The disc's i'm spinning...

I'm afraid i don't buy that many records these days, but these are the last few i bought...

The Strokes: Is This It (Rough Trade LP030)

C'mon, this is great surely, alright it sounds instantly familiar, and it's just Iggy Pop and Lou Reed rehashed, but in the absence of Iggy and Lou making records like this anymore, this will do in the meantime. A great pop moment. The band have a fun and suitably retro website too. And anyone who likes it should check out The Velvet Underground and the Stooges. Also nice to see the mighty Rough Trade Records, possibly the finest label ever to exist, back in the charts.

Tindersticks: Live at Botanique Vol 1 (Tippy Toe Records Tippy005)

Tindersticks: Trouble Every Day (Beggars Banquet BBQLP 225)

Amazing stuff, two records released in the same week, one a live limited gig only thing, the other a soundtrack LP, showing the opposite ends of Tindersticks diverging styles. Botanique is a loving recreation of their songs from all periods with the addition of strings, brass backing singers etc. Although it hasn't caught the electric atmosphere that the Royal Albert Hall gig had (where i bought this CD, see journal), the songs are beautiful, lavish, and poiniant. The new, simpler songs, played in the old lavish style are wonderful, while the 'accoustic' versions of songs once ocrchestrated have a new fagility and tension.
I saw the film Trouble Every Day at the Edinburgh Festival, and i enjoyed it, but not unreservedly, in the absence of dialogue the film could have done with more acting, but the way it was made, it's refusal to resort to cinematic shorthand and stereotypes, or to explain itself, and the masterful creation of atmosphere and the breaking/disruption of that atmosphere. And the music, the music was great, it worked so well, the band were almost a character in the film, they certainly had more lines than the actors. I wasn't sure it would work as a record though. I thought it would be too
Spartan, too slow, too quiet. What do i know, it's a masterful work, much more accomplished as a piece than Nannette et Boni (their previous soundtrack), it works so well to listen to, the repeated refrains the balance between the themes, a wonderful little cycle. And great packaging, managing to pull a beautiful object of of such an uncompromising work. I think it's bloody brilliant.

Anna Zapparoli: 1933 and all that (La Dual Band ZB003)

This is the 'soundtrack' of another show i saw at the Edinburgh Festival. Principally Brecht numbers (in english) with a few other caberet numbers thrown in, and not just the usual songs that everyone already knows, Zapparolli has a great, expressive, humourous and clear voice with a lively but not overdone accompanyment. I enjoyed it so much i hunted down the label in Italy and got a copy, you can e-mail them for information on [email protected]

Hefner: Dead Media (Too Pure PURE115LP)

It's a wayward path that Darren and the boys pursue, having perfected a popular indie-country shamble they've elected too go electro with their sound, throwing wangy analogue synths into the sound. It takes a bit of getting used too, and it's possibly easier to listen to side 2 first, but the songs are just as good as previously, even if the arrangements are a little more wayward. If you don't know Hefner, buy their "The Fidelity Wars" lp tomorrow, or listen to bits online at their v. proffessional site.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: No More Shall We Part (Mute Records Stumm 164)

Another masterly LP from Cave (this time a double with extra tracks on the vinyl), not as cohesive a collection as his best works "Let Love In" or "The Boatmans Call", this time you get more of a mixed bag, a variety of styles and moods, but each song is a (somewhat gloomy) gem, shining darkly amidsts its companions, black stars in an already dark sky. Or something like that. Go on treat yourself...