Prattle

Black Francis - Threshold Apprehension
90 seconds too long, but this is the best thing he’s done since Bossa Nova. It’s shouty, tuneful and very silly. The rest of the album fails to match up to it, but is still largely good. I like to shout “Threshold, threshold, threshold, threshold” in the car of a morning. I’ve always done it, but now it makes more sense. hur. pfff.

Polytechnic - Won’t you come around
“Look. We need a bit more top in his voice.” is a sentence the producer of Polytechnic’s reed and nasal debut album will not have uttered during the mixing process. We saw them play, and his voice very nearly disabled the upper registers of my hearing. Still, the album is very good indeed. Reminds me of Pavement at times, were it not for that voice.

Modest Mouse - Missed the boat
They’ve been under-performing for ages, this lot. Many would disagree, but I like them more when they make their concessions to commercialism. The album’s better than the last one, and it seems that they and the Shins are moving in slightly different directions, but towards the same end point.

Voxtrot - Kid gloves
Yeah, I included a Voxtrot track last time, didn’t I? I said I’d dig around for the album, and that’s what I did. It took a couple of listens, but it was worth it. Vocal fragility, but some beautifully constructed songs, making it difficult to choose one for inclusion. But I’ve completely fallen for this one, so I had to share (even if it results in a unanimous reaction of shrugs and blank expressions). Give it a chance.

The Concretes - Keep yours
How will they survive without (”one of”) their lead singer(s)? They’ve pretty much carried on where they left off, only they’re not quite as good as they were last time. This is one of the better tracks on the new album, I think. I’ll give the album quite a few more chances, but it’ll be hard to shift that slight sense of misdirected betrayal.

Mark Ronson (featuring Paul Smith) - Apply some pressure
Let’s face it, this album is going to be everywhere this summer. Songs on adverts, instrumental tracks underneath sporting montages… It’s fun, though. Here Ronson fails to ruin one of my favourite songs of recent years. He makes it more summery, doesn’t really improve it a great deal, but neither does he ruin it. So I’m grateful for that.

Apples in Stereo - The bird that you can’t see
I know I’ve been pushing them a bit, but I’m tremendously excited about seeing them live next month. This track is from their 2000 album, “Discovery of a world inside the moone”. They don’t play it live, it seems, but I’ll be playing it in the car whenever the sun comes out, so I don’t really mind.

Patrick Wolf - The magic position
He supported the Arcade Fire the other month, and put on a reasonably good show, I thought. I was expecting to hate him, on prio reputation, but he seemed enthusiastic and genuine, with more tunes than I thought he’d have. His new album’s patchy, with the best tracks loaded into the first 15 minutes or so. This is one of them.

Art Brut - Direct hit
Fantastic. Art Brut are back, and I’ll be seeing them play in a couple of weeks’ time. Snippets of the new album point to slightly heavier and fuller sound, but they haven’t dumped their sense of fun.

Manic Street Preachers - Imperial bodybags
Talking of fun, the Manics could be making the most unlikely of comebacks, this year. Sample tracks from the new album suggest they’ve rediscovered the kind of form I thought they’d permanently lost. The current single, featuring vocals from the dreamy Nina Persson, as well as a well-placed couple of lines sung by Nicky Wire, is brilliant. They’ve always been pretentious and pompous, but now they seem to have found a sense of fun. It sounds like they’re enjoying themselves again, and are no longer afraid to show it.

I’m consciously restraining my language in relation to this album, because splurging out my unadulterated joy at hearing The Manics Of Old blaring through my speakers will only make you think I’m drunk. Basically, considering how long I’ve been following their ever-worsening career, this kind of quality is very nearly enough to bring a tear to the eye.

Richard Cheese - Welcome to the jungle
Silly. Been around for ages, but the woman taking a class at the gym a few weeks ago played a Richard Cheese track as a sort of cool-down thing at the end. Prompted me to go back and listen again.

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C’mon, the Ospreys.