Hammond's Album Reviews: Summer 2007

Alastair Artingstall – Four Lawn Hope

I have, in all truthfulness, only just discovered the solo work of Alastair Artingstall, one time keyboard player of Fat Lady Sings. My only wish is that I had stumbled across this wonderful singer songwriter sooner, because Four Lawn Hope is a fantastic piece of music.

It’s an album brimful of folksy acoustic songs, detailing all the quandaries and tribulations of love and falling in and out of love. Key to its success is that it never descends into despondency, it rather remains hopeful, wry and accepting of life’s ups and downs. The largely stripped down instrumentals rightly give Alastair the chance to show off his impressive vocal range. ‘Probably Be Here’, ‘If It’s True’, ‘Beautiful You Are’ and the hauntingly sublime ‘Touch The One You Love’ provide the album with a spine of standouts few albums on the market right now will be able to match.

9/10

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Silversun Pickups – Carnavas

What’s Billy Corgan been up to recently? Resting on his laurels perhaps? Because the Silversun Pickups look like they could be serious contenders for the Smashing Pumpkins alt/rock crown.

The similarities between the two bands are manifest but the Silversun Pickups blend of synthesisers and guitars is so perfect in synchronicity, tempo and pitch that not one song on this album is worth skipping. When was the last time the Pumpkins put together such a consistent work?

This is as good an alternative rock album as you will purchase this year. It’s not too hard and not too soft, with songs like Melatonin and Three Seed showcasing the bands ability to mix it and not rely on the one trick to keep the listener attentive.

8/10

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Blonde Redhead – 23

Blonde Redhead have been on the go for much longer than you’d think and in 23 they prove that they are still more than capable of putting together an inspiring album. Although to say they are the same band as the one which started off in the mid 90’s would be incorrect.

This is a perfectly arranged slice of electro indie with strings thrown in as and when required. This sounds in part like The Cocteau Twins, Portishead, Belly and well . . . Blonde Redhead at their absolute best. This CD sees Kazu Makino’s vocals at their peak, she brings an ethereal lingering quality to the songs, the title track 23 especially, though it’s ‘Publisher’ which steals the show. Excellent.

8/10

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Laura Veirs – Saltbreakers

Laura Veirs brand of folksy indie represents part of a new wave of music emerging from the US, which includes contemporaries such as Sufjan Stevens and The Decemberists. She’s proved before she can cut it with best of them and Saltbreakers elegant, honest, contemporary sound is just as good as anything she’s done previously.

‘Pink Light’ starts us off well, ‘Don’t Lose Yourself’ and ‘Cast a Hook in Me’ provide further highlights, but there is something missing . . . Admittedly I can’t put my finger on it but its absence is at times as loud as the music which is there. Because of this niggle Saltbreakers for me comes just short of being an excellent album by a very talented young woman.

7/10

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Audionom – Retrospektiv

Audionom are experimental, lack vocals, have intensely irritating sleeve notes and rely too heavily on harsh guitars. Not going to be everyone’s cup of tea then! They certainly weren’t mine.

With a clutch of tracks breaking the 7 minute barrier one of Audionom’s main faults is their inability to provide listeners with an accessible stand out single. The 3rd track Kristall with its art disco beats and Joy Division rip off guitar work, just about has enough redeeming qualities to be included on my MP3 player. Otherwise listening to this noise is just a chore.

4/10

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Battles – Mirrored

Battles are an experimental four piece from across the pond. A mix of guitars, keyboards, drums and stripped down distorted vocals, they ultimately sound like they are making music for a robot’s disco.

Listening carefully to tracks like ‘Leyendecker’, and you’d be forgiven for thinking they had just recorded their PC having a fit. Then there are songs like ‘Bad Trails’, which starts by making a noise like a car windscreen wiper then gradually builds up layer after layer of electronic and organic vocals and instrumentals till it resembles something approaching music. It’s all a bit mad really . . .

Don’t get me wrong, this album is a breath of fresh air, but that certainly doesn’t make it easy to love. Expect a bandwagon following this band so large in size Vanessa Feltz could ride shotgun in blissful spacious comfort.

6/10

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The National – Boxer

The National are purveyors of powerful, dark, articulate, multi instrumental songs perfect for beer soaked late nights. Their previous effort Alligator is a personal favourite of mine. So for me Boxer had a lot to live up to. Does it pass muster? Not quite. But it’s taken me a very long time to figure this out. Listen after listen and I could not get my head round the fact the albums two best songs are the first couple.

‘Fake Empire’ and ‘Mistaken For Strangers’ are perhaps two of the stand out tracks of the year. So putting them back to back at the start of an album was always going to be a bold move. The sheer grandiose construction and pace of ‘Mistaken For Strangers’, primes the listener for a barrage of smart anthems but what we get instead is a collection of slower more thoughtful tracks. Some of which are wonderful, such as ‘Start A War’, but never kick life back into the album.

A good effort and thoroughly recommended nonetheless.

7/10

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Calvin Harris – I Created Disco

Lanky ex Marks and Spencer’s drone Calvin Harris is now producing for Kylie Minogue. Hard to believe at the best of times, even harder to believe when you listen to this uninspired collection of naff electronic efforts.

There is literally nothing to speak of here with regards to the lyrics; a stab at wit here and suggestions of ‘wild times’ there. Instrumentally its poor fare too, certainly nothing that others haven’t done before and better.

I’ve been personally criticised by readers in the past for my unpatriotic stance on some of our nations musicians. But I see no reason to champion something purely because of an accident of birth. Doubtless Calvin Harris will not be any worse off after this review and nor should he be, because if you can manage to peddle this sort of boring, pedestrian crap and keep yourself in fine wine and first class BA flights then fair play to you.

2/10

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Fish – Communion

Lead singer of a band to solo artist is not the easiest transition to make. Generally speaking the riches are greater but the critical recognition less forthcoming. McCartney has only recently been forgiven for Wings, Sting has never been forgiven for anything post Police, whilst the once mercurial Ian Brown now seems to be one more bad gig away from a 9-5 job in Burtons.

So what about erstwhile Marillion front man Fish? Has solo life been hard on Lothian’s finest? His new live album Communion gives us the perfect opportunity to examine not only his back catalogue but also his current ability to wow an audience.

Well I have to say, Communion isn’t half bad! No actually it was bloody good.  It’s a fine showcase for Fish’s fantastic voice, few artists sound this rich during a live performance and the crowd seem to be enjoying themselves without their presence encroaching on the music. Over two CDs Fish treats us to a thorough rendition of his best work. He may have no grasp of the perfect 3-minute pop song but when you sit back and listen to Communion, you become more fully aware of the fact that was never hisntention. Without a doubt fan or not it’s hard not to recognise Fish as one of Scotland’s few truly enigmatic front men.

8/10

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Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

Indie/rock band Modest Mouse have undergone a few changes since their last album. Chief amongst these is the fact they have gone from cult status to full blown A list. The other big change is the fact ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr has joined the team.

Johnny Marr’s addition to the group certainly isn’t a gimmick. He’s still one of the best guitarists on the planet and his trademark style is plastered all over this album.
He adds an understated class to the general musicianship of Modest Mouse, this is most apparent on ‘Dashboard’ which is definitely the standout track of the album, but then that isn’t hard when the rest of the music here is so patchy.  The track ‘Fire It Up’ being the perfect example of the albums general flaw, it always hints at being memorable but at no point ever truly delivers. Modest Mouse have everything in place to be a huge group making great music, it’s just up to them to prove they can do both.

5/10

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