New


NATHANIEL MAYER Why Won’t You Let Me Be Black? Alive Natural Sound LP www.alivenergy.com


This is the second volume of recordings that took place during Nay Dog’s last two day sessions of “intense jamming, writing and recording” with


(much) younger followers and soulmates Matthew Smith, Dan Auerbach, Dave Shettler and Troy Gregory. Following two acoustic radio session tracks and some ballads, the album’s better half continues where 2007’s Why Don’t You Give It To Me? left off, which is Motor City powered psychedelic garage soul... if there ever was such a thing. It’s these latterday recordings, starting with


’04’s ‘I Just Want To Be Held’, that reinvent Meyer as one of the ultimate soul/R&B shouters, to an extent that he might even seem more exciting to modern garage heads than to classic old school soul fans. Goran Obradovic


MICK MEDEW & THE RUMOURS All Your Love 1-94 Bar CD www.194barrecords.com


Mick Medew possesses one of the great pop/rock voices so it’s good to see him back in in action again after a very long break from the music business. In


the late ‘80s Mick’s old band The Screaming Tribesmen belied their name by playing tough but tuneful and melodic guitar pop, achieving considerable indie success in their native Australia and in the US. This album takes up where the final


incarnation of the Tribesmen left off. The production is simple and direct and the songs are full of heavy guitars to underpin Mick’s vocals. Whilst this set will go down well in the pubs and clubs of Australia, there isn’t anything as fine as the Bones And Flowers and Top Of The Town albums. Now he’s back, I’d love to see him tackle the more melodic type of material that made the Tribesmen so great in the first place. Phil Suggitt


MIKE & THE RAVENS No Place For Pretty Zoho Roots CD www.zohomusic.com


Even though it took no less than 45 years for last year’s debut long player to be recorded, re-entering Saxony Studios seemed to provide a spark exciting


enough for Mike & The Ravens to be back for yet another set of sessions, recapturing the live spirit of Rollerland venue. True to the debut’s Noisy Boys! title, and descriptions such as “21st Century rockabilly” or “Howlin’ Wolf fronting The Clash”, No Place For Pretty is sure to bend minds of both contemporary garage-


punk heads, and Plattsburgh then-teenagers who used to go crazy over them back in the early ’60s. In fact, the latter might even recognise two of the songs included here, even though versions of both ‘One Of These Days’ and ‘I’ve Taken All I Can’ are punked up compared to the originals, especially the former, which is turned into a frantic Beefheart- like piece of R&B. Easy as they come, I’m pretty sure another


Saxony session is just around the corner. Goran Obradovic


MARIA MULDAUR AND HER GARDEN OF JOY Good Time Music For Hard Times Stony Plain CD www.stonyplainrecords.com


America’s First Lady Of Roots Music, plucky vocalist Maria Muldaur, comes full circle and references her ’60s Even Dozen and Jim Kweskin Jug Band origins with


this marvelously lighthearted project that not only reunites her with Even Dozen alumni John Sebastian and David Grisman but also features illustrious hipster Dan Hicks (who adventurously duets with Muldaur on ‘Life’s Too Short’ and ‘When Elephants Roost In Bamboo Trees’) along with a new generation jug ensemble, called The Crow Quill Night Owls led by ragtime guitar and washboard virtuoso Kit Stovepipe. Other flashback favourites are two vintage-


sounding compositions by Hicks (‘The Diplomat’ and ‘Let It Simmer’) as well as properly zany covers of jug classics like the rambunctious ‘Shake Hands And Tell Me Goodbye’, a horns-accented ‘The Ghost Of The St Louis Blues’, the hokum delight ‘Sweet Lovin’ Ol’ Soul’ and the unfortunately topical- once-again ‘Bank Failure Blues’ and ‘The Panic Is On’.


