STACK NZ Jul #64

MUSIC

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Also Spinning Veruca Salt Ghost Notes

It’s been two decades between albums for ’90s champs Veruca Salt, but Ghost Notes reunites them with their American Thighs producer Brad Wood and reignites the Chicago quartet’s high- powered bubblegum grunge. Co-leaders Nina Gordon and Louise

Post still lodge spiky lyrics in catchy anthems, as on The Gospel According to Saint Me and The Museum of Broken Relationship s, while Triage taps a quiet-loud dynamic for fuzzy catharsis. Veruca Salt are still fairly one-note when it comes to range, but they’re as emotionally potent as ever. Doug Wallen Richard Thompson Still Produced by Jeff Tweedy, this finds the great guitarist-songwriter in top form (with members of Wilco and Thompson's touring band). However, those who thrilled to his often blistering WOMAD performance in March or the electrifying energy of recent albums ( Dream Attic , Electric ) will find him more constrained here. Incendiary solos and his sharp, slightly embittered worldview abound ( Dungeons for Eyes ) but are leavened by the British folk tropes which remain close to his heart, and the focus is on the economy of Thompson's songs ( Broken Doll ). Terrific. Still. Graham Reid Ratatat Magnifique Ratatat are as grabby as ever on their fifth album, with Mike Stroud and Evan Mast still mingling squirrelly synths and guitar solos. If Magnifique lacks the experimental bravery of 2010’s LP4, it returns those standout guitars to the fore. Nightclub Amnesia adds the bleacher-stomping muscle of Sleigh Bells , while romantic pedal-steel guitar creeps into several tunes. The album can lose momentum as it swings between fist-pumping celebration and soul-searching meditation, but the duo’s twitchy, euphoric interplay thrives in both settings. Doug Wallen

Chemical Brothers Born in the Echoes

It wouldn’t be a Chemical Brothers album with some reliable pulse-raising, which comes right near the start with Go . Led by guest rapper Q-Tip, the track supplies a candy-coloured hook, EDM identifiers and an invigorating push. What’s most interesting about Born in the Echoes, though, is

how often Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons opt for more diffuse territory over block-rockin’ club anthems. Reflexion stacks on dragging layers of melody, while St. Vincent brings a sleepy drawl and subversive edge to her vocals on Under Neon Lights . Radiate is slow and romantic, while Taste of Honey goes for a slow bubbling that befits its name. Best of all is the title track, on which Welsh art-pop oddball Cate Le Bon contributes her usual elegant boredom (think Nico), her voice naturally filling space without a touch of bombast. Other tracks aren’t as successful, like the autopilot feel of Just Bang and the weak raga inflections of I’ll See You There . Beck is oddly bland singing lead on Wide Open , and EML Ritual feels like filler when Ali Love isn’t at the mic. But the weirder turns mark Born in the Echoes as a welcomely versatile return. Doug Wallen

Available on CD, Deluxe 2 CD and 180gram 2LP set

New album from legendary songwriter/guitarist, produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco

Distributed by Southbound Distribution | www.southbound.co.nz

JULY 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.co.nz

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