Demob Happy

FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT Whiter than white 5.5/10 Norwegian producer Erlend Øye could pass as a modern day Arthur Russell. He may not play the violin but he does have the curious distinction of being at once a popular house and electronica artist/DJ and one half of Simon and Garfunkel-esque folk [...]

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New Goldfrapp shampoo 5/10 I had high expectations for ‘Seventh Tree‘ given some of the pre-release hype suggesting – falsely it turns out – that Goldfrapp had returned to the more ethereal landscapes of their first, and best, album ‘Felt Mountain‘. There had also been alot made of Goldfrapp’s musical magpieism – a trait only [...]

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Light as Air 6/10 Air’s third album proper is a cautious fusion of its predecessors, the much-imitated lounge classic Moon Safari and the plainly silly prog folly 1000 hz Legend. Despite the appallingly smug and unimaginative cover, Talkie Walkie opens with promise. Venus, Cherry Blossom Girl and Run evoke the kind of wigged-out, androgynous space [...]

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Beautiful Otherness 8/10 No ordinary chill-out act, Bent have improved immeasurably on their debut, Programmed to Love, with an album of strange eccentric beauty and shimmering detail. ‘King Wisp’ opens things gently with ethereal gospel voices and aquatic strings. ‘An Ordinary Day’ pitches a heavily distorted soulful vocal sample over disco rhythms, pumping basslines and [...]

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