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ALBUMS OUT IN APRIL
As for the album itself, you’ll either be pleased or
disinterested to learn that it’s pretty much Mariah-by-
numbers. Having reclaimed her crown as the world’s
best-selling female artist with the global success of
…Mimi, Mariah’s not going to risk losing it again. There
are 15 highly-polished tracks here, most of which have
been shone to perfection by a choice selection of producers.
Jermaine Dupri offers up the more syrupy, mid-tempo
numbers, best exemplified by ‘Thanx For Nothing’. More
groovy, disco bounce is provided by DJ Toomp (‘Loving You
Long Time’) and Stargate (‘That Chick’), while guest vocalist
T Pain adds hip hop drama to ‘Migrate’, which features
some deliciously bonkers lyrics from the mouth of Mariah:
‘So I’m on my way home, cause my jeans yeah they fit, but
it might benefit me to throw something on to my hips’.
The heartfelt ‘Side Effects’ is a swipe at an early, formative
relationship that finds Mariah reflecting ‘I was a girl, you
MARIAH CAREY
was a man, I was too young to understand, I was naïve, I
just believed everything that you told me…’ (hmmm….
E=mc
2 we wonder who that could be about). The the piano’n’beats
(Universal) formula of ‘Bye Bye’ is destined to make it a funeral
favourite: ‘This is for my people who just lost somebody, ya
She likes her cryptic titles, doesn’t she? Following up the best friend, ya lady, ya man or ya baby.’
multi-million selling The Emancipation Of Mimi, an airing Carey keeps her famed vocal gymnastics in check, and
of the new Mariah Carey album gives no clues whatsoever some might find some of the tracks a bit samey, but there
as to why she’s taken Einstein’s theory of relativity as a are more than enough classic Mariah singles to ensure
title. One can only hazard a guess that having endured the multi-million selling success. AG
slings and arrows of critical appraisal and a rollercoaster Out: 14 April
career ride, Ms Carey has grown to understand that… well, +++++
everything is relative in the end.
THE KOOKS DEAD AIR THE BREEDERS
Konk (Virgin) Dead Air (Reveal) Mountain Battles
Despite the huge success Dead Air is the musical (4AD)
of their 2006 debut album guise of Rainy Orteca, The Breeders formed in
Inside In/Inside Out, it’s bassist in Joan As Police 1988 when Kim Deal of The
admirable that Luke Pritchard and co. have largely resisted Woman. Her CV boasts collaborations with Lou Reed and Pixies penned some songs with Tanya Donnelly of Throwing
the pitfalls that beset many second albums. In other words, Antony & the Johnsons, all ultimately more fascinating than Muses while the two bands were on tour together. Albums
they’ve not gone mad in a multi-million pound recording her own Birkenstock-gazing solo mini-album, which is so Pod and Last Splash in 1990 and 1993 respectively were
studio and decided to add lush string arrangements to every slight, you wouldn’t dare let it out in a high wind. critically acclaimed but earned the band little more than
second track in an effort to make their sound bigger and Generally, the best singer-songwriters make you feel like a cult following. Donnelly dropped out of the project and
grander. In fact, despite recording this in Ray Davies’ Konk you want a ticket for the front row of their brain. Devoid of Deal has been the only constant member in the intervening
studio in north London (hence the name of the album), it the sonic pyrotechnics of pop or dance, surely their raison years. Joined by twin sister Kelley, this is the first Breeders
sounds for all the world like it might have been knocked d’être is to illuminate the human condition in some way? album since 2002, but it’s unlikely to take them any nearer
out in a Brighton bus shelter – such are the busker-friendly But the six tracks here amble along like a stoned magnetic the mainstream. If Pixies were one of the main influences
credentials of most of the tunes here, which, let’s be honest, poetry kit; soldering so-so tunes to ‘so-what?’ lyrics. on the quiet-loud template of grunge, Mountain Battles
is part of the Kooks’ charm. The opening third of the album Throughout, never-sunny Rainy effects her best Velvet would be best described as following a quiet-quieter
could all be singles, and only time will tell whether ‘See The Underground impersonation that emphasises each word pattern. Many of these tracks, such as the lo-fi country
Sun’, ‘Always Where I Need To Be’ and ‘Do You Wanna’ will to make it sound more interesting than it actually is. The twang of ‘Here No More’, or the languid ‘We’re Gonna Rise’,
dominate their airwaves to the same extent as past singles sonorous ‘Tin Drum’ could have been retrieved from the Yeah are just plucked guitars, whispering snare drums and the AN
‘Naïve’ and ‘She Moves In Her Own Way’ did back in 2006. Yeah Yeahs cutting room floor, while the electro-churn of Deal sisters’ vocal melodies. Only opener ‘Overglazed’,
Things suffer a bit of a mid-album slump with ‘Gap’, ‘Sway’ ‘Widow’ contains the decent observation that ‘You act like a in which distorted guitars fall over themselves, and the
G
A
R
Y
R
Y
and ‘Stormy Weather’, but pick up again for the final third, widow who’s never been married’. riff-packed ‘Walk It Off’ are likely to appeal to old Pixies fans.
AND
with the twee but irresistible ‘Shine On’ and new wave kick Apparently, it was US comic and Britney-baiter Sarah The sparse simplicity of tracks such as ‘Night Of Joy’ and the ON
of ‘Down To The Market’ providing late highlights. If the boys Silverman that coaxed Rainy out her ‘early musical drum machine coldness of ‘Bang On’, with its ‘I love no-one
felt under any pressure to repeat the success of their first retirement’, and it’s a pity her rediscovery of her love of and no-one loves me’, will no doubt appeal to a certain
GORD
album, it doesn’t show. In fact, quite the contrary. Konk is music should come at the expense of the listener losing kind of emo kid, but one can’t help but feel that even
so laid back that it rarely even breaks into a sweat… which theirs. Still, with genuinely idiosyncratic talents like Owen they’re likely to overlook the Breeders in favour of younger ,
ANTHONY
some might find to be one of its drawbacks. It’s got a clutch Pallett and Antony Hegarty around – artistic thoroughbreds contenders. At its best, Mountain Battles offers hypnotic,
of tunes, but a dash of drama and darkness might have who are taking jumps much higher than the coffee table melancholic serenades to soundtrack a late-night chill out.
HUDSON
helped turned a decent album into a brilliant one. DH – Dead Air exists to prove that; despite this, sometimes, Under the harsh light of day, it’s all a bit disappointingly
Out: 14 April there’s nowt more ordinary than queer-folk. GR anaemic. AG
S
:
D
A
VID
+++++ Out: 28 April Out: 7 April
W
+++++ +++++
VIE
RE
&
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