Latest releases reviewed
EURYTHMICS
Ultimate Collection Sony/BMG
****
Quite likely the most formidable music duo of the past 25 years, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart made music that toyed with gender orientation as much as setting a particularly high standard in the area of intelligent, commercial pop. From 1981 to 1999 the hits refused to dry up: Love Is a Stranger, Who's That Girl?, Right By Your Side, There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart), It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back) . . . all these and more caught the duo at the height of their considerable, quite innovative powers. Now reforming (after a five-year absence) for what looks like a sellout Greatest Hits tour (good news for mums, dads and babysitters), and with a new single, I've Got a Life, ready to climb the charts, it seems that pop style - streamlined, pin-point sharp, defiant and strong - is back. And a good thing, too. - Tony Clayton-Lea
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
Feels Fat Cat
****
Animal Collective's folky, psychedelic experiments have served them well for some six albums to date, yet Feels is sure to elicit more thunderous acclaim than any of their previous releases. You can attribute this to peer pressure, with the likes of Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire and even Devendra Banhart ploughing a path for infectious widescreen sonic gymnastics of this sort. But having pushed these buttons for quite some time (indeed,previous album Sung Tongs should have found more widespread favour), the Collective know just how to ensure that distorted euphoria, shuffling trickery, haunted soundscapes and weather-beaten, acid-washed whoops and hollers always hit the spot. You can hear this mostly clearly in the intricate, child-like chorus of Grass, the alluring jam of Banshee Beats and the grandstanding entrance that Did You See the Words makes, with a piano line from Múm's Kristin Anna Valtysdottir underlining Avey Tare's awestruck vocals. Feels like a winner all round. www.fat-cat.co.uk Jim Carroll
TEXAS
Red Book Mercury
*
Most people know two things about Texas: the singer's not-made-up name (Sharleen Spiteri) and that their biggest hit borrowed a riff from Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing. After that, their entire back catalogue coagulates into one big blob of verse-chorus-verse chart rock. Red Book doesn't differ; mawkish lyrics and iffy electro beats underline just how inauthentic these daytime radio- friendly love songs - barely distinguishable from each other - actually are. The sole exception on this blandfest is the title track, a chiming, spacey number that distances itself from the other also-rans. When presented with a chart-topping mix of jaunty Scot-rock and sultry ballads, the record execs must have rubbed their hands together. The rest of us will be putting them over our ears. www.texas.uk.com Sinéad Gleeson
AM O'GRADY
Precious Lines Niño Records
***
Debuts can run the risk of succumbing to one of two pitfalls: opting to fire every shot in their arsenal, leaving nothing for leftovers, or repeatedly striking the same chord. AM O'Grady has had her mettle tested on the live front, and Precious Lines is an occasionally fine calling card. Her voice is a taut, bare-boned thing of intermittent beauty, reminiscent of Aimee Mann in her Til Tuesday days. It proves its worth, particularly on the radio-friendly That's Life and Time Flies. O'Grady's writing is at times ponderous, but she manages to resist the temptation to sink into the morass of self-absorption that defines too many debutants these days. Producer Trevor Hutchinson works hard to give each song its own definition, and Vyvienne Long's cello lines ebb and flow soothingly. Siobhán Long
AU REVOIR SIMONE
Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation Moshi Moshi Records
***
It's Depeche Maid! Actually, it's not. Erika, Annie and Heather are three babes from New York who share a passion for synthesizers and are out to seduce the listener with a combination of old-school electronica and dreamy, delicious vocals. And they're succeeding. This eight-song mini-album is only a half-hour long, but that 30 minutes floats by very pleasantly, as the girls serenade you with the tinkling airs of Through the Backyards, Hurricanes, Where You Go, The Winter Song and Stay Golden. With a set of influences that range from Modest Mouse and Stereolab to Björk and Belle & Sebastian, you can rest assured that Au Revoir Simone are not merely rehashing stale old synthpop, but are out to snatch the rose-covered ground somewhere between Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain and Astrid Gilberto's Girl from Ipanema. On their own, the synths would sound a bit cheesy, but the girls' voices dancing above the sine waves make for a beautiful symmetry. http://aurevoirsimone.com Kevin Courtney
MUGISON
Mugimama - Is This Monkey Music? Accidental
*****
As the title of Icelandic sailor turned singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mugison's third album suggests, this is a motley collection of songs, at once playful and serious, lyrical and knowing. Boldly mixing electro acoustic and post-rock with indietronic and traditional Icelandic folk music, Mugison effortlessly shapes his quirky postmodern experimental impulses with simple melodies and driving polyrhythms. Switching effortlessly between bittersweet duets (What I Would Say In Your Funeral and 2 Birds, both with his girlfriend), rockular ballads (I Want You, The Chicken Song) and a grinding metal anthem (Sad As a Truck), this is a daringly eclectic collection of songs, not least in how the mercurial Mugison infuses his very savvy genre-bending with an exhilaratingly brash energy and warmth. www.mugison.com Jocelyn Clarke
TORTOISE & BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
The Brave and the Bold Domino
**
Hot on the heels of his live album, Summer in the Southeast, and not a million years after his . . . Sings the Best of Palace Music collection, Will Oldham hares ahead with his Tortoise buddies to create an album of off-the-wall cover versions, ranging from the obscure to the completely unexpected. You'd imagine Milton Nascimento, Bruce Springsteen, Lungfish, Devo and Elton John would sit uneasily on the same CD, and you'd be right: this is as strange a covers album as you'd expect from the weird prince of alt.country and the lords of experimental alt.rock. It's both brave and bold of Oldham & Co to attempt Springteen's Thunder Road, but the broken-amp guitars and shrieking keyboards create a suitably dislocated atmosphere. Elton John's hit Daniel, on the other hand, is a noble failure, and Devo's That's Pep is an amusing oddity. Richard Thompson's The Calvary Cross perfectly suits Oldham's cracked storytelling style, while Melanie's (Some Say) I Got the Devil translates well across time, genre and gender lines. Kevin Courtney
