CDs of the week

Evening Standard   04.09.09

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POP
Jamie T
Kings & Queens
(Virgin)
*****
Two-and-a-half years since Panic Prevention announced him as one of pop's most promising prospects, Jamie T's follow-up has been a while in the waiting.

Any fears that Mr Treays has been suffering from “second album syndrome”, however, are cast aside on the first listen to Kings & Queens — a witty, winning return that positions him alongside Mike Skinner among the aristocracy of a sub-genre we might term Asbo pop.

Recorded between his garden shed in Wimbledon and a fancy studio in the East End, the album retains much of the DIY charm of his 2007 Mercury-nominated debut, with a little added sprucing.

So while the themes are familiar — pubs, parks and piss-ups still figure heavily in the 23-year-old's world — the music is bigger and bolder. It's funny, too. Take Sticks 'n' Stones, a punkish reminiscence on the singer's days as a “10-a-day, how d'you say, little shit”, with guitars as spiky as its lyrics.

The jewel in the crown, though, is The Man's Machine. Marrying hip-hop beats with shimmering synths, it builds to the fist-pumping refrain: “Stones, glass, concrete and gravel, all we've got to keep us together.” At moments like this, Treays sounds like that most loathed of things among songwriters: a spokesperson of a generation.

Perhaps it's all that listening to Bob Dylan, whom he claims to have “discovered” while writing this album. There's certainly evidence of a more folksy influence on Emily's Heart and Spider's Web, where he accompanies himself on acoustic guitar.

Whatever his inspiration, it's worked: witty, gritty and well worth the wait, Kings & Queens is a crowning success.
Rick Pearson

PETE YORN & SCARLETT JOHANSSON
Break Up
(Rhino)
***
While nobody who has heard a Juliette Lewis or Minnie Driver album could possibly condone actresses making records, Scarlett Johansson is worth a second glance. Anywhere I Lay My Head, her Tom Waits covers set, was no disgrace and here she's the Nancy Sinatra to singer-songwriter Pete Yorn's Lee Hazlewood on his song cycle detailing a relationship's final throes. Her faraway vocal style is an ideal foil for his more earnest tones, especially on the winsome Clean and the sole cover, Chris Bell's mighty I Am the Cosmos. Meanwhile, the jaunty Relator captures the beginning of the end with shark-eyed detachment and an undercurrent of doom but there's enough musical uplift to remind us that they are only acting.
John Aizlewood

CHARLIE WINSTON
Hobo
(Real World)
***
Charlie Wilson is, in many ways, a musical throwback. He comes from that bohemian troubadour/busker tradition and is evidently the kind of chap who, at the drop of a hat, will whip out a guitar and sing to the assembled company whether they be on a train platform or some more conventional venue. The best-known song here is the title track, written five years ago and apparently a favourite in mainland Europe. It was a number one single in France (as was the album) but we must not hold that against him. The mixture is a familiar one of light folk strumming and the occasional ballad, with a hint of beatbox here and there as a nod to modern life. Good-hearted and utterly safe.
Pete Clark

THE CRIBS
Ignore the Ignorant
(Wichita)
***
Ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr is a model for us all in these troubling economic times, hopping between jobs and learning new techniques instead of sticking with what he knows and hoping for the best. Having joined Seattle rock band Modest Mouse for an album in 2007, now he's teamed up with the three Jarman brothers of Wakefield indie tikes The Cribs for their fourth release. He hasn't made a dramatic change to the band's ragged, angry sound, despite being credited as a co-writer of the whole album, though there are more slower-paced songs including beautiful closing ballad Stick to Yr Guns and the gently chiming Last Year's Snow. Mainly, the second guitar adds volume to a group that were never shrinking violets.
David Smyth

JAZZ
ROBERT GLASPER
Double-Booked
(Blue Note)
*****
These five stars reflect pianist-composer Glasper's singular importance to the future of this music. He's all about jazz yet he and Beyoncé were classmates; he plays for Erykah Badu and hangs with Mos Def and Bilal, two vocal guests on this brilliant album. The six opening tracks here present his piano trio, with bassist Vicente Archer and drum dazzler Chris Dave. Then, hence the title, come six more with his hipper-than-average hip-hop band, featuring Derrick Hodge on bass guitar, Jahi Sundance on turntables and Casey Benjamin on vocoder and incisive alto sax. If hip-hop won't go away, let's thank heavyweights like Glasper for putting some musicality into it.
Jack Massarik

WORLD
LJILJANA BUTTLER
Frozen Roses
(Snail Records)
****
Bosnian singer Ljiljana Buttler has the darkest, smokiest voice in the Balkans. Entering dramatically over a plucked bass, she sounds like a man on the world-weary opening track of this magnificent album. Formerly known as Ljiljana Petrovic, Buttler was celebrated in 1980s Yugoslavia but then emigrated to Germany. Her recent recordings and concerts mark the return of a voice of immense character. With a slightly jazzy line‑up of instrumentalists, this dark, smouldering set ends with Sumorna Nedelja (Gloomy Sunday), a piece notorious for its associations with suicide. It was recorded in 1941
by Billie Holiday and if anyone is the Billie Holiday of the Balkans it's Ljiljana Buttler.
Simon Broughton

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