Want to see all of July's Five Heart record reviews in one place? You've got it.
BURIAL - Phoneglow
(Hyperdub)
by DJ Fuzzyfelt
As part of a joint double A-Side release alongside Hyperdub Records boss Kode9, Phoneglow marks a return to the more skittering beats, sped up vocals, and swathes of keyboards that characterises most of Burials earlier works. Burials songs are supposedly best listened to on London nightbus, when it's raining. However, I live in an area where the last bus goes at 5.30pm. How am I to manage loving Burial's work with such denusion of public services? No matter, I love Brials work and this is a very welcome addition to his catalogue. And, to be fair, Kode9s 'Eyes Go Blank' ain't half good too. Five Stars all day long.
DAVE GUY - I'll Follow You
(Big Crown)
by Ancient Champion
Alright already. I know there's only so many times you can say "Oh wow!" This is though one of those times. Dave Guy is the Guy for sure. Everything here is so crisp and glassy. And then the trumpet. They don't have you play in the Menahan Street Band and Roots if you don't have the chops. Contemporar-esque jazzy rnb, with a twist! I'll Follow You is from Dave's forthcoming LP 'Ruby' due in September and is well, well this is just gorgeous.
DIRTY THREE - Love Changes Everything
(Bella Union)
by Ancient Champion
Of course what's not to love? This doesn't in any way remind me of the time I saw Sonic Youth on a Brighton beach and wasn't sure when the tuning up was finished and when the tunes had begun. That's just me, in the ways of music and art I am a know nothing. Although not a proud one. There's the video here for Part 1 of Love Changes Everything, but the whole piece, it is a movement is what you need for a seminal experience. I've used the record to ease my way through prepping the upper part of the garden for a shed base. Now installed sans, shed, because suddenly I want to have the shed erected in a different garden of a different house a mile or so away from here. Mrs Champion—who never ever calls herself that—doesn't necssarily agree. Watch this space.
FLOATING POINTS - Key103
(Ninja Tune)
by Ancient Champion
Fans of Floating Point following on from the acclaimed 'Promises' LP with Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra probably includes a fair portion of the "Democratic elite" who have yet to say aloud "Go, Joe... Just go." But would like to. Key103 is timely then, as they like us have a lot going on upstairs and this is soothing beyond sooth. It mitigates the present circumstances. There's a lot to be mesmerised by. It meanders meaningfully. In a classy way. Just look at the video, an Alive Painting by Akiko Nakayama. Towards the end it runs out of beat and the synths twinkle. Just so you know I listened to the end. Not the worst seven minutes I have spent listening to a record. High Praise.
GEESE - I See Myself
(Partisan)
by Ancient Champion
Geese of course can be trusted no more than Captain Beefheart around that time you were lulled by Too Much Time or My Head is My Only Home Except When It Rains. I See Myself is from Geese's short LP 'Alive and In Person', and it is just fantastic, like Natalie Bergman, country love gospel drench. I See Myself liked as much anything I have ever loved stretching the Spendors speaker grills. This is the exceptional. Now we're together in funky country.
HELLO MARY - 0%/Three
(French Kiss Records)
by Alan Rider
This one, from New York trio Hello Mary, came out last month, and they have a new single 'Three' out this week as well, and I have to say that bands like Hello Mary do give me a glimmer of hope, as they have done that rare thing - improve. Their self titled debut album I felt was unremarkable, yet this single is uncompromising and confrontational, and I hesitate now to pin the 'Alt Rock' badge back on them, as that would lump them in with the many other lumps you will find labouring turgidly under that vaguest of umbrella terms. Hello Mary have a lot more to offer. '0%' isn't typical of their usual sound, which is far more melodic, but, on the evidence of the follow up, 'Three', they have gained the knack of blending melody and guitar noise into a mix that really works. There is a second album, ' Emita Ox', due out in September, so lets see whether they can maintain their new standard on that.
