Honestly, I'm away

THIS is just a quick note to say I'm going away - that's right, I need a break from criticising others.
I'll be back on Tuesday with another damning critique of somebody's hard work, so you'll have to do without me for four whole days.
But if you think that's bad, when I used to write for the Coalville, Ashby and Swadlincote Times series under the title Honest Isaac (see above), people had to wait a whole week between each installment.
So in a way you can count yourselves lucky.

Classic twelve - Good Bad

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THE original idea behind the Classic Collection section of this site was to highlight "a few oft-overlooked classics".

So to pluck an album with 32 million-odd sales worldwide from 'obscurity' might defeat the object somewhat, you might think.

But with a new Michael Jackson studio album rumoured and a best of to celebrate the King of Pop's 50th birthday, and sitting between Thriller and Dangerous in the Jacko discography, '80s classic Bad is worth a pat on the back.

The LP that introduced me to Michael, Bad is pure, unadulterated pop at its coolest.

In fact, of the 11 tracks only Speed Demon and Stevie Wonder duet Just Good Friends weren't charting singles.

And the fact that the others are I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Man in the Mirror, Dirty Diana, Another Part of Me, Smooth Criminal, Leave Me Alone and Liberian Girl says it all.

Milosh iii's lightweight

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DESPITE the deeply disturbing nightmare of an album cover - easily the best album artwork of the year to date - Milosh's third LP is more of a gentle snooze.

Mixing electronica with soul and R'n'B vocals, the Canadian soloist's overall affect is a delicate, beautiful one.

But sadly, what iii demonstrates in originality and sensuality it lacks in bite.

This ultimately means the whole album washes over the listener, sounding like D'Angelo fronting The Postal Service - although for me Milosh's vocals show hints of both Jimmy Somerville and Mika - when what the songs need occasionally is "oomph", a meatier beat or a harder edge to instrumentation.

Faff about

A LOUGHBOROUGH University student's band - Wakefield-based The Faff - is set to release a new single on August 25.

Architecture student Joe Tuson plays bass and sings for the band, who release That's A Nice Glove? nationwide on Monday.

The track, backed up by B-side Halves ‘n’ Halves ‘n’ Halves, is an energetic slice of synth-driven indie disco in the vein of Shitdisco and Does It Offend You Yeah?.

So so Go:Audio

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THERE may be good noises being made over pop rockers Go:Audio, but to me they seem a little hear today, gone tomorrow.
Because the London-based four piece, who used to be known as The Vacancy, are merely filling a hole in the market, somewhere between Busted and The Used.
Don't get me wrong, they bassistless band are very slick at their schtick on Made Up Stories, and they do it with the energy and enthusiasm of a puppy bounding after a tennis ball, it's just they come across as McFly with overdrive to my rapidly ageing ears.
I know I was a teenager once, but still there's only so many songs about relationships and breakups and cheating girlfriends and unrequieted love and other loin-driven thoughts that should be crammed into one album.
Of course this is a debut, and the youthful band could well mature into a good group - perhaps it should be less a case of Go:Audio, and more one of Grow:Audio next time around.

Charting their rise

CONGRATULATIONS to Castle Donington's Late Of The Pier, whose debut album Fantasy Black Channel has entered the UK album chart this week, at number 28.

Classic eleven - Darc Mind's bright idea

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ALTHOUGH only released in 2006 but recorded almost a decade before, Darc Mind's long-awaited, almost forgotten album was still a breath of fresh air.
Originally recorded between 1995 and 1997 for Loud Records, the New York label went bust and Symptomatic Of A Greater Ill never saw the light of day recently, when Anticon unearthed it and put it out to a muted response.
But the Darc Mind duo of rapper Kevroc and producer X-Ray are two treasures that had to be found.
Kevroc's rap style is a laid back one, but with metronome-sharp timing, instrumental old-school phrasing of inplausibly dense lyrics and a Grand Canyon-deep rumble of a voice with which to deliver it.
Add to this sultry boom-bap beats from DJ X-Ray, also known as GM Webb D, and this turns into what would surely have been a grade A classic, forward thinking and with a nod to its predecessors, had it been around in the correct context.
But even 10 years too late, driven by the percussive interplay between drum and vocal and laced with sultry horns, despite being a small fish in a big dog's pond, the album still struts fearlessly in the company of the Kanye Wests, Eminems and 50 Cents of today's charts.

Classic ten - Go Loco

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BEING a man closer to the bread-line than the upper crust, it's not often I pick up an album and buy it on the strength of a hunch, a mere feeling it'll be good.
However with this Classic Collection addition, which I first found back in 1997 while browsing the shelves of French department store Fnac in Orleans, I went crazy without ever hearing a note of Kid Loco.

Lucklily, Kid Loco's debut studio album, A Grand Love Story, was easy to fall for.

For the French producer's largely unheard of masterpiece is a slice of trip hop so warm you could heat a mug of cocoa on it.

But as well as laid back, comforting string swells, Kid Loco, real name Jean-Yves Prieur, demonstrates a knack for a funky lick and a beat too.

