January Reviews

Here are some reviews I've written in January. Again, some may be published in Vice. Some may not.

Dub Stories CD/DVD
Discograph/Uncivilized World

7 From Radiohead trooping off stage to One-Drop to a bunch of kids from Croydon revitalising UK urban dance music, something’s up. Dub is in the air again. This documentary argues that from the day King Tubby killed the vocal on the mixing desk at Treasure Isle and created the first version track it never went away. It’s hard to argue, imagine a world without Rhythm & Sound or Basic Channel. Scary eh?

Ballads Of The Book
Chemikal Underground

8 Hello everything that’s great about Scotland encapsulated in an 18 song collaborative collection! Knowing and arch lyrical ballads of heartbreak and booze spoken and sang by everyone from those folky Fence Collective dudes to Ian Rankin and Idlewild. Who wants a guided tour of the 52 states? I’d far rather hear about waifs from Fife, love that destroys and Calvinist preachers.

Grinderman
Grinderman
Mute

6 If you’d asked me what a record involving Warren Ellis, Nick Cave and a couple of Bad Seeds would spit out I’d never of guessed it would sound like an abrasive No-Wave racket that can morph from agitated Beefheart spoken word dirges to bluesified whig outs to moments of stark beauty. Hold on, that’s exactly what I would have thought it would sound like. Yep, it’s another Cave/Bad Seeds record but with another name.

Harmful
7
Koolarrow

1 There is a reason why this band is only big in Germany. If I wanted to listen to middle of the road riff-driven noisy rock that’s done the same thing for a decade I’d put Lungfish on. If I wanted to hear it done well I’d listen to the first couple of Helmet records. No one cares that Billy Gould used to be in Faith No More, Butch Vig once produced Nirvana, he still went on to play in Garbage. They’re so bored of their own music that they’ve even given up naming the albums, “here you go world: your seventh sack of shit”.

Wolf
The Black Flame
Century Media

10 Not sure if I’m meant to enjoy this as much as I do but listening to Wolf makes you feel like you’re at Castle Donnington watching prime-Maiden jamming with Rush and making wank fantasy NWOBHM. Fuck Dragonforce, this album has a song called ‘Steelwinged Savage Reaper’. Incredible.

Conqueror
Jesu
Hydra Head

9 If you don’t know who Justin K Broadrick is you are probably in the wrong place. Bye. Ok, the recent Final stuff was alright and everything if you were in the right mood but this is something else. While Sunn O))) slowly drone themselves into a dead end this towering slab of perfection sounds like the celestial host rising through the clouds and then shitting on Isis and Pelican’s heads from above. Incredible and essential.

DISTANCE
MY DEMONS
PLANET MU

8 Distances debut at FWD in December was like a breath of fresh air amidst the halfsteps and wobbles of a scene that could easily fall into formula. The reason this works where other Dubstep artists have failed in the leap to long player is that it’s not just a collection of 12”s, it sounds like an album. Put it like this: who remembers Molten Beats? Bet you remember Timeless though.

Kill Rock Stars Video Fanzine 3
DVD

10 KRS is one of those ‘major’ indies that just doesn’t seem to put a foot wrong. It’s been about five years since they last did one of these but wow, worth the wait! For your ten quid you get a mix of promos from quirky bands like Hella which you’d never see unless they were here, some awesome live archive footage of bands like Born Against, Men’s Recovery Project and Unwound all of whom are better than pretty much everything else going on now put together as well as some shorts by people like Sadie Shaw and Sarah Reed. There’s even some bits on here by Quix*o*tic and the Decemberists so you can watch it with your girlfriend.