Midlake - Milkmaid Grand Army EP
Long before becoming immersed in the folk-rock stylings of Fleetwood Mac and Neil Young and perfecting their own richly-layered world of honest toil, it seems Midlake were much like every other alt-rock US band - they wanted to be Radiohead. Midlake, though, were better than most. This EP was originally released in 2001 and limited to a 1,000 copy run, and has been a much sought-after rarity since the band released their fantastic Trials Of Van Occupanther album in 2006. Built around metronomic beats, guitar fuzz and that singing-down-the-phone effect much loved by The Strokes, this sounds like a completely different band from the one they have transformed into. It's great stuff - especially the jazzy Roller Skate (Farewell June) - but for fans it's a bit like finding a photo of your girlfriend with her ex, except in this case it's a photo of your favourite band with Thom Yorke.
Milkmaid Grand Army is out on Bella Union
Sarabeth Tucek - Sarabeth Tucek
From the Cat Power/Mazzy Star school of smoky, female understatement, Miami-born Tucek has recorded an album of country-flecked, bittersweet beauty - perfect for warming chilly winter evenings. Produced by Bill Callahan, it has the same quiet qualities as his band Smog - slow, aching songs that take time to grab you but once they do, they hook you in like any top 40 pop song. Holy Smoke, Hey You and Ambulance are all sparse, subtle slow-burners topped by Tucek's wondrous voice. Meanwhile, proving she's not a one-trick pony, Nobody Cares is a sparkling melody that recalls Rilo Kiley when they weren't quite so polished. Bat For Lashes and Regina Spektor may be operating more successfully in the same field, but Tucek has some major supporters in Bob Dylan and Ray Lamontagne - both of whom asked her to support them recently. Captivating.
Sarabeth Tucek is out now on Echo
Rufus Wainwright - Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Sings Judy! Judy! Judy!
Promoted as the gayest event ever, Rufus Wainwright sets out to recreate - in exact song order, in the same vocal key (where possible), with a slickly conducted orchestra and with talking bits in the same spots - Judy Garland's classic 1961 concerts. It is something only someone as witty and flamboyant as Wainwright could achieve. Released simultaneously as a CD and DVD and taken from his performances at Carnegie Hall in New York and at the London Palladium earlier this year, they demonstrate a singer at the top of his game. More vamp than camp.
Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Sings Judy! Judy! Judy! is out on Universal
British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
Epic and commercial, BSP's third album has grand musical scope that matches Arcade Fire's. It majors in an odd, arch, English triumphalism that's still uplifting despite the obtuse humour at play. Second track No Lucifer somehow combines a popular football-terrace chant with Pope Benedict XVI's past involvement with the Hitler youth movement and the joys of Raleigh bicycles - and yet it' the catchiest rock song you're likely to hear in 2008. Waving Flags, meanwhile, achieves its goal as an egalitarian anthem, uniting all in a celebration of quality lager. Throughout, there is much to startle and make the hairs on the back of your neck bristle.
Do You Like Rock Music? is out on Rough Trade
Dean Owens -
Whisky Hearts
Recorded in Tennessee with a stellar supporting cast of musicians - most notably guitar legends Will Kimbrough and Al Perkins - this is an album with its boots in Nashville and its hat in Owens's native Scotland that succeeds in blending Celtic soul with country and rock. Beginning with the sound of the producer marking the tape (the kind of thing you're more likely to hear on an Elvis out-takes album), you get the sense that this quality album is Owens's dream come true. It brims with fantastic songs - the opening Years Ago is reminiscent of Springsteen and the E Street Band in their swaggering pomp, Beth on a Trampoline and Sand in My Shoes expertly hit a chilled, west-coast 70s vibe, while Man from Leith is a simple and heartfelt eulogy to Owens's father. The result is an album you'll keep coming back to and sharing with like-minded friends like a prized bottle of single malt.
Whisky Hearts is out on Vermillion Road Records
Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War
The toast of the Canadian indie scene, Stars have made an album that deserves more attention than it got when it was initially released a couple of months back. It's quite an 80s-sounding record - shifting between Bacharach-esque melodies (My Favourite Book), the occasional U2-style epic (Take me to the Riot) and keyboard sounds that wouldn't have been out of place on a China Crisis B-side. Lyrically, though, it's totally of its age and focuses on the fragile nature of modern love, from online dating to a romance that begins in the midst of a football riot. Melodrama and melody have always been a good combination and Stars pull it off with style.
