Klein Records
“Sincerely Yours”
(Klein Records/M10)
With a population as small as Austria’s, it’s only right that a burgeoning underground label from Vienna calls itself Klein — or “small” in German. Christian Candid started Klein Records in 1996 as a platform for the release of the Sofa Surfer’s debut 12" “Sofa Rockers.” The Surfers’ inclination toward dub is one of many musical genres piled into the jumble of Germanic jazz, rock, indie and electronica brought together under the label’s wing, with an exceptional continuity. The fact that these styles are mixed without sounding appalling in the process, is down to Candid and his partner Rainer Klanger. Candid’s background lies in rock, so the traditional ethic of an indie label like Creation is distilled with the experimentation of, say, Warp, a label that has more than influenced Klanger. Candid: “We try and put rock back into the music to show our roots. We’re not a dance label. We put out some club-oriented 12"s, but all our musicians have different backgrounds.”
“Sincerely Yours” is a compilation of Klein’s key releases. It epitomizes their sound and indeed, the diversity of their acts — from the sensual dub of the Sofa Surfers to the bouncy melodies of Mum and Mika. Candid again: “There are a lot of directions but at the end of the day, this compilation isn’t just a bit of this and that. If music is going to come out of Vienna, then it has to be exciting and a little bit different.”
And what about the future? “For me, the philosophy of Klein has always been to keep things small and keep them real, true to the artists. Then it can only grow and grow…” Hear, here!
Bonobo
“Animal Magic”
(Ninja Tune/Pias)
Released last year through the tiny Brighton imprint Tru Thoughts, Simon Green’s debut as the troubled monkey Bonobo (named after an endangered species of ape), finally gets a worldwide release thanks to those all-embracing boys at Ninja Tune. Why this album wasn’t signed to the London label in the first place is beyond us — if someone took the time to work out the Ninja Tune formula for musical cool, the equations would sound something like this. But Green insists he used no formula but his own. “Animal Magic took three years to record and is influenced by what was going on around me at the time.” On “Terrapin,” a track that garnered a lot of attention for the then unknown 25-year-old, employs a sitar riff, just one of many instruments Green “found lying in the corner” of his house. A talented musician, his ability to add a sense of organic richness to his work makes this record stand apart from the soul-less meanderings churned out by many fledgling labels. Look out for both Bonobo and Tru Thoughts in the not too distant future.
Liz Mc Comb
“The Spirit of New Orleans”
(EMI)
Like Josephine Baker before her, Liz Mc Comb chose to base herself in Europe. In France, where Parisians have come to know her singing better than those back in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, some refer to her as the “First Lady of Gospel.” And if “Fire,” her first stateside release, generated untold amounts of critical praise earlier this year, then “The Spirit of New Orleans” should leave the US media salivating for even more. As a tribute to Louis Armstrong, in the year that marks the centenary of his birth, this is Mc Comb’s most jazz-oriented album to date, with shorter, catchier tunes — even with Caribbean breaks and swinging organ solos. The up-beat tempo of “The Big Mess” and “We Are More” remain true to her church-music roots, but smokier numbers like “Ain’t No Grave” and “Old Man River” reflect Armstrong’s influences from New Orleans and the Mississippi. Whatever the rhythm, the message is always positively charged and a happy emotion flows from Mc Comb’s piano (her voice isn’t her only instrument) — the keys, like the production, subtle, sparse and always played with gusto.
Zero 7
“Simple Things”
(Pias)
It seems that talking-up acts has a positive effect on the record-industry. Not only does it introduce fresh talent, it allows a whole new scene to sprout up around the original source of acclaim. Look at Zero 7. This album spawned innumerous acts in the down- to mid-tempo range of ambient chillage in 2001. But few could better the soul-jazz funk of “Simple Things.” Listen in and feel the sound of now.
Télépopmusik
“Genetic World”
(EMI)
It’s been a good year for French music, despite two of its most over-hyped groups dropping mediocre follow-ups to far more stimulating debuts. This debut on the other hand, shows what happens when “real” tunesmiths turn their hand to making electro-pop. Founder members and collaborators with Autour de Lucie, Anna Karina and Françoiz Breut used their skills as instrumentalists to produce a sterling, ultra-modern model of nu-jazz and hip hop, cut with a unique tool called imagination.
