London,

CDs of the week

Dizzee Rascal: Tongue N Cheek

Basement Jaxx: Scars

Pearl Jam: Backspacer

Mika: We Are Golden

Clark Tracey Sextet: Current Climate

Among the CDs of the week are Dizzee Rascal's mainstream album Tongue N Cheek and Mika returns with perfect pop in We Are Golden

Dizzee Rascal
Tongue N Cheek
(Dirtee Stank)
***Dylan Mills has been dogged by accusations of selling out ever since he abandoned the pirate radio stations of east London to make his first album as Dizzee Rascal in 2003. That release, Boy in da Corner, was as uncompromising a portrayal of ghetto life as exists in modern British music, a violent and profoundly difficult listen. His grime peers must think far less of him now.

Tongue N Cheek, his fourth long-player, marks Mills’s complete infiltration of the pop mainstream, arriving on the back of three number one singles in a row. Those songs, the sunny trance of Holiday, insanely buzzing techno of Bonkers and bass-heavy groove of Dance Wiv Me, are all here, beside eight more catchy tracks that have little in common with his hardcore roots apart from that ranting, hyperactive voice.

He’s been heading this way for a while, sampling Captain Sensible’s Happy Talk on his second album and featuring Lily Allen on his last one, but now the pop tunes completely dominate over anything of lyrical interest. “Money money money girls girls cash cash” is a typical chorus on the frenetic Money Money. The reggae sound of Can’t Tek No More, the only return to real social commentary, offers few insights beyond: “Gotta pay council tax and it kills/Not to mention the rent and bills.”

Ignore the words and it’s all great fun, certain to appeal to his biggest audience yet. This is no accidental move from this shrewd operator. When his daring side eventually re-emerges it will shock more than ever.
David Smyth

POP
Basement Jaxx
(XL)
***
Much has happened to Basement Jaxx since 2006’s underwhelming Crazy Itch Radio. Relationships have crumbled, Felix Buxton has been mugged and the Brixton duo have become stadium house’s last men standing. As a result, they’ve returned to playing to their strength: whopping dance anthems such as Raindrops and She’s No Good.

Yoko Ono adds airy weirdness to the haunting Day of the Sunflowers (We March On) and Sam Sparro offers a genuinely soulful moment on Feelings Gone. There’s nothing here to suggest a new dance revolution is imminent but even less to suggest that Basement Jaxx are creatively bankrupt.
John Aizlewood

Pearl Jam
Backspacer
(Universal/Island)
***
After two successful comeback shows in the capital, Pearl Jam’s renaissance continues with their ninth studio album. While not on the same level as their magnus opus, Ten, Backspacer proves that the godfathers of grunge are still a potent force.

The pulverising beats of Gonna See My Friend suggests that mellowing with age is on no one’s agenda, while The Fixer — all muscular guitar riffs and Eddie Vedder’s serrated vocals — resembles a funkier Kings of Leon. Elsewhere, the folksy skip of Just Breathe provides a rare and welcome moment of calm, before the five-headed grunge monster roars into action again. A rocking return.
Rick Pearson

Mika
We Are Golden
(Casablanca)
****For those of us who feel that music can get a bit earnest on occasions, it is a pleasure to bump into the second album from Michael Holbrook Penniman, the Lebanese/American singer better known as Mika. He deals in classic pop music which is joyfully extrovert without ever getting too cheesy, and has a swooping voice of great range.

From the opening title track to the closing Pick Up Off the Floor, Mika goes in joyful pursuit of big melodies and towering choruses. These songs don’t sneak up on you, rather flirt outrageously right in your face. You only have to hear Blame It On the Girls once to know it will be with you for the foreseeable future.
Pete Clark

JAZZ
Clark Tracey Sextet
Current Climate
(TentoTen)
****
Drummer-bandleader Clark Tracey is an Art Blakey disciple who believes, as Art did, in giving youth its chance. “Yessir, and when these kids get too old I’m gonna get me some younger ones,” Blakey would say. “It keeps the mind active.”

Hence pianist Kit Downes is the only established member of Clark’s latest line-up but trumpeter Paul Jordanous, vibist Lewis Wright, altoist Piers Green and bassist Ryan Trebilcock are all stars in the making. Playing standards by Monk, Cedar Walton, Wayne Shorter and four originals, this talented crew are sure to keep Britain’s straight-ahead jazz flame burning.
Jack Massarik

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