STACK #139 May 2016

MUSIC REVIEWS

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SONIC YOUTH

Kaytranada 99.9% Kaytranada is the best kind of talented: he's generous with his gifts. For many years the Canadian super-producer has refined his signature blend of electronic music, founded in hip hop and filtered through the heaviest underground dance styles of the '90s and new millennium. It's a rare quality but his tracks can usually be identified

Sister (1987) They'd started life a decade previous as a noisy, post-punk No Wave outfit, but by the time they got to this, their fourth studio album, they'd moved to more subtle sonic textures and cohesive alt-pop- rock songs, with discordant twists of course. The template for much of what followed. Daydream Nation (1988) Generally considered their first great album (it was their last on an indie label before signing to uber-major Geffen, thus opening the door for Nirvana and so on), it only sold 75,000 in the US in its first year. In the days between the dying No Wave and emerging grunge scenes, they showed there were still possibilities in rock which were uncompromising, innovative and exhilarating. A defining album of the '80s. Goo (1990) Their major-label debut sprung radio items in Dirty Boots and Kool Thing with Chuck D. It sold twice as many as Daydream Nation , but only just scraped into the US top 100. Pitched between alt, indie, experimental and emerging grunge, it's a real keeper. Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (1994) With mostly economically short songs, by dialling down a little and dealing with more personal issues (almost nostalgic for indie-days in places), they made their first – and only – commercially successful album. It sold about half a million on release. With their albums being reissued on vinyl it's timely to look at SonicYouth's catalogue – they were a band whose influence far outstripped their album sales. And also... Fans and casual listeners all have different favourites, so let's pitch in Washing Machine (1995) for the exceptional 20-minute Diamond Sea alone. Also their Whitey Album under the name Ciccone Youth from 1989 (with Minutemen, Firehose and more recently Stooges bassist Mike Watt) because it takes loving pokes at pop, Madonna and Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love . Don't ignore The Eternal (2009), their final album and first to crack the US top 20. They went out on a high.

instantly. They carry a special jazz-infused melodic character, rugged breaks and buzzing basslines that are unmistakable in the midst of the ever-growing beats scene. During his career Kaytranada has shared remixes of icons like Missy Elliott and Janet Jackson, collaborated with artists like Azealia Banks, and released several critical EPs, jumping across styles with the enthusiasm and skill of a dedicated student and rising master. Despite all this incredible output, 99.9% is Kaytranada's debut full-length record. It's a compelling demonstration of his unique abilities. Continuing his interest in conversations with other artists, the album features contributions fromThe Internet's Syd, Anderson .Paak, AlunaGeorge, Little Dragon, BADBADNOTGOOD, Vic Mensa, GoldLink, and more. It's a 100% great effort. Kaytranada goes to the top of the class. (XL Recordings/Remote Control) SimonWinkler

MUSIC

Pacific Heights The Stillness

Cate Le Bon Crab Day

The title says it all, really: rather than the banging anthems of his old outfit Shapeshifter, Devin Abram’s second outing as Pacific Heights is wrapped in lush, plush electronica. The beats haven’t been forgotten entirely, but for the most part they take second place to Abram’s plangent, ambient soundscapes and suitably ethereal vocals from some rising young stars of the New Zealand music scene. As well as the sultry shimmer of the first single Airborne , jazz singer Deanne Krieg brings her lovely, cool vocal tones to two further tracks, Realm and Breath and Bone , while Drax Project’s Shaan Singh shines on the gorgeous and gently pulsing epic So Love . An elegant, shape- shifting delight. (Create/Control) John Ferguson

Cate Le Bon is Welsh but sounds stranger. On album four, life in Los Angeles has entailed shelving her native tongue while accentuating her, um, alien qualities as an indie rocker. That goes for her music, which charges past quirky into gleeful discord wherever possible, and the kind of content as routinely surreal as “feeling like geometry”, I’m A Dirty Attic and “my heart’s in my supper.” The spiky guitar lines and awkward staccato rhythms harbour melodies of surprising charm though, even when she’s insisting Love Is Not Love between sax and marimba lines that would spook Frank Zappa. Unsettling and weirdly addictive. (Caroline) Michael Dwyer

For more interviews, reviews and overviews from Graham Reid visit www.elsewhere.co.nz

MAY 2016

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