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Golden Grrrls - New Pop 7”

Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital (album)

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester (album)

Throwing Up - Mother Knows Best 7”

Howling Wolf - Complete Chess Masters 1951-60

The Ketamines - A Rotten Bond/1 Yr (from Oddbox Singles Club Pt 2)

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Darren Hayman - January Songs (album)

Various: Marshall Teller EP 12”

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Album Review

Gil Scott-Heron
I'm New Here XL Recordings

Article written by Matt H - May 19, 2010

Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here

In the wake of Johnny Cash's late career flowering it's no bad time to be old and working. There's been plenty of dodgy reanimations, but there's still the odd Cohen- shaped delight, filled with gravitas and wisdom. Gil Scott-Heron's latest falls firmly into that delight camp.

It's a weighty offering, but not hard going - the brevity of the pieces combined with his ear for language, humour and talent for a poetic phrase means it's easy to stick with even the many spoken word numbers. (If there's a more arresting open line than Scott-Heron intoning "Standing in the ruins of another black man's life", I'm yet to hear it). Those are typically minimally backed with spare, slow paced atmospheric beats ambient sounds or muted orchestration setting out personal ruminations and clues, both direct and cryptic, to the wisdom Scott-Heron has picked up over the years. Any rage that's left in him smoulders gently in the background rather than blazing as it might have done in the past.

There's a few tunes scattered around too: Me and the Devil, I'll Take Care of You and New York is Killing Me are gravel throated bluesy soul numbers with spare rhythmic backing - all sound like they probably ought to be the theme tune to your latest favourite gritty US TV series. Most startling of all though (for your indie schmindie listener at least) is possibly the title track, which unexpectedly really does recall Cohen, developing over a genuinely folky picked guitar with faux-confused spoken verses playing against the sort of chorus that any of the plethora of spaced-out acoustic Americana bands would give their right arm to be able to deliver something half as good.

Where Cash has been widely celebrated for using his later years to bring his age and experience to bear, largely, on other's work, Scott-Heron provides it all himself in a series of quietly thought-provoking postcards from the back end of a life. And that's something that's almost certainly more worthy of recognition (though less likely to get it). Fortunately you suspect he's got plenty more years yet to pen a few more.

Links:
http://gilscottheron.net/
http://www.xlrecordings.com/
http://www.myspace.com/gilscottheron