Like his compatriots Air, Kid Loco's music is both dancey and dreamy, showing a stereotypical Gallic streak of nonchalent pop.

So even if you've not heard this album, I urge you to follow in my footsteps and splash out anyway.

You'd be mad not to.

One not to forget

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AFTER releasing the brilliant 24 Postcards In Full Colour earlier this year, Fat Cat records are set to rerelease German contemporary classical composer Max Richter's 2002 debut Memoryhouse.

And here, instead of postcards, Richter paints pictures.

Inspired by Max's musical memories of artists ranging from Chopin to Kraftwerk to The Beatles and Bach, Memoryhouse see him explore a running theme throughout.

Always beautiful, never forced and always inventive, Richter - who outside of classical music has worked with dance artists such as Future Sound Of London and Roni Size - uses this to mix the modern with the timeless effortlessly.

And with works of this depth, no doubt in a few years Max Richter will be cited as an inspiration himself, just like his formative musical heroes are to him here.

Unforgettable stuff.

Offer ends

Just a quick note to say that the Isaac Ashe's Sound Advice mailing list tape giveaway madness has come to an end.
Thanks to everyone who has signed up so far, and happy listening.
And to everyone else, to join the list just e-mail Isaac_Ashe@MRN.co.uk with the subject header "I Want In".

Classic nine - Head master

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IF HERBIE Hancock's semainal Head Hunters album is not yet in your collection, it's time for you to track it down and capture a copy for yourself.
The four-track LP was a real breakwater for the jazz funk genre, soaking the listener in squelching basslines, wah wah synths, furious-fingered piano, skittering drums and space age sound effects, even blazing trails for genres yet to be invented, such as hop hop and electro.
Amazingly, the pioneering album was released way back in 1973.
Less amazingly, the first half of the album, made up of the all-time classic Chameleon and beer bottle blowing Watermelon Man, are standards today.
Coupled with Sly, a jazz track dedicated to funk musician Sly Stone, and the wild Vein Melter, Head Hunters is a real bounty.

School of hard rock

A NEW season of gigs has been announced at Loughborough University Students' Union.
Leading the line with an appearance on October 9 is Norwegian rocker Ida Maria, who is touring to support her debut album Fortress Round My Heart.
On October 25 Delirious? hit the venue, followed by stalwarts Feeder on November 1.
The on November 11 folk singer Seth Lakeman is appearing, and on November 15 Elliott Minor are playing.
For more information on the gigs, which are all open to the general public, log on here.

Dreadliners

THE Off The Tracks Festival in Castle Donington, now in its 20th year, is to be headlined by Dreadzone.
The dub, techno and roots fusion group, best known for their 1996 hit Little Britain, are top of an eclectic bill that includes dance act Eat Static, Turkish performers Oojami, bhangra-raggae crossover act Kissmet, funk band Fat Digester and folk group Tarantism.
The festival takes place at Donington Park Farmhouse from August 29-31.

'Bery boring

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MARK Ruebery's debut album Because Of You is less rock band and more rock bland.

For the singer, from Newport in Wales, has clearly put his heart and soul into writing an album so polished and radio-friendly it is ultimately unremarkable from start to finish.

That said, Mark Ruebery still demonstrates a huge amount of pop potential here.

Squeeze the Ruebery and you get a finely balanced cup of Robbie Williams-quality voice but Howard Donald-levels of charisma, Gary Barlow style melodramatic pop songwriting but Mark Owen's, erm, haircut.

But not Jason Orange juice. Take that.

However, while Because Of You's tracks may grab a fair share of radio airtime, with music this middle of the road, the cup will always be half empty.

Isaacs update

IN AN earlier post about the late Isaac Hayes, I wrote that Isaac Hanson was my last remaining musical namesake.
However I was wrong - lead singer of The Fray, Isaac Slade, is still pumping out the hits.
Bizarrely, prior to actually knowing Mr Slade's first name was the same as mine, I had been told that I looked like the pianist.
You can make your own mind up above.

Sad day for Isaacs

RIP Isaac Hayes, the exceptional soul singer who died yesterday aged 65 - anyone who can carry off the nickname 'Shaft' so effortlessly is sure to be missed.
I urge you to take this as a spur to discover his back catalogue, if you're not yet familiar.
As an Isaac myself, the loss will be great, because, not having most run-of-the-mill name, the phrase "Isaac ...as in Hayes" was my explanation of choice.
Now, from the world of music, that just leaves me "Isaac ...as in that guy with the long face from Hanson."

Classic eight - Ben Folds five out of five

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FANS of modern day groups such as The Hoosiers, We Are Scientists, Scouting For Girls and other similar rock-band-playing-pop groups would do well to turn their attentions to the absolutely brilliant Whatever And Ever Amen.

The 1997 peak of Ben Folds Five - who were a trio, by the way - and unmatched by Ben Folds solo output, the album has its fingers in many tasty pies, with tear-jerking ballads, tongue-in-cheek rockers and jazz-out improvs all the order of the day.

Recorded on a budget lower than a midget limbo dancer - as testified to by the phone ringing on stomper Steven's Last Night In Town and the crickets on the touching Cigarette - the LP is simply the sound of three prolific musicians, piano, drums and bass, having a lot of fun with their art.

