Although Tom Findlay was doing the rounds to promote his solo stuff (which I still haven't heard), he's part of Groove Armada and is therefore cool. He sounded like a good bloke.
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in October 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
TOM FINDLAY (GROOVE ARMADA)
Tom Findlay is better known as being one half of Groove Armada – still ‘Song 4 Mutya’-ing all over the airwaves - and the driving force behind Sugardaddy. We phoned Tom up to talk about his new mix album, those ‘bloody adverts’ and why he’ll be arming himself come Hallowe’en.
Hello, my name’s Suzy, I’m your next boring interviewer.
Hello boring interviewer number two!
How are you this morning?
I’m all right. Been up since about half past five but apart from that I’m fine. I’ve got a one year old daughter who’s an absolute angel but she’s really into getting up. So by half ten I’ll have already been up for half a day.
That must be awkward because musicians tend to get up late and then work late.
It’s not taking its toll at the moment. My wife writes about fashion and so at the moment it’s the fashion week things on where she gets to go to Milan, Paris, London and all that. I’ve got the kids and I’m trying to keep a music career going but when you’re DJing at 3 ‘til 5 in the morning and that’s the time when they’re getting up, that’s not ideal. But anyway they’re totally lovely and in a few years time they’ll be really cross with me when I try and get them out of bed and it’ll all be ok.
What was the last film you watched?
Erm… bababababa… tschh… the last film that I can remember watching… erm… was derderder… oh god it was that thing…
You can’t remember it, can you?
I can! I went to see Atonement, the big Ian McEwan novel. It’s Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. It’s good, it’s about the Second World War and it’s nearly a great film but somehow it’s just not quite. I don’t understand why. James McAvoy is in Shameless and The Last King of Scotland. He’s fantastic.
Have you got any superstitions?
The only bizarre one is I always brush my teeth before I go onstage. I don’t know why. Just going out there with minty fresh breath seems to help.
I’m sure the crowd can feel it.
Ice cold demeanour. It all comes from Colgate.
Plug for Colgate. They’ll love it.
I should get free tubes of Colgate for a lifetime now.
Would you put your songs on a Colgate advert?
Probably. We pretty much put our songs on every bloody advert that’s ever been, so why stop at Colgate? If you put your songs in a BHS ad then you know, you just can’t get much lower.
Why stop at Colgate, there’s Aquafresh, there’s… all the other ones.
For some time I’ve been thinking of writing a whole Groove Armada album which is just a series of slogans to get onto ads but I’ve never quite got round to it. Just like Robbie Williams did. He’ll probably make a fucking fortune out of that one and I’m sure he knew what he was doing at the time.
Do you know much about the ‘Watch The Ride’ series of albums?
I know that Scratch Perverts started the series. I think the idea is it’s very much DJ-led, if you’re going in a club and you’re seeing these people, this is what they play. The Scratch Perverts thing was obviously much more of a hip hop cut-and-paste vibe. It was really good though, really well pulled off. Mine was a sort of housey theme but a housey theme with a little bit of a twist.
What made you do it, did they ask you to?
They nagged at me like constantly. They made my life a misery until I was just like ‘enough already’ and did it. No, I mean there definitely was an element of that. There was also an element of, I’ve got this Sugardaddy project so I just thought it was quite a good opportunity to plug that while I’m at it sort of thing.
What other tracks stand out on there for you?
There’s one called ‘Camino del Sol’ which is a wacky mix which is one of my favourite house records over the last year, so I’d say that one’s definitely a big one. And then I love 'I Love Space', the Lindstrom track which opens it. Neither of those are sort of massively underground but they’re two really lovely records.
Whose tracks would you like to remix?
Goodness gracious, I mean there’s so much stuff I’d like to remix. I tend to not be particularly interested in remixing house music, which is you just put a different set of beats and a different context, but I’m definitely interested in getting into production more than remixing now. A remix is cool but is basically you get people to do an enormous amount of work and find the right indie record and then the artist gets all the rights. It never really adds up for me.
