MOZART ESTATE
Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! And The Possibilities Of Modern Shopping (Cherry Red)
Mozart Estate is the new name for Go-Kart Mozart which means this is the return of Lawrence, a singular prince of British independent music (see also Felt and Denim) whose surname is a matter of public record but never used out of some deferential omertà. The excruciatingly-titled Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! And The Possibilities Of Modern Shopping album was recorded with a small orchestra’s worth of musicians but, in its inimitable assembly of synthpop, glam, powerpop and musical theatre, sounds like the mad DIY vision of a solitary man and his digital workstation, which I mean entirely as a compliment.
Likewise when I say that very few albums in recent years have induced more genuine laughs than P!K!&TPOMS: mostly via the lyrics, from a reference in the opening song to hook-handed terror cleric Abu Hamza onwards, but also the precise placement of (possibly synthesised) pedal steel in the track Four White Men In A Black Car.
words NOEL GARDNER