Pet Shop Boys
Super
NEIL Tennant and Chris Lowe have been releasing music for 30 years. An enduring partnership and a loyal fan base have seen them survive while former contemporaries have become nostalgia acts.
Their secret is the strength of the songwriting and their knack for being current, yet still classic PSB. Some songs here tell a story, the 90s dance of The Pop Kids tells of two people bonded by their love of music, a sentiment fans will relate to. While The Dictator Decides tells of the lonely hell of a weak individual behind the Wizard of Oz masquerade.
Tracks like Pazzo!, Burn and Undertow are straightforward get-on-the-dancefloor. And, as always with PSB, there are shades of melancholy.
Since their return to form with 2013's Electric, fans may have wondered if they could deliver again – to borrow from a previous PSB album title, the answer is Yes!
FOUR STARS
Lisa Allen
Carter Tanton
Jettison The Valley
BALTIMORE multi-instrumentalist Carter Tanton has been a shadowy, skittering presence on the fringes of the hip American music scene for a decade. He was guitarist with art punks Lower Dens and played with macabre folkie Marissa Nadler and the War On Drugs.
His first album, 2011's Freeclouds, showcased a restless, style-shifting quality. Jettison The Valley, however, finds him in a more cohesive mode.
Written during the fallout of a failed relationship, it is almost entirely acoustic, Tanton playing every instrument. It's not lo-fi though, with Tanton's skills as an arranger and producer bathing the music in a honeyed glow and giving the sparse sounds an epic quality.
The string-laden title track is stunning, a dust-bowl symphony. Tracks such as the hand-clap propelled 330 and the aching The Long Goodbye are beautifully light, effortless tunes. Tanton seems to have finally found his voice.
FOUR STARS
Mark Edwards
Teleman
Brilliant Sanity
TELEMAN'S second album Brilliant Sanity is a lighthearted splash of indie pop fun. The album is littered with memorable riff driven numbers that showcase the band's ability to write and sing very catchy melodies.
Lead singer Thomas Sanders has a unique voice, singing in an English accent emphasised by the often double-tracked vocals; an effect that makes it sound like closely knitted harmonies rather than a single singer.
Highlights include the piano driven opener Dusseldorf, the mood-lifting Glory Hallelujah, while Tangerine is a particularly great number that showcases their potential. The jovial nature of the album is showcased by the length of the songs, with only one – Drop Out – breaking the four-minute barrier. While that particular song drags on somewhat, the majority of Brilliant Sanity has drive and melody to keep tracks echoing in your head long after the last listen.
FOUR STARS
Alexander Majewski
Spectres
Dead
FOLLOWING the release of their debut album, Dying, shoegaze rock merchants Spectres decided to send their works to some of the best and brightest in alternative music to give the tracks the full 'dead' treatment.
The result is a bewildering array of minimal electro and droning pieces that hit all the marks on the good to bad spectrum. As with the vast majority of remix albums, there's a wealth of variety and interesting or unusual takes on the originals, but it's incredibly self-indulgent in parts and there is far too much noise.
That's not to say there aren't a few choice cuts here. The Oliver Wilde interpretation of Family is excellent and both versions of Mirror are almost worth the price of admission alone. However, it's not something that will find its way into your regular rotation, even if repetitive droning electro is your thing.
THREE STARS
Steven Cookson
Misty Miller
The Whole Family Is Worried
IT'S no surprise her family is worried. Five years ago, a 16-year-old Misty Miller garnered critical acclaim for her self-titled debut album of gentle folk songs. It's not clear what has happened in the interim, but gone are the waif-like trappings of long blonde hair and ukulele; in their place are now a jet-black bob, tattoos and raucous indie guitars.
If this new rebellious image is a little contrived, the songs themselves are not short of substance. The lyrics are witty, the hooks maddeningly memorable and, on the best tracks, Miller's voice is a dead ringer for Pretenders-era Chrissie Hynde.
THREE STARS
James Robinson
The Dandy Warhols
Distortland
THE Dandy Warhols' ninth studio album comes four years after the indifferent This Machine and, sadly, it doesn't surpass that effort. The problem with Distortland is that it flatters to deceive, with huge production sounds and Courtney Taylor-Taylor's strong vocals, but on the whole, the songs just aren't there.
It starts as it means to go on, with the monotonous Search Party, sounding like the Stone Roses in the 21st century, passing almost imperceptibly into the rest of the album.
Courtney notes that Distortland is "organised like a pop record but still has the sonic garbage" thanks to the production input of Jim Lowe, well known for his work with Beyonce and Taylor Swift.
It's not a perfect fit, nowhere near 2000's excellent Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. There are a couple of highlights, in Catcher In The Rye and the single, You Are Killing Me.
TWOSTARS
Steve Crancher
