The Subliminals
★★★★ United State FLYING NUN.
DL/LP
Lesser-spotted New Zealand treasure celebrates 20th anniversary.
In terms of overseas interest, Flying Nun’s golden age was over by 1994, and the second coming didn’t start until around 2016 – a lengthy gap in which various jewels went largely unnoticed. None more so than United State, a union of ex-members of equally under-the-radar Flying Nun alumni (Loves Ugly Children, The Hasselhoff Experiment, Bressa Creeting Cake) who exceeded anything they’d made apart. Given that The Subliminals got going at the same time as Liverpool quartet Clinic, the similarity between the two bands is uncanny, though it’s clear both were channelling Can and Wire: metronomic swing, beatnik vocals, a balance between fluidity and regimentation. The Subs came at it from different angles, and the success rate was high: sultry motorik (Surface), shouty rock (Uh-Oh), eastern-tinged drones (Distance), golden-age Flying Nun psych-pop (Close Your Eyes). “A beautiful accident,” the band reckoned. One, sadly, never repeated.
Two Synths, A Guitar (And) A Drum Machine
SOUL JAZZ.
CD/DL/LP
Fresh dance sounds inspired by the ’70s/’80s no wave, punk-funk and noise genres.
By choosing bands unified not by what they do but the way that they do it, this dudfree 15-track primer reminds us how chemistry and purity of intention can trump muso grandstanding. And while there are inevitable nods to underground New York, British industrial and German electronica, the startled innovations of New Fries’ frenetic tension-ratcheting (Lily) or Vex Ruffin’s shotgun marriage of punk and throwback hip-hop beats (The Balance) do much more than rake over the same old ground. Whether it’s Niagara’s warped excursion into Augustus Pablo dub (Ida), Tom Of England’s wobbly mix of PiL, Krautrock and Arthur Russell (Neon Green) or Automatic’s minimalist backand-forth over queasy Korg MS-20s (Too Much Money), the connective tissue between these acts lies strictly on the dancefloor.
Curved Air
★★★★
The Albums 1970-73 ESOTERIC.
CD
First four albums by Britain’s only female-fronted progressive rockers.
Mike Barnes’ definitive prog rock history A New Day Yesterday paid its respects, but largely Curved Air have fallen into obscurity. This, despite two classically trained spearheads (violinist Darryl Way and multi-instrumentalist Francis Monkman), a singer (ex-folkie Sonja Kristina) by turns sultry, regal and playful, and a canvas stretched by folk, jazz and psych-pop as well as virtuosity. Unusually for a prog band, the short-form Curved Air were even better than violin-fests like Vivaldi: see such haunted beauty as Screw or the flighty Phantasmagoria. Given that the first three albums were Top 20 hits, why the current low profile? Did Top 5 single Back Street Luv damage their credibility? Perhaps Kristina was an affront to prog’s boys’-own domain? Even after Way and Monkman left, a fourth, rockier album
didn’t disappoint. In other words, Curved Air are ripe for rediscovery.