Pick of the week: Supermayer
Two Of Us
(Kompakt)
The acceptable face of minimal techno - clubland's soundtrack du jour - Cologne's Kompakt label specialises in a kind of luminescent electronic pop. Forget the relentless, headache-techno of yore, Kompakt releases mix precise glitches and surgical beats with ambient swooshes, gently pulsing basslines and prickly emotional melodies. In Supermayer's Save The World, label co-owner Michael Mayer and producer Superpitcher have made minimal techno's first must-have album, taking the scene's sonic creativity into areas as diverse as punk-funk and psychedelic folk. Two Of Us, however, is more traditional. A dark, ominous storm cloud of a record, it grows, growls and gathers, until - rather than exploding at its breathlessly exciting peak - it all falls away to leave this sinister, childish glockenspiel melody ringing in the emptiness. It sounds like an Ennio Morricone score for an itchy spaghetti western stand-off, relocated to a Berlin warehouse rave. Stunning.
Peter, Bjorn & John
Young Folks
(Wichita)
The most perfect evocation of love, late nights and the possibility of youth since Phoenix's Too Young, ordinarily Young Folks would be Pick Of The Week by a mile. Trouble is, this is a re-release, 12 months after the fact, of a record that enjoyed blanket ubiquity at the time. Even now it's difficult to avoid, what with everyone from Kanye West to Belgian internet provider Telenet co-opting it. Diplo and Phones provide the obligatory remixes, which Young Folks needed about as much as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon needed smartening up with some new decking and a few patio heaters. Pointless.
will.i.am
I Got It From My Mama
(Polydor)
One of the Black Eyed Peas that isn't Fergie, out on his own, and deeply irritating. A record that will make you look back on My Humps as the golden age of pop-rap enlightenment, I Got It From My Mama riffs on the slightly creepy, not to mention scientifically questionable, idea that "ladies... blessed with the beautiful buns" should thank their mamas for this genetic inheritance. The closing "if you pretty, make some noise" coda will make you want to hack your own head off in some sort of manic, confused gesture of protest, despair and disgust at the world.
Gallows
In The Belly Of A Shark
(Black Envelope)
A small, heavily-tattooed ball of righteous fury, Gallows' Frank Carter, currently the most iconic frontman in rock, is just the bloke to erase any thoughts of will.i.am from your mind. A surprisingly groovy surge of elastic riffing, shouting and brutal attack drums, Belly... positively hurtles along to a sub-three minute finish. There, that feels much better doesn't it?
Monty Luke & Tasho
Paranoid
(Mothership)
A brilliantly simple wonky acid track, overlaid with a fractured, chattering "I think I'm paranoid" vocal. Not the record to play if you're in a fragile mental state after powering through from Friday night to Sunday morning - it'll make you throw yourself out of the nearest window. But otherwise, enjoy!
