Thom Yorke - The Eraser

Debut albums always bring tricky situations with them; for new, aspiring artists the challenge is steep indeed, having to try and force oneself upon the general public and get noticed, find funding... all that jazz. For artists and musicians who are already very well known and are striving to reach out and make it on their own, the task at hand is an even greater challenge. Making your music sound as good as it has in the past but at the same time trying to create something new and different enough to set you apart from that past is a goal that is not easily tackled. Hell, just writing that down broke a sweat. Thom Yorke, the singularly brilliant lead vocalist and inspiration behind Radiohead has decided to tackle this mountain. And truth to tell, he could have done better.

Getting the obvious out of the way first there are extremely obvious Radiohead influences in there. Very good ones too. If you're asking my opinion (and you better be), Radiohead more recently have been going steadily down hill. We have an announcement of a seventh album and quite frankly, I'm not getting too excited. Back in the day, with Pablo Honey and The Bends, we could be satisfied with the tingling sensation the brilliantly written tracks gave us but which, unfortunately dies out as the albums progress after Kid A, which was half and half, as well as Amnesiac off of which I can claim to like 3 tracks only and Hail to the Thief which I downright cannot listen to. So to see that Yorke has gone back to his roots, drawing from his earlier work to stem the flow of rubbish and mould it into a sound that we all want to hear is a warming feeling. Unfortunately, this also rather lets him down; the album is just too much of a Radiohead album and doesn't strike away from the band enough to allow us see Yorke on his own. Still, there are a few jems to be sure, certain songs stand out above the usual 'modern' Radiohead and actually make you turn your head and listen.

Album title-track opener, The Eraser, starts the whole thing off on a hiccupping piano sample and some gently insistent vocal acrobatics: "The more you try to erase me/ The more that I appear," sings Yorke, in the first of the album's many lines that could just as easily be about environmental crises as personal. Next up is the skittering Analyse, which marries a twinkling piano lead to a breakbeat made of crushed glass. Lyrically, Yorke is in solid form, singing about algebra, candles in the city, and "no light in the dark." He's not nearly as sharp on the sleepy-eyed Atoms for Peace ("Peel all your layers off/ I want to eat your artichoke heart" - please, you can do better than that!), but it provides some of the album's most serene moments, wherein he sets his falsetto against a wall of discordant keyboard drones to gorgeously vertiginous effect. Better still is the closer Cymbal Rush, a wash of digital burbles and woozy drones, the song's second half relents to a set of galloping piano chords and complex rhythm tracks, making it, from a producer-ly standpoint, the most accomplished thing here.

Where The Eraser sags is in the middle, with tracks 3-5 falling particularly flat. Like too many of Radiohead's new songs (and here, again, is the comparative medium of band to solo artist), they contain a single weak idea dragged on interminably. The Clock is a tuneless clatter of insect noises and acoustic guitars that never changes course; Black Swan is a swamp bucket I Might Be Wrong retread that barely even flaps its wings (never mind gets off the ground); and the horrorshow talkie Skip Divided, with its cursory arrangements and total absence of melody, feels like second-rate performance poetry.

On a smaller scale, the problems afflicting these tracks afflict the album as a whole; even allowing for the better-crafted songs, there's little-to-no dynamic range on The Eraser. As a listening experience, it's claustrophobic and compressed, and with rare exception, offers little in the way of wide open space. What little breathing room there is usually comes courtesy of Yorke's vocal, and while it's nice to see him once again testing the limits of what he can do naturally with his voice, it might not be enough to save the record for some. The word 'gray' will be used to describe The Eraser, and with good reason; unless you're predisposed to loving everything Yorke sets his voice against, you mind fight this an oppressively dreary affair. My totally catty suggestion: don't bother with this unless you've already worn out the grooves on Jonny Greenwood's much less-heralded but completely brilliant Bodysong soundtrack. Or maybe, if you're really jonseing, set up two stereos and play both solo records at once, Zaireeka-style. I wouldn't be surprised at all if that worked.

Through it all, the main thing that brings The Eraser down is Yorke's adherance to Radiohead's ideals and just doesn't push himself far enough away from the band he is so inclined to be associated with. Stick with the old stuff and you can't go wrong. Continue in this vein and end up the way of MetallicA; greatness falls easily. It just takes one album to far, St. Anger.

5/10

M_x <3>

A Homecoming

We now have a place to chat. http://z6.invisionfree.com/MusicThatMakesYouGo
Feel free to visit and join up, chat about music and other things in the world and spread the word... These forums are fun and friendly.

On a swift tangent here, Bottleneck John, the blues artist from the Dundee Blues Bonanza that I wrote about a while ago contacted me the other day, wanting to use some of my review on his site and to send me a CD with some of his tracks on it to review also. I must say, I am honoured and a little surprised that he found the site and would love to know who else is watching.
That said, those who are reading, please feel free to join up at the above forum and chat to me about anything you wish... especially music. My banner also links to the site now.

