Daniel Steinberg
Treptow
Arms & Legs
Treptow plays with a strange mix of fevered excitement, confusion, and reassuring familiarity while ripping up the rule book in the process. So much so that I’ve listened to it three times in a row now and each time is more exhilarating then the last. Why? Well because Let Me Down begins with a brooding sense of expectation which continues to pervade the album and it’s that very mood that lends Treptow its sheer strength of feeling. Put it this way, this is the kind of long player that you can’t switch off from; you need to hear what’s going to happen next! Having said all that of course, when you get to the exquisitely uplifting Can’t find My Baby and then Joy And Happiness the exception to the rule quickly flies out the window. You will want to hit the replay button. What then follows is a vibrant exercise in creative production ideas that flow seamlessly through the uber funk of Only You Can Make Me High and on into I Can Be Your Trip. It’s an extremely rewarding listen throughout spanning fourteen tracks, with zero filler, while containing plenty of surprises along the way colouring the album with a sizzling energy. The imaginative track list plays with a succession of original thoughts but also reworks bundles of unexpected samples as on the slammin’ soul of Tomorrow and All Around. Which by the time you reach the finishing climax leaves you with the distinct feeling that you’ve just participated in something spectacular. Can’t wait to hear if someone comes up with better in 2013: Album of the year?
release:
https://www.facebook.com/ArmsandLegs
Patrick Dawes
Raising Stones
Tummy Touch Records
You’ve got to admire the lovely audacity of Tummy Touch for releasing an album full of music that pushes at the boundaries of sound and rhythm. Raising Stone is a unique listen that doesn’t play easily with melody or indeed with drums. Patrick Dawes spent almost ten years as percussionist with Groove Armada and has taken twelve years to release this since his debut, so you can draw whatever conclusions you like from that. The album sits somewhere between beautiful psychedelic folk, manic afro beats and caustic free jazz. You’ll love it. It opens with the title track featuring Maggie Nicols from the late sixties avant-garde to abruptly set the scene. And among the highlights are the beautiful Floyd/ Roy Harper inspired Trees and the quite frankly out there Fly. If you ever consider yourself thinking out of the box..?
release: March 25
http://tummytouch.greedbag.com/buy/raising-stone-2/
The Title Sequence
Stills
The third of three almost equally excellent albums this week flips the coin into somewhere else from the two above. From the double tracked vocals of Syd Barret-esque Sound which typifies the wistful, melancholy leanings of the album David Bailey and Nick Crofts delightful long player is just waiting for the perfect moment to be played. There’s something pleasantly breezy about the melodies and guitar strums supplied and in many ways this is easy listening personified i.e. it’s easy to listen too. From the blatant Pop of You belong To me to the more introspective, and interesting, Jigsaw Days Stills does very little wrong.
http://titlesequence.tumblr.com/
The Title Sequence – STILLS (Album Promo) from TTS VISION on Vimeo.
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