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JUNE 2015
JB Hi-Fi
www.jbhifi.co.nzLeon Bridges
Coming Home
If the Harry Highpants slacks, patent leather
loafers and non-ironic cardigan don’t tell you
where Leon Bridges lives, check out the song
titles. Yep, they’re on the front cover, which
means we’re heading back to the classics. Percy
Sledge and Sam Cooke are obvious touchstones
within the first 30 seconds of
Coming Home
, an unapologetically
vintage-styled immersion in the sweet spot where gospel dips its hip to
soul. The kid from Fort Worth has all it takes, sliding his fine-grit tenor
around soulful pleas to this lady or that while his band – skinny black
ties and Ray-Bans almost visible though the reverb – echo against the
naked bricks. In
Lisa Sawyer
, the grandson of a preacher man bolsters
conviction with a potted family tree harking back to ‘63 (mmmm, ‘63).
The clincher is
River
, an almost acapella hymn clearly recorded around a
single microphone. Kid can dance, too, they say. Watch out.
Michael Dwyer
Algiers
Algiers
Out of the torn traditions of
America's gospel'n'blues Deep
South but shot through with post-
punk fury, this trio take a hammer
to politics, religion and race but
couch it in blood-stirring music.
Here are terrifying soundscapes
(
Claudette
), desperate spooked-
out soul driven by guitar grit and
throbbing bass (
And When You
Fall
,
But She Was Not Flying
),
worldweary aching (
Games
) and
pistol whipped blues (
Blood
).
Algiers let the ghosts of the past
rise up (the angry swamp spirit
of
Old Girl
) with a dangerous,
dark and determined rage.
These guys are dead serious.
And extraordinary.
Graham Reid
Tremonti
Cauterize
With
Cauterize,
guitarist Mark
Tremonti hopes to capitalise
on the success of his debut
All I Was.
That album focused
on his heavier ideas, and riffs
that didn’t fit the framework
of either Creed or Alter
Bridge (his two other, better
known entities).
Cauterize
is
reminiscent of Metallica circa
The Black Album
, with a little
…
And Justice For All
thrown in
for good measure.
Cauterize,
though, is no thrash album and
little here will alienate his wider
fan base. The centrepiece of
the release is Tremonti’s guitar
work and
Cauterize
shows just
how much he has grown as a
player over the years.
Simon Lukic
Leftfield
Alternative Light Source
Now down to lone member Neil
Barnes, seminal English dance
act Leftfield return with their first
album in a decade and a half.
It’s flooded with frazzled warmth
and features guest vocals from TV
on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe,
Poliça’s Channy Leaneagh and
Sleaford Mods. The sheer
strength of the vocal tracks, like
the terse spoken-word of
Head
and Shoulders
and the La Roux-
esque
Bilocation
, actually make
Dark Matters
and the title track
feel like instrumental filler by
comparison. But despite its lulls,
this is still a worthy comeback.
DougWallen
Mark Seymour & he
Undertow
Mayday
What is home? That’s the question
Mark Seymour ponders on his
ninth solo album, and third with
The Undertow. This is the story of
modern Australia, where it’s “one
rule for the filthy rich, another one
for the weak", the nation is filled
with "celebrities and sycophants",
desperate people seek asylum,
shock jocks are “screamin’”, and
musicians are searching for meaning.
This is as good as any album
Seymour has made. The Undertow
might lack numbers, but they’re
capable of delivering both power and
poignancy. One of the many special
things about this is that it showcases
both sides of Seymour – it’s strident
and sensitive, and both qualities sit
comfortably alongside each other.
Jeff Jenkins
The Fall
Sub-Lingual Tablet
This is apparently the 31st studio
LP from Mark E Smith’s seminal
outfit, but it could really have
been recorded anytime over the
last 20 years or so. There’s some
memorable motorik-infused riffing
(
Dedication Not Medication
, the
epic
Auto-Chip 14-15
), an obscure
garage cover (
Stout Man
, a rewrite
of The Stooges’s
Cock In My
), a dash of tribal rhythms
(
Junger Cloth
) and the occasional
glimpse of a melody (
Black Door
).
Of course, there's also some
shapeless jams, but this incarnation
of The Fall is the longest serving
and for the most part they provide
a suitably steely musical setting
for the splenetic rants of music’s
grumpiest old man.
John Ferguson
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Torres
Sprinter
For her second album, Brooklyn-
based Mackenzie Scott, AKA
Torres, shreds her past and soul
on nine gripping songs; some
are throbbing with love but
latent menace (
Son You Are No
Island
), some compelling for quiet
intimacy (the seven minute-plus
closer
The Exchange
about a child
given up for adoption) and others
furious synth'n'guitar-rock, close
to poetically revealing Patti Smith
and howling Nirvana. Lyrically
these songs peel back layers in
imagery which is religious, sexual
and literary but she also tells
stories (two running parallel on
A Proper Polish Welcome
) and
possesses a rare honesty.
One of the year's best.
Graham Reid