Frankie Rose
Interstellar
Memphies Industries - out now
IT'S hard to know what to say about Frankie Rose. Think Goldfrapp at their most imaginative and ethereal and slammed into the middle of the 1980s and you are somewhere near. This is very pretty expansive electro-pop with a strong downbeat, serene tendency; I read a quote by Frankie herself which used the word 'spacious' and there is a lot of that here, but that shouldn't be interpreted as 'boring'. A low BPM is not a bad thing.
Get The Blessing
OC DC
Naim Jazz Records - out now
THIS is the kind of jazz I can get my head round. You may have read my review of the recent Empirical album a few weeks ago and this contrasts quite strongly with that. There's still plenty of crazy sax and rhythms which I definitely can't follow but there's an underlying element of funk and finger-clicking toe-tapping beats which carry even the most ignorant listener through. This is the kind of thing which Bertie Wooster might have heard at a party, and I like that. Check out the title track 'OC DC' and 'Americano Meccano' and you'll see what I mean.