Latest CD releases reviewed
POCKET PROMISE
I've Been Here For Ages Stop:go music ***
Radiohead, you have so much to answer for. Over the past decade and a half Thom Yorke and Co have inspired too many earnest young men to sing forlornly at the top end of their vocal range over skittering drums and jagged guitars. The latest recruits are Northern Irish band Pocket Promise, whose charmingly titled debut album is full of undoubtedly heartfelt, well-crafted but slightly droopy songs. There's a hint of genuine passion, and a few vaguely memorable melodies, but it's all pretty underwhelming. In fact, by far the best songs come when the band tone down the epic angst and keep things simple, as on the bittersweet Something Unreal and album closer Clocks and Calendars.
ANNA CAREY
Download tracks: Something Unreal, Clocks and Calendars
REVEREND & THE MAKERS
A French Kiss in the Chaos Wall of Sound ***
Riding on the coattails of Arctic Monkeys' success, Sheffield bands such as Reverend the Makers are making an impression on a public eager for more cheeky-chappy indie with a side order of northern wit. Their second album sees self-styled preacher Jon McClure continue his quasi-political ruminations, but it still sounds like the singer can't decide whether he wants to be a rock star or an activist. At least the music is occasionally stimulating, with the electro undercurrents of their debut eliminated here. Hidden Persuadersforgoes laddish swagger in favour of a sophisticated Rickenbacker shimmer, while Professor Picklesand Mermaidare in thrall to the swinging 1960s garage of The Animals. There's a bit too much drab pub-rock filler to make this album essential, but as sermons go, it could be worse. www.iamreverend.com
LAUREN MURPHY
Download tracks: Hidden Persuaders, Mermaids
JOKER'S DAUGHTER
The Last Laugh Double Six ***
It's the queer-as-folk juxtaposition of the year. At the microphone, you have wide-eyed London folkie Helena Costas singing about King Arthur, noble knights and magical bulls like a maiden providing post-banquet medieval entertainment. At the mixing desk, you have Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse, who has aided and abetted Gorillaz, Gnarls Barkley and The Grey Album, and recently ran afoul of m'learned friends with Dark Night of the Soul. Surely this is a collaboration ley-lines apart? On the contrary, it works quite well. Costas knows her Vashti Bunyans and Sandy Dennys, but there is an esoteric pop tone to her voice, which Burton perfectly amplifies with help from Daniele Luppi's stately strings and Scott Spillane's sombre, muted brass arrangements. The result is a series of ghostly, offbeat, freaky experiments that come off, chiefly due to the strength of the material and the prowess of all involved. www.jokersdaughter.co.uk
JIM CARROLL
Download tracks: Go Walking, Lucid
MSTRKRFT
For an outfit that have been ubiquitous on the dance/electronica circuit for the past five years, it seems strange that MSTRKRFT have only released two albums. In that respect, it speaks volumes about Jesse Keeler and Alex Puodziukas's popularity as remixers and producers that they've been short on time to tend to their own garden. Working on other musicians' material means that the Toronto-based duo's quality control sensors should be in tip-top shape, but they occasionally malfunction on Fist of God, particularly with the misplaced inclusion of Jahmal Tonge's overly glossy vocals on So Deepand Breakaway. Still, that gaffe is amended with the brain-swelling zoom of Vuvuvuand Ghostface Killah's urgent rhymes on Word Up, while the pounding Daft Punk homage of 1,000 Cigarettesis especially striking. Heavenly? Not quite, but far from hamfisted, either. www.mstrkrft.com LAUREN MURPHY
Download tracks: 1000 Cigarettes, Word Up
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Tell Me: Ember Beat Vol 1 (1962-64) Fantastic Voyage ****
Having founded the indie Ember label in the late 1950s, Cockney jazz impresario Jeffrey Kruger spent two decades releasing numerous records across several specialist genres. Ember Beat Vol 1 charts Ember's specific contribution to Britain's embryonic beat scene. It's not quite 25 Cuts You Must Hear Before You Die, but fascinating nonetheless. The album is bookended by two distincts songs, both called Tell Me. The first, recorded by Carter, Lewis The Southerners in 1962, is pure Cliff meets The Everlys. The second, Marcus Tro's 1964 cover of the angsty Jagger/Richards number, shows how times were changing. But, in truth, it was The Beatles more than The Stones who forced the revolution. Juxtapose any track here with She Loves You, and the sheer vanguard radicalism of the Fab Four will stun you all over again. www.futurenoise music.com DARAGH DOWNES
Download tracks: Chad Stuart Jeremy Clyde, Yesterday's Gone; Count Downe The Zeros, Don't Shed a Tear
JOE PERNICE
It Feels So Good When I Stop Ashmont Records ***
Bostonian Joe Pernice, one half of mellow indie troubadours The Pernice Brothers, has dusted off his Masters in Creative Writing and penned It Feels So Good When I Stop – a debut novel already deemed "acidic", "profane" and "hilarious". Its namesake is a literary soundtrack, an album of semi-obscure covers tied to Pernice's novel. The songs are eclectic (early Beatles-esque Del Shannon, alt.rockers Sebadoh, and a Mary Poppins tune all throw their car keys into the bowl). However, with dials set to bittersweet nostalgia, the album has a sun- bleached, lived-in feel that smooths any edges. More endearing than dynamic, It Feels So Good When I Stop mixes Pernice's usual Americana indie with the warm lull of Josh Rouse. Makes the book sounds like a jolly good read. www.joepernice.com DEANNA ORTIZ
Download Tracks: Soul and Fire, I Found a Little Baby
