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Weekly Reviews For March 12, 2006

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I am Managing Editor at Metal4Life

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Guillemots - We're Here

Frankly, that's a stupid name for a band. And enough to have me avoiding the Guillemots section in a record shop thanks to a long standing antipathy towards seabirds. And naming yourself after a bird notorious for a loud whirring noise noise makes critical comedy all too easy.

Now I heard their debut EP, " Saw Such Things In My Sleep" and in between the overly elongated songs found some delightful, swooping melodies in amongst the generic anthemic indie-pop. So I was delighted when this promo had the word 'edit' emblazoned on it. For shorn of the unimaginative and repetitive over arrangements, there's a mighty fine pop tune here.

Granted, the falsetto vocals of the gloriously named Fyfe Dangerfield aren't everyones cup of tea, but castrato is the sound of today, even though it still makes me squirm slightly. Imagine the Tindersticks speeded up to 78rpm and you'd be pretty close to the mark.

In a fine piece of marketing strategy (which of course means rip the kids off) this will be available in an assortment of media, all with different extra tracks;

7" We're Here / Monotonia
10" We're Here / Falling Over My Feet
CD We're Here / Burnt / I’ve got a Problem (And The Problem Is You / Turn The Candles On)

At the time of writing they're trailing round the country playing a toilet near you, so go check them out.

Stephanie Kirkham - Show Me What You're Made Of


Three years ago, the divine Ms Kirkham released her debut album. At the time I said "Frankly, she is too perfect for her own good, gorgeous, sings like an angel, writes all her own material. Damn you to hell". And for that I apologise, as shortly afterwards her label went belly up.

So, now that's she's dusted herself down, picked herself up, formed her own label, and put this single to promote her "Sunlight On My Soul" album, I shall refrain from curses. Instead I'll point out that her music has moved sideways into jazzy pop with a jaunty, sprightly, lithe little number that should have Katie Melua fans spilling their cappucinos in delight.

The single is only available as a download from all the usual places, but I'm sure you'd be better off going the whole hog, and buying the album by clicking the link below. Delightful.

Paul Hazel - The Unexpected

Paul Hazel is a veteran of the West End stage as well as touring musicals across the UK. If you're a regular musical goer you may have seen him in The Rat Pack, A Chorus Line, Legends of Swing, Ain't Misbehaving, Sweet Charity, Blues in the Night, Starlight Express, The Lion King, Five Guys Named Moe, Dancing In The Streets and innumerable others. But like a lot of singers he had the urge to put out his own record, and "The Unexpected" is the result.

Of course, I'm not entirely sure it's that unexpected, because you would probably have guessed it was going to be a jazz album. And so it is. However, unlike so many others, it's not a rehash of classic songs, but a collection of new material largely featuring new songs by veteran composer Neal Arden, who worked a lot with Cleo Laine in days of yore.

But even though the music is rooted in the past, there is a modern edge to the material, which having been crafted for Mr Hazels voice, suits him admirably. Some of the amterial is a bit samey, but when the songs, voice and instrumentation (including some fabulous work from trumpeter Harry Beckett) all gel, it's a real pleasure.

Start with "Tinseltown", "What Goes Around (Comes Around)" and "Communication", and you won't go far wrong.

Cee-X - The Foulmouth

UK hip hop - there's a phrase to strike terror into the heart of the music reviewer. However, I always dust myself down, think fondly of The Brotherhood and Marxman from day sof yore, and give it a spin.

Cee-X started writing music when he was 15, originally from Wolverhampton and now Brighton based, this is his first album and features a cross section of MC's from Brighton and London who call themselves the Foulmouth crew.

And like a lot of hip hop albums it varies enormously in quality, from out and out US imitations to inspired and original music. The best tracks are "Look Around" feat Sneak and "Horror" feat Stanna G, which have a degree of originality missing on a lot of the other material.

There's not enough here to suggest that many of the artists will ever produce anything as innovative and inspiring as the acts mentioned at the beginning, but I would say that Cee-X has a big future as a producer, as he's managed to bring a depth of sound to the material which easily matches big budget releases.

Media Burn - Virtual Love

Album number 2 from Lake Michigans guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Doug Hamilton and vocalist Johanna Blanchard who have followed up their 2002 debut "Deformity Follows Dysfunction" with a double album on a single CD, divided into to two nine-song albums. Pretentious, moi?

For those unfamiliar with Media Burn, they specialise in experimental, psychedelic, sound collages masquerading as songs, which means we have something else to blame My Bloody Valentine for! Recklessly disregarding anything even remotely resembling a conventional format, what you end up with is a collision between Altered Images and Public Image Ltd, overseen by Throwing Muses. Which isn't a particularly pleasant experience.

Things start off reasonably well as "Observing I, Observe Thyself" is actually rather splandid, but then we take a sharp downward turn into art school excuses for music and sixth form poetry for lyrics. Which is a shame as there are some moments of discovery, but for every "Recurrence 28" there's a “Rabbit Punch” with its dubious lyric - '“Freud was right/Men want to fuck me/Women want to fuck me over/Degenerate or dysfunctional/Ice is my favorite colour' - hand me my shotgun - I've got an art student to shoot.

Irepress — Samus Octology

There's math-metal and there's math-rock, and now there's math-prog, which is frankly a sub-genre too far. You see, at first listen, this sounds like a lot of instrumental noodling, but closer inspection reveals a carefully planned format for each noodle. Which is weird.

Yes, they do the odd time signatures, as is to be expected, but there's also a surprisingly hard edge to the material. Being an instrumental outfit, their appeal is going to be limited, but whap a skinny white boy out front warbling in a tremelous fashion, and they could easily slot into the collection of Radiohead fans looking for something with a set of cojones.

Apparently they've shared a stage with the likes of God Forbid and Shadows Fall, and I would have paid good money to see the looks on the faces of the waiting hordes as the strange, brutal rhythms unfolded themselves before their ears.