Cheers all.

M_x <3

Sandi Thom - Smile... It Confuses People

Sandi Thom’s route to musical stardom is very much a traditional one, albeit updated for the internet age. Whereas unsigned or upcoming bands used to hit the road and tour until they became successful, Sandi Thom played her “21 Nights From Tooting” tour entirely from her home, broadcasting to audiences via the internet on Myspace.com. If the rumours are true, she was attracting stadium sized audiences by the end of this period, with “crowds” of up to 70,000 people tuning in, but there is now some doubt over this. Whether true or not, I wasn’t overly distracted by the hype, even though I was aware of it, which in itself is a novelty for me. Usually, if something is hyped this much, I tend to avoid it, but this time I was swayed by the sheer quality of the debut single, which had me humming it for the best part of a week the first time I heard it. But so many artists who come to fame suddenly only have one decent tune, so could Sandi Thom buck that trend and put out a decent album? The album certainly gets off to a good start with “When Horsepower Meant What It Said”. It’s a bouncy pop tune, driven by her vocals and the guitar. There’s a slight country feel to it, making it sound a little like something Sheryl Crow would do if she was in a really good mood. You can almost hear the enjoyment Sandi Thom is getting out of this tune and it’s a jaunty little song that gets your feet tapping. Next up is the debut single and the song that got stuck in my head for a week. “I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in my Hair)” is far more laid back than the previous track, largely driven by the vocals, but with quite a driving beat. If you have a portable music player, this is an ideal song to be walking along the street to. The vocal delivery is quite reminiscent of Tracy Chapman, although there’s not the same political message, with the exception of a slight dig at Tony Blair. Things calm down a little for “Lonely Girl”. It’s more of a ballad and more heavily weighted towards the pop end of the spectrum, without the folk influence. It’s more rounded musically as well, with more than just the guitar and vocals this time, like any other pop ballads. It sounds close to something from Amy Studt’s “False Smiles” album, which isn’t necessarily a good thing, but without the whiny teenage angst, which definitely is. The pace stays low and the feeling laid back for “Sunset Borderline”, which is a simple guitar based pop ballad. There are shades of Amy Studt here again, which is a worry as her album had a couple of decent songs and then went horribly wrong. It feels as if the album has lost its way a little here, as this track doesn’t really go anywhere. Fortunately, the opening to “Little Remedy” is far more upbeat and promises to be another jaunty pop tune. It’s not quite as bouncy as the album opener, but it’s certainly got some of the same elements, with a slight folk tinge to the music and a backing vocal that could have been borrowed straight from the Corrs. If there was a slight hint of country before, it comes far more to the fore in the guitar intro to “Castles”, which sounds slightly reminiscent of some of the Dolly Parton songs my Dad used to play around the house when I was younger. It doesn’t quite descend into a full on country ballad, but the influence is definitely there, albeit with a pop edge. Sadly, this is much like “Sunset Borderline” in that it doesn’t really do too much to grab you, which is a shame as it’s the longest track on the album, being the only one over 4 minutes long. As earlier in the album, Thom shows that she has the quality to bounce back from a minor upset like this with “What If I’m Right”, which may be the next single. It harks back to the album opener again, with a jaunty, bouncy beat and a slight folk influence, although it’s definitely a pop tune. It’s a slightly slower track than “…Horsepower…”, but no less jaunty for it. The lyrics are well worth a listen as well, as they add to the song’s sense of fun, which is confirmed by the ending. The guitar intro to “Superman” sounds worryingly like Paul McCartney’s “Mull of Kintyre” and that’s not a sound that changes greatly throughout the song. It’s a very simple mid-tempo pop track, but doesn’t really do a great deal, apart from the falsetto vocal in the chorus. Once again, there’s a delightful track to follow up a slightly lacklustre one. “Human Jukebox” plays to Thom’s obvious strengths, with a slight folk-rock tinge to what is already a decent, bouncy pop tune. The lyrics make it sound like an updated version of Dire Straits “Sultans of Swing”, but it sounds more like a Michelle Branch or Sheryl Crow song in many parts. The album finishes with a down tempo number, which haven’t proved to be Thom’s better tracks. In contrast to this, however, “Time” is a simple acoustic ballad and the higher vocal is again in evidence and the lyrics are well observed. True to it's title, the song makes you feel the passage of time, familiar pangs reach you from well back in your childhood, the lyrics reflecting experiences we all remember. Beautiful, haunting almost and most certainly brings you to the brink of tears. From a promising start, the album does fade slightly; giving the feel of using whatever songs Thom happened to have lying around. I wonder if she has held back some of her better material, waiting to see what might happen to her fledgling pop career before unleashing them onto the public. If that is the case, then her second album were certainly be worth watching out for and it suggests she’s playing the game a lot smarter than your average “Pop Idol” discovered artist, although she does have more freedom to do that. However, despite the slight up and down nature of the quality of the songs here, it’s not a bad album, all told. The ballads certainly aren’t Thom’s strong point, but they’re far from being offensive, settling instead for being lacklustre and uninteresting. But that is more than compensated for by the better tracks here, which are great to listen to and a lot of fun. When Thom is good, she is very, very good and when she’s bad, she’s not really all that bad. If you’re a fan of pop music with an edge, such as the likes of Sheryl Crow or K T Tunstall, this will certainly be your thing, as it’s not too dissimilar to their work, but with a happier edge. If you’re into pop music as a whole, you need to buy this album, as it’s full of decently crafted pop songs, with frequently intelligent lyrics and a bouncy beat. The only down side is that at only 32 minutes long, it’s not great value at the Play.com price of £8.95, or for £8.75 from CD Wow or £7.99 on Amazon, no matter how good it might be. However, prices are coming down elsewhere, with £4.29 the best from the Amazon Marketplace and there being plenty of copies on eBay from 99 pence. Forget the length of the album; this is good enough to be an absolute steal at that price. If ever an album deserved to put all the hype aside and be listened to on its merits, this is the one. No matter how she came about it, Sandi Thom is talented enough to have deserved her chance at the big time and I think she’s done well enough to get another album, which will be the really testing one. For now, don’t believe all that you may hear, just listen.

