In a cynical
attempt to up our blog ratings Phonique are this week’s selection. Sounding
like a cross between Electribe 101 and Above and Beyond this is a quality piece
of cultured deep house music. The video is another thing altogether and poses lots
of questions; what the hell is she doing? Has she never heard of curtains? Or sensible pyjamas? Some
nice moves though that I have incorporated into my own dance routines.
Allegedly
base can kill. If this is the case then Subsoul’s compilation of ‘upfront and
exclusive house, garage and bass music’ could be the smoking gun in several
cases of base related murders. It’s a mysterious, underground and distinctly
old school mix of vocal deep house with the emphasis squarely on your sub-woofer.
It reminds me of those old Todd Edwards mix CD’s if they’d taken steroids to
simultaneously beef them up and slow them down. It sounds great on paper but in
reality it’s a mixed bag…
As
with all ‘mix’ albums in my experience, there’s a handful of great tracks but
padded out with acceptable but unremarkable filling fodder. The Subsoul
compilation is no different and although the assembled tracks blend seamlessly
to form a coherent atmosphere, there’s a distinct lack of real quality on show.
The more soulful numbers generally hit the spot but reliance on ‘Ride on Time’
style sequenced vocals in several of the others only served to irritate me and
I was soon flicking them.
Worthy
of special attention are Wilkinson’s pulsing ‘Take you Higher’, Robin’s urban
tinged, bleepy ‘What Ya Wanna Do?’ and Kidnap Kid’s soulful, unctuous vocals on
‘So Close’. Easily the pick of the bunch is the opening track ‘Real’, it’s a
near perfect mix of smooth soul and aggressive baseline. If only all the tracks
were actual ‘songs’ like this prime offering from Gorgon City.
So
another Curate’s Egg of a compilation, but on the upside, it will make you look
cool as you cruise round with it on the car stereo at full volume (or maybe not).
It’s well worth a listen but there’s always a health warning on these DJ mix
disks. Listen with limited expectations and enjoy that base!
After the
Geraldine Fibbers festive fifty entry this year with ‘Fancy’ I famously stated ‘Where
have the Geraldine Fibbers been all my life?’ Sadly, this may have been a
little rash on my part. ‘Butch’ is a hotch potch of semi-alt-country soundbites
that often don’t quite hang together as songs, let alone as a full album. It’s
reminiscent, in spirit anyway, of albums by Sufjan Stevens, Done Lying Down and
Guided by Voices. There’s just somethingthat doesn’t gel.
That’s not
always a bad thing, but in this case it is. ‘Butch’ is seriously hard work
apart from the way too catchy opener; ‘California Tuffy’ and the dark growl of ‘Toy
Box’ which is a cracking little song. The rest just gets flicked.
The Geraldine
Fibbers sound much better when the female singer provides the vocals. I’m
assuming this is Carla Bozulich and I’d be really keen to hear some of her
other work. Apparently she’s been quite a prolific artiste. Maybe it should
have been ‘Where has Carla Bozulich been all my life?’ I hope so anyway.
2014 has been
a tough year at the Into the Valley office and it’s already the end of April!
Years ago in
the early nineties I owned a Banco de Gaia album that I desperately wanted to
like. ‘Last Train to Lhasa’ was a vast concept album that charted a mystical
train journey, possibly into Tibet. It was ambient, deep and intelligent and
even with years of perseverance I could never get into it. In fact it used to
drive me a little insane.
Roll on
twenty years and Evlkeith has bought me ‘Apollo’; Banco de Gaia’s latest album
for Christmas. Surly they’ve moved on musically? Surly I’m deeper, more
intelligent and more open to ambience? Well apparently not. Essentially it
sounds exactly the same as ‘Last Train to Lhasa’; self indulgent, boring,
chugging techno that holds my limited attention for less than five seconds.
Unfortunately there’s no train journey theme this time either.
However all
is not lost. Sandwiching all that dirgy techno are two outstanding, stark
tracks featuring some ethnic yodelling/wailing. It’s atmospheric, beautiful and
passionate in contrast to everything else I’ve heard by them. If only they
could produce that kind of stuff all the time. ‘Lamentations’ is especially
stark and ethereal with ‘Aquiescence’ darker, deeper and more breathy in its
hypnotic incantations.
It all goes
to show that being a pop star is still a really secure job and as long as you
keep peddling the same old rubbish you’ll have a career for life. If only there
was more yodelling the world would be a better place.
