Written in the stars
Speakzodiac Northern Drug Independent
SPEAKZODIAC is not a gardenvariety indie band of the times. It doesn’t suggest the future of music either.
While the roots of this style hark back to nearly half a century, this debut album, in fact, replicates a decidedly British sound which surfaced unceremoniously in the nottoo-distant past.
Distilled through the sea shanty bands from Liverpool more than 10 years ago, the likes of The Coral and The Zutons, this Klang Valleybased outfit has unleashed a brilliantly-captivating album, which trades trad song structures and takes judiciously from the psychedelic school of rock.
When three out of the five songs on the album either touch or exceed the 10-minute mark, it’s obvious convention was never a prerequisite. And the abandon with which the band plays its music makes the point utterly lucid that no bandwagon mentalities existed in the creation of this rock-solid album.
Chiming guitars reign supreme on opener Spongy B (Ladle Not Paddle), which also glistens with its 1960s loungey organ sounds, not dissimilar to what The Animals did with its beat brethren back in the day.
However, Speakzodiac is just as adept at turning up the furnace, and St Just (A Doll’s Bleak House) exhales like a dragon with its guitar pyrotechnics, a recurring theme on the album. The pop edifices of Passerby (Lil’ Brit), typified by its rollicking piano, perfectly balances the eclectic nature of the album. PA Hafiz’s vocals is acquired taste, granted, but it goes hand in glove with the band’s music, which keyboardist Faris Khairi, bass player Ahmed Yahya and drummer Muzaffar Johar, comfortably take to another level in this hat-tipping endeavour of vintage sounds and styles.
Tour De Force Bonfire possesses the kind of wild, fuzzed out bliss of Hendrixian guitar, which sets this album cleanly apart from the chasing pack. This is deliciously quirky stuff.
Well, 2017 may have only just begun, but very few offerings are going to top this for album of the year. – N. Rama Lohan
The xx I See You Young Turks
THE xx’s tricks are two. Singers Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim talk to each other in song, carrying on a musical conversation like a post-modern Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner or anxiety-ridden Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. And ever since its self-titled debut album in 2009, it has made the most of minimalism, getting maximum emotional impact out of restrained arrangements that communicate unease while almost always opting to hold back rather than cut loose.
However, it’s the third wheel – keyboard player and producer Jamie xx (real last name: Smith) – who’s the difference-maker on the British band’s third album. Smith stepped out as a solo artiste with 2015’s In Colour, and on I See You, he fills out the band’s sound in inventive ways throughout, starting with the pitch-shifted sample of Hall & Oates’ I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) that takes the album’s superb lead single On Hold by surprise.
Madley-Craft and Sim have always been skilled at conveying unresolved sexual tension that’s best suited to the dark corners of the chill-out room. Here, they brighten up and get moving to the dance floor. – Dan DeLuca/ The Philadelphia Inquirer/Tribune News Service