I think production’s where I’m at right now and after doing poppy stuff like the Mutya stuff I quite fancy doing a bit more of that. There’s something quite liberating about pop music in a way.
And you’re collaborating with Kylie I heard?
Well we HAD collaborated with her, but unsuccessfully in that she didn’t use any of the songs. But then we’re in good company because I think she didn’t use any of Hot Chip’s or Mylo’s, and in fact Mylo - to his enormous credit - posted his unused songs up on an internet site for about 35 seconds before the Kylie world just shut it all down. ‘This page never existed’ sort of thing. It was very Secret Service. We haven’t done that but I might just to see how long the website stays up there for. I might be ruined if I do.
Are you still much involved with the download site TuneTribe?
I did that but I don’t do it any more. I basically set it up and it still exists, and I helped to recruit a lot of people who are still working there and they’re all nice people so that’s cool. It didn’t really suit me in the sense of I’ve always been my own boss in a way and I found the process of working in a big company just very frustrating. So I did them a little deal, I gave them my shares to Tunetribe and they gave me the rights back to the Sugardaddy album that I’d released on Tunetribe and now it’s better.
You’ve got a tour coming up in November, looking forward to it?
Very much so. I’m not just saying this because of the sales pitch, but it’s definitely the best live band we’ve ever had in terms of personnel and in terms of material. Stush (singer on ‘Get Down’) comes on the road with us now and she’s bringing along a new personality for the whole thing, so alongside her and the two singers we normally use, we can have a right old go at it.
I’m really digging what we’re doing now. When we first started out we were rubbish and we got better and better. For me, doing the gig we did at Lovebox last year was one of the crowning moments in my career and I look forward to getting the boys and girls back on the road again. It’s like there’s certain mistakes I’ve made as part of Groove Armada and things that I wish I hadn’t done, but there’s nothing about the band that makes me feel that way.
Is the tour for ‘Soundboy Rock’? Did you tour the album earlier this year?
We did a sort of tour very quickly after it was released. I think the only venue we’re playing again that we’ve played before is the Apollo in Manchester, apart from that we’re playing different cities. Oh no, we’re doing Glasgow again but we’re doing two this time. People are obviously enjoying it because they’re coming back. We put on a great live show, yeah! We’re the best live dance act in the world. [laughs]
Did you play Bestival? I heard rumours you did but I didn’t see your name anywhere.
No we didn’t. We were definitely talking about it at one stage but then it seemed to go away and then that was the weekend that my wife’s fashion week stuff all started. I couldn’t really be gallivanting around the Isle of Wight because I’d have two small children with me. I played it before and loved it, it’s a fantastic festival. It’s got a real vibe about it, I think it’s that fancy dress thing and people just turning up with the right sort of attitude. The first year I played here I played a house set and loved it, and last year Sugardaddy did a little gig and that was great as well, so it’s one of my favourite festivals, with the obvious exception of Lovebox.
What else have you got coming up this year?
Well we’re going to do a lot of touring in Australia again which we always tend to do around November/December because it’s a nicer place to be than England. We’d like to go back to the States, because even though it’s not a massive record market for us it’s always been good for us in terms of live.
We’re out of our label deal with Sony now so we might do our own record and do what Radiohead have done ('In Rainbows' - set your own price) but maybe possibly set a little bit of a ceiling. We’re not as rich as Radiohead so we can’t quite afford to let people pay whatever they like, but I do think what they’ve done is interesting and I think we’re now in the same position: we’re an artist that’s got a fanbase - which is nothing like the fanbase they've got - but we’ve got a fanbase and we can communicate direct to them. So that’ll be interesting, do an album and flog it for no less than a fiver probably, or let people set their own price, within a very narrow band.
Between £5 and £5.50. Postage £20.
Exactly. Plus an administration fee as well. That’s the answer.
Almost done Tom. What are you doing for Halloween this year?
Christ. Probably boarding up the windows! The kids round our place are just lunatics. I’m just going to get as many of those Celebrations packets to see if we can keep them at bay and if that’s not enough I’m going to shell out fivers to keep them all away. It’s just utter chaos. It’s fun for the first hour but then it becomes incredibly threatening. I’ll probably just stand there with an air gun shooting at people.