Musical icon

AS I have become something of an iconic figure in the world of online music criticism, you can now celebrate this fact literally - with an Isaac Ashe's Sound Advice desktop icon for your PC.
In addition, you can also pick up a music piracy icon, and not one, but two, that's right, two, desktop wallpapers to complete your computer's fabulous new look.
To get your copy of the full Isaac Ashe's Sound Advice Desktop Package, just e-mail Isaac_Ashe@MRN.co.uk with the subject header "I Want Your Package".

Robson highly strung

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LIVING equidistant from Leicester, Nottingham and Derby, I am always a bit taken aback when something worthwhile comes from the latter.
I think the last time it happened was White Town's Your Woman.
So to hear that Phil Robson's Six Strings And A Beat was a product of Derby Jazz Week was something of a surprise.
And what a surprise!
A string quartet, a drummer and a furious-fingered jazz guitarist tackling jazz influenced by everything from classical to blues, Six Strings And A Beat is engaging from start to finish.
Tracks such as the epic Louisiana, the skeletal Songbird and the riffing Hillbleeoos show how eclectic a selection of influences the LP draws from.
Ocasionally it does get a bit much, or Robson lets his girlfriend sing - she may be BBC Jazz Awards Vocalist Of The Year Christine Tobin but really, your girlfriend? - but Six Strings And A Beat is the best thing to come out of Derby since Man Utd visited Pride Park.

And it could be a while until something like that happens again.

Noah smokin'

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TWICKENHAM-based hippy indie folk group Noah And The Whale, who have recently completed a tour of British woodlands, are set to take root firmly in the album charts from Monday.

For the sound of the band, which spawned Mercury Music Prize nominee Laura Marling, mixes equal parts Arcade Fire, The Magic Numbers, Willy Mason and Loyd Grossman in a pleasing, smily, summery, radio-friendly way.

But don't be fooled, this is not disposable pop, Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down is music on a grand scale - some might say Noah And The Whale's ambition is Biblical in proportion - and most of the time it works.

Opener Atoms In A Molecule and breakthrough single Five Years Time are representative of the band's upbeat, lively symphonic pop that dominates here.

Sadly, as the group's nautical name implies, these peaks come in waves, with Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down prone to dragged out slower numbers as well.

However Noah And The Whale's debut is still well worth splashing out on.

Mailing list madness

IN ORDER to give you, Isaac Ashe's Sound Advice's most loyal following, a leg up in life, Isaac Ashe's Sound Advice is launching a new mailing list.

To join the ranks, just e-mail Isaac_Ashe@mrn.co.uk with the subject header "I Want In" and I will add you to the official Isaac Ashe's Sound Advice list.

You will then be first to know when Isaac Ashe's Sound Advice is doing anything a little bit different - freebies, surveys, competitions, anything else out of the ordinary.

And to give my online readers a head start, above any opportunistic one-click Loughborough Echo readers, every subscriber who contacts me between now and midnight on Wednesday, August 13, 2008, and provides me with a UK address as well as their e-mail will receive a completely free, randomly selected cassette tape, as modelled by me above.

The Eraser rubbed up the wrong way

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THE unavoidable benchmarks for Thom Yorke's The Eraser Remixes - already in stores as three vinyl EPs and available as a CD on import from next Tuesday - set quite a high standard.

The first obvious comparison would be the original The Eraser album, which was Mercury Music Prize nominated and even one of Isaac Ashe's coveted albums of the year, as well as the more electronic leaning Radiohead LPs such as the hugely popular Kid A, and then Thom Yorke's previous dance dabblings with UNKLE.

So no surprise then that this release is a little underwhelming.

The opener, current Mercury nominee Burial's dubstep reworking of And It Rained All Night, replaces the rumbling melody of the original with a sparse, uninspiring garage beat, and although the Modeselektor and Various remixes that follow are a little more inventive, it takes until track four, Four Tet's beautiful remix of Atoms For Peace, for the album to start in earnest.

While Christian Vogel's Spare Parts Remix of orginal The Eraser standout Black Swan and the The Bug remix of single Harrowdown Hill are worth individual attention, overall the album is probably not worth the £25 it'll cost to have it shipped over.

A hit-and-miss affair, The Eraser Remixes is probably one to forget about.

Cheer! Late Of The Pier are here

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LATE Of The Pier have, in their brief career to date, been compared to The Klaxons, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Gary Numan, Metronomy and Brian Eno, among many others.

However these comparisons, however complimentary, do not do justice to the Castle Donington-based four-piece's debut album, Fantasy Black Channel.

Because the LP, out on Monday, is an absolute smash hit - it smashes the musical boundaries between electro, indie, rock and pop, it sends the listener reeling with a barrage of sound from start to finish and above it, it sounds absolutely smashing.

Even the less-than-a-minute long intro, Hot Tent Blues, is innovative and interesting, sounding like Flash Gordon at a rave, before the album bursts into genre and mind-bending track after track.

Songs such as Broken, Heartbeat and White Snake are real rock stompers, and singles like The Bears Are Coming and Space And The Woods sound like a vision of the future, lifted from the 1980s.

The album is an electric, eclectic, joyous barrage of music, and the quality never drops from start to finish.

So if you're not yet familiar with Late Of The Pier, get with the programme and tune into Fantasy Black Channel as soon as you can.

• Keep your peepers peeled for an exclusive Late Of The Pier interview appearing on this site real soon.

Simian Mobile Disco music

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THE 41st addition to the Fabriclive DJ mix series, Simian Mobile Disco's mix follows hot on the heels of their Sample And Hold remix album.

Sadly, this is not quite as good.

That said, it has to be one of the best Fabriclive remixes - although not quite hitting the heights of John Peel (Fabriclive 07), James Lavelle (01) or Plump DJs (08) for me.

The problem here is consistency. The mix starts okay but then Hercules And Love Affair's Blind [Serge Santiago Version] takes it on a vocal detour.

Again, the Simians build up a head of steam, peaking with Worthy's Crack El, and then Moon Dog's Suite Equestria steps in, a creditable enough track but possibly in the wrong place.

Ultimately these are minor niggles in a mighty fine mix, but hey, with Sample And Hold mere weeks ago they set their own standards.

A timely Prod

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WHISTLES at the ready - rave classic, The Prodigy's Experience gets a rerelease this Monday.

And it is an experience well worth repeating.

The group's debut is an old school dance classic from a simpler time, when dance was a genre in itself, and Keith Flint hadn't considered bothering a microphone.

As a result this blast from the past is a joy from start to finish, with tracks stretched out for all they are worth, and songs like Charley and Out Of Space showing that back then you could make full throttle dance music with a smile on your face.

In terms of the additions to this disc, unless you're a big fan of early-era Prodigy, you probably don't need to invest - and What Evil Lurks and We Gonna Rock are oddly omitted - but if your collection is lacking in Experience, this is well worth picking up.

Get The Blessing

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AGAIN, like Portico Quartet, Bristol-based post-jazz outfit Get The Blessing have been thrust into the limelight somewhat, after winning the 2008 BBC Jazz Award for Best Album.

Luckily, thrusting is something that Get The Blessing - founded as The Blessing by two former Portishead members with "a pathological hatred of chords" - do very well on All Is Yes.

With more energy than a red bull on Red Bull, the four-piece's riff-based crossover jazz comes charging out of the speakers on opener Cake Hole, and it rarely lets up.

Akin to Acoustic Ladyland's punk-funk/jazz classic Last Chance Disco, All Is Yes will tickle the fancy of fans of jazz, rock and dance with its genre-mashing energy.

In fact, everything is positive about All Is Yes.

Seth for Loughborough date

FOLK hero Seth Lakeman is coming to Loughborough University this Autumn as part of a mammoth new UK tour.
The West Country-born singer, touring to promote his third album Poor Man's Heaven, has pencilled in a town date on November 11.
A spokesman for singer-songwriter Seth said: "This is Seth's largest headline tour to date.
"Seth's critically acclaimed third album Poor Man's Heaven charted at number eight in the UK on it's release earlier this month, an unprecedented achievement for a so-called 'folk inspired' artist.
"Poor Man's Heaven represents a progression for Seth's sound – while remaining firmly rooted in folk, it moves from a more acoustic-based feel to a fuller, rockier sound, underpinned as ever by emotive lyrics and story telling, this time with a strong coastal theme.
"It is also the closest representation on record of Seth's live show yet, capturing the rhythmic, raw energy seldom seen in any other acoustic band."
For more information on tickets, which cost £16 each, click here.

Wade into Knee Deep In The North Sea

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ALTHOUGH Portico Quartet's Knee-deep In The North Sea is not a new release as such, I felt I should dip in, as - along with folk droners Rachel Unthank And The Winterset's The Bairns - it is new to 90 per cent of people thanks to the release of this year's Mercury Music Prize shortlist.

And being another staple of the Babel Label stable alongside previous nominees Polar Bear, it's no surprise that Portico Quartet are not your average jazz band.

The London-based band do give a cool trad feel to the album, with subdued basswork, brushed drums and sax taking the lead, but a warmer current is added by the use of a hang, an instrument not a million miles away from a steel drum in sound.

Despite being nominated, Portico Quartet's chances of winning the Mercury Music Prize could already be considered dead in the water - but the free promotion for the supurb Knee-deep In The North Sea that comes with it alone should keep them in a bouyant mood.

Faly good

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IT IS a potentially a good time for former Afro Celt Sound geezer N'Faly Kouyate to be releasing an album of African-Western crossover music.

With the likes of Yeasayer, Foals, Vampire Weekend, MIA etc etc parading around the top 40 in 2008, Afropop hasn't been this vogue since Paul Simon was called Al.

So while Guinean-born musician Kouyate and his backing band Dunyakan may offer a more traditional slice of West African contemporary music, the appetite for it might just be there.

And although a step away from my usual musical diet, it is clear that Kouyate is a proficient musician, and, as you would expect from a composer who cut his teeth in dance/world hybrid Afro Celt Sound System, the rhythmic play here is full of beans.

