Various Artists - Late Night Tales: Metronomy (****)
For the latest LNT mix, Metronomy’s Joseph Mount blends Southern
hip-hop (Outkast) with avant-garde jazz (Chick Corea), ending up at
Gallic alt-folk (Herman Dune) via nods to most that lies between. It’s a
confident interpretation of the series’ brief, with curious bedfellows
fluidly interlaced and locked into a twilight tempo. Even its more
daring segueways sound apposite: for example, the breezy pop of the
Alessi Brothers yielding freely to Autechre’s undulating, fractured
rhythms, or the retro synths of Tonto’s Expanding Head Band gently
washed away by a pedal-steel waltz (Pete Drake’s Forever).
For the obligatory cover version, Metronomy tackle Jean Michel
Jarre’s Hypnose: understated and faithful, it slips smoothly into the
mix’s folds, without overshadowing its lovingly selected surroundings.
For the now-standard spoken word coda, meanwhile, Paul Morley concludes
his Lost for Words piece – previously heard on the Trentemøller, MGMT
and Belle and Sebastian compilations – with an enjoyably freewheeling
verbosity.
Out 3rd September
Sycamore - Sycamore and Friends (****)
Like the tree after which they are named, Sycamore’s branches
extend far. Between them, core members Jer Reid, Stevie Jones and Shane
Connolly have roots in El Hombre Trajeado, Issho Taiko Drummers and
Tattie Toes, amongst others; the record’s guesting “friends”, meanwhile,
include Bill Wells and The One Ensemble’s Daniel Padden. The six pieces
that constitute their debut are subtly intoxicating – a rich mix of
tricky melodies and heady textures that eschew straightforward
structures.
Opener New Cold is an immediate standout: one of the few tracks to
feature prominent vocals, it buffets wordless wails (from Connolly’s
fellow Tattie Nerea Bello) with exotic and propulsive twin guitars. The
closing A Sun – with its droning, groaning interlude – also deserves
mention, building to a noisy finish forged from percussive rattles and
string whines. Sporadic lulls elsewhere do nothing to diminish the
record as a whole, raising hopes this union is an on-going project and
not a one-off.
Out Now
Chilly Gonzales - Solo Piano II (***)
From prankster rapper to electro-funk maestro, the artist formerly
known as Jason Beck has long demonstrated a playfully flexible attitude
towards genre. In the last two years alone, his iconoclasm has
produced a chess movie and an orchestral hip-hop album, but of all his
varied guises, it’s as a classically-trained pianist that he’s arguably
most distinguished. Not only is 2004’s
Solo Piano apparently his highest selling album to date, but he once beat Andrew WK in a head-to-head piano battle, and that guy can
play.
Solo Piano II presents another 14 compositions in the
titular style, and as before, Gonzales elegantly undercuts his natural
inclination towards showing-off. There are no tricks or twists to this
Ronseal-titled collection, just neo-classical ivory tinkling of the
highest calibre, as tracks like the classy Othello channel their
composer’s prodigious talents into gracefully simple melodies, modestly
but expertly reaffirming his 21st century Renaissance-man credentials.
Out today
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