Native.tv says: Kids, you have been warned…
--------
'Watch The Ride', mixed by Tom Findlay, is released through Harmless Recordings on September 24th.
Showing posts with label groove armada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label groove armada. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Sunday, 10 February 2008
Album Reviews - May 07
Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in May 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
Abdominal - Escape From The Pigeon Hole
Antidote Records, 28th May 2007
The cover shows Mr (or rather MC) Abdominal, aka Andy Bernstein, in front of a wall showing painted pigeons flying above his head. What, didn’t trust real birds there? Well-known for his collaborations with DJ Fase and his appearances on DJ Format's releases, this is Abdominal's first solo record, although it does feature production credits from a number of his friends. "My goal is to show a more complete picture of who I am," he says.
‘I’m not breathing today,’ begins ‘Breathe Later’. It’s got quite a funky beat to it. This is cool Canadian rap which seems calmer and more stylish than the commercial hiphop/rap which is forever being churned out by their southern neighbours. ‘T-Ode’ is a tribute to Toronto and left me musing how rap is the modern poetry as he weaves detailed descriptions of the place he’s from. ‘Pedal Pusher’, the story of his previous job as a courier, is fun and makes you want to dance, with scratching and uplifting beats.
‘Open Relationship’ is another with smooth beats, retro funk twangs and echoing synths vibrating like puddles when a T Rex is stomping nearby. It’s also got an interesting story of a non-exclusive relationship, which makes it fascinating to listen to. I'm not generally one for lyrics, but the songs here are so detailed and interesting you can't help but pay attention.
‘Radio Friendly’ is fresh and chirpy, gambolling along. Incidentally the title is a slight piece of sarcasm, as approximately 70% of the words are ‘fuck.’ Try playing that on Radio 2 and see how far you get. It’s amusing, though I’m generally not a big fan of swearing for swearing’s sake.
‘Heaven’s Demon’ has a bassline which leaps all over the place like an over-excited salmon before zipping in all directions and finishing with an intoned ‘Demon’. ‘Big Track’ has a phat groove guiding it along gently as Abdominal lays into McDonald’s work and ingredients. We suggest he might be a secret Burger King employee.
‘Sex With Her’ is the x-rated ‘talking about sex with girls’ track, where he literally explains his exact technique in bed. No wonder it’s subtitled ‘Skip This One Mom’, I’d have skipped it as well if I wasn’t meant to be reviewing it. 3pm on Sunday is not really the time for porn for the ears. ‘Walk Left/Stand Right’ has a plaintive acoustic strum all the way through which reminds me slightly of Buena Vista Social Club's ‘Chan Chan’ and contains a rant against things which seem all too familiar, such as friends repeating your jokes and taking the credit. The brass in ‘Girl Shit’ is a nice smooth touch. ‘Countdown’ also has a downbeat, dusky echo to it, accompanied by strangulated feline sounds.
My one complaint is that albums these days are generally half an hour or so long. This one is 15 tracks and lasts some 55 minutes, which I found a bit hard going. Abdominal might look more like Zinedine Zidane than 50 Cent, but he definitely has a lot of class and style, and this crisp and neat debut is a proud start.
"And in the silence… a butterfly flutters its wings."
Abdominal on MySpace
-----
Beverley Knight - Music City Soul
Parlophone, 7th May 2007
'Music City Soul' is Beverley Knight's fifth studio album. Now with an MBE under her belt - or rather, in a box on her mantelpiece - this was recorded in the Music City of Nashville, hence the name.
Hear Beverley sing her heart and soul out. She's got a cracking voice. The production is all a bit too polished for my liking; a bit too perfect, such as the opening to ‘Every Time You See Me Smile’. ‘Aint That A Lot Of Love’ comes swaggering with intent, like she’s going to kick you out the way with her wedge heels and dance atop your mute body. There’s no denying she has a spectacular voice. ‘After You’ is a bit softer on the old ears, ‘Nothing is real, nothing is sure, nothing is forever’. She’s grown up.
