Album Review: Bankrupt! - Phoenix

Phoenix's somewhat stratospheric ascent, achieved comparatively late in their career with their fourth album, has been pretty well documented in the press on the run-up to that release's follow-up. Up until now each album released was met with modest expectation, leaving the band the freedom to experiment.

With album number five all that has changed. The pressure is well and truly on and, frankly, it shows. Every previous release from Phoenix has brought with it a new direction. Sophomore release Alphabetical introduced a lazy, smoky soulfulness to the band's previous sound and brought a bit more focus. Album three, It's Never Been Like That, was lean in comparison, it had a stronger focus on basic instrumentation and introduced and tendency for vocalist Thomas Mars to dress his lyrics in obfuscation that has only grown over time. The move to a big, polished, electronic sound that came with Wolfgang Amadeus Pheonix felt like a complete 180, but it also brought them to a sound both consistent, instantly recognisable and accessible.

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​Bankrupt! - Phoenix

And so it's stuck. Bankrupt! uses Wolfgang... as a template and takes things from there. There is a little more sheen, a slightly greater focus on electronics and the application of a series of Eastern flourishes, already heard in that opening refrain on lead single Entertainment, but also present in the harps of Trying To Be Cool and a repeated melodic lick on The Real Thing.

Mars' lyrics are more impenetrable than ever - a series of thoughts seemingly disassembled and reassembled at random and for some this will be off-putting, but it has long helped create the feeling of something more personal. Like letters written and hidden under the bed or thrown away it is as though Mars is looking to release something through the act of expulsion, but isn't quite ready to tell you what. The act of uttering incomprehensibly is seemingly enough.

Bankrupt! isn't just born of the pressure created by their fame though - it's about it. In fact, it's so focused on a band dealing with the fallout of success that it takes it almost to the point of parody, a meta-concept-album telling the tail of a band unable to function any more despite the medium being their continued function. That lead single and album opener Entertainment is a knowing nod - seemingly simultaneously protesting at the continued requirement to be the dancing monkey in the room and yet doing it anyway. The protest itself becoming entertainment, with Mars delivering his killer line: "I'd rather be alone..."

Mars keeps coming back to these thoughts throughout. S.O.S. In Bel Air deals with international alienation. This time Mars IS "Alone, alone, alone" but you sense it's a different sort of independence to the one he requested on Entertainment - caught out alone but in company, as opposed to out of it. Similarly Oblique City is a tale of a band stuck in an incomprehensible foreign land, the "Rosetta stone" of Coca-Cola's internationally consistent branding the only thing that seems to translate. The similarity to Lost In Translation, directed by Mars' wife Sofia Coppola is clear and obvious.

What Bankrupt! isn't though, is the tight. It isn't (quite) the record that Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix or even It's Never Been Like That were. At just 41-minutes it never outstays its welcome but it doesn't feel quite like every moment is as vital as on those other albums. The extended mainly instrumental title track feels a little heavy, stuck in the middle but without achieving quite the same emotional gravity as either of those previous two album's equivalents (Love Like A Sunset and North, respectively).

Tightness or otherwise to one side though, Bankrupt! is still unlikely to disappoint. Every track has moments that sparkle and the album itself enough great tracks that I don't have the space to name them all... But Don't stands out in particular, a thrumming track with big eighties drums and plenty of distortion heavy bass that captures that disorientating sense of confused romantic misunderstanding Mars does so well. Is he singing about unrequited love, infidelity or divorce? It's impossible to tell but that only makes listening all the more compelling...

Bankrupt! is out now, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD, Deluxe CD, LP (with deluxe download), MP3 and Deluxe MP3 [affiliate links].​

Album Review: Late Night Tales presents After Dark - Bill Brewster

Bill Brewster is a bit of a legend amongst more discerning dance music fans. He's known for playing things a little bit leftfield and was playing disco (along with everything else) some time before it's current return to favour. Crucially, together with Frank Broughton, he wrote what is pretty much the definitive book on the history of DJing - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (on Amazon.co.uk here - note this link is affiliated and earns the blog money if used).

Between them Broughton and Brewster put a big focus on 'programming' (I.e. the selection of tracks and the sequencing of those tracks into a meaningful order) over technical wizardry or, in some instances, technical capability.

In other words it's what you play that counts, not how you play it. I got into a conversation today about the old 'Super Clubs' of the late 90s and was struck by how things have moved on. Most of them no longer exist (replaced by supper clubs perhaps?!) and yet the nightlife of many towns seems better, if anything. There's less of a focus on superstar DJs and six-hour sets and more of a focus on the tunes. And in my mind, that's what it's all about.

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​Late Night Tales presents After Dark - Bill Brewster

Brewster's latest work is a mix album in the Late Night Tales series. Following on from Tom Findlay's excellent Music For Pleasure release of last year this new one sees Bill add his own concept: After Dark. In his own words, that means it's a compilation of "dance music for people who know how to make love". In other words, it's slow and classy.

Brewster plays to form, and as always it's what he plays that matters most. From the opening track - Marti Caine's seductive disco number Love The Way You Love Me (a track here on CD and digital for the first time) - this is a set of music with little concern for genre or era. Linus Loves' 2004 disco-house track flows from the opening track into the theme from the BBC's 70s TV show Quiller, originally released on the BBC Records and here in an unreleased edit form. It's probably most recognisable for having been sampled extensively by The Avalanches and it's an avant garde slice of disco-jazz insanity.

Rare remixes of tracks from the Doves and Twin Sister are woven into the mix yet don't interrupt the flow, which varies across the mix but retains a dubby disco and funk edge. Phillipe Zdar provides a mix of Machistador, a track by the mysteriously named -M- (he's actually Mathieu Chedid, son of French singer Louis) - it's gloriously funky but manages to be so without loosing a slightly grimey edge, only adding to the appeal. Sleazy guitar solos freak to a thick disco beat that transports you to a dirty basement after-party in New York.

