STACK#127 May 2016

MUSIC

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R EVOLUTIONS P ER M ONTH

Belters, Must-Hears, Assorted Musical Wonders and Other Curiosities

FAITH NO MORE SOL INVICTUS

T he reformation tango is notoriously tricky. Audiences have an understandable tendency to crystallise a band in memory; their apex forever enshrined, their triumphs defining them. So when a massively loved act dips its toes back in the water, the results can be judged harshly – no matter how much the world’s changed. The audience wants the high water mark; passable, or even simply ‘good’, just will not do. When Faith No More last released an album, Bill Clinton was still US President and no one had even heard of Monica Lewinsky. The World Trade Centre still stood, and a ‘Facebook’ was something printed in the back of Ivy League yearbooks. 1997 belongs to another era: Faith No More fans

now have mortgages. So how do the San Franciscans fare on the tightrope? Very convincingly indeed. The intervening years have seen frontman Mike Patton involved in a dizzying array of projects (all of which have their absolute merits) but none have seen him accused of trundling out FNM-lite. Faith No More is Faith No More, and six years after their first refomation gig, including founders Roddy Bottum (keys) and Mike Bordin (durms), and longtime bassist Billy Gould (who’s produced Sol Invictus ). Patton’s storming ferocity and ability to lift the band (and the songs) to their heights is – crucially – intact. Nor does a single moment sound tired or half-done: it’s energised, passionate here’s an album. Sol Invictus reunites the last FNM line-up

and rocks as hard as any record they’ve ever made. The opening title track gives us a strangely funereal beginning, with Patton prowling and threatening before the mighty Superhero kicks us into vintage FNM high gear, all majestic keys, super-primed bass devasation and with “Leader of men/ back in your cage/ will you be one of them?” has a Patton refrain to die for – it’s devastatingly good. Sunny Side Up is all loose funk and a slow, sure build, while Separation Anxiety is a march-of-the-warriors procession building to a kill ‘em all/take no prisoners crescendo. While Faith No More explore a few fun textures along the way (hear the Mex- Reggae of Rise of the Fall) , it’s a potent resurrection of all we ever loved about them. Jonathan Alley

Nutshell Verdict ’90s funk-metal lunatics return, humour and honour intact STACK Picks Superhero, Matador, Separation Anxiety You may also like Faith No More, Angel Dust

Hot Chip Why Make Sense?

Say Lou Lou Lucid Dreaming

The British songstress’s Love Your Dum and Mad was one of 2013’s best debuts; a beguiling suite of gothic exotica that recalled PJ Harvey or Nick Cave. Her sophomore release is cut from the same cloth, with Nadine Shah Fast Food

Steve Kilbey’s daughters! Lookers, too! Now that they have our attention, Swedish-Australian twins Elektra and Miranda Kilbey-Janssen are hell-bent on steaming us into submission in a synthesised sauna of programmed beats and breathy- sweet pop nothings. The reverb thunderhead yields a couple of jolts of pop-poppet electro in Games for Girls and Nothing but a Heartbeat , but the string-sodden cinematic farewell of Peppermint is more Say Lou Lou’s default speed. Pillow-talking lyrics, tectonic undertows and icicle textures are a reliable bridge between the fragile beginnings of Everything We Touch , the lusty preoccupations of Angels (Above Me) and the breathless passion of Beloved . A slight tonal weirdness in the intro to Wilder Than the Wind is a welcome curve in a pretty strait-laced harmonic palette but the crashing waves and ‘80s-styled kick of the scarf- waving closer, Skylights , should leave dream- pop romantics deliciously spent. Michael Dwyer

her rich and seductive voice once again weaving a glorious spell. However, unlike her more minimalist debut, the sound is fuller his time, with Shah and collaborator/producer Ben Hillier matching her hypnotic voice with melodic soundscapes and sinuous post-punk rhythms. Don’t let the title fool you – this is a feast that’s worth savouring. John Ferguson Nadia Reid Listen to Formation, Look to the Signs New Zealand is in the midst of something of a folk/roots renaissance – Tiny Ruins, Aldous Harding and Delaney Davidson for starters. Add Nadia Reid to the list of talented female singer- songwriters bringing folk to new audiences. Listen to Formation, Look to the Signs is the South Island songstress’s debut album. Producer Ben Edwards provides a warm and suitably rustic backdrop for Reid’s cool, smoky voice and her rueful tales of love and relationships, best typified by the gorgeous Joni Mitchell- esque single Call the Days and the languid melancholy of Holy Low . However, the fuzzy jangle of Reaching Through suggests Reid is unafraid to step out of her comfort zone. John Ferguson

”Look for me on the dance floor playing easy to get” – that hook is buried seven tracks deep in Hot Chip’s sixth album, but it may as well have been the title of a record that comes over like New Order on the pull at the local disco. “I know every single we play tonight/ will make the people just bathe in the light,” is the gist of lead single Huarache Lights. The rest is a warm and fuzzy man-machine détente that makes Daft Punk seem like difficult listening, burbling with diva squeaks, Vocoder, rap-lite interjections and sneaky orgasms of disco strings. The Smokey Robinson- styled smooches of White Wine and Fried Chicken and So Much Further to Go are a little light on, well, Smokey Robinson, but elsewhere there’s tinfoil funk, chunky keys, smiley house beats and glitchy synth goodness to drive you near enough to senselessness. Michael Dwyer

MAY 2015 JB HI-FI www.jbhifi.com.au/music

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