At times the result may be a tad cheesy - maybe because the indie shoegaze element found in the likes of Foals and Yeasayer is missing - but you can really tell that from the start to the big string finish Kouyate recorded this album with a smile on his face.

Decked out

Just a quick post to let you know that the Isaac Ashe's Sound Advice Ashemobile Soundsystem Appeal has come to an end.
The drive for readers to donate their cassette tapes has come to a halt because the Ashemobile is dead - long live the new Ashemobile, which has a CD player in it.
Although don't expect a higher quality of review from now on, people!
Thanks to everyone who donated to the appeal - in total I received one tape.

Ray J - wahey!

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RAY J, full name William Ray Norwood Jr, has somehow produced a 13 track album of slick R&B using a one track mind.
Because, make no bones about it, this is music that positively screams "how's your father?".

Luckily Ray J's voice is smooth enough, so he an get away with saying things that, if they came out of my mouth, would lead to a slap at the very least - just look at my picture to the right and imagine the words "you're looking so cute in your birthday suit..."

This slick patter is matched by the production, although it can be a tad pedestrian (or, given the slap-and-tickle subject matter, should that be missionary).

Standout tracks include album title track All I Feel, and single Sexy Can I - and that sounds like something Master Yoda might say one lonely night to a good-looking yet naive young jedi...

But even if you are after an album for the sole purpose of acquiring a soundtrack to the beast with two backs, look elsewhere, because All I Feel is ruined, for me, by a narcissistic quality - true, this is music to have sex to, but probably only if Ray J is involved.

Leave it, they're not worth it

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WITH a name like Mêlée, and an album title like Devils And Angels, you would be forgiven for expecting some battle-hardened, fist-pumping, leather-clad rock to come ripping out of the speakers.

Instead, the Orange County, California quartet only hit listeners lightly with a schtick of radio-friendly middle-of-the-road melodic pop.

Mêlée tracks like Frequently Baby (She's A Teenage Maniac) and Built To Last typify the bland band's teen drama backing track sound.

Damn them, they're so middle of the road to give them 1/5 would be too extreme for them.

In fact, to say anything interesting about Mêlée you'll have a fight on your hands.

NINcredible

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IN MY humble opinion, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor is a true musical great.

So much so I even once named a goldfish after him - kudos, I know.

Therefore there'll be no surprises then that I rate The Slip, his latest offering, quite highly.

Although not quite hitting the recent peak of 2005's razor-sharp With Teeth, this album is a sturdy showcase of his many talents - ranging from the sonic bludgeoning of 1,000,000, through the industrial pop of Discipline to the ambient tinkerings of Corona Radiata.

And if you can't wait to get your hands on a copy of the CD in some sort of tangible form on Monday, you can download the entire album and artwork completely free of charge from here.

See, I told you he was great.

Party animals

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I EMPLORE you to go ape for Sample And Hold, the reworking of Simian Mobile Disco's debut Attack Decay Sustain Release.

For the new release, the duo of James Shaw and James Ford - who have something of a reputation as remixers themselves - have hand-picked some phenomenal takes on their tracks for this album.

Chief among them are Shit Robot, whose house reworking of It's The Beat is a real grower, and Joakim, whose intrerpretation of Hustler could just be the coolest dance track to escape my speakers this year.

And although many remix albums end up as a case of too many cooks, Sample And Hold manages to knit together throughout.

With this LP, Simian Mobile Disco are true party animals.

Mercury Music Prize shortlist

THE Mercury Music Prize 2008 shortlist has been announced as follows -

• Adele - 19
• British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
• Burial - Untrue
• Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
• Estelle - Shine
• Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
• Neon Neon - Stainless Style
• Portico Quartet - Knee-Deep In The North Sea
• Rachel Unthank And The Winterset - The Bairns
• Radiohead - In Rainbows
• Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
• The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement

Out of that list, surely Neon Neon, the side project of Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys and producer Boom Bip, should come out on top?

Young Knives TV cut

YOU may remember that spiffing Belton band The Young Knives came to Ashby-de-la-Zouch not long ago for a special gig, reviewed here and captured on camera here on this very blog.
Well the show was made into a one-off late night TV special, that you can see for your very eyes here.

Blindfolds Aside worth a look

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I DON'T normally post about unsigned Loughborough bands, but for an amateur act, Blindfolds Aside are an incredibly slick outfit and worth checking out.
The band, who have released a new four-track EP this week through their myspace site, shift from pummelling riffs to melodic sections with consumate ease.
Opening track Waking The Wookie is remisicent of this year's Download headliners Lostprophets, before Minotaur's brutal riffing gores its way over the speakers.
Bands of Blindfolds Aside's ilk can often falter when the volume drops, but It's Colder On The Other Side Of The Pillow shows the Loughborough band can handle both sides of the soft-loud dynamic, and EP closer The Adventures Of Dr Dogbottle And Trenchfinger has the feel of a furious live favourite.
It's no surprise on this showing that Blindfolds Aside are attracting label interest – they really are a must-see band.

Ida in the house

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AS AN album opener, there couldn't be a much better introduction to Norwegian Ida Maria than Oh My God.

