Friday 19 November 2010

Stereolab: 'Not Music'

A review I wrote for FACT magzine. Read the original here.

With a career spanning two decades, Stereolab are a British institution. At various periods welding together krautrock, electronica, sixties pop and even European cinema soundtracks, they created a defiantly distinctive sound that has never been successfully replicated. For many the band were at their most appealing in the mid-nineties, when their restrained retro-futurist experiments acted as the perfect antidote to the mainstream excesses of the Britpop era.

Amble forward to 2010 and we find the fate of the group hanging in the balance. After announcing an indefinite hiatus last year, the experience of listening to Not Music is tainted by the knowledge that this could well be their last release. You’d therefore be forgiven for expecting to hear the despondent death rattle of a band long since cast into irrelevance, yet the LP sounds surprisingly fresh. A sister album to 2008′s Chemical Chords, this new offering consists of tracks made during the same studio sessions, yet it is far more than a collection of cast-offs and B-sides. Instead it stands as a worthy addition to the group’s canon in its own right.

Most of the tracks on offer conform to the traditional Stereolab template. Upbeat opener ‘Everybody’s Weird Except Me’ sets the tone for the album: unashamedly kitsch while remaining effortlessly cool, its playful chimes, vintage keys and Laetitia Sadier’s enticing vocals could have been lifted straight from 1994′s Mars Audiac Quintet. The instrumental ‘Equivalence’ also harks back to the finer moments on Emperor Tomato Ketchup and its layered guitars and scattershot percussion acknowledge that the band are more than simply a backing group for Sadier’s Gallic tones.

Yet aside from the standard fare there are plenty of surprises for those willing to dig a bit deeper. ‘Delugeoisie’ is a mournful, off-kilter delight while ‘Sun Demon’ opens with a refrain lifted straight from The Castaways’ ‘Liar Liar’ before mutating into an up-tempo rhythmic workout. Persevere and you can also find the warped fairground ride of ‘Aelita’ and the mischievous time-signature changes of ‘Leleklato Sugar’.

Always comfortable to take inspiration from their own back catalogue, it’s unsurprising that Stereolab have often drawn criticism for being too self-referential. That being the case, it was a wise move to toss in a couple of remixes amongst the new material, allowing some fresh faces to re-contextualise their sound. Emperor Machine’s take on ‘Silver Sands’ deposits Sadier’s glacial voice on top of razor-edged synths and driving percussion to create the ultimate soundtrack to a road trip down Kraftwerk’s autobahn. Weirder by far is a remix of ‘Neon Beanbag’ courtesy of Atlas Sound. The Deerhunter front man deconstructs what was originally a featherweight pop tune and transforms it into an eight minute odyssey of gradually intensifying sonic atmospherics. The end result sounds like a transmission beamed back from the Phoenix Mars probe if it encountered aliens with a penchant for Brian Eno and Panda Bear.

After a string of unremarkable releases culminating in the decidedly lacklustre Chemical Chords, it was hard to morn the passing of a group that seemed to have passed its sell-by date. In this context the release of an album so full of potential over a year after the band’s dissolution can be interpreted as either a defiant riposte to critics or simply a timely reminder for fans that their loyalty was deserved. Whether paying homage to their past or looking to the future it’s clear that Stereolab still have a unique place in British music; a bittersweet realisation when their own future is so uncertain.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

No Joy: 'No Summer'

A review I wrote for FACT magazine. View the original here.

The seventh release on fledgling London label Sexbeat (with Stateside release from Mexican Summer) comes courtesy of Laura Lloyd and Jasamine White-Gluz, a.k.a No Joy. Residing physically in Montreal and LA respectively, it’s clear their hearts lie firmly in California circa 1986. Both tracks on offer here could have come straight from the vaults of iconic Long Beach label SST, with perhaps a quick detour via the proto-grunge of early Sub Pop.

‘No Summer’ is abrasive yet melodic, with churning guitars providing a bed of broken glass on which the singer’s dreamy vocals manage to nestle seductively. Evoking the spectres of late ’80s shoegaze as well as Daydream Nation-era Sonic Youth, it flirts between blunted bliss and moments that would be almost anthemic if the vocals were allowed to take centre stage rather than hovering anonymously over the track.

‘No Joy’ is, as the title suggests, a moodier affair. Grinding, distorted riffs occasionally give way to clean, confident chords while the vocals remain almost completely submerged throughout. It’s the contrast between the raw, extrovert instrumentation and the detached contemplation of the female vocalist that make both these songs work. We’re listening to a group in love with the sound of guitars rather than their own voices, and while neither track makes much attempt to break new ground, that hardly seems to be the point.

Lone - 'Once In A While'

A review I wrote for FACT magazine. You can view the original here.

Matt Cutler’s recent promo mix for XOYO showed a man infatuated with early ’90s dance music, and his latest release on Werk Discs continues the theme. A love letter to the Detroit sound as well as UK rave, ‘Once In A While’ has rapidly risen to anthem status since Kode9 selected it as the exuberant opener to his DJ-Kicks mix.

The best club tracks are capable of creating their own atmosphere and here the Nottingham producer effortlessly captures the breezy optimism of early rave. Re-pitched steel drums skip across an undulating surface of lush synths and scattershot 808 pads, while a buoyant bassline propels the track from below. Picking up where last Lone single ‘Angel Brain’ left off, this is another lesson in un-self conscious nostalgia, incorporating all the tropes of a specific era of dance music while remaining current enough to prevent it becoming merely a delightful anachronism.

Lone made his name with albums referencing the disjointed hip-hop of Flying Lotus and the electro-boogie of Dam-Funk and it’s not yet clear whether this release is the continuation of a brief flirtation with rave or indication of a more deliberate stylistic shift. Encouragingly the tantalising previews of forthcoming mini-album Emerald Fantasy Tracks suggest that he has plenty more to offer in this area: a prospect to make even the most jaded electronic music fan go weak at the knees.