STACK #139 May 2016

MUSIC REVIEWS

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White Lung Paradise

Modern Baseball Holy Ghost

Mish Barber-Way, White Lung’s lyricist and primary presence, has changed more than her name between records; Paradise is less vicious than Sorry or Deep Fantasy , filled with fewer biting portraits and chastising of her enemies. What hasn’t changed is that the Canadian group's tracks remain driven by Kenneth William’s aggressive riffs and Anne-Marie Vassiliou’s iron-fisted drumming. There are some more pensive beats here, at least relative to the rest: Below and Hungry are still snappy punk songs, but minus some of the frenetic wailing which forms part of White Lung’s signature. It’s not a radical shift, but enough to keep things interesting. (Domino) Jake Cleland

Modern Baseball came at just the right time to ride the resurgence of bedroom-grown pop-punk, and Holy Ghost feels like a step in defining themselves beyond it. Split down the middle with the first half written by Jacob Ewald and the second by Brendan Lukens, Holy Ghost is their separate perspectives joined by uplifting chord progressions and a floor-thumping beat. Ewald tends towards classic Modern Baseball – folkier and introspective – and Lukens, a speedier punk sound, but both retain a knack for writing sobworthy anthems. The result is Holy Ghost coming off more like two EPs than a cohesive album, but that variety means clambering into some promising new territory. (Run For Cover Records/ CookingVinyl) Jake Cleland

Melody Pool Deep Dark Savage Heart

In this crazy modern world we are swamped by music – most of it is meaningless. But some of it is genuine and timeless. Melody Pool is special. You sense she could have taken the pop path to fame, but she’s chosen a different road; as she declares on her second album, “I’m not trivial.” Pool is

signed to a label, but she’s defiantly doing things her own way. “I am pressured to show only light,” she sings in City Lights , “to be filled with all that’s good and bright. But I’m a slave to a darkened mind. And who are you to tell me I’ll be fine?” As the title suggests, Deep Dark Savage Heart is not always easy listening. But there are some truly beautiful moments, and the album provides a window to this musician's soul. The standout song, Black Dog , is like a page ripped from her diary: “People often say there’s no time in a day,” she sings, “but there’s way too much time for me. I’m empty and aching, my whole world is shaking, and the black dog has sat at my feet.” Deep Dark Savage Heart is not always pretty. But it could easily be the album of the year. (Liberation) Jeff Jenkins

MUSIC

Charles Bradley Changes

Band of Skulls By Default

Richard Clapton The House of Orange “Real life,” sings Richard Clapton, “is stranger than fiction.” He should have been a superstar. But he remains Australia’s leading proponent of the West Coast sound, our version of Jackson Browne. For this album, his 20th, he’s “turning back the hands of time,” venturing to Nashville to re-record some of his old songs with producer Mark Moffatt, as well as proffering a few new tunes including the pop gem Something About You . “People change and find new ways to play their masquerade,” Clapton sings on Here Inside Of Me . “I knew I’d never be a king, but don’t take away my dreams.” (MGM) Jeff Jenkins

Miles Davis The Best Of Miles Davis

Mark Twain's immortal phrase about truth being stranger than fiction could well be applied to Charles Bradley. The musician's constant, lifelong battles to overcome adversity have become the subject of a 2012 documentary, Soul Of America , and Bradley now finds himself among the world's greatest and most renowned soul/funk singers. Once a James Brown impersonator, he found his own voice in 2011 when, at the age of 63, he released his first album. Backed by sympathetic musicians half his age, his third album Changes (named after a Black Sabbath ballad) is his strongest yet, full of songs that chronicle his life. (Planet/MGM) Billy Pinnell

Kicking off large with Black Magic , this fourth release from the Brit power-pop trio dances between flowery acid-rock and a sing-along stadiumTelstra ad. Then it’s ‘80s freeway rock you’d easily expect to soundtrack your first dance floor pash sporting stonewash jeans on Back of Beyond . If you squint and turn your head to the side and face due west you’ll hear a T-Rex inspiration on Killer and This is My Fix ... but it’s a stretch, as is the entire album to be fair. So Good , however, offers a glimmer of ‘something else’ – just a faint smell of genuine cool and mass- appeal without the endless pre- packaging. Almost a latter INXS with feline vocals and smarts, but not quite. This is for fans only. (BMG/Liberator) Chris Murray

2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Miles Davis, who is widely recognised as one of the most important and innovative musicians of the twentieth century. A key figure in the history of jazz, he was at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, particularly during the three decades spanning 1955 - 1984, the period represented on this release. Saxophonists John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, pianists Chick Corea and Bill Evans, drummer Tony Williams, bassist Ron Carter, and guitarist John McLaughlin are among numerous jazz titans accompanying Davis' indelible trumpet solos on this indispensable release. (Sony) Billy Pinnell

MAY 2016

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