STACK Mar #137

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visit MUSIC REVIEWS
18 MARCH 2016
MUSIC
Big Daddy Wilson
Time
Inspired by the country blues,
folk, soul and gospel music
he heard growing up in North
Carolina, acoustic guitarist/
singer Big Daddy Wilson (Wilson
Blount) channels the spirits of
Rev. Gary Davis, Bukka White,
and Sleepy John Estes throughout
this outstanding album. Blessed
with a warm, soulful voice,
Wilson's heartfelt stories about
his family, his car, of discovering
the beauty of New Zealand and
the blues of Mississippi John
Hurt are enhanced by outstanding
musicians including guitarist Eric
Bibb. Based on this album, he'll
be a must-see when he tours in
March and April.
(ABC Music) Billy Pinnell
The Cat Empire
Rising With The Sun
The Cat Empire cover all creatures
great and small on their new
album, with song titles including
Wolves, Bulls and Eagle. Six studio
albums in, they’re still one of our
most interesting bands, swinging
from the reggae-tinged Bulls to the
Coldplay-like closing cut, Creature.
The record has a distinct live vibe
and, for the most part, Rising With
The Sun is a crowd-pleaser; but
it’s also darker than you think, with
deceptive diversity and depth.
“Maybe one day we’ll all stand
still,” Felix Riebl ponders at the
start of the record. But right now,
The Cat Empire remain vibrant and
unpredictable.
(Two Shoes Records)
Jeff Jenkins
Thao & The Get Down Stay
Down A Man Alive
Still best known here for the
theme to TV soapie Offspring,
American art-rocker Thao Nguyen
is on her fourth album with her
relentlessly off-kilter indie combo
Get Down Stay Down. It's not
the one to make the Channel Ten
crossover complete, her tonal and
rhythmic eccentricities ensuring
an abrasive veneer to songs of
decidedly uneasy listening. She
revels in cryptic lyrics, counter-
grooves and textures that startle
even as melodies beguile. Three
or four chafe inside the first single
Astonishing Man . Guitars scrape
and nag at the edges of Nobody
Dies. Even the mellow electric
piano of Guts smells like the
tuners have been drinking. One to
unpack over a difficult Sudoku.
(Domino) Michael Dwyer
Various Southern Family
Grammy Award-winning producer
Dave Cobb is currently one of the
producers of insurgent country
music in Nashville. Producing
artists like Sturgill Simpson,
Jason Isbell and Chris Stapelton,
he’s the guy. His latest project
is a concept album – yep, what I
said. On Southern Family, Cobb
invited some good friends whose
common thread is growing up
in the South. Isbell, Shooter
Jennings, Miranda Lambert and
Chris Stapleton are some of those
who share comforting, honest,
personal stories of family and
homelife in the southern states
of America. These customised,
feel-good tunes make this a fine
downhome gathering.
(Warner)
Denise Hylands
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 Slippy
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.
(Caroline) Michael Dwyer
Baauer Aa
Remember the Harlem Shake
craze way back when? Can you
tell me whose song it was? If you
said Baauer (which of course you
did), you’d be right. He’s been
kind of under the radar since then,
but now he’s back with Aa . With
the hit track Day Ones emitting
a very Dizzee Rascal-y vibe, and
title tune Aa pulling through with
his trademark deep bounce, fans
of the good ol’ Shake won’t be
disappointed, while those new to
Harry Bauer Rodrigues will find an
appeal in the sullen, pensive doof
of his beats.
(Inertia)
Alesha Kolbe
The Murlocs Young Blindness
Besides King Gizzard, one can
always rely on The Murlocs to
inspire genuine sunshine smiles
on a doom cloud. Old-school R&B
(when it meant something else,
kids) meets a seductive ’60s love
of psychedelica and late night
shuffles into half-finished whiskey.
A little Brian Jonestown nod lifts a
hungover eyelid on the title track,
complete with an urgent and hard-
lived harp sound cementing rare
authenticity far beyond their years.
There’s much to love here but
nothing greater than Adolescence,
a creepy and infectious lament
to imagery and desolation to
conjure the greatest offerings
from the likes of 16 Horsepower.
Give these guys more airplay and
kudos, you idiots in charge, c’mon!
(Remote Control)
Chris Murray