16/03/02 'Lank Haired Girl to Bearded Boy' - It's Jo and Danny
'It's
Jo and Danny'. When I saw that title and that cover, it caught my
attention. And forgive me but what sealed the purchase was a little label
quoting rave reviews; 'wildly imaginative and wilfully eclectic' said Q magazine
among others.
And indeed upon slipping this on, you would be hard pressed to work out what or
who this is. The opening 'Solar Plexus' is a rock/folk crescendo of noise
building up to who knows what. Then towards the end you start to hear Jo
Bartlett's sublime (an abused word but here it rings true) voice shining through
the multi-layered music. It breaks into 'Hippy Thinking' a blend of
guitar, drums, tambourine and effects that bring you to the edge of some rocky
cliff built around sparking vocals from Jo. 'Benbecula' continues the
theme with sounds from the British coastline and you now know you've entered truly
fresh, innovative musical territory, where discordant samples and weird
instruments are blended in masterfully.
It works because as you go on, the tunes become ever more melodic, skilful,
slightly melancholic, yet joyful. I could go on but you would be
better off buying it now and marvelling over 'Repentant Song' and wondering if
this is the first band to ever use a horse-racing sample ('Arkle').
And yes, as the sticker quotes the N.M.E, it's over in '35 all-too short
minutes'. Jo and (he's great too) Danny, are in a league of their
own. Remarkably but perhaps not too surprisingly, they struggled to get
signed for many years and released this on their own label. The follow-up,
'Thugs Lounge', another classic, was released by BMG. That relationship
soured and now the duo are out on their own again and, according to their website,
are working on new material. Personally, I am finding it hard waiting for more
summery rock/folk/psychedelic genius. For anyone else who hasn't heard it,
I don't know what you're waiting for..
| Buy "From Lank Haired Girl to Bearded Boy" US, UK |
Other recommended music;
03/12/02 "Born
to Run" - Bruce Springsteen
30/08/02 "Second Toughest In The Infants" - Underworld
20/08/02 "Stuck
On Love" - The Arlenes
22/07/02 "The Gasoline Age" - East River Pipe
05/06/02 'Viva!
La Woman' - Cibo Matto
17/02/02 'New
Favorite' - Alison Krauss + Union Station
26/11/01 'Cold
Water Music' - Aim
12/10/01 'Fear Of Fours' - Lamb
13/08/01 'De Stijl' - The White Stripes
20/05/01 'O
Brother, Where Art Thou?' - Various Artists