STACK NZ Apr #61

MUSIC

REVIEWS

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Halestorm Into the Wildlife

Nadine Shah Fast Food

Halestorm have certainly come a long way in a short time and Into the Wildlife will certainly propel the band further. The group rocks hard in a distinctly ’80s manner, but modern touches distance them from retro acts such as The Answer. Vocalist Lzzy Hale is the drawing card as she spits and croons her way through tales of loss and anger. Hale gives Halestorm an edge and – much like Pat Benatar and Joan Jett before her – one that’s tough yet feminine. Extreme metal fans will finds this tame, but modern rockers who enjoy Motley Crue and Ozzy Osbourne’s last handful of albums should check this out. Simon Lukic

The British songstress’s first album Love Your Dum and Mad was one of best debuts of 2013, a beguiling suite of gothic exotica that recalled P.J Harvey and Nick Cave. Her sophomore release is cut from the same cloth, with her rich and seductive voice once again weaving a glorious spell. However, unlike her more minimalist debut, the sound is fuller his time around, 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

Alabama Shakes Sound & Color

Bringing a rock’n’roll swagger to old school soul and blues, the debut album from this Athens, Georgia, quartet blew the critics away in 2012. Now comes the tricky second LP. Recorded in Nashville with guitar wizard Blake Mills (Norah Jones, Dixie Chicks) Sound & Color actually sounds rawer in places than

their first album, with their trademark garage R’n’B spiced up with a juicy dose of psychedelic funk; at times they sound almost like early Funkadelic. It doesn’t always come off – still not sure about the space grooves of Gemini or the Black Keys-esque stutter of Don’t Wanna Figh t – but when they hit the sweet spot, like on the gorgeous funk shimmer of Guess Who or bruising ballads like Miss You and Gimme All Your Love , Alabama Shakes are unstoppable. And while singer/guitarist Brittany Howard frequently deploys an almost Prince-like falsetto for many of their funkier excursions, the gleeful punk thrash of The Greatest and the Hammond organ-soaked chug of Shoegaze shows she hasn't lost her rock’n’roll heart. John Ferguson

Van Morrison Duets: Re-Working the Catalogue For his 35th studio album, Morrison revisits 16 songs from his vast catalogue (avoiding popular hits in favour of lesser known songs), mostly from post- 1980 releases. Using a variety of musicians and fresh arrangements, he shares vocals with artists who inspired his earliest recordings, like Bobby Womack, Taj Mahal and Mavis Staples, plus contemporaries such as Chris Farlowe, Steve Winwood and Georgie Fame (and on Whatever Happened to P.J. Proby – yes – P.J. Proby). And Mark Knopfler and Mick Hucknall are outstanding on the Veedon Fleeces song Streets

Wire Wire

Drenge Undertow They’re back! A couple months shy of two years since their blazing self-titled debut, UK’s two brothers of deep rock offer up a more layered approach to losing one’s self in darker grooves. It’s all psyche-meets-cocky- mud with Never Awake , while Then We Can Do What We Want is like QOTSA covering the Ramones, in the best possible way. Their swagger is no more evident than on The Snake, a track not afraid to embrace smart musicianship and deliver with a firebrand instead of that ‘please play me on radio, sir?’ attitude. A fan of anything mentioned above, with a dose of Jeff The Brotherhood, Thin Lizzy (and a touch of Kurt)? Then you’re going to adore the crap outta this. Chris Murray

Young Fathers White Men are Black Men Too Just months after taking home the Mercury Prize, this Scottish hip hop trio are back with a new album. It says a lot about their urgency, productivity and creativity. Far from basking in acclaim, they’re adding to their already impressive discography with an even more incisive record. It draws from their adventurous hip hop origins, but with a stronger rock and pop leaning. Rain or Shine , for instance, is driven by a rhythmic break, dissonant organ stabs and fast paced lyrics. Overall the tempos are higher, and so are the stakes it feels; Young Fathers deliver an enjoyable but uncompromising succession of avant-pop compositions and experimental rap sounds. SimonWinkler

Although you wouldn’t have guessed it from last year’s live shows, the seminal art-punks seem much happier chappies these days and their 13th studio album LP is probably the warmest they’ve sounded in years. If their last LP Change Become Us (2013) was built on song sketches dating back to 1980, here they seem intent on recapturing the sweet, melodic tones of Outdoor Miner , the closest thing they probably ever got to writing a pop hit back in 1978. Songs like In Manchester , Burning Bridges and Swallow boast hummable hooks and choruses, while bassist Graham Lewis's vocals sounds positively soothing on most of the songs. John Ferguson

of Arklow. Billy Pinnell

APRIL 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.co.nz

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