Under The Influence

Debut album from rising young Irish singer/songwriter probably best known to British audiences for her vocal performances on records by her fellow countryman Damien Rice. Hannigan's quirky, literate, acoustic folk-pop, rich with the backing of strings, brass, and glockenspiel, is more upbeat than Rice's, and is comparable to the work of Kathryn Williams and Juliet Turner. "Lille" (featured here), was the first single from the album, and has you floating away on a sea of loveliness.

One of Stiff Records' most stable staples, the truly alternative Lene Lovich laid much of the groundwork for an entire generation of singers left to pick up the pieces in the wasteland of the post-punk era. Her stunning debut, 1979's 'Stateless', was so unique, so vibrant, and her vocal stylings so unusual that the LP not only put her right at the front of the pack of nascent new wavers, it also sounded a commercial death knell of sorts, relegating her to the realms of novelty acts -- at least as far as the mainstream was concerned.

Re-recorded from the demo that landed her a deal in the first place, a unique rendering of the bubblegum puff piece "I Think We're Alone Now" (featured here) provided such propulsion that its B-side, the now-classic "Lucky Number," was itself then re-recorded, to land Lovich a Number Three U.K. hit in early 1979.

Elsewhere, the darkly sinister "Home" played off the rumors concerning Lovich's exotic Eastern European background (she was actually from Detroit, but she could fake a great accent). The piano-led Patti Smith-y "Too Tender (Too Touch)" allowed Lovich to explore a quieter corner, as did a sexy, sensuous rehash of Nick Lowe's "Tonight."

For those looking for the best of British proto-punk label Stiff Records, this release will more than satisfy.

Wandering through the vault today, I decided to listen to a disc that Aidan had cut together. I'm so glad that I did, as the subject of this review needs special mention.

Prior to 'Biscuits For Breakfast', Fink was happily carving a path through the world of ambient trip-hop. 'Biscuits' sees Fink strike out in a new direction.

Built around his bluesy voice, finger-picking acoustic guitar and the stripped-back live rhythm section, there is a wonderfully intimate smokiness in Fink's approach to his songs. It's intimate, but utterly lacking in sentimentalism.

The featured track, "Pretty Little Thing," on which he plays the whole menagerie: bass, guitar (nylon strings, no less), and B-3 Hammond. The lyrics in this cut are not much to be sure, but as a first track Fink's looking to usher in the set's atmosphere, and as such it works beautifully.

Sweet sweet cover of a sweet sweet song. And you can really feel The Smiths in there when you listen to the vocals. It has this great happy little guitar loop that makes the whole thing so special. Wow, 2001! I just assumed it was a recent ditty.

'I would go out tonight but I haven't got a stitch to wear. This man said "It's gruesome that someone so handsome should care"'. mmmmm, Love it.

Short, precise, punchy, hard rocking pop gems. I'm having trouble accepting that this is from the mid-90s. Well, not really but it's definitely aging well (sounds like it's knowingly trying to sound a bit old... if you know what I mean).

You don't have to look much further than Th15 L1ttl3 P199y to get a good idea of how powerful the hooks right alongside a demonstration of their more experimental ambient sound. Pop over to the next track, 5trun9, if you'd like a closer examination of the experimental work on here; reminds me of Fear Factory in a way.

Honestly, there are so many damn clever addictive little hooks on here I really don't know where to start. Helpfully, the whole thing is so concise you just start at the beginning. Once it has started you can't turn it off until it's over.

Not that it has anything to do with anything but all of the song titles are written in a semi 133t style. W1ck3d!

These cats are set to make a bit of an impact. It sounds like a whole bunch of really cool old bands; Stone Roses, Cure, Joy Division, Velvet Underground etc all mixed up and put together in a new way. In fact, that's what makes this stuff cool. It's the nostalgia kick. It's much like how Wolfmother burst onto the scene to remind us about all the great Sabbath era music.

The production is rather lo-fi, far more so than one is used to these days - not that that worries me, I get sick of everything sounding polished and shiny.

I really hope these guys get a chance to show what they can do.

I didn't look at the year on this album when I first listened to it. I had my suspicions (the first track, You're No Good, has a distinctive Joy Division vibe going on) that it was old but in all honestly if you had told me that it came out this year I'd have believed you without batting an eyelid. It's precisely what so many bands are trying to sound like now - and this lot had it sorted in 1981.

Hey, I've heard that sound in UFO before - it's been ripped for a modern track that I just can't think of right now. Actually, there are lots of little bits in here that I'm sure I've heard sampled all over the place.

Indie funk rock stripped down to the bare essentials. What a great sound - makes me want to get up and dance.

Strangely Fleetwood Mac / The Eagles were the first things that came to mind on first listen. It's not quite what I expected. That's not entirely true because I'd watched a couple of their videos on youtube a while back and I now recall it being something like this. I was introduced to these guys through their exceptional live acoustic album, Radio Radio TV Sleep (one of the most beautiful albums I've ever heard). This is much rockier - actually that's why I've put off listening to this for so long, their acoustic stuff is just so damned good I figured it would be impossible to top.

I think I still prefer the raw stripped down innocence of Radio Radio TV Sleep though there's plenty of lovely stuff to explore here. The 70s sound is definitely carried the whole way through the work. I like their chunky guitar distortion. Some of the tracks, Music In Me being a prime example, are adorned with that beautiful string sound that I've come to demand from the Norwegians.

Yeah, it's growing on me - agreeable sounds for the rest of my summer.

At the outset this felt like typical female fronted pop-rock, the more I listened the more I realised that there's actually some really interesting work going on here. Second listen and I'm finding myself rather intrigued.

Kind of punky. It would be easy to drop the PJ Harvey label on this because of the rawness that comes through - it doesn't really sound like PJ Harvey (well, Pause/Off does a bit). Killed By The Telephone has interesting almost found sounding patterns towards the end.

You know what, this is almost prog. They use those classic keyboards and the vocals have an 80s Debbie Harry vibe.

That's it, prog it is.

Did you look at the tags? Hip-hop! I know. Not really what I expected, though actually I was prepared to expect the unexpected with Fog... anyway, it's a scratchfest in here.

I think this is Fog's first album. The basic makeup is scratch driven beats (by which I mean often the entire drum line is made some individual scratch samples) with acoustic guitar providing much of the main rhythm. The majority of the solos are a short sample such as a single horn note cut to oblivion and reconstructed to surprisingly melodic effect.

I can see why a fan of the earlier stuff might not be particularly impressed with their last offering. Really original stuff on offer here.