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102 OCTOBER 2015
Claptone
Charmer
What do we know about
Claptone? He’s a Berlin-based
producer of exceptional electronic
music. He hides in anonymity
behind a gold beak mask. He’s
just released a debut album: it’s
called Charmer, and true to its
word, it’s a charming record.
Claptone himself might be
something of an enigma, but
there’s nothing mysterious about
the appeal of these experimental
club tracks, house and synth-pop
productions. Joining the German
producer on record are friends
and collaborators Peter, Bjorn and
John, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah,
Finnish musician Jimi Tenor and
others.
(Different Recordings/Liberator)
SimonWinkler
Corb Lund
Things That Can't Be Undone
Canadian Corb Lund knows how to
ride em’, rope em’ and write em’.
Coming from generations of rodeo
riders and ranchers, he is surely
one of very few real cowboys
making country music these days.
With his trusty long time band
The Hurtin’ Albertans and the
production skills of Dave Cobb
(Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson),
Lund delivers his ninth album:
It’s a little bit rock, a little bit soul
and whole lot of country with
influences from across the '60s
and '70s. Lund’s storytelling is his
gift, sharing his outlook on the
losses and changes in his world.
This guy's the real deal.
(NewWest Records) Denise Hylands
Mustered Courage
White Lies & Melodies
Mustered Courage are one of
the first bands to join the new
roster of Lost Highway Records
Australia. They’ve toured the US
twice, played at the legendary
Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and
have won themselves a Golden
Guitar: they’re a bluegrass band
with a difference. On their third
album they’ve expanded their
sound by adding a drummer,
which has enabled them to drop
in some hip hop beats, an R&B
feel, and some good ol’ rock 'n'
roll. Incredible pickers either slow
and soft or lightning fast, these
guys can play and sing with rich,
heavenly harmonies. No ordinary
bluegrass band.
(Lost Highway Australia/Universal)
Denise Hylands
Deep Purple
Long Beach 1971
Gillan. Blackmore. Lord. Glover.
Paice. Most Deep Purple fans
know which of these five men
hated each other's guts but here's
ample proof of which one most
deserved a slapping. Blackmore's
soloing is as scintillatingly concise
as ever; Gillan's freewheeling
banter, meanwhile, is even more
daft than his lyrics. "A speed king is
somebody who moves very quickly
from one place to another and
always gets there first," we're told
midway through the tune of that
title. Cue organ solo. Still, the way
he wails up his cosmic breakfast
on Strange Kind of Woman and
a 27-minute Mandrake Root (go,
Paicey!) makes this another keeper
for those staying abreast of the
classic Purple rarities program.
(Sony) Michael Dwyer
Tom Jones
Long Lost Suitcase
The Pontypridd stallion has quietly
built up some head of steam
these last three albums. There's
been less Sex Bomb action but a
lot more power and dignity with
roots-rock producer Ethan Johns.
This episode follows the stately
gospel of Praise & Blame via Spirit
In the Room to a set of raw blues
and country moaners and belters.
There's a deathly sparse read of
Willie Nelson's Opportunity To Cry
and a big Chicago roar for Sonny
Boy Williamson's Bring It Home;
a sublime pool of tears for Gillian
Welch's Elvis Presley Blues and
a fiddling folkie tilt at the Stones'
Factory Girl, with Jones yelping
at the top of his estimable range.
Timeless tales and throat strings of
this calibre resonate big time.
(Caroline) Michael Dwyer
New Order
Music Complete
Two years in the making seems
to have paid off; New Order
(still sans ‘Hooky’) still feel just
as relevant as ever. As always
there’s a ‘clean air’ feel about
Sumner’s vocal delivery, and
an urgency in NO’s electronic
foundations. Plastic even offers
a Donna Summer-esque disco
groove amongst the never-ending
new wave overtones. As is their
shtick, the band endear rather
than annoy; even the patchy Tutti
Frutti wins you over before you’re
aware of your body moving along
to it. Expect this album to work,
and work big – owning a superior
dance floor near you.
(Create Control) Chris Murray
STREAMYOUR FAVOURITE ALBUMS AT JBHI-FI NOW... NOW!
Garbage Garbage: 20th Anniversary
Deluxe Edition
Pop being the mongrel breed it is, worlds were always
going to collide back in the grunge/electro apartheid
years of the early '90s. But Supervixen was a bracing
sound nonetheless: the grinding and belching guitars of
the new punk revolution, dive-bombing into the crisp,
cut-and-paste frontier of trip-hop. The marriage was coldly
premeditated by producer Butch Vig, (producer for Nevermind), and a couple of
other studio boffins who had quite the hard drive groaning with cunningly crafted
samples before one of them spotted singer Shirley Manson on the telly. The
x-factor was the pop smarts that made such a rip-snorting string of singles of Vow,
Only Happy When It Rains , Queer , Stupid Girl and Milk between early '95 and late
'96. All of them are here on the band's unsurpassed debut, with their Clash and
Single Gin Theory samples melting into a thickly layered wall of sound that owes
as much to (wo)man as machine. This deluxe edition includes nine more non-
album singles and B-sides of mixed quality, from the mighty industrial clamour of
Subhuman, to the hit Romeo + Juliet soundtrack standout #1 Crush and the bland
gothic wallpaper of Alien Sex Fiend. Remastered, natch, "from original analogue
tapes", the whole deal remains a fabulous headphone experience: Savour the
delicious squelchy business afoot in Driving Lesson and the rumble of Jabba the
Hutt's belly in Butterfly Collector. Probably. (Liberator) Michael Dwyer