STACK NZ Summer #70

REVIEWS MUSIC

ALSO SPINNING

Santigold 99 Cents Santi White’s first solo singles were Creator and L.E.S Artistes . Blending new wave, electronic, experimental club rhythms and melodic dub pop, the two tracks landed in 2007 like fully formed musical manifestos. They were prophetic titles too: Santigold has remained one of the most consistently creative and artful songwriters in pop music over the past eight years. 99 Cents contains the same signature energy, a vibrant palette of modern productions, and a melodic transcendence that sets Santigold apart. The album name refers to the commodification and undervaluing of culture, but Santi is fighting back with a constant stream of ideas and songs that will add immeasurable value to your life by the second. SimonWinkler

The Prettiots Fun's Cool

Daughter Not To Disappear These days, when a British act decamps to Brooklyn for recording purposes, they’d best be ready for some jibing; home to angst idols such as Beirut, Sharon Van Etten and The National, it's become a suburb with easily mocked aesthetics. But in the case of London trio, Daughter, a similar design was

This uke-fied folk/punk trio

from New York deal primarily in winsome hipster pop, although

its sugary outer coating hides a nice line in sardonic humour. And while they sing mainly about the ups and downs of young love, they also find room to name-check cult film star Klaus Kinski ( Kiss Me Kinski) and Law & Order: SVU' s E lliot Stabler ( Stabler ), and transform The Misfits' thrash fave Skulls into a lovely ballad. Utterly adorable. John Ferguson Hinds Leave Me Alone Close friends and musicians, Hinds formed in 2011 in the city of Madrid. They've spent the last few years writing infectious garage pop singles, touring the world, and generally becoming the favourite new band of everyone lucky enough to see them play. Leave Me Alone is filled with a unique blend of lo-fi rock, garage, soul and pop influences, offering a vivid portrait of modern life and love viewed through a faintly nostalgic, psychedelic lens. SimonWinkler Cage The Elephant Tell Me I'm Pretty The four-piece's and more traditional alternative; however, Tell Me I’m Pretty is a thoroughly canny rock album, which thumps playfully from boot to boot with jangling tambourine, multi- layered half-shouted sing-alongs, and a lot of bold guitar. Produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, it needs to be on your summer playlist. Zoë Radas previous three releases have gallivanted through blues, funk, punk,

already in place on their debut album If You Leave . This new record takes their ghostly guitars and voices to another level, harking back to a 4AD glory age that included the likes of Lush, His Name Is Alive and Lisa Germano. Daughter’s lead singer Elena Tonra joins the label’s long list of nape-hair- raising vocalists, with a lyrical bite to match. Doing the Right Thing deals with dementia in a stark manner and might well be rock'n'roll’s first venture into the subject. No Care serves up graphic details of a relationship on the skids, whilst NewWays is also darkly obsessive. Tonra lays things bare again on To Belong , sighing "I don’t want to belong to you, to anyone," though the ache in her voice suggests otherwise. But it’s not all vocal-centric as the warped and ringing riff on How confirms, or the crashing finale to Fossa . No point trying to lock up this Daughter – it sounds like she’s been running wild for years. GarethThompson

MUSIC

Aoife O'Donovan In the Magic Hour

Savages Adore Life It's like The Drones, only younger, angrier, and rockier, offering a cry of sex and violence with punk-rock militancy – like Fugazi fronted by Siouxsie Sioux after a fierce break-up. Evil is the epitome of ‘80s NY rough-club cool (even though these wonders are from London), and the urgency and anger are infectious alongside the shotgun drumming and break-beat grooves. No less vital is Sad Person – Gang of Four would be proud, on their knees and begging for more. Buy it, share it, play it loud and let’s make these cool cats superstars, because they deserve it. Chris Murray

Suede Night Thoughts

Ample books, films and Folkways box sets have traced the lines from the trad folk music of the British Isles to Appalachian strings. The story could hardly be clearer than here in the hands of Aoife O'Donovan, best known as lead singer for Boston's Crooked Still. Here she follows her heart back to Ireland in a kind of Super 8 dream sequence steeped in childhood memories and family photographs. With a lilt and timbre uncannily like Alison Krauss, she can be as upbeat as Magic Hour and as heartbreaking as Porch Light , with its harmonising fiddles and childish promises made to be broken. Magpie is haunted by Joni Mitchell, but not to the point of distraction (hello, Laura Marling) and Donal Og is a Celtic mist of drones and echoing voices. Michael Dwyer

The happy campers are back! Yes, those tunes designed to fill the void of Morrissey and Marr, darken those lonely evenings alone and fill your despair with strings and lush production, no less. Lost in Bowie’s never- ending spell, Anderson doesn’t disappoint with lyrical metaphor and posture, while the band sound, well, brilliant – as if we were in the ‘90s on Outsiders ’ dark groove; broody and nigh-on a David Brent pantomime with Pale Snow ; sex-groove-self- deprecation on What I’mTrying to Tell You … yep, it’s all here. Kids may get confused, but akin to a renaissance Roxy Music, this is a damn fine album. Chris Murray

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