The blistering single, which sounds like The Ramones fronted by Bjork, may be the high point of the album plonked right at the start, but don't let that put you off - Oh My God is one of my musical high points of the year so far.

And the rest of the album isn't too far behind, although the pace does slow though towards the end of the album - which is hardly surprising considering the breakneck speed she sets about some of the earlier numbers.

Ida, who suffers from synesthesia - a condition which inestricably links the senses, in her case her sight and hearing - unashamedly writes "pop" songs.

And pretty well too, when you consider out of the ten tracks here, a whopping five - Oh My God, Drive Away My Heart, Stella, Queen of the World and I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked - have already been put out as singles.

The mane event

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AS PEDIGREES go, the duo of ex-Rage Against The Machine vocalist Zach De La Rocha and former Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore have a lot to live up to with their latest project One Day As A Lion.

Luckily, this self-titled EP, out tomorrow, is a supurb, snarling hybrid of rock and hip-hop.

Mixed by Mario C, of Beastie Boys fame, the beats have a bounce - possibly pogo - to them, while the tracks have a real aggressive bass-driven swagger.

De La Rocha's flow is more on the periphery here than it was for Rage Against The Machine - no doubt due to his instrumental input on One Day As A Lion - but on tracks like Wild International and If You Fear Dying he demonstrates he can still let rip when asked.

You could say that this five-track taster is a roaring success - please bring on the full length release quickly.

Great Scott

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AUSTRALIAN born Scott Matthew's voice is amazing.

When you listen to this, his new self-titled album, the first thing that amazes is how much like David Bowie he sounds.

Seriously, Scott Matthew is like Stars In Their Eyes.

Luckily, secondly, his voice has an amazing warm tone to it, which coupled with this collection of mostly acoustic tracks is a winning combination.

A wail of a time with Primal Scream

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ALTHOUGH Beautiful Future is Scottish rockers Primal Scream's ninth album, the number of hits here show they are not a thing of the past.

The tone of the LP is darker than previous release Riot City Blues, with the opening gambit, the title track Beautiful Future, kicking off proceedings with the lines: "Take a drive around the city, tell me what do you see?

"Empty houses, burning cars, naked bodies hanging from a tree."

Empty houses - check.

Burning cars - check.

Naked bodies hanging from the trees... err, not noticed many in Loughborough, Bobby.

However despite the return to placard-waving political Primal Scream on this release, the band have not forgotten to pen some hideously catchy tracks - single Can't Go Back chief amongst them - and arrange some well chosen special guest appearances from Lovefoxxx of CSS, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and folk legend Linda Thompson.
Sadly the album still has a lot of the trademark Primal Scream filler, the sub-Rolling Stones droney tracks best forgotten.

So I will - here's to a beautiful future and album number 10.

Future silence Of London

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DESCRIBING The Future Sound Of London's new album, Environments, as ambient is an understatement.

For the two-track 49-minute album is five minutes old before anything approaching a dictionary definition of 'music' can be heard.

Ocassionally a sparse scrap of electronica slips into the void, but for the best part this vacuous album is like listening to a BBC Sound Effects album - a dog barking here, a monk chanting there, a Spanish guitar a bit later on, a lot of wind, and very little else.

Quite honestly, I am baffled to think of an environment where you would want to listen to Environments at all.

In fact, listening to the album first time round I found myself inadvertantly whistling their 1992 hit Papua New Guineau to myself, just to pass the time.

Time I will never get back.

Let me Beat you Up

HARDCORE Isaac Ashe fans will know that I write a music column, Upbeat, for the NuNews, Ashby Trader And Echo, Burton Trader, Coalville Echo and Trader Xtra newspapers.
You can now view this online, at echoupbeat.blogspot.com, if you really want to.

CSS A-OK

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BRILLIANT Brazilian band CSS's second album Donkey sees a bit of kick added to their '80s-tinged electro pop sound.

The group, especially on tracks such as Rat Is Dead (Rage) and Give Up, have an almost Pixies style grungey-pop undertone to their trademark throbbing electro indie, which really sets their sound off.

And on these tracks Lovefoxx and co are at their invigorating, fun-time, party-starting best.

However Donkey's burden is the smattering of less forthright tracks, that are left relying on too much of a self-conscious cool.

For example the deliberately ridiculous Reggae All Night is at points almost as cringeworthy as actually using the word "cringeworthy" is.

That said, Donkey is still a solid collection of party pop, one which will leave CSS's fans braying for more.

New Wave

NOT content with releasing their debut album Instant Coffee Baby this year, Wymeswold band The Wave Pictures are putting out a six-track EP next month.
Just Like A Drummer, which is released on August 4 on Moshi Moshi Records, features the title track alongside five new songs.
And to cap it all, rumours abound that their sophomore album will be released before 2008 is out!

Richter, scaled down

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GERMAN composer Max Richter's fourth album, 24 Postcards In Full Colour, is a case of wish you were there.

Ambient classical composer Richter is capable of creating some of the most beautiful moments captured on CD, and 24 Postcards In Full Colour is no exception.