‘No Man’s Land’ is honeyed, thoughtful, slightly wistful, and it brings across some of the warmth shown in the video. This song swells amazingly and has fantastic elements of blues to it while retaining a classic style. ‘The Queen Of Starting Over’ has a charming retro feel about it, and in fact reminds me slightly of Joss Stone (Sorry).
This album is soft, smooth, stylish and good. It wouldn’t be out of place on a film soundtrack. ‘Black Butta’ is an excitable and rockier tune.
‘Saviour’ is a gentle song with stylish backing vocals. ‘Time Is On My Side’ is a sweeping, soulful cover of the timeless Stones song, and it sounds fantastic. ‘Why Me, Why You, Why Now’ is another class tune. ‘Tell Me I’m Wrong’ is a beautiful simple tune. ‘Rock Steady’ has a bit of a funky jazz feel to it. The bonus tracks are ‘Uptight’ and ‘Back To You’. the first being uplifting and sunny rather than 'Uptight'. It's soul and gospel which you can imagine bopping along out of time to.
It’s the sort of album you get your girly mates round to gossip to, put it on in the background as you sip wine and wear slippers and brush each other’s hair or whatever. I’m a little concerned Beverley’s going to go down the route of many established singers – ie a fantastic special voice, but dullish backing tracks.
'Music City Soul' is feelgood and feel-nice with warm, summery and peaceful tones. A good solid album, and although it doesn't seem to have that special spark, it’s still entertaining and top quality.
To visit Beverley Knight's website click here
-----
Fountains Of Wayne - Traffic And Weather
Virgin Records, 7th May 2007
Fountains Of Wayne? Now where have we heard of them before? That's right, 'Stacy's Mom' is on SingStar and so we've heard it repeatedly every drunken Saturday night for some time. She's got it going on...
For those of you who are still unaware of the band, or who have not been subject to my karaoke at 2am, you need to know this band does not take itself too seriously. The band name comes from a lawn ornament store in Wayne, New Jersey. They're fun, they're colourful, they're powerpop. That pretty much describes the Fountains.
'Traffic And Weather' is overflowing with fun pop hooks. Single ‘Someone To Love’ is the chirpy opener - you can view the video to this at the bottom of the page to give you a flavour of what FoW are about. ’92 Subaru' is full of bouncy energy, while ‘Yolanda Hayes’ is more laidback, though the guitar still has some urgency to it. ‘Oooh we belong together / like traffic and weather’. Though some Carry On… fans instantly think ‘Like strawberries and cream. Or ham and eggs’.
So thuds along ‘Traffic And Weather’. I think this is a bit too happy and flippant for older fans, but those who like your Busted/McFly types will lap this up. ‘Fire In The Canyon’ is a bit ‘Littlest Hobo’ with bluesy and country licks. The album is all very nice and cheery, with tales of waiting for luggage – ‘they may never get home again’ (‘Michael And Heather At The Baggage Claim’) while 'This Better Be Good’ is almost a modern power ballad and sounds very Queen-ish. ‘Strapped For Cash’ is seductive and jazzy, while ‘I-95’ is soft and round in a gentle way. Powerpop at its finest.
‘The Hotel Majestic’ is full of acid vibes and cheer and country tones come in again at the end for ‘Seatbacks and Traytables’, making for a mix of styles I hadn't expected from this group.
Amusing lyrics and sunny sounds make this intelligent pop mixed with throwaway rock. I have to admit that to me, nothing seems to stand out as truly different or super-fantastisch, but 'Traffic And Weather' is quality powerpop/rock which leaves you smiling.
-----
Groove Armada - Soundboy Rock
Columbia, 7th May 2007
We have nothing but praise for whoever is responsible for the cartoon world lovingly recreated in miniature on Groove Armada's 'Soundboy Rock' album sleeve. Parties, nudity, policemen, red phone boxes, croquet – we were looking for Wally, but have yet to spot him. It’s a smashing little animation which you can’t help being caught up in, like a child lost in the tiny details for hours.