HUNTING LODGE - Nomad Souls / Tribal Warning Shot / The Harvest
(Winter Hill Recordings)
by Alan Rider
Back at the start of the 1980’s, Port Huron, Michigan played host to a musical collective of underground electronic artists, Hunting Lodge were pre-eminent amongst those acts. Alan Rider reviews their Winter Hill collection, here?
JAMES TAYLOR QUARTET - Hung Up On You
(jtq)
by Hamilton High
This is a joy to be alive JTQ tune that could the Damned or the Undertones. 2 quik intense minutes. It's more likely to get into the Trunk of Punk than the Trunk of Funk. Workaday great and therein lies a humongous amount of beauty. Taylor says, "The track (Hung Up On You) was left over from a writing session for my other band 'The Prisoners' and it was interesting to see how my JTQ guys, usually funk players, took to this approach. We had a lot of fun in the studio and I think you can hear that in the recording." That's a 10:4 good buddy. If that means the affirmative?
JON HOPKINS - Ritual (palace)
(Domino)
by John Robinson
Hopkins' music is organic, based on repeated rhythms, looped synth lines and electronic drums, developing in subtle ways and with a serenity and majesty which lends itself to being described in quasi-religious terms. Both this and previous track Ritual (evocation) are beautiful, while (evocation) is more dramatic, tense, highly strung, the current single is dreamlike, a sense of place (or palace) which is crystalline and pristine, the looping melody is mesmeric, echoing, a cathedral on the moon. The full album - Ritual - is to be released in August.
KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - Le Risque
(Doom Records)
by John Robinson
From their album Flight b741 out in August, evidence that behind the concepts, heavy guitar, fantasy and flash there's a tight af rock band in King Gizzard, Le Risque is a stomping 70s blues work out with shared lead vocals and sounds like a good night out. They can't quite chuck out the middle earth element entirely, as the breakdown lyrics "Where softer souls do sleep, In the hush of morning's glow..." indicate, but it's irrelevant to this thumping piece of rock 'n' roll, which lands smoothly.
LAURA MARLING - Patterns
(Chrysalis/Partisan)
by Ancient Champion
People just love Laura Marling. And so I tried to love Patterns, because more than anything else, I want to be like everyone else. I was a little perturbed by the dust around the lens of her cameraphone. Were you? Woodenhand the DJ recommended a hogs hair brush to me a while ago, for getting rid of dust just like that, in the corners. And otherwise Laura is blowing off the cobwebs of her career with a typical blast of vigour. Laura's better at this than most though so in the end few will be able to resist. Maybe excepting me. I mean, I'd play it again if you made me but I would close my eyes during the camera phone action sequences at least. If there's one thing I do love is the idea of Laura recording her LP at a volume where she wouldn't wake her new baby. Five hearts for being a super considerate parent.
MELISSA CARPER - Borned in Ya
(Mae Music)
by Ancient Champion
The voice... the players, the playing. The barking dogs down the road. If we've gotta have country, it should only be this country. Melissa Carper is amazing but you don't need me to tell you that.
MERCE LEMON - Backyard Lover
(Darling Records)
by LamontPaul
A whole lot of this is really frighteningly great. And in a genre that's hard to make any rational headway at all, not that lots of people aren't trying, that's something thrilling. It's an immense glimpse behind the mask to where Merce Lemon is ahead of the forthcoming LP 'Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild'. So a bit of Americana then with, when they get to the chorus or their bridge or somewhere, our laconic Patti Smith of the West (Western Pennsylvania), busts out the truth, "You're a fucking liar." And that this week is worth five hearts alone. After that even an archetypal guitar break is more than tolerable. It's more wild than tolerable. That moment makes me glad that they didn't get to shut all of the guitar factories after all. Kinda reminds me a bit of Teenage Fanclub and what Kathleen Edwards did on her LP 'Failer'. I won't kid you, this is long, it's long so you're gonna have to wait to get it. For one of the few times in your entire life, it'll be worth it. Merce Lemon is here for good.
