Words: Dai Man

Hot on the heels of the arrival of A Collection which I reviewed in the last issue of DS, comes the news of the imminent release of 1992–2012 The Anthology. In my previous review I mentioned that the best way to enjoy Underworld’s music is to listen to the original versions of their classic tracks and legendary remixes released over the years. And now it couldn’t be easier as this 3CD collection includes 25 awesome Underworld moments. Fans will recall the double CD set 1992-2002 released in 2003. Many of these originals remain and have been re-mastered and are followed into the third CD here by some of the more memorable moments from the last decade of their career. If you’ve heard some of this act’s tracks and want to get a better sense of their output, or if you’re not yet familiar with Underworld this is a great place to start. By adding last month’s A Collection, across 4 CDs you’ll have an impressive collection of some of the best electronic music ever released by a single act.

Words: Dai Man

Another interesting British act that hasn’t been in the news for a very long time is Stereo MCs. Hailing from late 80’s London they are best known for their massive 1992 hit Connected. The follow up to that came nine years later and Deep Down and Dirty was also a fairly big hit. Paradise in 2006 and Double Bubble in 2008 were not well reviewed and failed to repeat earlier successes then last year saw the release of their most recent album Emperor´s Nightingale and again it came and went without much attention. It’s a pity really because Emperor´s Nightingale contains enough good tracks that should have ended up on people’s iPods. Fortunately the latest single off the album, Sunny Day has just been released and it’s one of the better remix EPs I’ve heard in a while and serves as a reminder that if you missed the release of Emperor´s Nightingale last year then maybe now is a good time to pick up a copy to hear how Britain’s oldest electronic rap act sounds today.

Words: Dai Man

Formed in Liverpool in 1990 it’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Apollo 440. They have released four full length albums in their career, the last one being nine years ago. The act is in fact most well known for their remixes of other people’s work and these mixes total more than 60. So here they are back in 2012 with a new EP, A Deeper Dub which features the single version plus three other new tracks and four remixes of the single. This EP precedes their fifth album The Future’s What It Used To Be due for release in about a month. As a way of gauging how Apollo 440 sounds after so long out of the limelight and whether the news of their forthcoming album should excite us A Deeper Dub EP is a compelling listen. In fact, it’s a terrific listen. Even just two tracks, Altamont Super-Highway Revisited (Live at Spirit Of Burgas 2010) and the gorgeous chill out of spoken word track Fuzzy Logic (Simulacra Mix) make the impending arrival of their new album and unexpected thrill.

Words: Dai Man

These guys have notched up thirty years of brilliant ambient through to mad techno electronica. Their remixed cuts are some of the biggest of the last 15 to 20 years. They have many fans, some of whom are probably purists. Purists are people who always like things to be the same. The first time they heard the long mix it would always have to be like that every time. Well purist is just another name for wanker. Because one of the joys of following music is to see which bits get picked up and reinterpreted by new generations who have to make music relevant to their time and place. Underworld themselves have just released this mix called A Collection. 16 great tracks, all of which started life much longer, have been edited down to about three and a half minutes each. It’s kind of fast and furious. It contains loads of great songs. Underworld purists will probably hate this. I really like it. But never forget the originals, for longer days they are still ace!

Words: Dai Man

The ninth studio album from the great musical talent is a superb concept album about intolerance in modern Britain. There are 19 tracks on Last Days Of Meaning. Eleven are regular, albeit pretty, songs about hope, sung by an impressive cast of singers including Yolanda Quartey, Nicki Wells and NATTY. The music is luscious and carries hints, some stronger than others, of blues and Indian and folk, woven together with an electronic heart. This is if these songs were simply in the same running order. But they are actually punctuated throughout by the spoken reflections of British actor John Hurt, who plays the part of Donald Meaning, a bitter, old and lonely man, hiding from life in his apartment. A cassette recorder given him by his ex wife plays the eleven songs and throughout he gradually unwinds his angst. It’s conceptually compelling but, if as I suspect, many of us will end up listening to the actual tracks without Hurt’s ramblings, in this instance Last Days Of Meaning still works as a beautiful, contemporary record.