'Soundboy Rock' starts well with gloriously uplifting house, fresh and funky beats. It opens with the delicious ‘Hasta Luego Mr. Fab’ before kicking straight into possible dance classic ‘Get Down’. It’s energetic, lively and full of attitude. No disrespect to the rest of the album, but 'Get Down' is far and way the best track.
‘The Things That We Could Share’ doesn’t have such a pounding beat but still has elements of acid jazz funk and hand claps. ‘Save My Soul’ has a much calmer vibe passing through like a golden thread on the jittery beads of synth, every so often interrupted by dramatic echoing pulses.‘What’s Your Version?’ comes tiptoeing through and launches into a languid sway accompanied by smooth rum vocals. ‘Paris’ is a percussion and piano based song which shimmers high in the air. ‘I gave you my love and you took it…’ It’s downbeat and sophisticated.
‘Love Sweet Sound’ takes us back to electro, with a definite 80s feel. It’s quite angular and plasticky, with a winding-down charm. ‘The Girls Say’ is full of urban bass. ‘Lightsonic’ takes us back to the dreamy synths which are such a key feature of this album before cracking open the vocoders and passing them round. There's enough for everyone.
The title track is a tune of swaggering reggae, an unexpected sound but most welcome. The design team certainly enjoyed grooving along to this one - that's right, I saw you guys. ‘Drop That Thing’ is disjointed with frenetic electronic darkness. ‘Song 4 Mutya’ is a proper 80s fuzz throwback with attitude and sexy vocals from the ex-Sugababe. This a catchy song and one of the high points.
‘From The Rooftops’ gently floats along, while ‘See What You Get’ provides a bit of a wake up, although I personally think it plods along too repetitively but not really going anywhere. ‘What’s Your Version (Reprise)’ finishes off, again quite a gentle song. Sadly the album doesn’t keep up the crazy energy throughout, but it's still pretty good nevertheless.
I wouldn’t say ‘Soundboy Rock’ was the best album name – rock what now? It's a bit of a tease as much of the album is along chilled lines. For people who still don’t believe Groove Armada can top lazy swimmer ‘At The River’, well with 'Get Down' they sure can. Who wants to chill when you can have a fantastic party?
Groove Armada
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in May 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd
Abdominal - Escape From The Pigeon Hole
Antidote Records, 28th May 2007
The cover shows Mr (or rather MC) Abdominal, aka Andy Bernstein, in front of a wall showing painted pigeons flying above his head. What, didn’t trust real birds there? Well-known for his collaborations with DJ Fase and his appearances on DJ Format's releases, this is Abdominal's first solo record, although it does feature production credits from a number of his friends. "My goal is to show a more complete picture of who I am," he says.
‘I’m not breathing today,’ begins ‘Breathe Later’. It’s got quite a funky beat to it. This is cool Canadian rap which seems calmer and more stylish than the commercial hiphop/rap which is forever being churned out by their southern neighbours. ‘T-Ode’ is a tribute to Toronto and left me musing how rap is the modern poetry as he weaves detailed descriptions of the place he’s from. ‘Pedal Pusher’, the story of his previous job as a courier, is fun and makes you want to dance, with scratching and uplifting beats.
‘Open Relationship’ is another with smooth beats, retro funk twangs and echoing synths vibrating like puddles when a T Rex is stomping nearby. It’s also got an interesting story of a non-exclusive relationship, which makes it fascinating to listen to. I'm not generally one for lyrics, but the songs here are so detailed and interesting you can't help but pay attention.
‘Radio Friendly’ is fresh and chirpy, gambolling along. Incidentally the title is a slight piece of sarcasm, as approximately 70% of the words are ‘fuck.’ Try playing that on Radio 2 and see how far you get. It’s amusing, though I’m generally not a big fan of swearing for swearing’s sake.
‘Heaven’s Demon’ has a bassline which leaps all over the place like an over-excited salmon before zipping in all directions and finishing with an intoned ‘Demon’. ‘Big Track’ has a phat groove guiding it along gently as Abdominal lays into McDonald’s work and ingredients. We suggest he might be a secret Burger King employee.