Tracks such as In Louisville At 7, A Song For H/Far Away and Cradle Song For A (Interstate B3) are all staggeringly captivating.

However Postcards is the right word to use - the LP is 24 tracks long and yet barely more than half an hour, making listening at times as frustrating as it is enjoyable.

Although a stunning collection of work, it is a shame that at least for a couple of tracks, Max Richter hasn't decided to take us on the entire journey with him.

Quantic blooming great

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BUDDING talent Quantic - real name Will Holland - has created a blooming brilliant album in Flowering Inferno.

A cross-pollination of hip hop beats and dub, reggae and cuban influences, the album is the perfect soundtrack to a hammock and a glass of rum.
Sadly, this sunny Sunday evening as I write this, I don't have a hammock to hand, so I'm over compensating, so do forgive any typos that ocur...

The album, his fifth under the Quantic pseudonym, is a funky affair, with single Cuidad Del Swing a real standout.

The 10-track collection is also titled Death Of The Revolution, and you can see why - as a mission statement, Make Dub Not War, track three's title, about sums it up.

Dead cool

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PSYCHEDELIC indie folk outfit The Dodos are not as rubbish as their band name, album artwork and spelling might suggest.

On first impressions coming across the group's bashed up acoustic sound is like trying to make conversation with a hobo.

However, the ramshackle groove takes hold, and it turns out you and said down-and-out are actually getting on like a house on fire.

Because some of the San Franciscan duo's tracks on Visiter, the band's second album and UK debut, such as Jodi and Fools, are beyond their dishevelled demeanor cunningly crafted pop nuggets.

The Dodos have landed over here - and don't be surprised if they take off.

Cop a Wire

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WIRE were always one of those bands that if somebody asked me "have you heard Wire?", I would reply "I've heard of Wire."

Because obviously, they did all their good work while I was but a concept - I was born in '82, by which time Wire had already had three albums over a five-year period and split up once.

Not any more am I unwise to the ways of Wire.

For this week I've turned my attention to the group's 11th album, Object 47.

Mainly due to a lack of the new Polar Bear album arriving...

And what can I say - well, nothing.

The London rockers' album was good, professional, without being excellent, and failed to leave any lasting impression after it had run its course.

I'm sure, with such a long an illustrious career, Wire will have some real die-hard fans who'll be irritated by my nonchalant attitude, but on this showing I don't think I'll be tapping back into Wire for a while.

Hooray for Moray

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FOLK visionary Jim Moray is as slippery as his eel-like moniker would suggest.

For Jim, who called off a date at Loughborough Town Hall to apply the finishing touches to Low Culture, is equally at home with traditional English folk as he is experimenting with grime.

And I don't mean doing unspeakable things in a mudbath...
For example on this album Jim Moray's experimental leanings are mainly sated by a collaboration with Bubbz, a British rapper.
And I don't mean he's traditional sword dancer...
That said, overall he is still more Seth Lakeman than Patrick Wolf, and Low Culture has more moments of folk than moments of 'what the folk?' in it.
Interesting, individual and easy-on-the-ear, Low Culture deserves high praise indeed.

Immortal combat

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TALK about a persecution complex.
From American foreign policy to ghetto life to the setup of the record industry, Immortal Technique doesn't so much have a chip on his shoulder but several King Edwards taking root.
His aggressive, techically tight flow of diatribes is backed on The 3rd World by snarling, brutal hardcore backing beats from Slim Shady's number two, DJ Green Lantern.
As well as presenting it in a professional way, it's obvious that Immortal Technique, real name Felipe Coronel, really does have a lot of sense to say, in between the macho posturing and threatening to shoot people.
As a result this really is an album full of hooks - it's just a few jabs that are needed in between.

Pop goes the Levi

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FORMER Ladytron bassist Pop Levi's bubble may have burst with Never Never Love, the follow-up to the well-received The Return To Form Black Magick Party.

The LP kicks off with a Pop Levi special glam stomper in the form of Wannamama, and the signs point to another thrilling collection of catchy leftfield pop that sounds like Marc Bolan fronting the Scissor Sisters.

But Liverpudlain Pop slows the tempo soon after and things never never really get going again.

There are glimpses of Levi's potential 'jean'-ius - such as the album's title track and lead single Never Never Love - but they fall too few and far between.

On this offering, Pop Levi is not pop chart material.

A lovely bunch of songs

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EL BAILE Aleman, on paper, should be the musical equivolent of eating a chalk and cheese sandwich.

Zany German dance artist Uwe Schmidt covering Kraftwerk songs under the pseudonym Senor Coconut, with added cha-cha-chas - makes you cringe in anticipation, and that's before you're halfway into the spoken word intro...

But this Senor Coconut interpretation of the synth-wielding pioneers is actually pretty tasty.

Although performed solely by Schmidt - who you may also know as Flanger, Geez 'N' Gosh, Los Negritos, Mono™, Atom Heart, Machine Paisley, Bi-Face, Masters Of Psychedelic Ambiance, Lisa Carbon, Fonosandwich, i, The Roger Tubesound Ensemble, and many, many, many more - and put together on a computer desktop, the album has a swinging live sound, like the cheesiest, and possibly chalkiest, Latin combo you can imagine plucking away in the corner with big fat grins on their moustached faces.

