Jack White is a talented guy, for sure. However, his encyclopedic rock band The Raconteurs were just too twee and lacking in substance. White has the ability to pen some mighty radio hits, but by existing inside the limits of the White Stripes juggernaut, he never crosses over the line into bubblegum.
Fitting, then, that Jack and Meg have returned, one year after the excesses of Broken Boy Soldiers, with the Stripes’ least commercial rock album yet. Dripping in heavy Sabbath drone and minimalist structures, Icky Thump (Just Music) is Elephant‘s demented cousin, the family secret that crawled out of the swamp. Gone are the ass-shaking, head-banging singles such as Seven Nation Army and Blue Orchid, replaced with 13 tracks that take on spoken word, Celtic folk and avant-garde bagpipe soundscapes.
But key to this album is the shearing guitar histrionics that propel the record into the grime; the Whites are intent on getting their hands dirty. The Sabbath-doing-Delta Catch Hell Blues and Pantera-esque Little Cream Soda are pure adrenaline, but then there’s the stadium rock of You Don’t Know What Love Is, the Jagger-like swagger of Bone Broke and Rag and Bone.
Although the last Stripes album was a great record, this new one has to be described as a return to form. Jack White has cut loose on Icky Thump, forging new ground. If you were looking for previous pointers to their new sound, Black Math and The Hardest Button to Button off Elephant would be appropriate. Although this album is a return to their hard-rocking roots, there is still enough space for beautiful highlights like the vintage 300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues. The Stripes have returned and it’s a belter!
ALSO ON THE SHELF
Electrelane
No Shouts, No Calls (Just Music)
Electrelane’s fourth album sees the all-girl fourpiece from Brighton abandoning the new-wave/post-punk sheen for a rawer, more organic sound that has more fuzz and is suitably frayed around the edges. No Shouts, No Calls is a very underplayed album, which allows the songs to become unhinged at times, creating space for Verity Susman’s imperfectly beautiful voice to shine. This grittier album, which is reminiscent of the Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth, was recorded in Berlin. The lurching After the Call is typical of the album, partnering garage-rock riffs with fuzzy doo-wop vocals to create sublime rock’n’roll. Elsewhere, highlights such as the new-wave thrash off Between the Wolf and the Dog and the haunting yet evocative In Berlin make this another high point in Electrelane’s glittering career. — Lloyd Gedye
The Decemberists
The Crane Wife (EMI)
The first time I heard The Decemberists was on a compilation that contained a live version of their A Cautionary Song. Hearing this strange indie band hurtling through a song about a mother who went off at night to prostitute herself to sailors at the docks in order to feed her children really tickled my imagination. I soon discovered that The Decemberists’ albums were littered with such bizarre tales and characters. Their fourth album, The Crane Wife, which was produced by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, has just been released and it may ultimately prove to be their best. With an album this good it is difficult to single out favourites, but the epic second song titled The Island is a journey in itself, morphing Seventies rock, chamber pop and Irish jig into a complete whole. However, my favourite moment is the playful song titled The Perfect Crime, which sounds like The Decemberists in Talking Heads mode. Finally they have delivered the album that could take them from cult indie favourites to widely revered musical pioneers. — Lloyd Gedye
Nibs van der Spuy
Beautiful Feet (Sheer)
Nibs van der Spuy’s collection of sparse, understated melodies plays like a hymn to the great, inscrutable vastness of the Karoo. Folk guitar takes centre stage here, as he sings about love, loss, hope and the never-ending journey that is life — all the big themes, in short, but it’s the instrumentality, rather than the often-beautiful lyrics, that have the biggest impact. The stripped-down acoustics of guitar, bass and percussion swell and eddy like dust devils in a summer heat haze. The otherworldly, ethereal strains of the sitar, the harmonica and the viola, at various times, are present in wistful harmony. You’ll also find a tribute to the late, great Gito Baloi, who collaborated on Beautiful Feet with music, writing and production. Baloi’s presence rests like a soft shadow over the album; his loss must have been devastating. Beautiful Feet contains bittersweet notes, yet ultimately the tone of the album is a hopeful one. — Jocelyn Newmarch
Levi Pon the Mic
Heavy Mind (340ml Music)
Hailing from the Mother City, dub vocalist Levi is a landmark in Jozi wherever the vibes take on a crucial tone, such as at the Mind Your Head dub sessions in downtown Jo’burg. His timbre is unaffected and his lyrics straightforward pleas for overstanding, but the dubs take the cake here. A pet project by 340ml drummer Paulo Chibanga and ace engineer/producer Gavan Eckhart, aka G-Dub, Heavy Mind is a primarily a dub album with full-on vocals, equally perfect for heavy hallucination and/or easy skanking. The album would be a turning point in South Africa’s stale reggae scene were it not for Levi’s underdeveloped lyrics, which bank on old Rasta axioms for inspiration. Reggae has advanced in leaps and bounds lyrically (check I-Wayne for proof) and Levi needs to do some catching up. Still, it is worth checking out for the riddims and perhaps, Levi’s earnestness. — Kwanele Sosibo
Luna
Best of (Just Music)
I am incredibly late to the Luna party, to the point where they have already disbanded, but damn, I love this band. What’s not to love about that sound that effortlessly locates itself somewhere between early R.E.M., the Velvet Underground and Mercury Rev? This best-of includes a smattering of hits from all six of their studio albums as well as their Christmas single Egg Nog. The album highlights have to be Moon Palace and 23 Minutes in Brussels, both of which feature Television’s Tom Verlaine on guitar, while Slide features Mercury Rev members and Friendly Advice the Velvet’s Sterling Morrison. The album includes comprehensive liner notes by lead singer Dean Wareham and a bonus disc chock-full of the band covering their favourite songs. Their version of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy is a stand-out, while their cover of Harry Nillson’s Everybody’s Talking is a pure gem. Also look out for songs made famous by Blondie, the Velvet Underground and the Talking Heads. — Lloyd Gedye
Nthabi
From the Streets to the Lab (Outrageous Records)
Outrageous Records’ latest acquisition, Nthabi, has been touted as conscious local hip-hop’s great female hope, and it’s not that she is completely undeserving of the hype. Unfortunately, her debut album suffers from the lacklustre production blues. When, on the odd occasion, one manages to catch what the diminutive MC is saying, one is fairly impressed with her clever, if overly weighty and serious, lyrics. I sense that Nthabi has listened to a lot of Bahamadia and developed her understated flow in homage to one of rap’s true femme fatales. But generally one can’t catch the lyrics at all and she almost seems to be whispering her rhymes. Bahamadia does this too, but when she does one can always hear what she is saying. Whether this is down to production or delivery I am not entirely sure. Nthabi shows promise and I have heard she can be truly impressive in a cipher, in a battle or on stage. Unfortunately this doesn’t come through on the album. Hopefully her next effort will be a more polished and impressive affair. — Daniel Friedman
Kristin Hersh
Learn to Sing Like a Star (Just Music)
So Kristin Hersh is nine albums into her solo career, or 17 if you add the albums she recorded with cult American indie-rock acts Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave. By now fans know what to expect from a Hersh solo album. I know that there are always going to be a few songs that rock my world and an equal amount of material that will leave me feeling indifferent — which is pretty much how I feel about this new one. The title irritates me because it’s the kind of thing I’d expect from Liz Phair. Regardless it never stops me loving the way that Hersh frames the desperate plea of a song like Nerve Endings with such a beautiful vocal performance. Ultimately this song is an angsty cry from a middle-aged domestically bored woman — Something a lot of non-Hersh fans could probably relate to. — Lloyd Gedye