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Primal Scream, 2002
And so Primal Scream crawl, shades on, from the subterranean grime
and night of 'Xtrmntr', out into the city by day. Furious and
disgusted with the world outside; bold and exploratory within their
own sonic domain.
Their seventh album, still untitled and nearing completion, is
shaping up to be another leap on from the last. It's the third
breath-taking instalment of a path which began with 1997's
crepuscular 'Vanishing Point', took a turn into electronic/punk
darkness on 2000's 'Xtrmntr', and here emerges blinking
in the sunlight, less nocturnal, more upbeat and sexual, but still
possessed of the same savagely unflinching aesthetic.
"We've got a Primal Scream voice now," says singer Bobby Gillspie
from the studio where mixing on final tracks continues, "and we're
still exploring it. Half the album seems to be this weird
electronic/psychedelic music, then the other half seems to be insane,
explosive white-light rock & roll, really
free-form, crazed, high-energy music. Real sarcastic, really messy,
the way rock & roll should be. Bootleg shit, you know? It's a good
mix, and I think it's full of hits."
As has been their method since 1991 and the life-changing narcotic
experiment that was 'Screamadelica', the core members of Primal
Scream ' Gillespie, Andrew Innes, Robert Young, Martin Duffy, and
Gary 'Man' Mounfield, augmented by My Bloody Valentine's Kevin
Shields recorded the tracks themselves and then invited various
associates to mix them. This
time, they perhaps didn't need to cast their net so wide.
From within their own ranks, Innes has had an ever-increasing role
in production and mixing. Shields has also mixed a handful of tracks.
Jagz Kooner, who marshalled one of the versions of 'Swastika Eyes' on
'Xtrmntr', makes another appearance here. And Andrew Weatherall,
orchestrator of much of 'Screamadelica', has returned to the desk on
three of the more electronic cuts. The Scream team is, it seems,
though not carved in stone, a
self-defining circle who contribute when the time is right
"It's like a production thing here," Gillespie explains. "We're not
bogged down by the standard band/musician rules, where everybody's
ego has to be fulfilled. It'd be boring to have the same guys playing
the same instruments on every song. It doesn't seem to work that well
for us. We like to use different instruments for different sounds. We
try and get atmospheres and
sounds, most important, and some of the sounds, you know, I don't
know where
they come from. Then we get the performances from people when we need
them. There's no rules."
As you may have read in the papers by now, those who were
'needed' included at least one headline-grabbing star, namely Robert
Plant, with rumours persisting of at least one other. Some tracks are
currently still being completed. What you can hear, though, are seven
finished tracks that fully live up to Gillespie's epithet of
"electronic garage band future rock & roll", that already hang
together as one of the boldest and best albums of 2002.
In more details
Deep Hit Of Morning Sun
The album opener, mixed by Kevin Shields, and perhaps this album's
answer to OEShoot Speed, Kill Light' ' the one which will instantly
loosen your jaw into an expression of awe. West Coast psychedelic
pop tripping into these troubled times. Gillespie: "Aye, the
psychedelic one. We just try and make a really beautiful record that
means something to us, and I think we've done it here."
Miss Lucifer
Jagz Kooner on the mix, and the first single from the album. With its
hammering electro rhythm, perhaps reminiscent of OESwastika Eyes' and
the title track from 'Xtrmntr'. Gillespie: "I guess it's a sexual
song.
Electronic rock & roll. Yeah, it's quite short, but rock & roll
should be short, like Little Richard and Jerry Lee, you know?"
Sick City
Mixed by Shields, a new, more ferocious version of the track that he,
Gillespie and Innes recorded with David Holmes in 2000 for the
latter's 'Bow Down To The Exit Sign'. Filthy urban punk rock.
Autobahn 66
The first of the Weatherall tunes. Minimal Two Lone Swordsmen-style
techno, put in service of motorik spendour. Gillespie: "Aaaah, it's
absolutely amazing. I think it's the best thing we've done since
'Higher Than The Sun'. I can honestly say, it's an absolute classic.
So we're back with Weatherall' It's working, you know? While it's
working, don't question it.
When you hear the track, you'll be blown away. It's as good as
Kraftwerk. It doesn't sound like Kraftwerk, but it's got that
melancholic, beautiful driving feel. It's up there, very beautiful."
Rise
Shields again. Bilious, psychotic, a protest song in the broadest
sense. Birth, school, work, death ' nein, danke. Gillespie:"It's
righteous, you know? It sounds like
the Plastic Ono Band. It's real glam rock meets PiL."
Skull X
Yet another Shields mix. A groove reminiscent of Joy Division's
'Colony', which builds through Velvet Underground-style repetition to
a brain-threshing finale. Think: rotor blades, fresh napalm in the
morning, etc. Gillespie: "That's short for, skull exploding. It's
like a fucking guitar holocaust, incredible. Future rock & roll. I
love it."
A Scanner Darkly
Weatherall. Like a robot stumbling over the horizon, escaping into
black oblivion, this is how the album will send you out into the
world. Gillespie: "Really beautiful electronic music. I don't sing on
it. Big deal. Doesn't matter. The guys have made a beautiful piece of
music. My ego, I don't feel I've got to sing on it. That's how bands
don't last. I know I don't need to on this one. It's beautiful the
way it is."
And finally
As if that were not enough, three or four further tracks are still in
production for the album.
Including...
The Lord Is My Shotgun
Described as an electronic blues, and to be mixed by Weatherall.
Features harmonica from the great Mr Robert Plant, who they accosted
in the street. This is all the info we have at the moment.
Some Velvet Morning
A cover of the Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra. Note the dazed
ante-meridiem theme recurring. Gillespie gets to be Lee for a day,
while his Nancy is apparently supermodel Kate Moss. They have duetted
before, seen by some on video on a fashion website. The band are
currently trying to contact disco king Giorgio Moroder to mix it'
Space Blues 2
Track not complete.Vocals by Martin Duffy. The title is a nod to Felt
and their mainman Laurence. Duffy was also in Felt. No more info,
except that it may be another Shields mix.
Originally appeared in Didimusic, 2002.
Copyright © Digimusic.
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