Words: Dai Man

One of the best albums of 2010 was easily The Black Key’s album Brothers. It was dirty, working man’s rock and blues and very cool. El Camino, the Nashville-based duo’s seventh album, is a different animal and happily for us new fans it’s also a real stomper. In fact, most reviews of this are about just how much of a stomper it is. Across 35 blistering minutes the Keys race through an energetic eleven tracks that reference so much of the proud history of old blues and bluegrass, and rock and roll and funnily enough it ends up being a great dance album. In anyone else’s hands these songs might come off as a bit of a parody for they sound so genuinely of the moment they’re referencing. But the point with this pair of musicians who hail from Ohio, America’s rust belt, is that this IS who they are. In the best traditions associated with American rock El Camino is a great road trip of an album, expertly produced by long time cohort Danger Mouse. Excellent.

Words: Dai Man
I think it’s fair to say that these days you know what you can expect from Rihanna. The producers of the moment, including this time Calvin Harris, collaborations with the biggest names in R&B, this time Jay Z who uses the word f**k unnecessarily often and tracks, which when released as singles, will gain plenty of radio and club play around the world. Six albums in seven years proves how hard working this singer is, apart from recording this album in 2011 she’s also been on a world tour, made a song for Coldplay’s latest album and had, now something like 5 singles in the charts. Admirable though her work ethic is it doesn’t actually mean that everything she releases is magic. Overall it is a very generic listen and, maybe it’s just my age, but all this boy/ girl “give it to me baby” lyrical posturing is, well quite boring actually. Although, “suck my cockiness, lick my persuasion” is mildly better, but if it takes Jay Z cussing to make the title track come alive then you can imagine what sort of ride this is. Wait for the singles.

Words: Dai Man
Florence Welch is undeniably one of the new generation’s brightest stars in terms of all the new female singers to have emerged so far this century. Her original lyrics, often of a very dramatic and dark romantic nature, her soaring, booming voice, mixed so well by her terrific band with thundering drums and uplifting hooks, sets both Florence and her aptly named band The Machine in a realm far apart from most other new acts. For their second album to be such a tour de force is quite a delightful surprise. Ceremonials is a lot more ambitious and a lot bigger generally than their debut album Lungs. From start to finish it blasts out of the speakers and demands attention and as an album this is a terrific showcase to Welch herself who let’s rip with her voice. At times it feels as if it’s all about the singer such is the power of this woman, but this mighty vocalist is every part of her band and they are an integral part of her ability to take us on this mesmerizing journey, which is exhilarating and at times, ever-so-slightly exhausting.

Words: Dai Man
Few women would be brave enough to sing about a snowman melting in their hands but Bush makes the concept of a woman making love to a snowman seem both sensual and logical. Her wonderful new album features just seven tracks and all are themed around snow. The album starts with Snowflake in which her ten year old son takes the lead vocals and is falling to earth wanting us to reach up and catch him. On the title track British actor Stephen Fry narrates 50 words, almost all invented by Bush herself as she eggs him on; it’s the sort of brilliant conceptual work that she has made herself famous for. Elton John delivers one of his best vocal offerings in more than a decade as he and Bush are two time travelling lovers, destined to meet through the ages and then to move on again just as quickly. The music is her most minimal to date and for the most part focuses on her piano and vocals although some of the synth work in here, although subtle, is terrific. Bush remains intriguing and this is a gorgeous album.

Words: Dai Man
Usually when we think of stadium-filling rock acts we conjure images of leather and tattoos, long greasy hair and slutty rock groupies. Coldplay invoke a more cardigans and cups of tea sort of vibe but just because their image isn’t particularly cool and just because it isn’t very hip in some quarters to like them because of their less than fuck you rock attitude, discounting the band for any of these reasons is quite pointless, for Coldplay are actually a great band in their own way, which is why they do fill stadiums and why their albums are some of the biggest selling records. The only thing rubbish about their 5th album is the title. The music within finds Coldplay doing what they do in a bigger way than ever before; the whoa-whoa hands in the air choruses and euphoric hooks which are the band’s trademarks are here with bells on. It’s as much good pop as it is rock. They’ve even found a way to shock loyal fans by including a song which features omnipresent Rihanna who lends her vocals to Princess Of China with surprising effect.