Rock / Indie Recommendations September 2014

Review: Jack White has firmly established himself as many things-rock renaissance man and paragon of analogue recording amongst them, but strangest of all in the evolution of this mercurial figure is the way he's consistently challenged himself, and essentially only made wayward and compromising records as his twisted path has continued. Case in point is Lazaretto; perhaps his most eclectic and eccentric work to date, yet also his most focused, personal and euphoric in tone. A glorious trawl through a plethora of styles and moods and replacing the riff-worship of The White Stripes with enough freakish ideas to fill five albums this is proof positive that Jack White's muse is at its most potent when at its wildest.

Review: Some fifty years into a career in which he's managed to confound expectation at every turn, Neil Young continues both to keep his fans guessing whilst offering something uniquely primal. Whilst on the one hand, an acoustic album of covers might appear to be a step into crowd-pleasing compromise, especially when they include material by the like of Dylan, Springsteen and Gordon Lightfoot, and a duet with Jack White. Yet given this is Neil Young, this material is transformed by means of primitive recording techniques and world-weary pathos into a thing of spectral charm and eerie, small-hours potency. Another gem from an eternal iconoclast.

Review: Come On Die Young was an enormously important record for this young band on its release in 1999, proving them a uniquely powerful force not only in UK indie but worldwide, forging a gloriously dynamic, abstract yet effortlessly melodious form of (mostly) instrumental music that engaged the emotions just as much as the cerebellum. Recorded with Dave Fridmann, it's a gloomy masterpiece of cinematic melancholy and heavily amplified drama, and thus much deserving of this bumper expanded box set. Comprising demos and out-takes from this fruitful period, along with an entire live show that chronicles this arresting outfit at the peak of their powers, this is an essential portrait of a revolutionary musical force that proved themselves just as adept with near-silence as screaming noise.

Review: Melbourne's Total Control, whose line-up features ex-members of The Eddy Current Suppression Ring and UV Race, marry a dystopian, explicitly political message with a questing spirit and an anxious post-punk aesthetic. The end result is an incisive sound that manages to sound equally driven when dealing with neon-lit electro-pop stylings as angry guitar-driven exorcisms. Typical System builds on the achievements of their debut Henge Beat, which earned them something of a cult following, uniting an ear for a pop hook with an adventurous spirit in a manner that can call to mind luminaries like Wire and Mission Of Burma without sounding like anything other than a record from 2014. A prescient and potent record.