STACK May 2016 Issue 139

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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
Modern Baseball
Holy Ghost
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
White Lung
Paradise
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
visit MUSIC REVIEWS
16 MAY 2016
MUSIC
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
Miles Davis
The Best Of Miles Davis
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
Charles Bradley
Changes
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
Band of Skulls
By Default
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