Black Box Recorder: The Facts Of Life
What started out as a side project for Auteurs leader, Luke Haines, has now stepped gracefully into centre stage, thanks to the breathy, sensual vocals of Sarah Nixey and the sublime musical vision of Haines and co-songwriter John Moore. The title track has already hit the Top 20, but lest the kids mistake BBR for S Club 7, the cover features a rather un-fluffy meatrack, and songs like Weekend, May Queen, and Sex Life approach the sexual mores of English youth with something far more seductive than a simple bump 'n' grind. Even the opening track, The Art Of Driving, is a thinly-disguised treatise on sex, but I still haven't worked out if The English Motorway System is about class, politics or spaghetti junctions. If ever there was a near-perfect collision of minds and talents, it's captured in Black Box Recorder.
By Kevin Courtney
White Pepper (Mushroom)
Those enigmatic geeks from New Jersey are back, and it's time to fear the Boognish once again. Gene and Dean Ween (a.k.a. Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo) have been crawling around the underbelly of US rock for quite a while, and their new album plunders pop's treasure chest, turning old gold into new cheese. Fans of the gruesome twosome will know that the pair enjoy taking the piss out of polka, country, grunge and psychedelia, but they're also capable of producing some sublime music on the way to a cheap laugh. The opening three tracks, Exactly Where I'm At, Flutes Of Chi and Even If You Don't are impressive, distilling pop's essence to priceless effect, but parody tracks like Bananas And Blow, Stroker Ace and Pandy Fackler keep everything cheap and cheeky.
By Kevin Courtney
Kieran Goss: Red-Letter Day
The colours on the sleeve of Kieran Goss's new album are muted sepia tones that underline the penetration of his eyes. The colour of his music is likewise, but the sharpness of his stare is missing in the (mostly) quiet intimacies of the 13 tracks. At times he hints of Neil Finn's Crowded House phase - subtle, inviting melodies and intelligent arrangements, but the songs in general lack definition and authority. Perhaps it is the plethora of co-writers he uses, for although these songs pose as deeply personal, many actually come across as rather detached. There are exceptions, the compelling simplicity of Big Tough World, for example, but Goss's soft-rock odes to early middle-age musings can be a little too precious.
By Joe Breen
Paul Brady: Oh What A World
There's a lot to be said for the classically constructed pop song, and Paul Brady is a master of that art. Sadly, despite this album's sleeve notes declaring each song "has a classic, timeless quality" with unoriginal titles like Sea Of Love and Love Hurts, the songs too often sound like song-writing exercises rather than cries from the human soul. Cries of joy or pain? Not so Believe In Me, co-written with Carole King, and The Long Goodbye, co-credited to Ronan Keating. Both are blessed with word-sensitive string arrangements. Minutes Away, Miles Apart also has a mercilessly accurate lyric and rings true. Better still, Try Me One More Time taps into Brady's primal pool. But overall, this album is interesting, not essential Paul Brady.
By Joe Jackson