Tracks like Tour De France and The Robots just shouldn't work this well, but they really do.

The only problem is that all the tracks work in the same way, and there's only so many times a joke bears repitition - you could say that Senor Coconut milks it...

Beck in time

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DESPITE the Modern moniker, this album sees Beck under the influence of the past.

Despite thoroughly up-to-date production from producer Dangermouse, the album is a wash of rock 'n' roll and psychedelia influences.

For example Gamma Ray sees Beck bopping to an Eddie Cochran-esque stomp, while Chemtrails has the distinct whiff of the Beach Boys circa Pet Sounds about it.

However the whole of Modern Guilt, as the title would suggest, is not the happy, good time party album these two would create on paper.

Instead nothing is overcooked and the album clocks in at the half-hour mark, giving it a concise, tight feel - historically one of Beck's problems.

Beck and Dangermouse should have nothing to feel ashamed about with Modern Guilt.

He Saul, he conquered

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AFTER what could be viewed as either a massive success or a massive failure first time round, tangible copies of the incredible The Inevitable Rise And Liberation Of Niggy Tardust hit the shelves next monday.

Spoken word rapper Saul Williams 'did a Radiohead' with this album, produced by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, and gave listeners the option of either paying for the album or downloading it for free.

A whopping 154,449 people downloaded the album, a huge number compared to the 30,000-odd sales of his previous eponymous album.

Unfortunately only 28,322 decided to pay for it.

However I am baffled as to why - because this album is his magnum opus, a creative explosion with more unexpected twists than a pole dancer with no bones.

Williams' firebrand style is paired up with Reznor's prolific creativity - the man has already put out four EPs this year in addition to this work, with a new album out in a week's time to boot - and no avenue is left unexplored.

From the off, the more traditional Saul Williams of Black History Month flows into Convict Colony, which could sit unnoticed on a Nine Inch Nail's album.

Then follows Public Enemy homage Tr(n)igger and a cover of U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday.

It's a lot to take in, especially with the challenging combination of William's aggressive flow and Reznor's bludgeoning backing, but it's worth every penny.

Unkle relatively good

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ARE you sitting uncomfortably? Good, because Unkle's fourth studio album, End Titles... Stories For Film, is an unsettling, sweeping, cinematic slice of brooding electronica.

Obviously Unkle have been watching a few video nasties.

For the album, featuring input from Queens Of The Stone Age's Jose Homme, Black Mountain and White Denim among others, is a dark affair.

With strings and swells and ambient sections punctured by skittering, forceful drums and breakbeats and a heavy rock influence evident throughout, the epic End Titles... Stories For Film represents a return to the A-list for Unkle after 2007's take-it-or-leave-it War Stories.

Go with the Flobots

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ALTHOUGH not yet handed a UK release, you should be up in arms if you can't get to hear Flobots' LP Fight With Tools.

Flobots are a band bubbling under in the US and set to explode into the big time with a sound that fuses hip hop and alternative rock, demonstrating a mass appeal similar to Linkin Park, NERD and Rage Against The Machine.

However, as sophomore album title Platypus would suggest, Flobots are a totally unique beast.

The Denver group have an approach to making hip hop that's more stripped down than Lil Kim, with MCs Jonny 5 and Brer Rabbit's barbed, intelligent diatribes backed by a raw live band of guitar, bass, drums and most strikingly violin and trumpet.

The result is music that is individual, intelligent, exciting, and well worth the extra few quid it'll cost to buy it on import.

No mistaking The Corrections

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STICK with The Corrections, and you won't go far wrong.

The Dalston-based group is the reincarnation of promising non-starter The Fallout Trust, and the sound of debut LP Repeat After Me taps a similar vein of electro-influenced angular indie.

Tracks such as OCD and Barcode are real standout indie stompers on what is an impressive debut, only spoiled by the occasional ponderous slow number such as Straightjacket Sheets plonked at regular intervals in the track listing stopping the album's momentum.

On this evidence, The Corrections are one to keep a close eye out for, no mistaking.

Make a date with Singles

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SINGLES 2001-2005 is a strange compilation album from a band I would soundly advise you to check out, Biffy Clyro.
Despite the trio - often paradoxically referred to as a Scottish Nirvana - having just unlocked the charts with their latest album and major label debut Puzzle, their previous label Begger's Banquet are releasing this collection of singles from their three previous albums, without the Biff's consent, to fulfill contractual obligations.

And some wags might say to cash in too...
But despite the bitter back story, the quality of the group's back catalogue can only leave a sweet, sweet taste in the listener's mouth.
From the grungey dirge of Justboy and Questions And Answers through to the twisting, melodic metal thrashouts of There's No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake and Eradicate The Doubt, this chronological chart of the band's rise is a great starting point point for listeners only familiar with Puzzle.

Gorge yourself on Pork And Beans

IN CASE you missed it, Weezer's latest single, the tasty Pork And Beans, has the best promo video I have seen in years.
You simply must click here to sample the delight.