STACK #122 Dec 2015

MUSIC

NEWS

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A Quick Look at New Music,

All Different Kinds, All Different Places.

MUSIC AT A GLANCE THIS MONTH

Album of the month FOo Fighters: Sonic highways

Black Fire, New Spirits

R ecent years have seen Dave Grohl and his band Foo Fighters gradually redefining themselves in the public eye, after they sank dangerously into semi M.O.R rock radio territory. First came well-received doco Back and Forth , then Grohl’s excellent Sound City movie, and studio album Wasting Light , which reconnected them with their roots (working with Butch Vig, Bob Mould and ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic).This set up Foos perfectly for Sonic Highways – eight songs recorded in eight different American cities, their atmospheres (and certain local collaborations) supposedly informing each track.The accompanyingTV series – even if you think Grohl went soft in the head after The Colour and the Shape – kicks goals in overall terms. No matter your view of Foo Fighters, it’s a very passionate investigation of modern American music’s evolution. But, how does the album stand up, without the supporting vision? Sonic Highways is a serviceable modern rock record, with plenty of energy, the odd lyrical misstep, and some fantastic guest appearances; forget anything as dourly punk as Nirvana’s In

Nothing (recorded in Chicago) begins with gentle AM radio-invoking ‘70s lilt, before vague funk touches give way to a full-blown, unfettered scream; it finishes more impressively than it starts. The Feast and the Famine , recorded with Grohl’s pre-Nirvana band Scream in Virginia (outsideWashington, DC), again starts as rumbling radio rock, but it’s a no BS vocal from Grohl; tight and nasty, it’s murkier than you’d expect. What Did I Do ?/ God As MyWitness is a southern flag waver, more Lynyrd Skynyrd than the fabled Roky Erickson, although Gary Clarke Jnr’s ‘take it home’ solo is a highlight. Outside takes off the bleached streets and sun of LA, where “down below the canyon, (you) hear the siren screaming.” Nate Mendel’s bass runs are a thing of beauty on this echoing, album highpoint that’s pushed over the edge by a solo from Joe Walsh (the nice Eagle). Grohl manages to invoke The Beatles andThe ScreamingTrees on the Seattle-recorded Subterranean, while I Am a River (tracked in NYC) is the big-note closer; there’s a hint ofThe Clash’ s Straight to Hell before the strings get seriously ‘Charlton Heston ’.

Radical and Revolutionary Jazz in the USA 1957-82 A certain strand of American jazz – post bop and before the commercialisation of certain strands turned into champagne

and dinner music – remains irrevocably tied to cultural progression and burgeoning sociopolitical awareness. Jazz was an expression of an increasing power of black intellectualism in the ’60s, and it was one element among many – literature, theatre and other art forms. Capturing the essence of this era is valuable. Soul Jazz, through collating 14 tracks with a 28-page booklet – provide a genuinely valuable insight into a highly combustible time. From Don (father of Neneh) Cherry and his Utopian Visions to the latter era proto rap of The Last Poets (It’s a Trip), this is a vital education. If you buy the idea that music is a map of social history, and that jazz is one of humanity’s most vibrant forms

of self-expression, this is for you. Jonathan Alley (Soul Jazz /Inertia)

Dean Blunt Black Metal Producing truly unpredictable pop is no easy feat, but for several years Dean Blunt has succeeded on all fronts. First working with creative partner

Utero (referenced in episode one of the series), or even the self-titled debut, but there is some snarl in this engine. And there needed to be. It’s also resolutely a Foo Fighters record; influence is suggested, not overt. Opener Something from

All up, Sonic Highways pulls no punches, and wastes no time. It’s no perfect rock record, but in poring over the music that shaped them, Foos rustle a few of their own feathers. Sonic Highways by Foo Fighters is out now via Sony Music.

Inga Copeland as duo Hype Williams, and now solo, Blunt has crafted a series of releases that are compelling, if unfamiliar. Looped samples, atmospheric instrumental fragments and hushed vocals are blended with spoken word samples and sound effects to form fractured narratives. A shadowy strain of dub and hip hop runs throughout the record, but a counter-balancing lightness appears on Lush, an expansive mix of stumming guitars and swirling strings. 50 Cent is sweet and sad; a plaintive duet that’s among Blunt’s most conventionally structured works to date. Molly & Aquafina is equally absorbing. Yet again, Blunt has pieced together a unique work that challenges and intrigues. Simon Winkler (Remote Control/Inertia)

jack ladder and his playmates

T he sonorous baritone of Sydney songwriter Jack Ladder is highly distinctive. It’s carried him over three albums with his band The Dreamlanders (who count one Kirin J. Callinan in the ranks among others), and the epic, widescreen vistas his music explores have

Temples Sun Restructured

represents a departure into some serious new territory, one awash with electro thrills, and duets with US vocalist Sharon Van Etten – all created under the watchful eye of The Presets’ Kim Moyes, who produced the album. Moyes had been in a band called Prop that Jack described as “Sydney’s version of Tortoise”, and knew Moyes from supporting the early Presets in a band called Expatriate. “I’ve known him for

years. Kim’s thing is like ‘Japanese synth’; he’s more into techno than ‘pop music as it were.’ Kim’s edge is much more into Cluster, Can and all that German music from the ’70s, the motorik beat.” While Jack also professes a love for NY tech punks Suicide, it’s his voice that defines his work. “Tim Hardin and Fred Neil – I always thought were great singers.” Playmates by Jack Ladder is out now on Inertia.

Temples arrived earlier this year with Suns, a concise kaleidoscopic pop record. It was a confident debut from the

Kettering band, and a highly satisfying rock ride. Production duo Beyond the Wizards Sleeves (formed by Erol Alkan and Richard Norris) are veterans of the psychedelic scene, and bring their extensive and unique skills to reworking the whole album. The original songs are dubbed, flipped, extended, and sent into space upon a cloud of special effects and fuzzed synth chords. Sun was fun and Sun Restructured is an enjoyable trip as well. Simon Winkler (Liberator/Universal)

been well-served by both. However, his latest album Playmates

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DECEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au/music