‘Sex With Her’ is the x-rated ‘talking about sex with girls’ track, where he literally explains his exact technique in bed. No wonder it’s subtitled ‘Skip This One Mom’, I’d have skipped it as well if I wasn’t meant to be reviewing it. 3pm on Sunday is not really the time for porn for the ears. ‘Walk Left/Stand Right’ has a plaintive acoustic strum all the way through which reminds me slightly of Buena Vista Social Club's ‘Chan Chan’ and contains a rant against things which seem all too familiar, such as friends repeating your jokes and taking the credit. The brass in ‘Girl Shit’ is a nice smooth touch. ‘Countdown’ also has a downbeat, dusky echo to it, accompanied by strangulated feline sounds.
My one complaint is that albums these days are generally half an hour or so long. This one is 15 tracks and lasts some 55 minutes, which I found a bit hard going. Abdominal might look more like Zinedine Zidane than 50 Cent, but he definitely has a lot of class and style, and this crisp and neat debut is a proud start.
"And in the silence… a butterfly flutters its wings."
Abdominal on MySpace
-----
Beverley Knight - Music City Soul
Parlophone, 7th May 2007
'Music City Soul' is Beverley Knight's fifth studio album. Now with an MBE under her belt - or rather, in a box on her mantelpiece - this was recorded in the Music City of Nashville, hence the name.
Hear Beverley sing her heart and soul out. She's got a cracking voice. The production is all a bit too polished for my liking; a bit too perfect, such as the opening to ‘Every Time You See Me Smile’. ‘Aint That A Lot Of Love’ comes swaggering with intent, like she’s going to kick you out the way with her wedge heels and dance atop your mute body. There’s no denying she has a spectacular voice. ‘After You’ is a bit softer on the old ears, ‘Nothing is real, nothing is sure, nothing is forever’. She’s grown up.
‘No Man’s Land’ is honeyed, thoughtful, slightly wistful, and it brings across some of the warmth shown in the video. This song swells amazingly and has fantastic elements of blues to it while retaining a classic style. ‘The Queen Of Starting Over’ has a charming retro feel about it, and in fact reminds me slightly of Joss Stone (Sorry).
This album is soft, smooth, stylish and good. It wouldn’t be out of place on a film soundtrack. ‘Black Butta’ is an excitable and rockier tune.
‘Saviour’ is a gentle song with stylish backing vocals. ‘Time Is On My Side’ is a sweeping, soulful cover of the timeless Stones song, and it sounds fantastic. ‘Why Me, Why You, Why Now’ is another class tune. ‘Tell Me I’m Wrong’ is a beautiful simple tune. ‘Rock Steady’ has a bit of a funky jazz feel to it. The bonus tracks are ‘Uptight’ and ‘Back To You’. the first being uplifting and sunny rather than 'Uptight'. It's soul and gospel which you can imagine bopping along out of time to.
It’s the sort of album you get your girly mates round to gossip to, put it on in the background as you sip wine and wear slippers and brush each other’s hair or whatever. I’m a little concerned Beverley’s going to go down the route of many established singers – ie a fantastic special voice, but dullish backing tracks.
'Music City Soul' is feelgood and feel-nice with warm, summery and peaceful tones. A good solid album, and although it doesn't seem to have that special spark, it’s still entertaining and top quality.
To visit Beverley Knight's website click here
-----
Fountains Of Wayne - Traffic And Weather
Virgin Records, 7th May 2007
Fountains Of Wayne? Now where have we heard of them before? That's right, 'Stacy's Mom' is on SingStar and so we've heard it repeatedly every drunken Saturday night for some time. She's got it going on...
For those of you who are still unaware of the band, or who have not been subject to my karaoke at 2am, you need to know this band does not take itself too seriously. The band name comes from a lawn ornament store in Wayne, New Jersey. They're fun, they're colourful, they're powerpop. That pretty much describes the Fountains.