MERCURY REV - Ancient Love
(Bella Union)
by John Robinson
Like the previous single Patterns, Ancient Love is a monologue, against a shifting, ephemeral sand dune of music, beautiful, discorporate and melancholic. The song is about memories as archaeology, setting love against the vastness of time and the cruelty of humanity. Of course, your interpretation could differ, this kind of flow of consciousness could be compared equally to the nonsensical lyrics of Tales From Topographic Oceans, but here it works as art, serves a purpose, the music and lyrics connect to resonate with some unique truth. For some, anyway.
PARLOR GREENS - Driptorch
(Colemine Records)
by LamontPaul
From the album 'In Green / We Dream' out on July 19th, the single Driptorch absolutely finds the supergroup of sorts, Parlor Greens, at the very tight funky jazzy best you'd expect from a band that includes Jimmy James (True Loves and ex-Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio), Tim Carman (GA20) and Adam Scone (Sugarman 3). Driptorch is both epic and delightfully empty. All of component parts are bang on. It's breathtaking really what these guys do to you. I don't think there'll be audio until July 19th, so instead this...
PARLOR GREENS - In Green We Dream
(Colemine Records)
by Ancient Champion
Parlor Greens’ debut LP, In Green / We Dream, a new highly anticipated project from heavyweights (Jimmy James, Adam Scone, Tim Carman) of the instrumental funk/jazz scene. Gritty, classic sounding organ trio funk is the order of the day. Targeting all things in the funky and instrumental spaces. I guess this library adjacent music is for you or not. It's a lot of what I listen to. Love it all, as things go.
PENTHOUSE DOGS - I am Legend
(Bandcamp)
by Alan Rider
Penthouse Dogs were one of those bands that really should have been far bigger at the time, but weren't, due, I guess, to the usual mixture of family and careers getting in the way, and their focussing too much on small local pub gigs in their home town of Norwich, with only the odd foray out to places like Great Yarmouth and Colchester, rather than setting their sights higher and getting out of town more. That's a shame as, on the evidence of the recently re-released single 'I am Legend', a track that puts many a post punk band to shame, they could have done so much more before they called it a day in the late '90s when, in the words of singer and founding member Martin Devenney, "it stopped being fun and became more like work". With a few more gigs outside of Anglia and overseas, along with a record contract, it may well have felt the other way round. There is a real interest now in re-discovering these bands, however, and a recognition that actually, they weren't half bad. There is an album recorded at the time that could be turned into vinyl for a modern audience, and it would be well worth someone stepping up to do that, I'd say. In the meantime, you can download this and other tracks on Bandcamp here.
RUBBLEBUCKET - Stella The Begonia
(Egghunt Records)
by Lee Paul
Truly, Stella The Begonia is Rubblebucket's gold medal olympian anthem for sure. Eurovision winner from the classic euros age. Lie Abba with energy. What joy! And they are called Rubblebucket. Admirable. "Stella- oooh, do, do, do." Oh Wow. And I just know how much out writer Duncan Jones is loving the "Stella you're an angel, Stella you're a starlight," talking part. Stella the Begonia has everthing and then they throw in the horns at the end. And they are big epic horns. Amazing.
STANDARD MUSIC LIBRARY - Strolling Happy
(Bucks Sound)
by Ancient Champion
Taken from the compilation LP, 80s Poptronic - Gateway to the Information Era, I am not even kidding, Strolling Happy could keep any daytime TV segment producer happy. There's really something E-A-S-Y for everyone right here. Six views on YouTube as I write this. Standard Music Library are achieving the level of popularity I aspired to and now know so well. What's not to love?
