Album review: Sampa The Great lives up to her name on As Above, So Below
ARIA Award-winning Zambian artist Sampa Tembo melds a future-looking integration of her country’s traditional music with chameleonic hip-hop and other modern influences.
Album reviews for week of September 23, 2022:
HIP-HOP
As Above, So Below
Sampa The Great
Loma Vista
A profound statement of homecoming, Sampa Tembo’s second album sees the 28-year-old Zambian rapper return to her birth country after years spent in Australia. Tembo has done incredibly well here – becoming the first artist to win the Australian Music Prize twice – but her relocation to her homeland is heartening indeed. Recruiting top Zambian producer Mag44, whom she described as Africa’s answer to US superstar Timbaland, Tembo frames As Above, So Below as a future-looking integration of the country’s traditional music with chameleonic hip-hop and other modern influences. You can hear that in the looped thumb piano opening the album alongside jazzy keyboards on Shadows, while Never Forget uses Ngoma drums to pay tribute to the 1970s-era fusion of African music and psychedelic rock dubbed “Zamrock”. Zambian artists Tio Nason and Chef 187 appear on that track alongside Tembo’s sister – and now solo artist – Mwanje, while Zambian drummer/vocalist James Sakala brings a soulful counterpoint to Imposter Syndrome.
American rappers Denzel Curry and Joey Bada$$ also show up to drive home Tembo’s relatable meditations on the challenges of self-realisation, whether it’s being told to stick to one thing (Lane) or putting up a protective front (Mask On), while iconic Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo anchors the closing Let Me Be Great, a powerful affirmation of Tembo’s stage persona. Importantly, none of these guests distract or detract from Tembo’s larger-than-life presence. Her rapping is more fluid and expressive than ever before, cycling through disparate intonations at will. She sounds focused yet unfettered, moving from mood to mood without any slowing of momentum. For an album that’s partly about up-ending expectations – especially ideas about what African woman are actually capable of – this record aptly showcases Tembo’s swaggering, prismatic approach. No wonder she has blown up overseas, and has earned a support slot on pop artist Billie Eilish’s current Australian tour. As individual and personal as these tracks are, there’s more than enough poppy sensibility here to cement her appeal far beyond hip-hop. This is Tembo asserting herself on a scale so large that she cannot be ignored.
Doug Wallen
INDIE POP
Surrender
Maggie Rogers
Capitol/Deray
Maggie Rogers’ place atop the indie food chain was seemingly written in the stars. With the initial hype having settled, then, album two is an opportunity for the wunderkind American singer-songwriter to show what she’s capable of. The answer? As it turns out, a lot more than any cynics may have given her credit for. Surrender is a wholesale improvement on its predecessor, 2019’s Heard It In A Past Life. At 28, Rogers’s vocals are stronger, for one; the left turns are pulled off with more confidence, and the broadened sonic palette allows for a lot of earlier potential to be realised, for another. Highlights include the impassioned vocal of Horses, which may be her best singing committed to record thus far, as well as the steady build of That’s Where I Am and the synth-driven retro pop-rock of Shatter. The kitchen-sink approach to arrangements isn’t without its faults – the piano in I’ve Got A Friend nearly spoils the whole track, while the shrill vocal layering in Want Want is way too loud – but Rogers’s chutzpah ultimately pays off.
David James Young
ELECTRONIC
Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2
Calvin Harris
Columbia Records/Sony
Calvin Harris is at a point in his career where – laden with awards, chart success and multimillion-dollar DJ residencies – he can enlist almost anybody to his cause. So it is with his sixth album. The Scot again mines disco, funk, soul and hip-hop, championing a throwback sound perfected by the likes of Silk Sonic, and aided by an extensive – some might say excessive – guest roster that includes Snoop Dogg, Pusha T, Dua Lipa and Young Thug, the latter two of whom link on the low-slung first single Potion. For the most part, it works. Beats-per-minute are down, and laid back, chugging, bass-heavy grooves take centre stage. Woman of the Year is notable for its glorious outro combining lush instrumentation and a killer bassline, while Obsessed is the album standout, as Charlie Puth trades verses with dancehall star Shenseea. Stay With Me, however, fails to deliver the pop you’d expect when Justin Timberlake, Halsey and Pharrell Williams join forces – one of a few instances here where a song delivers more bark than bite.
