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September’s magazine is a beauty and the music collected here is well worth your iPod’s time and space. You can listen to exactly what we are writing about and decide for yourself whether it’s a ray of light… or just shite.
Very simple: www.ClashMusic.com/cross-section-download.
From the wee fellas to those that bellow, Clash Cross Section is here for your lovely lobes.
Lucky Elephant Edgar (Sunday Best)
If this elephant thinks it’s lucky then wait till you are flapping your ears at ‘Edgar’ and its orchestral summer indie majesty. They say elephants never forget and you’ll be the same once this catchy slice of sunshine is bouncing around your dome. Sunday Best certainly have a talent for spotting their game, and this is more than fair.
HEALTH Die Slow (City Slang)
We love a band that demands specific capitals. The term ‘experimental noise band’ may quickly divert those with a soft palette who prefer to stick to the confines of HMV, but HEALTH are one of the most innovative prospects 20009 has thrown up. Expect industrial rhythms, huge reverb, space-fuck guitar jams over dream-drenched vocals. Imagine the sound of robotic mermaids luring Brian Eno into a threesome. You’re not even close. Their second album ‘Get Color’ has moments of complete genius before vanishing under punishing drums. Utterly tremendous.
Andrew Weatherall A Pox On The Pioneers (Rotters Golf Club)
The title track from Lord Weatherall’s debut album, and it’s a catchy jaunt into his world of misadventure, heroic failure and the black comedy exalted pioneering gone wrong. His lyrics are erudite and infectious whilst his tunes are epic and mingle all his insight from being at the forefront of dance culture of twenty years. Just don’t expect banging techno.
YACHT Psychic City DFA Records
Another band demanding capitals. Just the job. Yet, YACHT are self-confessed ‘generalists’, so this may change. They have sailed from Portland straight into our hearts with their chrome pop, which is half concept and half sheer unbridled fun. If you go see them live don’t expect to see instruments as they prefer instead to dazzle you with a PowerPoint presentation on everything from their kitchen to theories on the occult and onto the nuance of symbolism in the twenty-first century. We are flying their flag… hooked.
Wave Machines Keep The Lights On (Neopolitan)
Fast becoming our favourite Scousers (Fab who?), these gentle chaps have been laying down some seriously happy electro pop vibes in our HQ for some time now. This lazy but euphoric number is a delicious throw back to halcyon synth-drenched days coaxed along with a divine falsetto vocal that is as distinctive as it is sugar spun. Come dip a toe in the next wave of Mersey heroes.
Malente And Dex feat. Analogik Gypsy Kings (Exploited)
Skanked-up and ready for the floor, this is a slice of what Exploited is all about - fun but jacking club wares. It’s possessed by the spirit of a dismembered ska track with the voodoo of an after-hours back room club jumping across its grave. Exploited are looking ripe at the moment as their more straight-up club acts nestle nicely alongside more warped dance floor dons eternally tweaking their sonic manifestos towards experimentalism.
The Orb Bagdad Batteries (Malicious Damage)
Ambient demi-gods The Orb have made another fine album. They really never stop in their mission to seduce hearts and minds with their dubbed out visions of other worlds. Here, a slow unwinding of melodies and wind reveal a panoramic view of calm that’s a muse to higher thought as well as approximating what Steve Reich may sound like full of Rohypnol. Lovely stuff.
Anti-Pop Consortium Capricorn One (Ninja Tune)
Wow! They’re back alright. These four New Yorkers are renowned for their improvised hip-hop and electrified beats and, after a mild hiatus, have slammed back into our memory banks with a schizoid distorted rap that sounds like Dr. Octagon having sex with a Commodore 64 that’s loading Double Dragon. It’s urgent, compelling and operating miles from the conventions of hip-hop. A must check.
Speech Debelle Better Days Revox feat. Wiley and Incredubwoy (Big Dada)
This vocal re-rub grabs the deep and hypnotic original music from Speech Debelle and applies Wiley’s harder and thoroughly edgy vocals in amongst the cinematic track of strings and gentle xylophone melodies. The female rapper then pops out to ride her own break and harmonies to captivating effect. Proof that her Mercury nomination is more than deserved.
King Cannibal So… Embrace The Minimum (Ninja Tune)
This is the business. Clash defies you to define this record! An annoying part of music journalism is trying to summarise what music sounds like to someone reading the drying ink of our words. Inevitably you get adept at descriptions, yet King Cannibal’s world of music is a jungle of ambiguities. Let’s just say it’s dark as fuck and will make you dance if you like dancehall, dubstep, techno, old breakbeat or just music that seethes with visceral aplomb. Eat me!
Schlactofbronx Belly Full Of Pills feat. Slush Puppies (Disko B)
World ghetto beat? It’s here. Chopping up baile funk, dancehall, kuduro rhythms, techno and Bavarian influences from their Munich bunker, this dance trio make searing dance carnival party music. Best played after dark, very loud and ideally to drunkards of mixed gender and race, the results will speak for itself; just don’t do the above process in your mum’s front room.
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