Wisp - The Shimmering Hour - 4/5

After reading the hype over Wisp's new album, out on the Rephlex label, I decided to go ahead and make a purchase. Mr. Dunn has been making quite a name for himself over the past few years in the underground IDM circuit, releasing on many weblabels as well as "real" labels such as (the now defunct) Sublight and Terminal Dusk. This, as well as Dunn putting out a collection of remixes of Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works 2" album, gives perfect reasoning for his signing to Rephlex (Richard D James owns the Rephlex label with Grant Wilson-Claridge).

So, one may presume that the album is merely a copycat of Aphex's work, as well as his peers such as Squarepusher, etc. and indeed in some cases their influence is evident. For example, the ghostly pads on "Seaway Trail" can easily be likened, if not mistaken for Aphex Twin's "Lichen" from the "S.A.W.2" album. Some of the bass sequences heard in "Keeper Of The Hills" sound as if they've almost been lifted from Squarepusher's "Hello Meow" from "Hello Everything" also.

However, once the listener has bypassed the likenesses and, to be fair, tacky artwork, a gem of an album can be found. Dunn ditches the IDM stereotypes of profanity and smut (see Venetian Snares' latest LP, "Filth"... or, for the faint of heart, maybe not) and pneumatic-drill-drum-rushes to deliver an album full of electronic wizardry. Beats and basslines are kept complex and seemingly everchanging, but are smothered in warm, drowsy pads and ambience. The 14 tracks presented here (it IS a long album clocking in at over 70 minutes - definitely value for money!) provide beautiful melodies so as to not overbear the listener with frantic and disjointed rhythms.

Perhaps the album's length is also a disadvantage though. I must admit, towards the latter half of the album I was wondering if I had heard this before. However, Dunn's work is fresh enough to keep entertaining, even if some of the tracks are a little samey here and there. There is certainly enough variation to save the album from being criticised too heavily, from the gabber-like intro of "Cultus Klatawa" to the Celtic-Braindance-fusion of "The Shaper". The album starts and ends perfectly as well with the energetic opener "Teddy Oggie" and psychedelic-tinged closer "Winter of Flight". "Teddy Oggie" is not necessarily a new work to the IDM fan either - this track can be found amongst the other fakes that came with the release of The Tuss' "Rushup Edge" in 2007.

As stated in Boomkat's review of the album, "The Shimmering Hour" will tide any IDM fans over until the next big release. Hell, this could even be the next big release itself.

Maximo Park - Quicken The Heart - 2/5

So, this is the third album.
I was worried that Maximo's second long-player "Our Earthly Pleasures" would be a let down after hearing the attempts by Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and co. However, the Newcastle quintet managed to refine their sound into an even more powerful emotive beast. The singles were well chosen. The production didn't go over the top. The songwriting just as good as that of "A Certain Trigger", if not better.

However, upon the announcement of "Quicken The Heart" and the release of the album's opener, "Wraithlike", I suddenly realise that in the third album they'd hit that wall. Suspicions were confirmed with "The Kids Are Sick Again" (swine flu?), their latest single. Now, with the album's exclusive release on MySpace, I'm deeply saddened. Seriously. This is the sound of a good band gone tits up.

The music sounds over-complicated. Taking the two aforementioned tracks "Wraithlike" and "The Kids...", the band convey the image of having cut a good demo, then believing that the tracks need complication. Both tracks cut through different time signatures without any need. Maximo seem as though they're trying to be too clever. "Let's Get Clincal" breaks down into darker-than-dark synth drones reminiscent of Bill Bailey's Magic Roundabout,

What annoys me the most with the new material is the lyrics. Paul Smith sounds as though he's been rushed - another Morrissey having lost his irony and wit - after the band spent too much time deciding whether to use 5/4 or 7/8. Some lines are even laughable due to the plague of rhyming-dictionary-style composition - "Her mother let me stay after the disco left us deaf" ("Tanned"); "Nor will I ever despite this weather" ("Questing Not Coasting"); "You got a new bike, all I got was the picture" ("I Haven't Seen Her In Ages"); "Bare ankles used to mean adventure" ("Let's Get Clinical").

However, the rest of the album isn't as bad. It's still weak and doesn't come anywhere near the punch of "A Certain Trigger", but the musicianship is still there. Wooller's keyboards seem to appear more often, supporting the band's sound. They may seem overused to some, but the choice of a few different sounds to the usual Maximo synth lines add some refreshing tones to the tracks. There even seems to be the "blatent Casio" preset in "I Haven't Seen Her In Ages". Tom English's drums are still as tight as they could possibly be. Lloyd and Tiku's guitar interplay is just as good as on past albums, with each musician setting a base for the other to work on.

To summarise, "Quicken The Heart" sounds like the Smiths gone wrong. As said before, Paul Smith's (seriously, that surname) lyrics do seem like a Morrissey tribute act trying to write his own songs, while previous attempts managed to capture emotion and wit. While Smith bores the listener with you've-got-to-be-joking rhyme, the band try to make up for the frontman with bizarre time shifts that just make everything worse. After such a review, you may be surprised to hear that I'm still seeing them live. Well, it is a festival, and they are headlining. Mind, with the new album in mind, I'll only be going for the first two LP's worth of tracks.