TASHA - The Beginning
(Bayonet Records)
by Ancient Champion
Alright, you followers of Ancient Champion's musical musings about my faves will know Tasha, for me is right up there with the best of them. I think she was on Father/Daughter records but has moved on to New York based Bayonet. I saw her as a leader of a quietly thrilling quiet musical revolution. Tell Me What You Miss The Most was an epic emotional storm, spoken softly. Then in some sort of grrr-rapturous gear change, Tasha was cast in the Sufjan Stevens Tony award winning Broadway musicial, Illinoise. And now back with just the most magnific indie pop song one could create. It's flawless. I wish I could do that. The full length 'All This and So Much More' will be out in September. Meanwhile, let's join the New York Times debate right here too, is that gingham style thing she's wearing, while reading and bridge-over-water seeing, a summer dress or no? What is your summer dress?
TRá PHáIDíN - Monty Pháidric June
(5983899 Records)
by Ancient Champion
What's to love and respect here. Well, a nine-piece band intent on doing as little as possible, it might appear. Gently, insistently melding a succinct diapason, then tripping the studio electrics with their mesmerising and meandering melody. There's folk and there improvisational jazzy lines. It's the most splendid cornucopia, really is. Don't forget to enjoy the mumbling over the top. Like everything here though, nothing is over the top. Ace!
VAN MORRISSON - Live at Orangefield
(Orangefield)
by Paul Mortimer
Paul Mortimer has been a Van fan since the 60s, he rates the new live set, recorded in 2014 in Belfast as one of the best ever... Se his review here?
VARIOUS ARTISTS - The Devil Rides In: Spellbinding Satanic Magick & The Rockult 1967 - 1974
(Cherry Red)
by Alan Rider
Here we have 3 CDs full of blasphemy, bell, book, and (black) candle, which surprisingly, and to Cherry Red's credit, avoids the obvious and brings into the open a whole range of the obscure and unlikely... Read the full review, right here?
VEGA - Reach
(Lazy Susan Records)
by Ancient Champion
From the LP, trust me, i'm trying. At last, this week's quiet revolutionaries have revealed themselves. Let me wind this back and find out what they are on about. That flag... That's really a tablecloth, right? I love it. Everything is battened down with a baton, subjected to downward pressure. Except for thing's vocal, that an atmospheric river over the ocean. Whatever her name is. Meanwhile, Acoustic guitar, birdplay, string, ride cymbal, effervescently gently charm. There's a fear that Alabaster DePlume might blunder in and spoil it all. He doesn't. Oh. "music for softies made in Vermont." They say. That's hard. This is hard to do. Being quiet. Vega are your new greatest.
WILSON SIMONAL / TRIO MOCOTO-NAO - Nem Vem Que Nao Tem / Adianta (split single)
(Mr Bongo Records)
by DJ Fuzzyfelt
Mr Bongo Records have consistently championed the music of Brasil from the 50s right up to great contemporary artists and groups such as Ana Frango Electro and Bala Desejo. The backbone of their Brasilian catalogue has been 100x7 inch 45s consisting of classic tunes released anytime between the 1950s and the 1980s. Over the years some of the more popular singles have sold out and become collectors items in themselves. Happily Mr Bongo are now starting to repress some of these scarcer sides and this re-release is one of them. Wilson Simonel was a stalwart of the scene in the 60s and 70s releasing many great songs of which Nem Vem Que Nao Tem from his classic 1967 album 'Alegria, Alegria' is one.There are many different versions of this tune written by the marvellously named Carlos Imperial, even a rather shouty version sung in French by Brigitte Bardot, however Simonal's is the original version. Piano lead, almost chatty verse with a grand brass driven chorus. It's a great song worthy of its reputation. It was given a new lease of life when featured on the soundtrack of the film 'City of God'. Trio Mocoto are actually still going to this day. Formed in 1968 and acting as the very great Jorge Ben Jors backing band before cutting loose on their own. Nao Adianta, released in 1977, has been a constant in my DJ box. Big epic start, beautiful vocals, strings, the kitchen sink basically. Luxurious. All in all a fantastic single, well worth investing your hard earned cash in. 5 Stars just aren't enough for this fabulous record.
Essential Information
Main image is of a person from the band Vega, from their Bandcamp page
