Slipped Discs - February 2009
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Brighton Port Authority.... Shrouded in mystery
Initial Thoughts
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.
Disc Reviews
Dalek - Gutter Tactics
Dalek
Album title: Gutter Tactics
Record Label: Ipecac Recordings
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.
(3090) Page Views
Dalek online:
• Website
• Download Gutter Tactics from Amazon
• Purchase Gutter Tactics on Amazon
Dex Romweber Duo - Ruins of Berlin
Dex Romweber Duo
Album title: Ruins of Berlin
Record Label: Bloodshot Records
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.
(3295) Page Views
Dex Romweber Duo online:
• Website • Wiki
• Download Ruins of Berlin from Amazon
• Purchase Ruins of Berlin on Amazon
PSAPP - The Camel’s Back
PSAPP
Album title: The Camel’s Back
Record Label: Domino Records
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.
(3311) Page Views
PSAPP online:
• Website • Wiki
• Purchase The Camel’s Back on Amazon
Matt And Kim - Grand
Matt And Kim
Album title: Grand
Record Label: Fader
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.
(3392) Page Views
Matt And Kim online:
• Website • Wiki
• Download Grand from Amazon
• Purchase Grand on Amazon
An Horse - Rearrange Beds
An Horse
Album title: Rearrange Beds
Record Label: Mom and Pop
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.
(3086) Page Views
An Horse online:
• Website
• Purchase Rearrange Beds on Amazon
Bee And The Bird - Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
Bee And The Bird
Album title: Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
Record Label: Manhattan Records
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.
(3293) Page Views
The Bee And The Bird online:
• Website • Wiki
• Download Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future from Amazon
• Purchase Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future on Amazon
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.