Ed's June Music Picks
Future Of The Left - Travels With Myself And Another (4AD)*****
I'd like to start by offering our support to FOTL following the early leaking of this album onto the Internet. That makes it twice after their debut album Curses also found its way onto torrent sites worldwide pre-release. And we wonder why they're still playing small venues. Please take your hard earned pennies down to Spillers on Monday 22 June and give it up for Welsh music, people. It is required form. Opening with one of their best tracks to date, Arming Eritrea, TWMAA is exactly what you'd expect from the favourite band of those with half a clue. Already live classics include The Hope That House Built (see video - filmed in The Vulcan) and You Need Satan More Than He Needs You, and although I could bang on I'll instead reiterate investing on the aforementioned release date and discovering what the well-deserved fuss is about.
Royksopp - The Girl And The Robot (Wall Of Sound)****
Loving this. The second single from?Royksopp's third album, Junior, may be a commercial success thanks to the collaboration with Robyn, but it retains enough of the Nordic duo's magic to keep the club elite happy. The fact that it's Royksopp means we're spared from enjoying this as a guilty pleasure, but if you're still too sniffy to be associated with the slight cheese, haunting synths, immaculate loops and lush vocal, there are plenty of remixes to be discovered. Spencer & Hill, Kris Menace, Chateau Marmont, Ocelot, Jean Elan and Joakim all stick their wooden spoons in and contribute to a whopping nine-track single release. Best enjoyed on a sunny terrace of an afternoon.
Moby - Pale Horses (Little Idiot)**
Moby in change of direction shocker! Or maybe not. This - the second single from new album Wait For Me - is basically Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? Part II, or was that In This World or any number of tracks on any number of albums since Play? If you like Moby you'll like Pale Horses, a reflective, string-heavy ballad with sorrowful diva vocals and a video that features that little doodle character finding himself all sad through a series of mishaps. I had such high hopes for Moby's progression with the release of 2005's Hotel (if you've yet to invest, get the double disc version), but the organic genius on that album seems to have been replaced with what he was pushing ten years ago.
Yousef - A Collection Of Scars And Situations (Circus)****
The first studio album from the Scouse house stalwart finally lands. Worth the wait it is too, with the chance to have most of his best tracks to date on one unmixed disc. It's generally a gloomy techno affair as the title suggests, opening with disturbing sobs and cries and progressing through some relentless four-to-the-floor house. There is some downtempo breathing space thanks to the likes of A Moment Of Clarity, but for the most part it's deep and driving territory with the already classic Letter To No One and the Derrick Carter collaboration that is Legacy. He's a complex character behind the smiles is Yousef, but we're thankful for the resultant twisted dance on offer here.
