New albums we listened to this week
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
C86 | Diamond Version | Röyksopp & Robyn | Chenda Cope
C86 | B+
First released by NME in its titular year, and lavishly reissued by Cherry Red with 50 additional cuts, C86 is, now more than ever, U.K. indie’s Rosetta Stone. Much like Nuggets did for ’60s psych rock, it captures a moment when energetic amateurs were gleefully rescripting the parameters of guitar-based music, yielding ample tuneful, jangly (and only occasionally precious) indie pop, but also tough ’n’ scraggly rock ’n’ roll, fuzzed-out proto-shoegaze and noise pop, and surprising amounts of experimental weirdness.
—K. Ross Hoffman
Diamond Version | B
File under “things you didn’t know you needed in your life”: a dubby, industrial rendition of “Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord),” sung by the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant. CI (Mute), the first LP from this German avant-techno duo, offers a barrage of repurposed sound bites — voicemail directories, pharmaceutical ad copy, Gillian Welch lyrics — but the throbbing, syncopated machine funk is never less than pummelingly potent.
—K. Ross Hoffman
Röyksopp & Robyn | A-
Those hoping for a re-up of Body Talk’s instant-crush hyperpop magik may be let down: Of the five cuts comprising Röbyksopp’s 35-minute Do It Again “mini-album” (Interscope), only the majestically punchy glitter-disco title track really satisfies. While “Every Little Thing” revives the Swede’s less-heralded genius for heart-tugging balladry, the rest — one sinewy, acid-house Speak & Spell duet and two expansive slabs of sumptuous, swirling electronica — is more in Röyksopp’s wheelhouse, and up there with the Norwegian duo’s finest work.
—K. Ross Hoffman
Chenda Cope | A
Don’t know much about West Philly folkie Chenda Cope, but her new 10-song LP Clouds just popped up on Bandcamp and it’s neatly, sweetly stunning. Over a gently strummed guitar or a deliberately plucked banjo, Cope’s clean, alpine voice sets scenes of longing and simple pleasures. Her sound is informed by old-time music as much as the revival stuff, and locals missing Meg Baird will find plenty to love here.
—Patrick Rapa