In Our Bedroom After the War is on City Slang
Remi Nicole - My Conscience and I
Twenty-something drama school drop-out Remi Nicole - who was inspired to pick up a guitar after spotting Noel Gallagher outside Tiffany & Co in Mayfair (how street!) - has a serviceable line in sprightly pop tunes with dashes of ska, indie-rock and comic cut-ups of 50s BBC continuity-style voices. On the whole, it's upbeat, fun and much more summery than an album released in the depths of winter ought to be. There are also bonus points for getting kids TV show Grotbags into a lyric and for sticking two fingers up to those who think black girls shouldn't be into guitar music on the fab Rock ’n’ Roll. Remi's debut stands on the meridian line between Kate Nash and Jack Penate, so if you like or dislike either of those two, you'll feel the same way about this light and casual offering.
My Conscience and I is on Universal
Tom Baxter - Skybound
Unlike James Blunt and David Gray (both of whom share some vocal similarities to this artist), Tom Baxter seems to really love and believe his own music. It's humourless and soppy for sure, but Baxter's sincerity is the thing that pulls Skybound above many of his British male singer-songwriter peers. A Night Like This is the first of many lively excursions that come within a whisker of over-indulgence, while Tell Her Today will tempt you to whisper 'Suffolk's answer to Jeff Buckley'. But it's the soaring ballads that have made Baxter a star and white-vest model. Skybound is a brilliantly arranged song that features flamenco guitar and dark strings but with a chorus that lifts the spirit, while Better is like an acoustic take on Coldplay but without Chris Martin's questionable falsetto. Those tempted by the hits will discover a serious, talented artist with plenty of musical depth but lacking in any edge whatsoever.
Skybound is out on Universal
Kylie - X
Following the format well trodden by Britney, Fergie, Gwen - and before them all Madonna - X teases cutting-edge dance sounds and production techniques into a shiny box and ties them all up with a sparkly bow. It doesn't really work. Kylie is at her best when setting out to make feel-good pop rather than a cool statement, so it's the more simplistic tracks that work best here - which means that the camp disco of The One and Wow, the kitsch Like a Drug, single 2 Hearts and Sensitized are all fabulous. But, sadly, like an under-stuffed Christmas stocking, there are plenty of fillers to pad out the treats. All said and done, though, a solid comeback from the popstar's popstar.
X is on Parlophone
Wu Tang Clan -
The 8 Diagrams
Getting the eight surviving members of Wu-Tang Clan together again (Ol' Dirty Bastard died in 2004) must have taken some doing. The original business model, based in part on organised-crime families, was that they worked as a collective of individuals who helped each other's solo careers as well as their joint project - but the group itself has been largely forgotten in the past decade. The 8 Diagrams is an incredible return, mixing dusty thriller movie dialogue with their trademark grime beats and violent rap narratives to stunning effect and proving that they're still a step above their hip-hop peers. The Heart Gently Weeps brilliantly builds around a sample of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, while elsewhere White Linen Affair and Walk Around demonstrate that they remain a unique force.
The 8 Diagrams is out on Bodog
Lupe Fiasco - Superstar
Once upon a time, the best hip hop was about street life. Today, it's about celebrity culture, a subject that Jay-Z, Kanye West and Common have all tackled in the past year. Lupe's spin is the hottest yet - with inspired crossover it features the vocal talents of Fall Out Boy's Matthew Santos. As addictive as the pursuit of fame itself.
Superstar is out on Atlantic
Glasvegas
50s songwriting, sinister fuzz and Scottish soul combine to make Glasvegas one of the most intriguing prospects for 2008. Hotly tipped here last week and elsewhere besides, and with a classic single under their belts in Daddy's Gone, their forthcoming tour will prove to everyone that they are destined for greater things. Tour begins at Northampton Soundhaus on January 25 then nationwide.
Full dates and ticket information from glasvegas.net
Gay For Johnny Depp
This screamy, New York hardcore band's songs - as you may be able to deduce from their name - are almost entirely focused on their lascivious obsession with the Hollywood heart-throb. They are not particularly new (their EP Erotically Charged Dance Songs For The Desperate was released three years ago) but have just got around to releasing an album. A side project to a gaggle of bands (including the marvellous God Fires Man), the surprise is how fierce, loud and actually pretty good they are (Kerrang! described the album as "one of the best punk outbursts of the year", and rightly so). Brave UK residents can discover them for themselves in early 2008 when they tour for the first time. We're asked to expect nudity, sexual frisson, big melodies, crowd participation and crowd procreation. In the meantime, have a poke around their MySpace page - but not until, as they advise, you "put your sex pants on". You have been warned.
See more of the band at myspace.com/ gayforjohnnydepp
Reviews by Johnny Dee
FIRST POSTED JANUARY 11, 2008