Inspiring performances from all concerned. Gary von Tersch


THE NEGLIGENTS Good Advice Creapo CD www.creapo.com


I’ve had a lot of mediocre platters dropped off ECR Manor as of late and it has brought on much musing by me about the current state of rock ‘n’ roll.


That was until I saw the debut by Chicago group The Negligents gracing my foyer. Very true to their chosen moniker, this is their first full length despite having been around for several years. The trio plays no frills, meat and taters garage punk rock ‘n’ roll that just reeks of sweat and cheap beer, recalling at times the spirit of Estrus records, in particular The Monomen. The boys gear up for yet another Saturday


night and get right down to business with the lead off track ‘Friend Of Friends’ which would definitely be a hit in a perfect, alternate universe. ‘Do The Take Away’ kicks like a mule and wears its ’60s moves on the sleeve, while ‘Feedbag’ gives you misogynous food for thought. Eric Colin Reidelberger


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ROSIE NIMMO Lazy And Mellow Kick My Heels CD www.rosienimmo.com


Rosie Nimmo, dilettante, offers jazz, blues and a soupcon of folk in her debut album Lazy And Mellow. She starts weaving her graceful spell with the dreamy


‘Spider And Fly’ and, throughout the album, the fastidious arrangements and soothing vocals make the tracks flow delicately into one another. Stylistic changes are introduced gradually and no horses are frightened at any stage. The most outlandish it gets is the folk- pop of ‘Joy’ –also the best track as the fiddle of Mairi Campbell really marks this number out. Although it’s not stereotypical easy listening


muzak, Rosie’s album is not aurally challenging in any way. It definitely has a place as a flawless piece of music but, in the future, it might be an idea for Rosie to jar her audience a bit and make sure they’re really paying attention. After all, if you feel lazy and mellow for too long you might just nod off. Jeanette Leech


PARADISE 9 Nothing For Tomorrow EP Paradise 9 Recordings CD www.paradise9.net


Self-described “space-core” quintet Paradise 9 deliver a salutary warning about the destruction of the planet’s resources on a title track that romps


along with a catchy chorus, swirling keyboards and engaging hookline to make this a much more commercial proposition than one might initially expect. Elsewhere, ‘Crystalized Moments’ is a


haunting, tenderly crafted acoustic guitar-led love song, and is by far the most pensive, reflective number on the EP. Normal service is resumed with the more punky ‘Broken Promises’, whilst the 11 minute finale, ‘Points Of View' starts out as a lively sing-a-long number before meandering off into an extended, spaced-out psychedelic jam, replete


with clarinet solo. The obvious reference points here are Here & Now and maybe Hawkwind, but these guys sure know how to add their own spin on things too, and as such merit checking out. Rich Deakin


PUGWASH Giddy Ape CD www.ape.uk.net


Described with characteristic élan by Ape label boss Andy Partridge as “better than McCartney, fatter than Lennon”, Thomas Walsh has to be one of the Emerald Isle’s best-kept secrets. Listening to Giddy, a cherry-picked compilation of highlights from Pugwash albums only released in Ireland, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Walsh and his cohorts are only a secret because the Irish were unwilling to relinquish such a consummate treasure. Perfect pop is difficult to define; but bunging


this album on to the stereogram should do the trick. Whether it’s the pillow of Beach Boys harmonies that cushions ‘Nice To Be Nice’, the rainy day brass and shimmering tremolo guitar of ‘Black Dog’ or the baroque string arrangement of great subtlety which elegantly dresses ‘Cluster Bomb’, this is manna for anyone whose world is shaped by Pet Sounds, Out Of The Blue and Skylarking. Seriously, it’s that good.


Marco Rossi


ADRIAN SHAW & ROD GOODWAY Oxygen Thieves September Gurls CD www.septembergurlsrecords.com Oxygen Thieves is nothing less than you’d expect from two alumni of Hawkwind, Magic Muscle and Bevis Frond. Fusing a melange of musical


Pugwash: setting sail for greatness.


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