Scars, the fourth full length album by vintage UK house music duo Felix Burton and Simon Ratcliffe, leads the listener down a familiar and sporadic trail of buoyant breadcrumbs towards destination unknown. Scars‘ journey starts remarkedly fresh, with an ethereal and operatic promise of modern twists upon their trademark upbeat sound. Sadly, it quickly veers off in various confusing directions. The result is dull and at times borderline annoying to this expectant long time fan of the two music makers.

The Basement Jaxx don’t seem to be navigating their own musical vehicle. With the two figure heads seemingly asleep at the wheel, the album’s many featured artists thankfully take control. While lacking in originality, they haphazardly redeem themselves by their innate talent in song collaboration choice. A literal push and pull between what worked and what hopefully will, is audibly tangible to the ear. I imagined the reliance upon modern hit makers comparable to an aging father desperately squeezing himself into his son’s skinny jeans in hopes of appealing to a undiscovered audience. Keep your dad jeans on gentlemen. But it’s not all gone to pot. The saving grace threaded throughout the album is the ability to strip tracks down—creating a sensual experience. On “stay close,” the group allows Lisa KeKaula’s throaty alto to effectively massage their bounce into undulating breath. Vocalists like Kelis, Santigold and Sam Sparro also adequately do their best with the blips and beeps of yesteryear. Yoko Ono coaxes the listener away from an edge the Basement Jaxx threaten to fall from. Their saving grace will inevitably be the remix album that will supplement the lack of sustenance hungry followers require. Basement Jaxx fans will most likely find enough fuel to keep the fire burning but newbie flames won’t stay lit.  ~ dimes

A Bonus Track Version of Scars is available now at itunes with 3 additional tracks.

MP3 1: Basement Jaxx – Scars (feat. Kelis, Meleka & Chipmunk)
MP3 2: Basement Jaxx – Stay Close (feat. Lisa Kekaula)
MP3 3: Basement Jaxx – Twerk (feat. Yo Majesty)

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After receiving over 1,000 unique hits on my previous Emalkay post, I figured a lot of people would appreciate finally hearing the entire track of “When I Look At You.”

Available now at iTunes/Emalkay.

MP3: Emalkay – When I Look At You

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Phace, Misanthrop and Noisia released their latest Neosignal 12″ on September 9th. In my opinion, this release crowns these guys as the new trailblazers of deep drum & bass. Phace & Noisia collaborated on the A side track, “CCTV,” which takes drum & bass to a new level. Loads of atmosphere, distorted bass, percussive sound effects and a healthy dose of silence. At the 1:38 mark, is a crucial bass sound that I’ve never heard before. Why the F didn’t it last longer!? At full steam, the tune sounds like demonic robots beatboxing in a pool of mud. Bravo.

On the flip side is “Factory 5,” by Misanthrop. A hard driving d’n'b tune with creepy pads and sound effects that may have come from the movie Event Horizon. It doesn’t leave as deep an impression as “CCTV,” but still a sick addition to any hard drum & bass collection.

For those of you in the U.S., The Phace / Neosignal North American Tour will be happening in January 2010. Check myspace.com/phacepunks for more info.  ~ tom

Hear more Phace, Misanthrop & Noisia on iTunes.

MP3 1: Phace & Noisia – CCTV
MP3 2: Misanthrop – Factory 5

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Finally The Big Pink have released their debut album, A Brief History of Love, through 4AD records. Recipients of the much revered NME Philip Hall Radar Award, The Big Pink have spent much of 2009 seeing their names being pedaled throughout the UK music press and now attempt to serve the hype with this debut LP.

Musically, they recall label mates Glasvegas by using the Wall of Sound technique originated by Phil Spector back in the 1970s. However, The Big Pink do employ a sampler and synth at their impressive live shows, and songs such as “At War With The Sun” and “Too Young to Love” are where the electric side of this band really does come forth. The similarity between The Big Pink and Glasvegas come to the fore almost instantly with opener, “Crystal Visions,” with it’s simple drum run complimenting long gestated guitars to an excellent crescendo.

Lyrically there isn’t that much going on, with the music doing most of the talking. Most lyrics are repeated, yet heartfelt, with lead single “Dominos” being the best example of this. The simple repeated lyric, “These girls fall like Dominos,” initially seems childlike, but after several listens the guitars and electric stylings suit this song to make it possibly the album highlight.

The Big Pink seem to be aiming high, with song titles such as the previously mentioned “At War With the Sun,” “Golden Pendulum” and “Crystal Visions.” A few tracks could claim to be “epic,” but a few too many fall short of achieving this.

All in all, this is a debut album full of promise from one of Britain’s brightest new bands. I could envisage this to be a sleeper hit culminating with some large festival crowds next summer.  ~ Andy

A Brief History of Love is available now on iTunes.

MP3 1: The Big Pink – Frisk
MP3 2: The Big Pink – Crystal Visions
MP3 3: The Big Pink – Dominos

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