CD Reviews

This week we review the latest albums from Tortoise, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Opensouls, Lee Fields and the Expressions and Julian Temple Band.

> Tortoise. Beacons Of Ancestorship. Thrill Jockey Records.
3 stars (out of 5)

It's no easy task to cover new and interesting ground within the territory that Tortoise occupies.

Experimental jazz mashed with synth-heavy electronica and progressive rock can tend towards the clinical and clever.

Yet Tortoise manages to kick up some fresh dust, especially through the first half of this, its sixth full-length album.

Prepare Your Coffin is an emphatic, driving groove, and on Northern Something a snare drum and synth match each other step for step in a robotic Latin dance. Elsewhere, machines wheeze and pump, grungy squalls pass through, and a ghostly western plays out.

Download: Northern Something
For those who like: Kraftwerk, instrumentals, math rock.

- Jeff Harford


> The Phenomenal Handclap Band. Self-titled. Pop Frenzy/Rhythm Method.
5 stars (out of 5)

Equal parts funk, soul and electro, this collection of songs from New York's "hottest new school genre-revivalists" is infectiously catchy and instantly appealing.

Their sound recalls the Bristol trip-hop bands of the '90s, and the variety of vocalists suggests they function as more of a project than a band.

The album features a wide range of instruments and has a type of elemental musicality to it that perhaps hasn't been heard so strikingly since Moby's Play almost a decade ago.

Live takes blend seamlessly with samples and subtle vocal lines swirl into anthems. Phenomenal is definitely the word.

Single download: Baby
For those who like: Moby, Massive Attack, CSS

- Thom Benny


> Opensouls. Standing In the Rain. From the Crate Records.
4 stars (out of 5)

In the opening bars of the low-key Standing in the Rain, Auckland's Opensouls sound as if they have morphed into The Commitments. That's just a ruse. From then on their sophomore album is derivative in the best possible sense.

Wearing her R&B roots with pride, the exquisitely talented Tyra Hammond charms proceedings with some wonderfully melodic inflection, gliding above the vinyl-like warmth of a tastefully miked six-piece.

It's a journey from early-evening canapés that gradually segues into shapes thrown on the dance floor in the wee small hours.

Single download: Dollars
For those who like: Mavis Staples, Minnie Ripperton, Smokey Robinson, Gloria Jones

- Mark Orton


> Lee Fields and the Expressions. My World. Truth and Soul/Daptone.
3 stars (out of 5)

Drawing a line from the Delfonics to the Dap-Kings, veteran vocalist Lee Fields and backing band the Expressions update classic soul with big beats and occasional loops on this collection but never stray too far from a smooth '60s/'70s sound.

Coming off stints with Sharon Jones and Martin Solveig, Fields is right in the groove here, purring and growling as he serves up taut funk, sweeping ballads and even a helping of pure Motown bombast on a lush cover of the Supremes' My World Is Empty Without You.

An easy ride for those who like late nights.

Single download: Money I$ King
For those who like: The Dap-Kings, Al Green, Bobby Womack

- Paul Mooney


> Julian Temple Band. Quiet Earth. Oscillosonic Records.
4 stars (out of 5)

With an inquisitive eye and fantastic storytelling, the San Fran-Kiwi seizes vignettes of life and wrings the hell out of them.

Backed by the slick rhythm section of Matt Brook and Paul McLennan-Kissel, band leader Julian Temple's right hand is the key, tenderly caressing his beloved acoustic one moment, dishing out a hiding the next - the perfect accompaniment to his often pained vocal interplay.

Temple's muse owes a lot to the cosiness of the Purakaunui cottage where this was captured. Quiet Earth's mash-up of styles is awash with layers of refined overdubs - the perfect sonic accompaniment to spring.

Single download: Temple pays tribute to an iconic Southern Man... Speedy
For those who like: Keziah Jones, Dave Matthews, Jeff Buckley, Tom Waits

- Mark Orton


 

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