Cold War Kids, Mine Is Yours 7/10
Cold War Kids have another album out, yeah I didn’t realise either. For fans of numbers this is actually their third album but you may not have noticed as there has been little fan fayre about the band since their opening effort ‘Robbers and Cowards’ topped many muso lists. Their second album was somewhat more of the same with the same hissing retro sounding recordings and a ‘passion over tunefulness’ approach. Expecting more of the same I was instantly hit by the plush almost pop production on this album. The yelps of the vocalist and the hammering of percussion are still there but it no longer sounds like it has been recorded on a reluctant tape deck in a soviet bunker. Many won’t like the new polished sound but these would be the same people who go off punk bands as they become proficient on their instruments. Cold War Kids are evolving and maybe in 5 more albums could be as radio friendly as The Script (which means that this could be their peak.)
Adele, 21, 7/10
Pop music used to be short for popular music. Now it is usually short for turgid half thought out throw away music peddled by the fame hungry and PR people rather than artistic intent or, god forbid, talent. Good ‘potential pop’ is far too quickly relegated to specialist playlists where commercial radio wont dream of touching it and mainstream audiences won’t hear it meaning it will never be popular and therefore never be described as pop music. That is why I was so happy to see the return of Adele. An unlikely looking pop star (always a good barometer for talent) Adele has a beautiful voice that screams soul. Lush arrangements, velvet production and spotless vocals give this album the same timeless sound as her first. The album is uncompromising in its approach which is clearly artist driven and makes no concession to what has been riding high in the charts in the years since her debut (except for some suspicious Florence’esq harps in ‘He Won’t Go’) The cream will always rise to the surface but much of it becomes tainted by the turds that also have a nasty habit of floating, Adele has dodged this brown bullet and I look forward to 23, 26, 35, and 40.
Chase and Status, No More Idols, 3/10
Do you have an 1856 Mecklenburg-Schwerin Stamp? If you do get it out now you’re going to use it as a visual aide. Imagine how much information you could fit on the back of it. If the subject upon which you were writing was ‘All I know about dance music’ and it were I who was doing the writing then there would be comfortable room for illustrations (That was a joke for the philatelists boom ya!) I only know of Chase and Status for some pretty nifty leftfield remix work on some indie tracks. I would have preferred to have not listened to the album and only have this memory of them. Unfortunately some things can’t be undone…
