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After a long and arduous search Tracksmag.com has found a music critic worthy of note. The Fez, was found scrounging around a second hand vinyl record store in Mozambique trying to swindle a limited edition live Tool LP from its unsuspecting operator. Disguised as drunk rugby union fan, The Fez, protested that the said record was only needed as a flying disc in which to send offending messages to the opposition in an up coming high altitude test match. Its worth, as far as he was concerned, musically speaking was, quote, “Less than shite, mate!” Needless to say he secured the rare record and subsequently the position of Tracksmag.com’s head music critic in the process… You’re a weird guy Mr Fez, but we love you. Welcome aboard.
Cinema is the fourth studio album from The Cat Empire and perhaps finest to date, oozing with their trademark Latin jazz infused reggae, layered atop a stack of mature tracks. Definitely darker than any of their previous releases, Felix and co still manage to make us believe that melancholy is a happy place and Havana is a suburb in Melbourne. With almost 800 live shows and ten years under their belt, Cinema shines like a beacon in the grey Victorian sky. This is definitely one of those albums, and bands for that matter, that less is more and although this is seriously complex wine, with six members plus, the sounds are decanted so well that we hear no instruments just beautiful music. Like pouring Grange in you ear. Drink it in! 8.9/10
Portland, Oregon’s finest, The Dandy Warhols ‘The Capitol Years’ covers most of the twisted ground that Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Co have covered under the Capitol Records label, which is everything from early grungier hits such as ‘Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth’ and ‘Everyday Should Be A Holiday’ to everyone’s favourite sing along ‘Bohemian Like You’ off probably their best album, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. Synth numbers ‘We Used To Be Friends’ and the Bowie styled ‘The Last High’ are dragged from Welcome To The Monkey House album. All up a pretty good introduction to those who don’t have the patience to sit thru The Dandy’s more tweaked back catalogue or surrender their mind to The Brian Jonestown Massacre. 7.9/10
The tragic thing about having an amazing voice is that you can easily fall into a trap of complacency and forget about writing good music, and that is exactly where Richard Ashcroft has found himself on his latest project, RPA the United Nations of Sound. For those faithful followers of The Verve still clutching at the past, this album will let you down, choked with cliché lyrics and anthem-esque “ooh yeahs” it ends up falling extremely flat. For a man who gave the world ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ and ‘Drugs Don’t Work’, its hard to believe he can try sell us this pretentiousness masquerading as art. If you like Richard Ashcroft’s voice and aren’t expecting anything monumental, there is still a lot to like here, with all the grandeur of strings and huge production values backed by extremely tight session muso’s. A great album for Ashcroft virgins, for Verve fans it’s a cat in a bag waiting to drown! 6/10
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