Filed under: album, review, video | Tags: 2008, music, richard steele, tilly and the wall
Tilly & The Wall
O •••
Team Love
After following up their classic debut Wild Like Children with a record that was almost as great but essentially more of the same, celebrated Nebraskan quintet Tilly & The Wall find themselves in difficult third album territory. Having to decide between sticking to what they know or breaking new and potentially alienating ground, the band had initially seemed to go for the latter with the addictive electro triumph of recent single ‘Beat Control’. But, with the announcement that the single had not made it onto the highly anticipated O (though its B-side ‘Cacophany’ did), fans were left wondering just what to expect.
Filed under: album, review, video | Tags: 2008, alex ramon, music, thea gilmore
Thea Gilmore
Liejacker ••••
Fullfill
Thea Gilmore’s newest album, her eighth in a prolific 10-year career, deserves a more inviting title. This is a characteristically rich, engrossing collection of songs composed with Gilmore’s typical care and thoughtfulness, so it’s a shame that she’s saddled the record with a weakly punning moniker that seems to have little thematic resonance on the music contained within.
Filed under: album, review | Tags: 2008, allison moorer, music, paul woodgate, shelby lynne
Allison Moorer
Mockingbird •••
New Line
Shelby Lynne
Just A Little Lovin’ ••••
Lost Highway
Moorer and Lynne are sisters with enough turbulent family history to keep them in country songs for the rest of their lives. Recent albums, however, while critically well received, have been more damp squib than fireworks for their labels. Now, within a fortnight of each other they have released very different cover albums, allowing me to raise a perennial question on this difficult subject; are cover albums a contractual obligation, an exercise in vanity, or a chance for the muse to fly? No artist will readily admit the former and there’s a little of the second in every covers albums, so allowing for the benefit of doubt and assuming the latter, a comparison of sibling coverage lends itself well to the art of review.
Sheryl Crow
Detours •••½
A&M
Detours occur when we get distracted. For a split second our aim slips out of sight and, almost in an instant, we feel a loss of orientation and suddenly we’re taking another, unknown route to the same destination. Woefully we are convinced on arriving there that we have somehow lost valuable time and energy. Seldom do we acknowledge that detours contribute just as much, if not more, to our being.
Filed under: album, review, video | Tags: 2008, eva weppelmann, goldfrapp, music
Goldfrapp
Seventh Tree ••••½
Mute
There comes a time in every showgirl’s life when the thought of hanging up the sequins, dismantling the killer heels and consigning the nipple tassles to the bottom drawer of the bedside cabinet becomes an attractive reality. Having progressed from Felt Mountain’s midsummer night’s dream of a freshly post-virginal, fragile infatuation to Supernature’s hypersexual glam-rock stomp, via Black Cherry’s kinky allusions and overt flirtations, Seventh Tree finds the duo of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory not so much edging away from the adventurous lust of their last two albums as turning their back on it completely. It’s still very much a Goldfrapp record but this isn’t Felt Mountain part II either; there’s nothing so innocent about Seventh Tree.
Filed under: album, review, video | Tags: 2008, laura marling, music, richard steele
Laura Marling
Alas I Cannot Swim •••••
EMI
Alas I Cannot Swim is the debut album from Reading teenager Laura Marling, but the chances are you’ve already heard her distinctive voice. As well as releasing two EPs of her own, she’s toured with Jamie T, been a part time member of Noah & The Whale, and recorded tracks with The Rakes and Mystery Jets. She’s clearly benefited from surrounding herself with so many musical influences; her first long-player is a fully formed classic.
The Ettes
Look At Life Again Soon •••½
Take Root
Nothing is more dangerous for a young band than buzz. Listeners inevitably expect the second coming of the New York Dolls or Joy Division, and with a solid first album a band may have nowhere to go but down. Compared to indie powerhouses The Strokes and declared “the band to watch in 2007″, retro beat-punk band The Ettes have a lot to live up to with sophomore release Look At Life Again Soon.
Filed under: live, review | Tags: 2008, alan pedder, diane cluck, emmy the great, music, younghusband
Diane Cluck / Emmy The Great / Younghusband
Live at Cargo, Shoreditch •••
June 11th, 2008
Diane Cluck
Live at Café Oto, Dalston •••••
June 18th, 2008
The annual visit of Diane Cluck to British soil unfailingly provokes something close to quiet hysteria in the Wears The Trousers office. The very mention of her name sets our bottom lips aquiver and our eyes to dew like lovers’.
There are two things one can guarantee when Diane is in town: enrapturing and Emmy The Great. So enamoured with Ms. Cluck is Ms. The Great that she somehow shoehorns her way onto any bill that Diane might be playing. She’s even written her into a song. And why not? As far as Wears The Trousers is concerned, the more songs by, about or featuring Diane Cluck, the better.
Sarah McLachlan
Rarities, B-Sides & Other Stuff Vol. 2 ••
SonyBMG
A belated sequel to the 1996 pre-Surfacing collection which collated Sarah McLachlan’s harder-to-find material, Rarities, B-Sides & Other Stuff Vol. 2 proves a rather lacklustre follow-up, its music not much more distinctive or inspiring than its lame title.
Diamanda Galás
Guilty Guilty Guilty •••
Mute
There’s nothing like starting a review with a non-sequitur, so here’s one for you: ‘guilty’ is one of those words that rapidly loses its meaning when you repeat it, don’t you think? Go on, try it: guiltyguiltyguiltyguilty…by the fourth or fifth repetition you may as well be singing Pleiadian backwards for all the sense it makes.
