MARK RONSON feat. LILY ALLEN - Oh My God - 2007 - Single review

MARK RONSON feat. Lily Allen – Oh My God – 2007 – Single review
RATING: 3/5
I spent most of the weekend listening to Mark Ronson. Not this though. What I was checking was his 2003 LP Here Comes The Fuzz which I much prefer to Version. To be fair though, this cover of The Kaiser Chiefs Oh My God IS one of the best cuts off the new LP. On the other hand - it does sound like it could have come straight off Lily Allen’s LP Alright Still which, I suppose, counts as a compliment as that was the LP of last year. But then again - it’s not as good as most of the tracks on that. Admittedly, the maxi-single version of this comes with a range of 'drug-music' remixes of various genres – however – none of these is as good as the original Lily version. Nevertheless – ah fuck it – what I’m trying to say is: Oh My God is easy enough on the ears but if you want a really good Lily Allen track listen to her (Ronson-produced) LP and if you want a really good Mark Ronson track listen to his first LP.
Out July 16th.
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THE BEASTIE BOYS - The Mix Up - 2007 - Album review

THE BEASTIE BOYS – The Mix Up – 2007 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: If you like it – you’ll like all of it.
SOUNDBITE: Wowww-whak/ wa/ wah-wah/ whaka-wow (…It’s instrumental innit.)
RATING: 3.5/5
Despite an announcement in the NME prior to release, this is fuck all like the sample-heavy hip-hop genius of Paul’s Boutique. In actuality, the closest thing to this all-instrumental effort in the Beastie’s back-catalogue is 1996’s The In Sound From Way Out (which consisted of all the funky instrumentals from the blinding Check Your Head and Ill Communication plus a couple of crappy bonus tracks). Having been instrumental (yes, that is an unforgivable pun) in defining genres and sub-genres in their more than twenty year career, the Beasties now seem to be retro-referencing themselves – presumably before anyone else does. 2004’s To The Five Boroughs was brilliant but fully late-80s old-school - The Mix Up seems to be trying to evoke their mid-nineties flirtation with retro-sixties funky cool even down to the suits and shades in their publicity photos for this LP which recall those done for the release of the Root Down EP. Yup, the sound is basically The Meters again though this time with a few spacier Funkadelical flourishes from time to time. Those who’ve been down with the Beasties for more than a decade will be entirely unsurprised to find that old Beasties crony Money Mark is back and he’s joined this time by percussionist Alfredo Ortiz. However, where The In Sound From Way Out was at times in your face and featured some quite up-front funk pyrotechnics (think the phat wah-wah at the start of Sabrosa or the percussion on In 3s) this lacks the big, obvious hooks and is more the funky sound of the sun coming up while the survivors of the night before stare at each other with blasted eyes from behind sunglasses. The LP kicks off with B For My Name which sounds like a louder more percussive version of Transitions. 14th St Break is a faster, organ led groove, which does indeed feature a lengthy drum breakdown. All the tracks are broadly funky but there’s the slightly latin one (Suco De Tangerina), the slightly rocky one (Off The Grid), the slightly dubby one (The Gala Event) and so on and so forth. Overall there is less differentiation between tracks than on The In Sound From Way Out - it’s a more layered and arguably less polished sound. The template is fairly similar in feel, tempo and composition throughout – indeed the effect is more like an album length jam session as opposed to discrete tracks. The upshot is they sound and look like the house band for an obscure funk label who’ve been locked into a groove and playing all night – almost certainly the point. If you have a large funk collection, The Mix Up won’t break any new ground for you, and I admit I was initially a little disappointed - however - repeated listens have found this album working a subtle magic. Conversely, if the funk has not been a large part of your musical life before now, first buy this then make yourself a doctor’s appointment.
Out now.
Listen toThe Beastie Boys - The Mix Up at Chemical Records - select funk or hip-hop in sidebar, then select new releases and scroll down till you find it.

PHAROAHE MONCH - Body Baby - 2007 - Single Review

Pharoahe Monch: comedian

PHAROAHE MONCH – Body Baby – 2007 – Single review
RATING: 1/5
Not quite what I was expecting I have to admit and as far from last single Push in virtually every conceivable way possible. This features bluesy piano tinkling, a tongue-in-cheek (but still toss) Elvis-impersonator chorus, lame flows about something or other and what sounds suspiciously like the drum beat (I hesitate to call it a ‘break’) from Phil Collins’ shit 80s ‘hit’ You Can't Hurry Love. Subtract the words ‘The’ and ‘Dog’s’ from the phrase ‘The Dog’s Bollocks’ and you sum it up in a nutshell. Apologists for this will try and claim it’s ironic and shows what a joker Monch is. I’ll tell you what’s ironic. The fact that this is the single that promotes the much delayed LP. Oh yeah – it sounds a little bit like Will Smith’s Switch too. It’ll probably be up the charts faster than a speed-dosed rat up a drain pipe.
Out 18 June 2007.
Listen to Pharoahe Monch – Body Baby
Read Monkeyboxing review of Pharoahe Monch – Push

THE WHITE STRIPES - Icky Thump - 2007 - Single review

The Devil and Mrs White

THE WHITE STRIPES – Icky Thump – 2007 – Single review
RATING: 4/5
This doesn’t just sound like Led Zeppelin, the lyrics are terrible like Robert Plant’s too (“Left alone/ I hit myself with a stone/ Went home and learned how/ To clean up after myself”) – though, disappointingly there are no references to either Gollum or Mordor. Maybe Jack thought this would be too many flavours in a pot that already includes a name taken from a misspelt northern saying and content about being fucked up en route to Mexico. Still, there’s something about a fat blues riff and borderline nonsense being screamed into a microphone that I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of.
Out now. As if you didn’t know.
Listen toThe White Stripes – Icky Thump

CHRIS CORNELL - Carry On - 2007 - Album review

CHRIS CORNELL – Carry On – 2007 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Poison Eye – Ghosts - Today
SOUNDBITE: I have an injury/ It's there for all to see...
RATING: 2/5
Chris Cornell has indisputably one of the greatest voices in modern rock and as always it is much in evidence on this new solo album - which is just as well - as he evidently forgot to pack many decent tunes when he cleared out of Audioslave. Yes, the driving force behind two big rock bands of the modern era has had a brain fart but then in a career as long and successful as Cornell’s I suppose it happens from time to time. Anyone who’s been to see Casino Royale (and that’s a fair amount of people) will have heard You Know My Name - it’s alright and he was quite an interesting choice to provide a soundtrack and you might have hoped that unconstrained by the need to do something Bond-ish, he would knock up a decent solo effort. Furthermore Cornell is a man who has shown time and again that he can continue to come up with classic tunes – it’s not like the creative juices have dwindled and gradually dried up or anything over time. But here he is with Carry On - not a particularly positive title - evoking as it does - a sense of stoically proceeding against the odds rather than joy at escaping the grating sound of Tom Morello’s worst guitar-torturing excesses. Still – I digress – ah yes – the tunes. Any concerns that there won’t be any opportunities to ‘throw out the horns’ are put to rest by the almost Iron Maidenesque No Such Thing but then – I’ve never liked ‘Maiden’. Poison Eye is much more successful riffage and one of only a few tracks that stood out initially as having a half-memorable hook. But you knew a solo effort wasn’t all going to be loud – and when former alt-rockers do ‘mellow’ there’s a danger they might sound a little bit conventional. Safe and Sound is alright for about a bar and then just seems to take every possible wrong chord-turn imaginable. I suppose Cornell might have been tired of writing tunes he considers predictable and wanted to push the envelope a little bit but every time you think you know where the track is going it perversely morphs into any Bryan Adams’ song you can think of. Ghosts is a melodic slice of folky alt-rock that again gives a glimpse of what might have been expected but then we get another one - Your Soul Today - which is initially an uplifting bantam-weight metal track with a shiny poppy edge that wilfully proceeds to throw itself off the bridge of decent rock and into the smelly waters of Bryan Adams again. You wouldn’t find this happening with other great grunge survivor Mark Lanegan. Actually – there is a very post-Screaming Trees Lanegan-esque track on here in the shape of Silence The Voices - but then I was here to hear Cornell not Lanegan. Surprisingly Cornell’s cover of Billie Jean (yes, really) isn’t the worst thing on here – but the world doesn’t really need Michael Jackson to sound like Nickleback. Man – I’m so not going to be his myspace friend anymore. Ah well. Today’s syncopated rhythms provide a final sense of what I might have expected on such an LP but it’s the penultimate track and by then the damage has been done. Chris – you’re still a rock legend and I have every expectation of hearing wicked stuff from you again – but as one of the worst bosses I’ve ever had once said to another in my hearing – ‘Sometimes you’re the pigeon – and sometimes you’re the statue.’
Out now.
Listen to Chris Cornell - Carry On

ABDOMINAL - Escape From The Pigeonhole - 2007 - LP

ABDOMINAL – Escape From The Pigeonhole – 2007 – Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Pedal Pusher - Radio Friendly – Open Relationship - Walk Left/ Stand Right
SOUNDBITE: “I don’t give a fuck about bad reviews since I only make music cuz I find it amusing”
RATING: 4/5
I’ve got a pigeonhole at work and 99% of what gets put in it is complete crap, so I have no trouble at all in sympathising with Abdominal’s need to escape his. Presumably it wasn’t a musical sub-genre pigeonhole he was trying to escape though, as this LP showcases neither a new grime or jiggy direction and the beatmakers are usual suspects DJs Format and Fase as well as their spiritual brothers soul/jazz/funk crate diggers Cut Chemist, Ugly Duckling’s Einstein, Bird and 2003 DMC champ DJ Dopey. I assume Abs was trying to climb out of the shadow of the bigger names in this list though – so that effectively – on this LP – they’re his bitches instead of vice versa. Or to put it another way – his usual DJ cronies may have done the beats and the cuts but his name is on the LP which in all honesty is pretty damn good. I don’t know what it is about Jewish boys and their hip-hop but Abs doesn’t do anything here to blot the stainless record achieved by the Beastie Boys and 3rd Bass. Those familiar with the Toronto MC’s previous work off two DJ Format LPs and / or his collab. Flowtation Device with DJ Fase will probably be expecting a selection of humourous rhymes effortlessly delivered over uptempo new-old-school beats on a Jurassic 5, Ugly Duckling tip and a fair few tracks won’t disappoint on this score. Current single Pedal Pusher and B-side – the Cut Chemist er – cut - (and decidedly un-radio friendly) Radio Friendly are cases in point, as is the Format produced Heaven’s Demon. On the other hand new cohort DJ Dopey generates an almost Tribe Called Quest-like groove for Open Relationship in a frank exploration of how Abs and his missus dealt with the issue of sexual temptation and lust during tour-enforced absences from each other. Opener The Escape comes across like some sort of beat-poet stream-of-consciousness rap as does Flutter’s 'chaos theory' tale of global nuclear destruction caused by a butterfly. Second track Breathe Later showcases Abdominal’s phenomenal ability to rap at length apparently without pausing for something as trivial as drawing a breath - let’s put it this way - you wouldn’t want an argumentative teenager to develop that sort of lung capacity. Mind you – it’s the sort of track you impress your mates with rather than the sort of thing that gets the club bouncing. Did I say ‘no’ to a new ‘jiggy’ direction earlier – well it’s almost true. Sex With Girls’s pastiche of various r ‘n’ b cliches is unsurprisingly about sex with girls and allows Abdominal to get away with lyrics about ‘sticking the cock in’ (as in “just to make sure your doorway’s adequately prepared for me to come a-knockin’/ fuck this metaphor, I like to stick my cock in”) revealing a troubling inner battle between his creative flair for imagery and a tourette’s-like compulsion to say what others only think. A different counterpoint to the more straight up tracks is the majestic Walk Left, Stand Right a loose-limbed big-band psychedelic groove providing a musical platform for Abs to get a few random beefs of his chest. There’s nothing like sharing. I could have done with a few more like that and I’d still like to hear Abs rap over beats supplied by a DJ with a different set of influences. If, you weren’t already sure that MC Abdominal had arrived, you ought to be when you hear this. Out now.
Listen to Abdominal - Escape From The Pigeonhole