CD REVIEWS

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday October 23, 2009

Bernard Zuel

MY OLD, FAMILIAR FRIEND (Echo/Shock) 4/5 In the Raconteurs/ Saboteurs, Brendan Benson was subsumed in the Jack White media focus when plenty of us knew he deserved more attention. The title of My Old, Familiar Friend (the comma a sign of his attention to detail) could be what we long time fans are saying to such power pop delights from him alone. Fizzing with energy, heavy with melodies, spotted with smart lines but unafraid to play it straight and from the heart Benson��s fourth album just keeps giving: there��s a killer four songs to start but one of the best songs, Poised And Ready doesn��t arrive until track seven and its followed by the even better Don��t Wanna Talk. Twirling keyboard lines, pushy guitars and spot-on backing vocals �� this is the kind of pop that makes your day, any day. Tops.Bernard Zuel Breakestra DUSK TILL DAWN (Strut/ Inertia ) 3/5West Coast funk fraternity, Breakestra deliver another serviceable slab of heavy funk for album four. Solidly restive rhythms remain, as do nods to fellow countrymen like the Meters and the JBs, or even Hendrix in a Show You The Way grind.The bossy vocals and durable grooves are ballsy but there��s little inventiveness in terms of melody, lyrics, dynamics or arranging. One therefore suspects inspiration is running low.Sure the inclusion of violin on some tunes is novel but the simplistic, sticky lines do zilch to lift these songs above rudimentary grooving.Missing are memorable hooks, hair-pin turnarounds or explosive horns.Paris Pompor washington HOW TO TAME LIONS (Universal)3/5 Didn��t Melbourne-based Megan Washington get the record company memo? On this EP she isn��t trying to be a new soul singer, recreate ��80s electro pop or even do quirky/wacky/sexpot.Astonishingly, she��s trading on her songs and her voice, both of which look more likely to last than this year��s musical fashion. The songs are just enough left-of-conventional to feel natural rather than processed, particularly in the title track and Teenage Fury. There��s some bite but not a lot of anger, even in the post-breakup opening song, Cement, which surprises by going girl group on you briefly, and the intriguing Welcome Stranger. If you��re looking for comparisons, think a young Sinead O��Connor Bernard Zuel horrorshow INSIDE STORY (Elefant Tracks/Inertia)4/5 Listening to Inside Story, it��s almost incomprehensible that the lads making such beautiful and sophisticated hip-hop are just 22 years old.Think of the dense, cinematic production of DJ Shadow, the poetic wordplay of Buck65 and the youthful Aussie vibe of Pez, and you��d be close to the work of Horrorshow.Triple J favourite Thoughtcrime is a clear winner with its funk-infused melodies and lyrics celebrating hip-hop life. But it��s the darker tracks like the gorgeous duet with the Herd��s Jane Tyrell in My Haze and melancholy love story of Walk You Home that Horrorshow really show a musical maturity beyond their years.Chloe Sasson staff benda bilili TRES TRES FORT (Crammed Discs/Planet)4/5 Look down. If you have four working limbs you��re luckier than most of the members of Staff Benda Bilili, a largely paraplegic band based around the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa, Congo.The optimistic songs have the breeziest grooves you will ever hear, with sweet harmonies and astonishing little improvisations from 17-year-old Roger Landu, who has used a tin can to devise his own one-string lute, which is pitched like a piccolo. The leader, Ricky Likabu, and three other members perform while seated on the customised tricycles that are now their legs. Anyone with the slightest interest in African music will fall in love with this radiant, infectious album.John Shand mariah carey MEMOIRS OF AN IMPERFECT ANGEL (Universal) When did Mariah Carey stop singing? It was a point hammered home at, of all places, Michael Jackson��s funeral, when ��Mimi�� belted out I��ll Be There.2.5/5Her 12th album veers between enjoyable distraction and personality-free fi ller and denotes her embrace of hip-hop and R&B, which previously rewarded with We Belong Together and Touch My Body, going awry. It��s just strange to hear her belter of a voice wrapped thoughtlessly around chintzy beats and purged through a vocoder on Obsessed. Worse, on Ribbon and Inseparable she appears to talk more than sing. Hollow mid-tempo songs mix freely with Umbrella rip-offs but at least the uninspired cover of Foreigner��s I Want to Know What Love is allows her voice to do what it��s naturally inclined to: soar.Andrew Murfett

© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald

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