Tim McNamara
INDIE POP
Pre Pleasure
Julia Jacklin
Liberation
“Am I gonna lose myself again? / I quite like the person that I am,” sings Melbourne-via-Blue Mountains songwriter Julia Jacklin on I Was Neon. While that song’s fuller-bodied rock may be a relative anomaly among the slow-burn vibe of this third album, such inquisitive self-examination persists throughout. Backed by members of Canada’s The Weather Station and a full orchestra arranged by Arcade Fire collaborator Owen Pallett, Jacklin benefits equally from the former’s ruminative folk backbone and the latter’s grander pop uplift. Her singing is increasingly assured and expressive, as are her lyrics, most memorably on opener Lydia Wears a Cross where she details how her love for performing began with religious musicals in primary school. Jacklin tugs at questions of faith and conformity there and elsewhere, while Ignore Tenderness balances elegant wordplay with some of her most honest revelations to date. The album may lag a bit in the back half, but only because the rewards there are more subtle by comparison.
Doug Wallen
PROG ROCK / POWER POP
Will of the People
Muse
Warner
If you were harbouring any doubts, the ninth studio outing by British rock stadium-fillers Muse has put the result beyond reasonable doubt: this band was always ridiculous, and revisionist history proves it was staring us right in the face all along. From Rage Against The Machine-inspired riffage alongside passages of Tchaikovsky, to prog metal epics about warriors on Mars, singer/guitarist Matt Bellamy has always had an appetite for the kitsch and wacky. Here, cuts such as the swaggering march of the title track, the absurd freak-out of We Are F..king F..ked and the hilariously camp Compliance might have inspired smiles alongside the raised eyebrows a decade ago, but now sound awkwardly retro. However, there’s no getting around the prodigious musical talents of this trio – evidenced on the metallic celebration Kill or Be Killed, which is the best song the band has committed to tape in 15 years. Some may decry the fall of the 21st century’s first rock ‘n’ roll saviours, but prog-rock was never meant to fit the mould.
Alasdair Belling
Album reviews for week of September 16, 2022:
METAL
Darker Still
Parkway Drive
Parkway Records
A brooding defiance marks the seventh album from Byron Bay metal quintet Parkway Drive, which this year marks its 20th anniversary as a group. This set contains all the hallmarks of the two classic records that preceded it: the unbridled gnarl of Ire (2015) and boundary-pushing energy of Reverence (2018) can be felt throughout Darker Still, yet album No.7 shines in a spotlight all its own while representing a period of inner tension, uncertainty and, ultimately, growth. Its creative process rolled out against a backdrop of personal and societal upheaval that nearly broke Parkway Drive before rebuilding the band: slightly burned, but stronger together and ready to take a huge swing at whatever it may face next. A major drawcard in the songwriting here is in how textured the lyricism and delivery have become. Behind the acidic bark of singer Winston McCall, there is a melodic vulnerability that teases an entirely different facet of his artistry. This is revealed in the almost seven-minute title track, which appears at the album’s midway point. The song feels equal parts Guns N’ Roses and Nick Cave in its composition; a foundation of strings, guitars, a whistled melody and stirring harmonies buoyed on McCall’s ballad-like vocals.
Earlier singles Glitch and The Greatest Fear roar with precision and a relentless pace; catharsis beats at the heart of both. Soul Bleach stands tall as a pure, undistilled moment of aggression and fury, while Land of the Lost and Like Napalm are impossible to ignore as the two tracks here that feel most tailor-made for the band’s full-sensory, pyrotechnic-driven live experience. The album has a few dips – Imperial Heretic is the least powerful of these 11 tracks – but, in sum, it stands as an impressive listen. From the Heart of the Darkness is a reminder of how engaging Parkway Drive is as a group, when at its confrontational best. Driven by aggressive rhythms, gruelling guitars and some of McCall’s finest guttural roars, the album closer is a definitive reminder of its status as Australia’s heavy metal leader. Darker Still represents scars of emotional battles fought, failures endured and anxiety channelled into a strong, new vision for the group as it strides ahead, bolder and with greater resolve.
Sosefina Fuamoli
JAZZ
Isola
Cameron Deyell + Laurence Pike
Endless Recordings
The fascination of Isola lies in the revelation of what original music can be found in the minds of Cameron Deyell and Laurence Pike. Two musicians only, but an amalgam of original textures is available through multi-instrumentalism and overdubbing. Deyell plays 12-string acoustic, nylon-string acoustic and electric guitars, while Pike plays drums, percussion, synthesiser, piano and sampler. Recording remotely in separate home studios, they’ve created music that initially I found problematic but later came to like very much as I discovered more in it. Generally there are three voices competing for the listener’s attention: the crisp drum feels of Pike, a lush synthesiser bed, and Deyell’s majestic guitar figures soaring over the top. While that bald summary may not do justice to this complex music, I appreciate the composers’ claim that their music reflects the vastness and geographical isolation of Australia and the influence of the ocean, which has a particular significance for Deyell.
Eric Myers
ROCK
Beddy Rays
Beddy Rays
Independent
The thing Australian rock music has always done best is make extraordinary out of the ordinary. The life that Queensland act Beddy Rays sings of is entirely everyday, but the execution gets every song over the line — and sometimes well beyond it, too. This debut effort from the Redland Bay (get it?) quartet charges out of the gates with the rollicking one-two of Wait a While and Week on Repeat, and maintains that energy throughout. Even an acoustic detour, Brin’s Song, doesn’t lose the pacing – in fact, the endearing ballad for a lost friend is the perfect reflective moment before the band’s signature song Sobercoaster barrelling in. Producer Brock Weston (of fellow Queensland band Bugs) has captured lightning in a bottle on this self-titled album, matching the band’s live energy on record and ensuring the punk-rock/pub-rock intersection is easily met: see Sort It Out as the strongest example on offer. Match that with the unpretentious and honest lyricism of frontman Jackson van Issum, and you’re on to an absolute winner.
David James Young
SOUL/BLUES/FUNK
Stax of Blues
Ray Beadle
Interface Blue
Sydney-based guitarist-singer Ray Beadle is just the man to lead a nine-track tribute to the blues artists who recorded for legendary Memphis soul label Stax. Recorded live in Studios 301 in front of an audience, Stax of Blues is built on an all-star nine-piece band that includes Lachy Doley (organ, piano), Adam Pringle (guitar) and guest vocalist Pat Powell. Songs by the likes of Albert King, Little Milton, Isaac Hayes and Sir Mack Rice ring with Beadle’s signature bell-like guitar tone and impeccable phrasing, while a busy three-piece horn section — starring James Greening on trombone — fleshes out the rhythms. Standouts in an overall stunning set are Rice’s super-funky Playin’ On Me; the swing-time Cheaper to Keep Her, with Matt Keegan featuring on tenor sax, and the soul-drenched, album-closing stomper Love Sickness. Other gems include Little Milton’s If You Talk in Your Sleep (also recorded by Elvis Presley) and That’s What Love Will Make You Do, plus Albert King’s Breakin’ Up Somebody’s Home and That’s What the Blues is All About.
Phil Stafford
INDIE POP
Early Moon
Sally Seltmann
Independent
Sally Seltmann’s first solo album in seven years doesn’t waste time in reintroducing the buoyant upswells of her vocals and arrangements alike. After penning the 2018 novel Lonesome and soundtracking two seasons of ABC TV’s The Letdown with her husband Darren – who returns as a collaborator and co-producer here – Seltmann continues to contrast diary-like emotional intimacy with bustling backdrops that evoke the giddiness of musical theatre. A self-described “friendship break-up song”, opener Please Louise leaps right out with bright melodies and earnest lyrics on the way to a belated plea for forgiveness. Night Bird is a dainty ballad about envying the free-flying avian denizens of Los Angeles suburb Silver Lake, while the breathy Table for One celebrates alone time over starry synths and soft-rock saxophone. Some of this material feels thinner than Seltmann’s best work, which includes two albums with all-star trio Seeker Lover Keeper, but more often than not she seems to pluck soaring melodies out of thin air.
Doug Wallen
Album reviews for week of September 9, 2022:
ALTERNATIVE ROCK
IV
The Butterfly Effect
Independent
In the early 2000s, the intersection of nu-metal, hard rock and alt-metal converged on the Australian music scene to forge a sound that, while heavily influenced by your Tools and your Helmets, still translated as distinctly national. Chief among these acts was Brisbane quartet the Butterfly Effect, which took the churning heaviness of its peers and channelled it through a more soaring, melodic approach, largely care of powerhouse vocalist Clint Boge. Though the band’s achievements were well above what would be expected of a somewhat niche rock outfit, including high-charting debuts and a viable position as festival main-stagers, internal conflicts ultimately led to its undoing when Boge left in 2012. It now has been 14 years since the Butterfly Effect’s last album release, and the world that post-reunion newcomer IV has inherited is so different that the band may as well be The Time Traveler’s Wife. Still, watching a band so steeped in a certain time and place attempting to operate in the present tense once again is nothing if not fascinating.
Like many before it, the results of this reunion LP are certainly mixed. Nil By Mouth, for instance, riffs as hard as any of the early hits and has no issues in the energy department. The vague and ranting lyrics, however, describing a “viral god” and the “YouTube generation”, are some of the most cringe-worthy Boge has ever committed to record, and they immediately carbon date the song. Faring far better is Visiting Hours, which recalls Imago opener Aisles of White with its weaving Kurt Goedhart guitar work and its steady structural ascent – not to mention Boge’s emotive, captivating delivery. The urgent Wave of Tides and the rousing Unbroken, too, serve as timely reminders of the group’s overall capabilities. While the album does find itself going through the motions and painting by numbers a few more times than you’d hope, it’s still a promising sign that the band has worked out both its creative and personal differences to give the Butterfly Effect another shot. While many bands in its position would merely be content with nostalgia, it’s clear Boge and co are chasing something greater – and that alone is entirely commendable.
David James Young
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CLASSICAL
The Children’s Bach
Andrew Schultz
Wirripang
At last, a recording of this 2008 chamber opera by Andrew Schultz to a libretto by Glenn Perry, based on an early Helen Garner novella (1984). It was the towering highlight of the Canberra International Music Festival in 2009 and the same expert cast of seven singers and six instrumentalists is heard here in a performance recorded in the Fitters’ Workshop. The title is derived from a volume of 20 short piano pieces by Bach, the sort of publication that nestled near piano stools across Melbourne for decades. Unlike Schultz’s earlier operas, this one is more soft-edged and interior, with undulating melodies and gracious accompaniments, and echoes of late Bernstein stage works like A Quiet Place. The music and subterranean, seething drama unfurls over 29 tracks, providing the kind of introduction to Bach’s music imparted by generations of suburban piano teachers. Memories of our musical past will spring from concentrated experience of this masterly score, which deserves to be taken up by companies throughout the country.
Vincent Plush
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INDIE ROCK
The Other Side of Make-Believe
Interpol
Matador
It has been 20 years since Interpol debuted with Turn On The Bright Lights, an album that was a benchmark of the 2000s post-punk revival and the epicentre of New York cool. Aside from 2004’s Antics, however, a home truth regarding the band has been its diminishing returns ever since. This is Interpol’s seventh album, and the trio has arrived at it sounding more sluggish and exhausted than ever. Gone are the bursts of energy from previous tracks like 2014’s All The Rage Back Home and 2018’s The Rover — songs that, while from inconsistent albums, reminded us of the greatness of which the band is still capable. In its place is a glacially-paced, timid record that never kicks into high gear — or even second, for that matter. Daniel Kessler’s chiming guitar tone is still intact, as is Paul Banks’ distinctive vocal, but the songwriting has seemingly fallen into hibernation over a frosty winter. Two decades removed from Bright Lights, Interpol sounds dim and a bulb replacement is required posthaste.
David James Young
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INDIE POP
Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson
She & Him
Fantasy
Returning to their longstanding duo She & Him, actor/singer Zooey Deschanel and singer/songwriter M Ward set themselves the potentially daunting task of reinterpreting the work of Beach Boys maestro Brian Wilson. Yet this warming collection doesn’t set out to match his most elaborate arrangements, apart from Deschanel’s honeycombed swathes of vocal harmonies. Instead, the focus sits largely on the quietest, most vulnerable ballads, both with his iconic band and from solo releases. This extended homage began with a lockdown-era version of 1967’s bubbly Darlin’, which opens this record, and Wilson himself sings on Do It Again. Not everything here works: Wouldn’t It Be Nice feels thin compared to the original’s melancholy majesty, and the early surf instrumental Heads You Win, Tails I Lose isn’t essential. But this affectionate outing does linger over Wilson’s tender touch, especially on a sleepy version of Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) that adds country and dub licks.
Doug Wallen
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ELECTRONIC
30 Something
Orbital
Orbital Recordings
“Pioneer” is a term bandied around a little too liberally in electronic music circles, but Orbital is the real McCoy — visionary, progressive, and enduring. 30 Something is more than a “best of” compilation. There’s reworks, remakes, remixes and re-imaginings of the British duo’s biggest tracks — ones that sound-tracked the rave movement and redefined what live electronic music could look, sound and, perhaps most importantly, feel like. Opener Smiley revels in its throwback rave roots, replete with radio commentary on police breaking up an illegal acid house party, while Stephen Hawking’s appearance on the pulsating Where is it Going? harks back to the duo’s 2012 Paralympic Games opening ceremony performance. It’s a brave producer who tinkers with classics like Belfast and Halcyon & On, but Octave One and Finnish producer Yotto, and David Holmes and Jon Hopkins, respectively, honour the originals while leaving their own mark. Rusted-on fans will be filled with nostalgia; curious newbies will find the evergreen work of an all-time great act.
Tim McNamara
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