Great things
A trio of wonderful things floating our musical boat lately
NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB Fantastic Playroom
Album, out now
Women don’t often get the opportunity to front decent dance acts, other than as “featured” or, more shamefully, uncredited vocalists. Like Cansei de Ser Sexy, London’s NYPC are giving edgy, aggressive dance the feminine touch. The two bands have much in common – a refreshingly loose attitude, for example, and the excellent The Bomb would fit seamlessly on the CSS album – but Fantastic Playroom is more retro. Imagine Technotronic covering a bunch of Bow Wow Wow tracks. It’s the type of album Madonna might have been listening to 25 years ago. Vocalist Tahita Bulmer has Debbie Harry’s too-cool drawl and the same faintly threatening tone as Shirley Manson. On the excellent Grey, Bulmer has the Blondie singer’s Rip Her To Shreds-era sneer to a tee. It ripples with delicious ’80s synth magic, while sounding entirely like it was made for 2007. Fantastic, indeed.
MARK RONSON Version
Album, out now
Duran Duran, Annie Lennox, Andy Bell – all at one time afflicted with the serious musical disability of thinking they can perform an album of other people’s songs better than the originals. DJ and music producer Mark Ronson has no such lazy notions that he can trot out anything and people will listen. On Version, the vocal guests and artists covered read like a Brit Awards nominations list (Amy Winehouse doing The Zutons, Lily Allen doing Kaiser Chiefs), but the horny (as in, with horns) interpretations of mostly indie classics are inventive enough. First single Stop Me, a soulful rendition of one of The Smiths’ last great songs, stands out, as does Lily Allen’s tropical-lite reading of Oh My God, while Kasabian turn their own LSF into something like a Screamadelica outtake. Only minor quibble is the limited palette of songs. Bar a novel rap take on Britney Spears’ Toxic featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard, it’s a bit too best-indie-anthems-ever territory. A little diversity in the selections wouldn’t have gone amiss.
THE KLAXONS Myths Of The Near Future
Album, out now
They’re calling them “new rave”, whatever that means. It’s not a completely wide-of-the-mark assessment of the London foursome, but still a little deceptive. Their debut album is certainly a bit 1992 in parts, the general sound akin to a good EMF album with the odd Altern 8 siren thrown in for good measure, although Kaiser Chiefs fans will find much to enjoy here. It gets a little too sci-fi in parts, but the extraterrestrial As Above So Below, indie-rave mesh Atlantis To Interzone and brilliant Golden Skans single are worth investigating.