DARKSIDE

Spiral (Matador)

Mirroring its title, the eight tracks on Darkside’s Spiral are circular and winding, leading further and further down the labyrinth towards an end that only points back to the start. Rhode Island duo Nicholas Jaar and Dave Harrington’s music flitters between indie, folk and ambient, coalescing into a work of impressively singular experimental rock.

Jaar has described Darkside as a “jam band”, and numerous stretches of Spiral follow this logic, whereby the musicians riff on a gradually mutating idea. Inside Is Out There is a delicate, percussive-lead epic, almost Can-like in its textured looseness; Liberty Bell builds a similarly ornate atmosphere around a gently propulsive rhythmic foundation. Album highlight Lawmaker is a widescreen epic, possessing a bluesy grandeur that practically begs you to imagine its use over the credits sequence of a big-budget drama series.

Spiral’s tone is calm, meditative and organic. The tracks ebb and flow, as if in a constant cycle. There’s little room dedicated to musical conventions such as structure, tension or resolutions – rather, the focus is on repetition and texture, on the spiral-like effect that truly engrossing music can conjure up.

words TOM MORGAN

DAVID CROSBY

For Free (BMG)

On the eve of his 80th birthday, a freakishly young-sounding David Crosby returns with his latest long player, For Free. Not an invitation to theft but an allusion to old pal Joni Mitchell’s song, faithfully covered here. The album hangs together well in an enjoyably familiar soup of West Coast harmonies and chiming guitars, highlighting just what an influence Crosby has been on the various Fleet Foxes of this world.

The major talking point of For Free must surely be Rodriguez For The Night, which sees the welcome return of nightfly Donald Fagen – who contributes typically louche lyrics to music so Steely Dan-like, Crosby might be auditioning for a role in the band. Wonderful. Further highlights include the chorus of The Other Side Of Midnight’s sad cascade of multitracked vocals and the diminutive ensemble piece Secret Dancer. Another strong entry in an endearing, enduring musical career.

words ADAM JONES

MUNGO’S HI FI

Antidote (Scotch Bonnet)

It’s 1977 and while the Sex Pistols are annoying the establishment on the river, punks and rastas find a kinship in the clubs. Heavy soundsystem dub, seen through a ganja haze, is the counterpoint to the amphetamine rush of punk, both subcultures on the margins. While punk is resurgent, with a Pistols doc creating controversy, dub is a more niche concern.

After 21 years, Mungo’s Hi Fi know their way around a soundsystem, and have done a decent job of injecting arse-quaking bass into plenty of these tunes. Intravenous Dub emulates some of the space invader elastic dub of Scientist, with spooky skanks and Hollie Cook’s vocal “Look at my face / Look what your child has done to me / Let the sugar water run in my veins” floating atop murky beats, with a menacing edge.

Escape From The City blends ghostly Adrian Sherwood production with a dubstep feel; Pulsating Dub has a spot of toasting from Solo Banton and some nice squiggly FX and bassbin flutters. The rich tones of the legendary Johnny Clarke grace Murky Dub, while Epic Fail is a homage to the era of mid-80s digital dub and Prince Jammy being crowned King Jammy. Finally, Birds Of Pleasure tweets across both eras of dub – the echo chamber where nature prevails in this digital age.

words CHRIS SEAL

SLOWLY ROLLING CAMERA

Where The Streets Lead (Edition)

The brilliant album cover, title and band name seem to coalesce to create the perfect image of the music contained on the new record from this Cardiff-based jazz project. The words Slowly Rolling Camera somehow transform the telegraph pole into gear from a sound stage, while electricity lines symbolise the different styles and many guest artists who are entangled with the core members.

Lighter jazz styles merge well with the cinematic strings and trip-hop production, and there is some great individual playing. Regular member Elliot Bennett’s skittish percussion offsets a lot of the more static synth sounds, playing with the feel and tempo brilliantly, while the harder sax playing of Chris Potter and fusion-fused guitar licks of Stuart McCallum work very well on single The Afternoon Of Human Life. The tight, ensemble feel of a small jazz band has been lost in favour of SRC’s particular aesthetic stylings, but it’s an album full of mood and imagery.

words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES

SNAZZBACK

In The Place (Worm Discs)

I always promised my friends, family and myself I would never review an album by a group of Bristolian buskers unless it was a bootleg tape of some psychologically obliterated shirtless individuals haranguing passers-by for Special Brew over the jump-up drum’n’bass on their minirig. Yet that is how Snazzback started (busking in Bristol, that is, not the other stuff), and they have parlayed their ad hoc approach into an enjoyable, open-eared debut album of soulful jazz cuts.

Triangle allows alto saxophonist Dave Sanders to let it rip, with some Hendrix/Sharrock twisted-metal guitar taking its place in the second half; Ponder features some beat poet-type vox from Solomon OB and Reading seems to reference John Coltrane’s My Favourite Things. China Bowls, a local soul-ish vocalist, appears on three songs, including album opener Alice and YumYum – whose woodwind part has a Middle Eastern lick of smoke, and allows the singer to colour outside the lines with her phrasing. Otherwise, she’s more agreeable than spectacular, and spirit Snazzback back to the N’dea Davenport-fronted heyday of acid jazz big shots the Brand New Heavies.

words NOEL GARDNER