There's plenty hidden away in this mix and it's a densely packed journey that will take a while to fully consume. I:Cube's mix of Beach Towel by Karma is a distorted, mechanical epic, soaring ambient melodies rising up from soft bouncing bass lines and François K's mix of Herbert Moon's Blow Your Body is a deep and cosmic space-jazz track, full of ambience and vibes.

It's occasionally off the wall but it's impossible to resist the pure passion and sheer DJ geekery that Brewster has crowbarred into After Dark. He's made an experimental, sensual and sophisticated dance record for lovers of quality dance music.

Late Night Tales presents After Dark is out now, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links]. Listen on Spotify below:

EP Review: Seneca - The Range

On Seneca The Range follows up his Disk EP from last year on Donky Pitch with another EP of incredibly dense and percussive dance music.

The Range came to my attention a few months back when he released his fantastic Promises Edit into the wild. It's a stunning rework of Ciara's Promise that feels deep, sweet and thick like treacle, creating a big electronic sound around the vocal with smatterings of drum & bass rhythms as the track builds. Unfortunately it doesn't feature here, due to it's unofficial status, but it's worth checking out.

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​Seneca - The Range

What we do get are three new original tracks and three remixes. PS 3 opens the EP, creating a spectacularly kinetic track of Asian-sounding melodies and flick-knife-quick rhythms. It's an impressively uplifting track, full of Eastern promise and clattering excitement - steel drums stuttering vocal edits and frenetic energy. It's pretty thrilling.

Greg Maddux Change Up is next, and whilst it retains the same complex, multi-layered rhythms it is downbeat in mood. Stirring, blue electronic melodies slowly play out in the background against brittle, cold keys whilst The Range's trademark pitched vocal samples sit high in the mix.

The final original track is Life Like This and it's probably more similar to that Ciara edit than the other tracks on this EP. Slower, though definitely not slow - it has just a little less energy than the other tracks here. Rapid drums and an Amen break still give the track energy, but it's also feels delicate and contemplative in tone - an observation of the non-stop chaos of life, perhaps.

Two remixes of PS 3 feature. Obey City create a slower track that plays up the Eastern elements of the original, adding strings, whilst Supreme Cuts deliver a deeper mix, full of sub-bass and a more minimal sound. Howse provides the remaining mix, this time of Life Like This, and it too is deeper, creating a thick, atmospheric track that still has complex rhythms but combines them with hazy melodies.

​Seneca is out now through Donky Pitch, you can purchase the EP on Bandcamp. Check out that Ciara remix below:

Album Review: Seven Lies - Djrum

Seven Lies is the debut album by Felix Manuel, who goes by the name Djrum (pronounced "drum") and on it he creates a sound collage of genres and influences.

This is an undeniably London-orientated album, full of the kind of urban decay coupled with muted bass and raw beats. Djrum's label cites influences including Portishead, DJ Shadow and Cinematic Orchestra, jungle, minimal techno, house and broken beats. These have all been combined to create a filmic, atmospheric soundscape.

Djrum's music sounds more like Machinedrum than any of those individual reference points, and there is a hint of Andy Stott's mature bass-orientate techno to the deeper moments on Seven Lies. In essence Manuel has created a dubstep album that casts a net over a number of dance-related genres - house, techno, hip-hop and soul - and pulls them all back into the boat.

Seven Lies therefore captures much of the apprehension and isolation of dubstep but plays it to a less rigid, more human rhythm. It's ultimately familiar in style yet still feels distinct from much of the dubstep influenced material I've heard of late - less coffee table than James Blake and the XX, yet more experimental than the dubstep of purists.

Arcana (Do I Need You) builds strings, tight drum loops and a growling bass line around a soulful vocal, creating a heady mechanical groove that still feels like it has heart. Lies, in contrast, is slow moving and fragile, filled with vinyl static and harps and space that encircle vocals from Shadowbox.

It seems that Djrum isn't afraid to step more directly into other genres and disrupt those either. Final track Thankyou is a fluid track of drum 'n' bass rhythms where the drum patterns gradually merge into one another before a final cinematic climax.

There is a sense of the jazz-like experimentalism in the way Manuel's music moves, locking into a moment and playing with it until it gradually changes form whilst painting a series of momentary feelings for the listener.

Seven Lies will be released next Monday through 2nd Drop Records, it is available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link]. Preview via the album Minimix below:

EP Review: You Are My Destiny - The Juan Maclean

The new release from The Juan Maclean, out now on DFA, picks up somewhere between the deeper house experiments John Maclean has embarked on through his excellent DJ Kicks compilation and the slick eighties techno-pop of second album The Future Will Come.

Long-term collaborative vocalist and ex-LCD Soundsystem band member Nancy Whang is back on vocals and the start of You Are My Destiny sees her accompanied by the sort of clean minimal techno that Maclean usually keeps reserved for his isolated 12" releases and DJ sets.

You Are My Destiny feels tight and locked down, Whang's vocals a clean and simple reflection of the mechanically pure music. Things open up in the final three-minutes, Whang's vocals soaring over a more driven, progressive set of sounds as Maclean noticeably kicks things up a gear. It isn't as beautiful as his best moments (Dance With Me still makes me melt) but Maclean sure knows how to create a sophisticated and cool track to party to.

Remixes come from Saved Records head Nic Fanciulli, who winds the track into an intense techno groove across two mixes (one straight-up, one a more restrained dub) and ditches Whang's vocal on both. My money's on the original, but if you like your music druggy and introspective then you can probably take your pick...

You Are My Destiny is out now through DFA, available as a digital download or on vinyl.​ Check out the edit via Soundcloud below: