Thom Yorke and co. produce more Eraser-like beats and beeps on Amok. Source: Supplied
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: An alternative name for this supergroup could be The Thom Thom Club.
Radiohead's loose-limbed CEO - he recently called Radiohead "the United Nations ... and I'm like America" - gathered up Nigel Godrich (the sixth member of Oxford's game-changers), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Mauro Refosco (David Byrne) and Joey Waronker (Beck) when he wanted to play his debut solo album The Eraser live in Los Angeles back in 2009. They locked into Yorke's robust man-meets-machine-meets-maker grooves and glanced at each other in unison with a chuffed "Well-what-do-we-'ave-'ere?" look.
Four years on and what we have is a record of fuzzy, hopscotch electronica that sounds alive and brilliant. Amok begs the question: How can grey music be so sexy? Simple. It stimulates the grey area until you're purple in the pants, cutting a rug just like Yorke with his yoga-teacher-after-four-Jager-bombs technique.
Yorke's love of brawn-y Warp-style Autechre electronics is all over these nine tracks, right from opener Before Your Very Eyes, a pulmonary-pumping builder with the healing refrain, "Soon or later". Default is the trickiest, most intellectual piece of pop since Idioteque, Ingenue sounds like Metronomy having a sweaty session with Aphex Twin in a German sauna, Stuck Together Pieces is wonderfully discombobulating, Dropped drops the ball a bit because it's not a huge leap forward but Unless restores the default setting as Yorke warns "I couldn't care less" over a humming cicada synth, treacherous strings and taut D'n'B drums. Unless feels like you're approaching a musty doorway deep inside Postojna Caves in regional Czech Republic. A rather specific analogy but that's what this record does best: it lets your mind run Amok into fantastical realms where everyone's dancing on the ceiling of Thom Thom's Club.
ATOMS FOR PEACE - AMOK (XL/REMOTE CONTROL)
Rating: 4/5
By Mikey Cahill
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LATEST RELEASES
JAMIE LIDELL - SELF-TITLED (WARP/INERTIA)
GEEZERS aren't usually this soulful. But fans of still-quite-cult act Jamie Lidell have known for years he's not like other guys. The 39-year-old tripper has gone All Systems Party on his fifth record, a move that mostly works for him even though he gets a little too excited with some tunes. Lidell lets himself down when he overblows his upper register, flighty zig-zagging vocals pushed right up in the mix. It works in the live domain but when you're listening to it in your own domain, it can be overbearing. Mostly though, it's a success with why-ya-why a lumbering show-tune full of jazzy OutKast splashes, What a Shame a male Sia with the cray-levels cranked into the crimson and Big Love an arms akimbo butt-kicker. Hurry up and tour here again, Jim!
Sounds like: Maximalist pop from waaaay outta leftfield.
In a word: rotund
Rating: 3.5/5
By Mikey Cahill
MATT COSTA - MATT COSTA (UNIVERSAL)
CALIFORNIAN Costa is signed to Jack Johnson's label Brushfire Records, but his visions stretch way beyond busker folk - although he's a dab hand with an acoustic guitar when needed. His self-titled fourth album continues his love affair with '60s and '70s AM radio pop. He's all Bacharacy on Early November, the bouncy Loving You is country harmonies over bar-room piano, Good Times is John Lennon with a horn section. Shotgun shows Costa's been listening to ELO and that's never a bad thing. He gets a bit folky and morose on the Nick Drake-y Laura Lee but closes with the gorgeous epic-sounding Golden Cathedrals.
Sounds like: oldies radio circa 2013.
In a word: retro
Rating: 3/5
By Cameron Adams
BIFFY CLYRO - OPPOSITES (WARNER)
IT'S very hard to dislike the Scottish accent. Lead singer Simon Neil has a thick peat-heavy brogue and he carries himself like a hybrid of Russell Brand and Shags Chamberlain. Without him, Clyro would mess up on their sixth album. Luckily, Neil's tongue-in-cheek posturing links up with a workman-like rhythm section and, together, they make competent power pop. The second half of the record is the sound of the sun after the rain, and in the end they're better than Ireland's overrated Two Door Cinema Club, who have none of the charm of Emerald Isle.
Sounds like: The Zit Remedy versus The Proclaimers versus Fallout Boy.
In a word: average
Rating: 2/5
By Mikey Cahill
LOWRIDER - BLACK STONES (ILLUSIVE)
LOWRIDER fans, best you look away now. Now those four have left the room, it's "real talk" time. In the '90s, a steady stream of bands like Roachford, The Badloves, Sonia Dada, Brand New Heavies and Incognito soundtracked the consumption of vol-au-vents with jazzy R&B and it was offensively inoffensive but received a pass mark at the time. Adelaide's Lowrider make listening to their fourth album feel like you're trapped in the vortex of a Landmark Forum "official" afterparty where everyone is smiling dolphin grins and assuring each other "I'll follow you on twitter ... as long as you follow me back! (arched eyebrows)" There's even the lyric: "Hashtag ... the birds and the bees" in Days of Boredom. Good lord. There are at least a few snake-hipped basslines on the record but really that's about it. This wasn't meant to be a hatchet job but this is the least soulful soul record in recent memory. Sorry Lowrider.
Sounds like: Casino foyer muzak.
In a word: eeeeugh
Rating: 1.5/5
By Mikey Cahill
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