POP/ROCK

The latest releases reviewed

THE REDNECK MANIFESTO Seven Stabs Greyslate ***

Don't be fooled by the country-fried moniker: TRM's brief is to play loose, juiced-up instrumental music, far removed from the sticks but boasting a welldefined frontier spirit. And don't bother looking for comparisons with Scottish instrumentalists Mogwai, either, as this Dublin bunch have a poppier, funkier outlook to their sound. If The Meters had been raised on a diet of alt. rock, they'd probably have sounded like this. Seven Stabs contains just seven tracks and clocks in at a mere 26 and a half minutes, but each piece is a complex, intelligent musical dialogue that reaches well beyond its allotted temporal frame. It's as if each tune has been playing endlessly in a room somewhere, and you've just wandered in to catch a three-minute snippet of it. There's a danger with playing instrumental rock; it can all very quickly descend into a noodly, jazzy jam session, but the Rednecks keep a tight grip on their unique five-way dynamic and never let themselves stray into twiddly self-indulgence. www.theredneckmanifesto.com

Kevin Courtney

GRANDADDY Just Like the Fambly Cat V2 **

After 14 years, Grandaddy are hanging up their guitars and heading off to claim their corner in American indie's lo-fi hall of fame. As a sign-off, this is a mixture of teary farewells and exuberant overstays, with any flicker of greatness edged out by self-indulgence. Jason Lytle's lyrics reflect the band's decline, as on Where I'm Anymore and Summer's Gone and the last orders feel of This Is How It Always Starts. Rear View Mirror's vintage synths and the breezy ambiguity of Skateboarding Saves Me Twice punch above their weight, but much of this suffers from a reluctance to get off the stage. Many tracks drag on, losing momentum, compounded by a 1970s prog-rock approach to ignoring the stop button. At least we know that if Grandaddy want a new career, they can reinvent themselves as an ELO covers band. www.grandaddylandscape.com

Sinéad Gleeson

VARIOUS Still Unravished (A Tribute to The June Brides) Yesboyicecream ***

Last in the queue to be rediscovered, The June Brides had a brief but magical reign in the mid-1980s and were very much the darlings of the indie set. Fronted by talented songwriter Phil Wilson, they never released that much (a few singles and a sole album) but they were once Morrissey's favourite band and are constantly name-checked by Primal Scream, Manic Street Preachers and Belle and Sebastian. This tribute album more than does justice to their edgy but melodic pop - The Manics weigh in with a thundering version of The Instrumental, while The Positions work wonders with the beautiful Every Conversation. You may not have heard of many of the bands covering the songs here, but no matter. What stands out is the great indie inventiveness of a band that have been criminally ignored for way too long. Now can we have the reunion tour, please?

Brian Boyd

VANISHING BREED Between Arrival and Departure Pingipung Records ***

British songwriter Alexander Holmes is currently based in Berlin but gives the likes of Lemon Jelly a run for their money with his rustic tales of being a stranger in familiar surroundings while listening to a soundtrack of Syd Barett and home/field recordings. Holmes (one of the masterminds behind the London-based quirks They Came from the Stars, I Saw Them) has clearly named his album after his status. Equal parts surreal, charming and unsettling, Between Arrival and Departure is inspired by his German experiences (Ich Habe Keine Angst) and his interest in curious everyday situations (Whichever Way You Build a Road There Will Always Be a Middle). Permeating it all is a waspish sense of humour and world weariness. File under Likeable Eccentricity. www.vanishingbreed.co.uk

Tony Clayton-Lea

KING BISCUIT TIME Black Gold No Style ***

Beta Band fans can finally come out of mourning: Steve Mason is still flying the weirdcore folk flag under his crumbly alter-ego. Here is the King's first full-length album, following two well-received EPs in 1998 and 2000. Black Gold is released on Mason's own No Style label, in association with Alan McGee's Poptones. It sees Mason further exploring the spacy landscape already charted by the Betas and finding a few interesting places to stop and smell the psycho-daisies. The political skank of CIAM 15 opens things with a lively dancehall beat, after which the album settles into the unhurried drift of Impossible Ride, with its plaintive melodic lines, the biscuit-tin stomp of Lefteye, and the sunny choral layers of Rising Son. Paperhead borrows a bit off Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street, creating a looped sense of deja vu, but single Kwangchow carries the Beta Band aesthetic forward with a flourish. www.kingbiscuittime.co.uk

Kevin Courtney