Breathe out

Hmm... Wrote this a fortnight ago, saved it and forgot. Oops.

REALLY DIGGING…

Charlotte Gainsbourg’s album IRM.

Partly this is because I’m a Beck fanboy, and he produced it. You can tell – a lot of it sounds like his last album, Modern Guilt. There are also a couple of weird bits that sound like Gainsbourg aping Beck, who’s spent his career aping her dad…

But mainly I like it for Gainsbourg herself. She hasn’t got an amazing voice, but she has character, and an impressive ability to swap between soulful, sensual and scary. On ‘Me And Jane Doe’ she sounds as artfully flat as Laetitia Stereolab, and the title track has a lovely industrial buzz, as awkwardly groovy as Broadcast's 'Pendulum'. You can hear it here (and check the natty stop-motion video) http://vimeo.com/8068355.

OVERRATED HALF-BAKED DANCE-LITE BOLLOCKS

See below for my unpublished Clash review of the re-released Psychonauts album, due out some time this month.

Psychonauts – Songs For Creatures

“Eclectic” doesn’t quite do this album, from the formerly Mo’ Wax aligned duo, justice. Over its 12 tracks, Songs For Creatures somehow packs in electro-folk, jazzy-house and Depeche Mode pastichery.

It gets off to a cracking start: ‘Circles’ is beguilingly lovely, with vocals that recall a softer Devendra. A couple of tracks later and ‘Empty Love’ is a towering analog banger. But then it all comes apart at the seams…

The album was first released in 2003, so it’s no surprise that it sounds a little dated in places, but there’s no excuse for the generic dance-lite of ‘Hot Blood’ and the tracks that follow it. ‘Fear Is Real’ aside, the album never regains its footing. Enjoyable enough, but with more filler than a branch of B&Q.

Rating: 5/10


OH, ALRIGHT…

I quite like the new Vampire Weekend album, and retract my snarky comments in the last post. It is actually quite good, though I feel a bit dirty admitting to it.