REVIEW
Esben and the Witch A New Nature
Ever get the feeling you’ve missed the point? Te PR material for Esben And Te Witch’s third LP references post-punk, Sonic Youth, and Swans. Tere are elements of these but this is distinctly goth. And that ain’t a bad thing. Based around Bauhaus-style guitar, opener Press Heavenward is the kind of dark, driving rock music the Fields of the Nephilim made their own. Dig Your Fingers In recalls All About Eve at their most experimental; reminiscent of FOTN’s Trees Come Down, No Dog shows that programmer Daniel Coperman should have abandoned the drum machine and got behind the kit some time ago. Fourteen minute psyche jam Jungle is equal parts Bardo Pond, Cocteau Twins, Black Mountain and iLiKETRAiNS. It is a glorious thing that will be an absolute storm live. Tose Dreadful Hammers is a noise piece bringing to mind Sunn 0))).Tings get gentler and more melodic on Wooden Star, showcasing Rachel Davies’ rich, PJ Harvey-esque vocals and Tomas Fisher’s inventive but never flashy guitar. Blood Teachings starts in a similar vein and develops into a Bo Ningen jam. After this, acoustic closer Bathed In Light is anticlimactic. All in all, a rather special album that proves goth can be both inventive and good.
Pavlis
Tricky Tricky – Adrian Taws
Oh Tricky Kid. Remember that time you invited me back to your tent at Glastonbury 1995? And I couldn’t go due to litter picking duties. Gah. I have loved you since the funereal trip hop tones of Aftermath blew up my insides when I was but a tender girl. Tricky’s been releasing music for many years now, some albums good, some albums bad. Tis is a good one. He’s still somewhere in the mix between hardcore hip hop and sleepy lounge jazz, which results in a varied and forward looking collection of tracks. As usual he’s got in some guest artists, including the rather marvellous rapper Bella Gotti who sounds like she wears Gucci and punches people in the eye regularly. Perfect. It’s a very confident album, dreamy at times, punchy at others, with some more modern sounding grimy beats in there. Tricky’s definitely still a player, 20 years after he started as a solo artist. He still makes music for sex. Mad passionate, tear your clothes off sex. No getting away from it. And he’s gone and done it to me again.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Hypnotic Eye
Is there much left to say about artists like Tom Petty? As it's been four years since 'Mojo' was released I guess there is - and it's all good. Hypnotic Eye is an album with plenty of American soul (not Soul with a capital 'S') and it's no lie that this release is a return to the Sixties-style rock he used to do. Understated lead guitars, easy-going older-than-old- school drums, all led by Petty's unique vocals (somewhere between Neil Young and Dylan for those who don't know) make for easy and groovy listening. With titles like 'Red River', 'Forgotten Man' and 'Burnt Out Town' (a perfect harmonica and piano-laden blues track) this is classic Americana made for driving down the open road, but for all the possible pitfalls Hypnotic Eye never sounds cheesy or cliched. Tis isn't the kind of stuff to set the charts on fire, (but if you were Tom Petty would you care?) instead it's the stuff people come back to again and again, the kind of music classics are made from. An absolute pleasure to listen to.
Lizz
Lenore
outlineonline.co.uk /September 2014/ 37
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