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the ’90s, and has been quietly following his thoughtful, beatific muse ever since. The Plum Album is a little repository of widescreen enchantments: placid, unruffled and insistently optimistic, it matches expansive arrangements to endearingly vulnerable songs. Particularly effective are the


intertwining High Llamas-style strings, brass, banjo and sighing flutes of ‘The Teacher’, the jazzy glockenspiel and Love Boat percussion of ‘Dear Funny’ and the naked ukelele of ‘Barefoot Sunshine Girl’; but it’s all about the songs themselves in the final analysis, and Haakon’s dreamy delights, sung in a cautious and lonesome tenor, have a pleasing habit of staying with you. Marco Rossi


ALEXANDER FAEM Agent 238 Martyrs Of Pop LP / CD www.martyrsofpop.com


This concept album finds Alexander Faem soundtracking the adventures of ‘Agent 238’, a player in the espionage underworld coping


with both cold war paranoia and café culture. Faem uses the vocal talents of Clara Enghoff, Emmanuel Delacroy and Julie Fournier for this series of enjoyable song vignettes, delivered largely in French. While a few of the tracks do


employ that groovy ’60s soundtrack feel so beloved of hipsters, Faem is always judicious in the retro feel to the album. He mixes the nods to John Barry and Hugo Montenegro in with some real originality, exemplified by the piano-led, downbeat ‘Mogadiscio’ or the sparklingly modern ‘Everest’. These shifts of tempo are perfectly timed and really give a depth to the album. Agent 238 has obviously been


crafted with care by a literate music fan but Faem doesn’t stand in awe of his influences nor does he indulge in senseless iconoclasm. His album is intelligent, classy pop and well worth your attention. Jeanette Leech


ADAM FRANKLIN Spent Bullets Second Motion Records CD www.SecondMotionRecords.com


Adam Franklin fronted the legendary shoegazer act Swervedriver through most of the ’90s. After they split in ’98, he released a smattering of somewhat


experimental recordings under the moniker Toshack Highway.This, his second full-length album under his own name, may be his most fully realized work since Swervedriver’s best moments.


The sound here still features the


hazy, sludgy blasts of guitar that drove Swervedriver’s records, but there is an overall more gentle feel, a bit more of


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sunshine bliss in both the vocal melodies and the guitar. The Vaselines, Eugenius and Eugene Kelly are called to mind, as is Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices. ‘Surge’ opens things up by creating a meeting between contemporary “alternative” rock with a subtle mid-60s mod sound, ‘Bolts of Melody’ lives up to its title, and the lazy ‘Two Dollar Dress’ closes things in a way that makes you feel like you’re walking off into a pleasantly druggy sunset. Brian Greene


MITCH FRIEDMAN Game Show Teeth Meechmusic CD www.gameshowteeth.com


Mitch is a Brooklyn, NY based songwriter whom Ray Davies described as a “funny and interesting little man” after they’d met during The


Kinks front man’s weeklong songwriting course in England. What’s more, Ray liked the album’s opening number ‘This Is A Song’ enough to feature it in his song-structure lessons. Now if that’s not enough, the same song is considered by Andy Partridge (playing lead guitar on one of the album tracks) for “a piece of minimalist perfection, and perhaps the invention of a new genre–obviousism”. To get the complete picture, you’ll have to hear it for yourself. Some of the obvious reference points throughout most of this funny little record, are the lysergic pop quirk of Syd Barrett or Blossom Toes, or in a more contemporary way, the one of XTC or They Might Be Giants. Also, in shape of the genuinely Kinky ‘Keep It A Secret’, we get a proof of what a careful pupil Mitch is. Even if your CD player is out of


function, just as much fun is guaranteed only by reading the lyrics! Goran Obradovic


FAY HALLAM TRINITY 1975 Swell CD www.fayhallamtrinity.com


The title track is a yearning for the lost days of childhood, a nostalgic appreciation of the nice things about the ’70s that ranks with The Men They


Couldn’t Hang’s ‘Dennis Law And Ali MacGraw’. Fay Hallam’s musical inspirations are mostly from the ’60s, however. Her albums are Hammond heaven for lovers of ’60s soul, psych and pop and mod. This is avaried set of great tunes,


featuring Hallam’s always excellent keyboards and vocals. The diversity makes for a very listenable album; from driving belters to soulful pop to dancers, the quality is consistent. The subtle, mellow grooves of tunes like ‘Harriet’ and the instrumental ‘Astrud’ (with fine congas from drummer Russ Baxter) are particularly effective. The Trinity is a tight unit – Baxter and bassist


Sean Kelly are not mere sidemen, and it shows in the playing. Phil Suggitt


DAN HICKS AND THE HOT LICKS Tangled Tales Surfdog CD www.surfdog.com


Hicks was a founding member of the Charlatans, the pioneering ’60s San Francisco band, departing in 1968 to form his aptly titled Hot Licks ensemble. Their laid-back


blend of folk, blues and forties jazz with a Western swing foundation and sharp-tongued, dry witted songs has changed little over the years as this recent project avers. Featuring instrumental virtuosos David Grisman, Richard Greene, Charlie Musselwhite and slide guitarist Roy Rogers, Hicks and crew proffer eight new originals and a handful of characteristically swaggering covers—the latter highlighted by a couple of rag titles (‘Blues My Naughty Baby’ and ‘Ragtime Cowboy Joe’) and a grows-on-you take on Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’. Picks among the others include


the hopped-up, solely scat title tune; a healthy slice of optimism titled ‘Let It Simmer’ and the charmingly insightful ‘Who Are You’. Hipster-sheik lives! Gary von Tersch


THEE JENERATORS Inside Outside Twist CD www.myspace.com/twistrecords


As from their previous album two years ago, these Guersney garage beatsters added some heavy soul vibes to their punk- ish attitude with a pair of wild


saxophones, and they still don’t seem to be willing to let go off-a-that-thang! Not being too keen on saxes, I still found myself pushing the repeat button quite a few times. Actually, I started right from the opening ‘I Feel Alright Now’, which is sure to make an early ’70s Who fan feel just the same, and continued with the title track and ‘Overtime’, both making room for an instant mid-60s garage punk party. ‘Time’ is sure to end up as a dancefloor favourite of blue-eyed soul themed all-nighters. Besides these, if you prefer punked-


up rockabilly, ska or even Ramones-like punk, there’s plenty of it all, along with no less than six hidden tracks... or is that just my copy? Goran Obradovic


MAMA Crow Coyote Buffalo Fly Like A Sprite CD www.mamamusic.co.uk I shall pride myself on being the first reviewer not to divulge the hit-making past of one half of Mama. Suffice to say, the two mums (see what they did there?) responsible have both enjoyed successful solo careers and came together


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