Rock/Pop

The lastest Rock/Pop CDs reviewed

VARIOUS
Twisted Nerve 10th Anniversary Mix Twisted Nerve****
Andy Votel, Damon "Badly Drawn Boy" Gough and their accomplices probably had no idea what they
were doing a decade ago when Twisted Nerve went live with BDB's EP1. From an old, dusty Victorian
hat factory in central Manchester, TN became an imprint with a hugely idiosyncratic agenda, releasing oddball pop from mates, mates-of-mates and, eventually, strangers who become mates. Early releases came from Dave "Dakota Oak" Tyack, Sirconical, Mum & Dad and Alfie, but it's the wayward trippy
folk of Voice of the Seven Woods and such like who now dominate the label. To mark the 10th anniversary, Votel came up with a 13-track, 80-minute trip into sound. It's a history lesson without the boring bits - a ramshackle, mutant, merry and slightly bewildered dive into the fabric of a label that could never be described as run-of-the-mill. www.twistednerve.co.uk JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Track 8, Toolshed/ Dakota Oak; Track 1, D.O.T., Badly Drawn Boy, Dakota Oak

SIDESHOW
Admit One Aus***
Fink, aka Fin Greenall's Sideshow collaboration yielded a sleeper hitwith the lurching dub bass of
African Cherry, which is included on this, Sideshow's debut album. The low- burning rhythms of Youth of Todaysuggest that Sideshow are happy to repeat this endearing formula, but Admit One succeeds
thanks to a series of collaborations. Opening track Televisionis a dramatic, high-octane indie
workout, on which Cortney Tidwell's waif-like narrative vocals unfold over ethereal synths and epic guitar chords. Paul St Hillaire's reflective Jamaican tones imbue If Alonewith a seductive pathos. French Model, a string-soaked version of a Kraftwerk standard featuring Samar's breathy
intonations, will make you wonder if Sideshow are astute musical magpies or are just having a laugh.
Whatever their intentions, Admit Onemakes for an often alluring midweek afternoon soundtrack.
www.ausmusic.co.uk RICHARD BROPHY

Download tracks: If Alone, French Model, Television, African Cherry

WOMEN
Women Jagjaguwar***
Women are four young men from Calgary, Canada. Their monicker makes search engine optimisation
quite difficult, but their sound has a right good rattle to it, and will certainly serve them well. Women
(the album) is an alluring splurge of noise-coated lo-fi melodies from start to finish, unafraid of rough
edges and unvarnished surfaces. You could attribute this rough-and-ready texture to the primitive
recording methods; the crib-notes say it was recorded by producer Chad VanGaalen on ghettoblasters
and old tape-machines in his basement. But Women (the band) pull sparkling grooves from the
heart of the hiss. Black Riceis their finest moment to date, a winning hit of lazy harmonies and lopsided
hooks, but you won't go far wrong with the thumping, psychedelic uplift of Shaking Hand. www.myspace.com/womenmusic  JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Black Rice, Shaking Hand

J TILLMAN
Vacilando Territory Blues Bella Union****
While we wait for a new Fleet FoxesCD in February (they're set to re-release last year's acclaimed
self-titled album, along with a bonus disc of EPs and new tracks), here comes drummer Joshua Tillman.
But fear not - this is no Carl Palmer surge of grandiosity, but rather a gentle, reflective work. It's not so
much a side project (Tillman already has four well-received solo albums to talk about) as a central
issue acutely relevant to his day job. For all the success of Fleet Foxes, Vacilando Territory Bluesis
Tillman's first proper release on this side of the Atlantic and, boy, have we been missing something. The songs, covering several bases of folksy introspection (think of a bleak Nick Drake swapping songs with classic bedsit-era James Taylor), range from the grimy trappings of New Imperial Grand Bluesto the stellar, glorious Above All Men. All in all, it's perhaps less textured than Fleet Foxes, but just as terrifically uplifting. TONY CLAYTON-LEA

Download track: Above All Men

VARIOUS
Factory Records: Communications 1978-1992 Rhino****
So much came together in Manchester of the the late 1970s: punk had left its paw marks as a truculent new breed of musical acts emerged. It was right time, right place for one of the most important indie labels ever to set out its stall. Local scenster Tony Wilson, graphic designer Peter Saville and record
producer Martin Hannett made Factory into a totemic label - an almost holistic experience where the
music, how it sounded and how it was presented were all equal parts of the equation. This four-disc set
recaptures all the best moments of a prodigious musical era, bookended by the label's first release (Joy
Division's Digital) and its last (Happy Mondays' Sunshine and Love). But it's the stuff in between the gaps that really fills out the picture: Factory was as much about modified krautrock and funk and as it was about angular art-rock. Beautifully packaged, this is a fitting tribute to a label whose influence still resounds today. BRIAN BOYD

Download tracks: Digital, Confusion