7/10

M_x <3

Bands Beat Back at the Blues Bonanza

I hate my job, I’ll tell you. Ever weekend I have to spend 7 hours on Saturday and 7 hours on Sunday tidying a department store and this weekend, I got to do it while one of the best two-day mini-festivals was in town; the Dundee Blues Bonanza. Thirty-two bars and clubs around the west-end of the city played host to eighty-six bands (yes, eighty-six!) over 48 hours and it was fantastic.

Or it would have been, had I been able to catch the majority of it…

Luckily for me, I don’t work past eight o’clock, so immediately from said work I headed out to see if I could visit any of the musicians and bands in all their splendour. Lo’ and behold, I actually managed to catch a few on Saturday night; The Jed Thomas band, a mix of Celtic, Blues, Psycho Billy and good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll and, as ever, Jed put every part of his being into his music. Playing a variety of upbeat, toe-tapping tunes, the four-piece band, including a double-bass and harmonica (as only the best blues can), rocked it up something fierce in Lloyds No.1’s. Not so much playing the crowd, the four guys seemed so absorbed in their music to care who was listening; I think we could have all walked away and they wouldn’t have noticed. One let down I feel, was that all their songs were so upbeat, it got a little tiring after a while, feeling the same speed or faster come at you time and again. That said however, if it isn’t broken don’t try to fix it, and Jed and co. are pretty damn good at what they do.

Moving ever forwards in our quest for music that night, Pack of Lies, a 3-piece from Dumfries just didn’t cut it in the Nether Inn. After being told that they were “a young Band with a mature sound encompassing many Blues styles and influences”, I expected to see talent, energy and showmanship, yet all I saw was noise and rock. It was like any normal gig in town, a fairly generic band whose blues influences must have stemmed from Led Zeppelin; the sound was there alright, just buried beneath layers of vague sounds. A shame really, after all I’d heard and read about them, I’d expected something superior to the Nether’s usual tastes but to no avail. I was greeted instead with the samey, 3-4 minute repetitive riffs until the band finally settled on one good idea for thirty seconds, at which point the song ended. The talent is there, no doubt, it just needs work. A lot of work.

50 ml of bourbon later, I was about ready to move on to the highlight of the night; the After Hours Club in the Basement. Something should be said about the venue first here, I feel. The Basement is located in South Tay Street, directly beneath and connected to Number 25’s (what is it with bars are number-based names, now-a-days?). On any normal weekend, this late-night club is packed to the brim, its size dictating ‘packed to the brim’ as about thirty people. The live D.J.’s and bands that play regularly bearing down upon their loyal subjects a plethora of blues, jazz, soul and acoustic rock all night, all week. So now that the scene is set for the kind of person that frequents the Basement, you can imagine just how busy the cosy little place was when the Bonanza was in town. The After Hours Club was the conjunction of two artists who had already played elsewhere in town in the early afternoon; Bottleneck John has vast European festival experience, his sound that night transported the listener to a universe where Clapton reigned supreme. The Rattle Snakin’ Daddies were on after John but, due to current work-in-the-morning laws, I didn’t get to stay for the band who are well know for flirting with their audiences. So imagine the scene; a big, brown leather chair and a roaring fire, cocktails and bourbon in abundance, friends, talk and laughter and the very best in laid back blues and acoustic guitar, with a voice that can lift your soul. That, in short, was Bottleneck John and most definitely my favourite act of the night.

Unfortunately for me and for the length of this review, I didn’t get to see anything of Sunday’s performers, but I’m told good and bad things in a positive ratio. To find out more about any of the bands and about the Bonanza itself, visit the link on the right.

Marten <3