Paul Heaton Presents The 8th (****)
From the live debut of Bjork’s Biophilia
to an Amadou and Mariam gig performed in a pitch-black venue, the
2011 Manchester International Festival hosted its fair share of unique
musical events. Amongst its eclectic programme were a brace of
narrative pieces by figures better known for their pop work: Damon
Albarn’s Doctor Dee and Paul Heaton’s The 8th. Albarn’s opera got all the column inches, but it’s Heaton’s opus that makes for the more enjoyable album.
A DVD of the event is included, but appreciation doesn’t require visuals: the songs have replay value in themselves; the guest vocalists (including King Creosote and ex-Beautiful South singer Jacqui Abbot) are characterful; and the embedded theatrical monologue – written by playwright Che Walker – proves genuinely moving even on repeat listens, thanks to The Wire’s Reg E Cathey’s impassioned reading. While stabs at profundity fall flat, any slight stumbles are righted by the project’s cohesion and humour.
Out Now
If it needed confirmation, Milk Maid’s second album firmly validates
Martin Cohen’s decision to tap out from a waning Nine Black Alps to
front a three-piece of his own. Mostly No follows debut Yucca
closely, both in proximity (separated by a year), and in sound:
distorted guitar pop with a sunshine glint, sailing on feedback and
fuzz.
Pop Tune is Shonen Knife’s 18th album. Ponder that a
moment: the Osaka Ramones have now comfortably overtaken the actual
Ramones’ recorded output, with only minimal variations to their
kawaii-punk style along the way. And here they are again, for the third
time in the space of a year, peddling characteristically irreverent
songs about all-you-can-eat restaurants (sample lyric: “Don’t forget to
take some vegetables/ vegetables/ vegetables”) and paperclips (“man
fastens a document/ puts it in an envelope/ takes it to the post office
to send it”).
Surely they’ve outstayed their welcome by now; pushed fans to the point of exhaustion with their incessantly cheery melodies and cutesy lyrical conceits? No chance: Pop Tune is their most irresistible offering in years, softening the heavier edge of predecessor Free Time and purifying their songwriting in the process. Fingers crossed closer Move On isn’t taken literally; they’re already covering precisely the right ground.
Out Now
A DVD of the event is included, but appreciation doesn’t require visuals: the songs have replay value in themselves; the guest vocalists (including King Creosote and ex-Beautiful South singer Jacqui Abbot) are characterful; and the embedded theatrical monologue – written by playwright Che Walker – proves genuinely moving even on repeat listens, thanks to The Wire’s Reg E Cathey’s impassioned reading. While stabs at profundity fall flat, any slight stumbles are righted by the project’s cohesion and humour.
Out Now
Milk Maid - Mostly No (***)
As with Yucca, the release date offers a persuasive serving
suggestion, with the album’s grazed contents offering an apt summer
soundtrack (and at little over half an hour, it lasts about as long as
the average UK dry spell to boot…). Generally, the louder and faster
Cohen and band play, the better they sound, with recent single Do Right
brandishing an irresistible Wavves-ish hook and Drag to Find delivering a
concise high. Slower, more spacey efforts have less personality, though
No Goodbye is an exception, closing the album on a satisfyingly
bittersweet note.
Out today
Shonen Knife - Pop Tune (****)
Surely they’ve outstayed their welcome by now; pushed fans to the point of exhaustion with their incessantly cheery melodies and cutesy lyrical conceits? No chance: Pop Tune is their most irresistible offering in years, softening the heavier edge of predecessor Free Time and purifying their songwriting in the process. Fingers crossed closer Move On isn’t taken literally; they’re already covering precisely the right ground.
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