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Underworld
Barbara Barbara, We
Face A Shining Future
The drums are splashy and stadium-sized. The
banjo is, er, unexpected. Cue monster mothership
arriving from Planet Groove. Open blast doors
and enter Karl Hyde, rapping his random staccato
declamations as if through a bullhorn: Life, golden,
open, stumble, catch, yeah, grace, well, yeah... and we're off. Especially
after six years holding their breath,
I Exhale
is a fanfare befitting one of
the truly heroic names in British electro. There's little concession to how
that genre might have evolved since
Born Slipp
y nailed the post-rave
zeitgeist of the mid '90s, though no party is likely to falter as the pulse
quickens in
If Rah
, and polyrhythms blossom around the muted 4/4 slap
of
Low Burn
with its gently ecstatic entreaties to "be bold, be beautiful,
free, totally, unlimited." Yeah baby. The energy ebbs to an atmospheric
pace between the gentle South American thrum of
Santiago Cuatro
and
the pitch-shifted hum and tinkle of
Motorhome
before a big shiny finale in
Nylon Strung
that might have sounded quite at home on an old Ultravox
LP. The thrill is in the sheer momentum of a beast still beholden to dance,
but Barbara Barbara, the magic is in the detail.
Michael Dwyer
Grant-Lee Phillips
The Narrows
Bob Dylan and Neil Young both
recorded in Tennessee, lured by
its creative community. But going
one better, Grant-Lee Phillips
recently uprooted there from
his native California. Always a
songwriter with a sense of home
and history, this new album digs
deep into his family roots. For
sure, there’s echoes of Dylan and
Young, yet throw in some Townes
Van Zandt or The Triffids for a wider
perspective.
The Narrows
is more
subtle than the early records that
wrote Phillips’ name large, with
random banjo and pedal steel licks
among the solid acoustics; even
the titles such as
Moccasin Creek
,
YellowWeeds
and
Tennessee Rain
conjure their own bucolic aura.
Recommended.
GarethThompson
Miike Snow
iii
There’s much to be said about a
band that will cheerfully rhyme
“Genghis Khan” with “get it on”,
and not all of it pertains to English
as a second language. Swedish-
American electro-pop trio Miike
Snow will chase a feel-good hook
beyond the pale and back again
with whatever their neighbour
left on the verge, whether it’s
an old hip-hop beat, a Stax soul
horn sample or Charli XCX in full
schoolgirl pout (that’s her featuring,
on
For U
). The candy coating drips
so thick that substance is barely
missed as they expertly balance
falsetto soul, mechanised grooves
and a toy shop full of vari-sped
and otherwise craftily-treated
gimmicks into a toddler’s delight
of plastic goodness and cooing
suggestion.
Michael Dwyer
Various Artists
WOMAD 2016
The obvious place to start, of course. As in previous
years, it is a pleasingly eclectic collection that mixes
well-known western headliners (John Grant, Calexico,
St Germain) and world music titans (Asha Bhosie,
Songhoy Blues) with less familiar festival acts (Iranian sisters Mahsa &
Marjan Vadat, Ukrainian hip hop folksters Dakhabrakha). Like the best
samplers, it will make you want to explore further.
John Grant
Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
At last year’s WOMAD, Sinead O’Connor opened
her set with a song by John Grant, who she has
duetted with on a number of his albums. This year,
the festival plays host to the witty Iceland-based US
songsmith himself; expect plenty of songs from his latest opus. Blending lush
chamber pop (the title track,
Global Warming
) with sly electro disco workouts
(
Disappointing
,
Snug Snacks
), this is essential listening.
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
A Long Way To The Beginning
Produced by go-to jazz/soul man Robert Glasper, the
third studio album from the son of the legendary
Fela Kuti is a punchy, joyous slice of horn-drenched
Afrobeat, that also finds room for some fiery political
messages. The perfect introduction to the wonders of African funk and a must
for any fans of Fat Freddy’s Drop.
Tami Neilson
Don’t Be Afraid
We are big fans of New Zealand's favourite country
chanteuse and her raw but uplifting fourth studio
album has lost none of its power to bring both a tear to
the eye and a smile to the face. With blues and gospel
very much at the fore, even country skeptics should get a kick out of this.
Various Artists
The Rough Guide To Psychedelic Bollywood
This splendidly bonkers collection features 12 tracks
from Bollywood legend Asha Bhosle – immortalised in
Cornershop’s indie classic
Brimful Of Asha
– who is one
of the must-see WOMAD headliners. Standouts include
her original version of
Dumo Maro Dum
(an exhilarating
new live version also features on the WOMAD sampler) and the trippy funk of
Pyar Zindagi Hai
(which features her equally famous sister Lata Mangeshkar
and Mahendra Kapoor), while cult film fans will appreciate the inclusion of
the classic surf guitar rumble of Mohammed Rafi’s
Jaan Pehechaan
, a clip of
which played throughout the opening credits of Terry Zwigoff's
Ghost World
.
The iconic annual world music
fest returns to New Plymouth
March 18-20. For those who
want to do a bit of audio
homework first, John Ferguson
recommends five albums to get
you in the WOMAD mood.
GET IN tune for
WOMAD
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