January 2005

On the turntables this month in Montpellier :
The Sharp Ease : Going Modern (Soft Spot).
Emilie Simon : La Marche de l 'Empereur Soundtrack (Barclay).
The Caufield Sisters : Say It With Fire (Self produced).
Kap Bambino : Love Khima France (Wwilko).

On the turntables this month in Oslo : .
Asja Auf Capri : Novi Ronde (Difficult Fun).
The Konki Duet : Il Fait Tout Gris (Active Suspension).
The SoldOut : Stop Talking (Anorak Supersport).
Exchpoptrue : Disco Raus (Space Factory).
V/A : Swiss Wave The Album (Off Course).

What Babes in Boyland wrote about you.......
(Since it was Christmas break for us as well, there are only 3 reviews, sorry guys, you'll got lots more to read next month.)

. The Bruises : Ladies and Gentlemen…..The Bruises (Self production).
I felt an intense wave of fear tighten my throat as I read the band's biography, sent with the cd: one of them had toured with Kelly Osbourne... The problem is not that I actually have any with the character, but I must admit I am not a burning fan of her music (Kelli's, I mean). Ouch, will this be another one of these mainstream politically correct MTV girls band? But as early as the first track, I caught myself expecting Corin Tucker's voice, and the bewitching power of the album started to affect me. Anja Blue and Jenny Black actually manage to make their big sisters part of history with this extremely coherent and promising 4tracks cd. The songs are so polished that they sound like their are excerpts of a full-length.
To be put next to the Delta Darts, on the "outsider" shelf of your discotheque ;)
S.

Ok, here is a BiB schism, which is surprising, since when we get really excited about the bands, we both do. In spite of our often divergent personal tastes, we always meet on one thing: Great Bands, as if their was no question of subjectivity to extreme quality, or something. Don't get me wrong here, though: The Bruises are not a bad band, and the idea of a BiB schism might be a bit a bit too extreme of a word. I agree a bit with the Sleater Kinney reference, because of the guitar sound and attacks but it's something I almost forgot when the vocals started. Well, that's my ears to my brain, at least, and especially on "Slowly", "Pictures" and the first part of "Feel the Rain" (3 out of 4... I guess we can almost say we agree on the SK reference...even if slightly more limited). My problem, lies in fact in the structure of the songs which I do not find really interesting: a bit too predictable (although I really like the strings hovering over our heads, especially on "Slowly" and the rising of the song with the struggling vocal lines) and a bit too clean (Beautiful Mess). I also agree on the Delta Dart reference to some extend fat as a hair, on the 2 songs I actually like ("Pictures" and "Slowly") but the two other tracks really take an easy pop turn from the chorus. Now you have two different opinions of on the same e.p., I guess you just have to get it to see who you agree with most ;-)
CV.

.Neither Neither World : Rewound (Shayo).
You might have been initiated to Wendy Van Dusen's work thanks to the Extreme Music From Women Compilation, released by Susan Lawly Records a few years ago. I must confess that I never went into deep exploration of the music of her SF-based band Neither Neither World. I had even put them in the "to really listen to, if you one day have the chance to" category in my archives. Here is the oportunity to catch up: a 15 tracks compilation including a live track and two cover versions (Bauhaus, Tones on Tails et Jesus & Mary Chain). The result is a collection of dark folk ballads. Far from boring, the tracks are handcraft in the genre's purest tradition; the shadow of World Serpent (RIP) are still gliding over these pieces of art. I caught myself linking them to a Mazzy Star-like universe, probably because of the covers of « Darklands » and « Psychocandy ». Anyway, listening to these tracks with a clear sound offers a radically new approach, and the musical bridge built between dark folk and indie is a real treat. Thanks to retrospective work, I am definitely going to try and make up for lost time and start o a close exploration of the rest of this bands' works.
S.

.Clover's Cloé : Tales from my skyscraper (Self production).
Clover's Cloé is a band from Bussels that plays a kind of urban folk. They started in 1999 and just released and self producted their first album. The protagonist of the band is Cloé Defossez: vocals, guitar, piano and ...composer for the band.The overall atmosphere of these 12 tracks keeps on reminding me of the Rainbirds' “Call me easy…”: sad, without whipping, heartrending without being suffocating. « A picture of view » would be perfect on of Ann Pierlé (also her fellow country woman)'s album. A truly mature album for a band who has been on the road for 4 years already. The only black spot I can think of is the fact that the lyrics are often difficult to read, due to a lack of contrast on the packaging.
S.

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