'Traffic And Weather' is overflowing with fun pop hooks. Single ‘Someone To Love’ is the chirpy opener - you can view the video to this at the bottom of the page to give you a flavour of what FoW are about. ’92 Subaru' is full of bouncy energy, while ‘Yolanda Hayes’ is more laidback, though the guitar still has some urgency to it. ‘Oooh we belong together / like traffic and weather’. Though some Carry On… fans instantly think ‘Like strawberries and cream. Or ham and eggs’.
So thuds along ‘Traffic And Weather’. I think this is a bit too happy and flippant for older fans, but those who like your Busted/McFly types will lap this up. ‘Fire In The Canyon’ is a bit ‘Littlest Hobo’ with bluesy and country licks. The album is all very nice and cheery, with tales of waiting for luggage – ‘they may never get home again’ (‘Michael And Heather At The Baggage Claim’) while 'This Better Be Good’ is almost a modern power ballad and sounds very Queen-ish. ‘Strapped For Cash’ is seductive and jazzy, while ‘I-95’ is soft and round in a gentle way. Powerpop at its finest.
‘The Hotel Majestic’ is full of acid vibes and cheer and country tones come in again at the end for ‘Seatbacks and Traytables’, making for a mix of styles I hadn't expected from this group.
Amusing lyrics and sunny sounds make this intelligent pop mixed with throwaway rock. I have to admit that to me, nothing seems to stand out as truly different or super-fantastisch, but 'Traffic And Weather' is quality powerpop/rock which leaves you smiling.
-----
Groove Armada - Soundboy Rock
Columbia, 7th May 2007
We have nothing but praise for whoever is responsible for the cartoon world lovingly recreated in miniature on Groove Armada's 'Soundboy Rock' album sleeve. Parties, nudity, policemen, red phone boxes, croquet – we were looking for Wally, but have yet to spot him. It’s a smashing little animation which you can’t help being caught up in, like a child lost in the tiny details for hours.
'Soundboy Rock' starts well with gloriously uplifting house, fresh and funky beats. It opens with the delicious ‘Hasta Luego Mr. Fab’ before kicking straight into possible dance classic ‘Get Down’. It’s energetic, lively and full of attitude. No disrespect to the rest of the album, but 'Get Down' is far and way the best track.
‘The Things That We Could Share’ doesn’t have such a pounding beat but still has elements of acid jazz funk and hand claps. ‘Save My Soul’ has a much calmer vibe passing through like a golden thread on the jittery beads of synth, every so often interrupted by dramatic echoing pulses.‘What’s Your Version?’ comes tiptoeing through and launches into a languid sway accompanied by smooth rum vocals. ‘Paris’ is a percussion and piano based song which shimmers high in the air. ‘I gave you my love and you took it…’ It’s downbeat and sophisticated.
‘Love Sweet Sound’ takes us back to electro, with a definite 80s feel. It’s quite angular and plasticky, with a winding-down charm. ‘The Girls Say’ is full of urban bass. ‘Lightsonic’ takes us back to the dreamy synths which are such a key feature of this album before cracking open the vocoders and passing them round. There's enough for everyone.
The title track is a tune of swaggering reggae, an unexpected sound but most welcome. The design team certainly enjoyed grooving along to this one - that's right, I saw you guys. ‘Drop That Thing’ is disjointed with frenetic electronic darkness. ‘Song 4 Mutya’ is a proper 80s fuzz throwback with attitude and sexy vocals from the ex-Sugababe. This a catchy song and one of the high points.
‘From The Rooftops’ gently floats along, while ‘See What You Get’ provides a bit of a wake up, although I personally think it plods along too repetitively but not really going anywhere. ‘What’s Your Version (Reprise)’ finishes off, again quite a gentle song. Sadly the album doesn’t keep up the crazy energy throughout, but it's still pretty good nevertheless.
I wouldn’t say ‘Soundboy Rock’ was the best album name – rock what now? It's a bit of a tease as much of the album is along chilled lines. For people who still don’t believe Groove Armada can top lazy swimmer ‘At The River’, well with 'Get Down' they sure can. Who wants to chill when you can have a fantastic party?
Groove Armada
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