Mark HQ have had him sketching rough drafts of where he was taking his sound, but few could have anticipated such workouts would result in a set of laidback, breezy Elvis Costello-like pop gems. Longtime pal Mario Caldato Jr's production helps hugely by clearing unnecessary clutter from around the melodies and stripping the sound to a warm, organic, shuffling glow. You'll inevitably find yourself nodding your head to the loose sensibilities of the title track or the sweet pull of Pick Up the Pieces. www.moneymark.com Jim Carroll
Download track: Brand New By Tomorrow
KLIMA Klima Peacefrog ****
Angèle David-Guillou is the Klima queenpin, a London-based Frenchwoman with a bunch of beguiling songs and a hugely evocative voice. A classically tutored all-rounder, her CV includes turns with French band Ginger Ale plus collaborations with the glorious Piano Magic, French rocker Hubert-Felix Thiéfaine and visual artist Loris Gréaud. But it is on Klima that David-Guillou truly soars as she relishes the space to set out her very own stall. With songs shaped into beautifully adroit patterns by Piano Magic's Jerome Tcherneyan, it's the album's mixture of bittersweet big-city ennui (The City), daydreaming blues (I Love That Day) and playful sense of mystery (Never Ending) that draw you closer. Throughout, the musical blend of smouldering electronica and mature folky pop tones perfectly suits the richness of David-Guillou's voice. One to reckon with for the future. www.peacefrog.com Jim Carroll
Download tracks: The City, I Love That Day
CABRINIGREEN Rally 100 Turismo CabriniGreen Music ***
Dublin band CabriniGreen belatedly release their debut album, and it starts out with the sound of a band overly enamoured with REM. Very quickly, however, Rally 100 Turismo mutates into a different beast altogether, and the overall sound is of a group of people that has ingested the combined outpourings of The Flaming Lips, Explosions in the Sky, Radiohead and The Beatles. In other words, while experimentation is never too far away (though it is never too ostentatious either), neither is a keen sense of structure, cohesiveness and melody. We like. Very much. www.cabrinigreenmusic.com Tony Clayton-Lea
Download tracks: Calling Out, Complimentary
THE DUB PISTOLS Speakers and Tweeters Sunday Best ***
Too long on the margins of dub/hip-hop, the Dub Pistols should be dragged in from the cold with this oddly beguiling work, which is characterised by their inspired reworking of other people's songs. The first single, a cover of Blondie's Rapture with ex-Specials singer Terry Hall on vocal duties, is a gloriously futuristic affair that is perfectly suited to Hall's phlegmatic delivery style. Elsewhere, the powerful twisted funk beats of the title track, an ironically cool version of The Stranglers' Peaches and the almost trip-hop-sounding Speed of Light all help ensure that this is the band's best album to date. Don't be put off by their name; this is not a strictly dub album by any means, and the influences here are of a weirdly eclectic nature. www.thedubpistols.com Brian Boyd
Download tracks: Rapture, Speed of Light
BRETT ANDERSON Brett Anderson Drowned In Sound **
Former Suede head Brett Anderson has already had one comeback alongside Bernard Butler with 2005's Here Come the Tears. Unfortunately, that album's title summed up the reaction of anyone who had to listen to it. It's hard not to hope that all potential mistakes were made with The Tears. Sadly, this half-hearted record barely manages to raise one lethargic eyebrow of interest. The tedious arrangements are a messy blob of cheap sounds, grating backing vocals and Anderson's cringey narratives - lyrics like "I am the needle and you are the vein" were done far better by Trent Reznor in the early 1990s. Speaking of that decade, there was a time and place for Anderson's shrill vocal angst: these days he sounds like an overwrought yodeller-in-training. Instead of mercurial hand-wringing, this is a shoulder shrug of an album. www.brettanderson.co.uk Sinead Gleeson
Download Tracks: To the Winter
HANNE HUKKELBERG Rykestrasse 68 Leaf ****
Hanne Hukkelberg's follow-up to her 2005 debut, Little Things, is an effortlessly impressive second album. Displaying an extraordinary musical experimentation and lyrical sophistication, Hukkelberg combines fuzzy electronica, sly alt folk and hazy jazz with sinuous polyrhythms of found sounds (a clacking typewriter, a spinning bicycle wheel, a purring cat and kitchen utensils), warm eclectic instrumentation (glockenspiel, electric guitar, theremin, strings and brass) and the Norwegian songstress's signature waif-like voice. Inspired by and recorded during a six-month sojourn in Berlin, the evocative sense-poem Berlin begins a song collection that is as idiosyncratic as it is intimate - especially the feline paean Obelisk, the elegiac sea-shanty The Pirate, the brooding Ticking Bomb and the haunting cover of The Pixies' Break My Body. A glittering delight. www.nettwerk.com Jocelyn Clarke
Download tracks: Break My Body, Ticking Bomb
