Top 5 - Wilson Neate
1) Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Spanish Dance Troupe (Beggars Banquet). Dropped by Mercury, Gorky's bounced back with this gem. By 90s standards it's an album of late-60s/early-70s duration, a mere 37 minutes. But that makes sense as it's a brilliant evocation of those periods: the best of early Floyd, The Soft Machine, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and some Bowie/Roxy-esque glam. It's not a simple imitation but, rather, a uniquely creative pastiche. This is largely due to Euros Childs and his precociously self-assured songwriting talent. Gorky's combine crafted musicianship, off-beat weirdness and sincerity without the pretension and pointlessness of art-rock noodlers. To write a song about poodles during which you bark and which people will want to hear more than once is an achievement in itself.
2) Everything But The Girl, Temperamental (Atlantic). In 1996 Everything But The Girl completely refashioned themselves, turning out the stunning Walking Wounded. That album seemed impossible to top. But they've managed just that with Temperamental. Like Walking Wounded, it's not exactly a barrel of laughs; in fact, it's probably darker but here they've achieved a synthesis of vocal melody and music that moves their sound to another level entirely. Against the grain of fashionable-yet-emotionally-empty techno, EBTG take largely anonymous formulae and inscribe them with feeling and mood. Thanks to Thorn's powerful and evocative vocals that hang perfectly over Watt's subtle, compelling house dabblings, they've created the perfect pop record. Music you can dance to and listen to.
3) Atari Teenage Riot, 60 Second Wipe Out (Grand Royal). If you're lucky enough to have hearing-impaired neighbors, no neighbors, or if you reject the fascist hegemony of neighbors, as Alec Empire would encourage, then you'll have listened to techno-punk's finest hour at the volume it demands. If an auto pile-up were recorded and remixed, it would sound like ATR: a relentless aural assault, a juggernaut-sized throbber of a headache at 140 bpm. Alec pushes us through this physically challenging album like an anarchist drill sergeant on a punk rock assault-course. The energy is enhanced by the lyrical anger - making Crass sound like The Teletubbies (yes, ATR are still railing against all ideological and repressive state apparatuses). Whether you can take ATR seriously is irrelevant, as it was with punk - it's the attitude and pose, stupid! A special Christmas gift for grandmother perhaps?
4) Marc Almond, Open All Night (Instinct). Still sleazy after all these years, Marc Almond is back with another winner and quite possibly his best work for some time. He's still out there trawling the boudoirs, bars and street corners of his uniquely conceived city of night, scouring the usual territories of torment, melancholy, lust, desperation, self-destruction, and delicious excess over which his oeuvre has lingered since the outset. And musically, Open All Night displays the variety that has always characterized Almond's work: trip hop, techno, Latin beats, white soul, jazz, the camp torch song, and the dark ballad make up the rich texture of this album. He continues to be a rare talent with a distinct musical and lyrical vision. If only more people would take notice.
5) Lo-Fidelity Allstars: How to Operate with a Blown Mind (Skint/Columbia). The Lo-Fidelity Allstars may be the Chemical Brothers with vocals (and rock instruments) - and definitely without Ecstasy. Their sound perfectly encapsulates a certain side of London in the late '90s, but it's not the Cool Britannia where Noel Gallagher has cocktails chez Tony Blair. It's somewhere darker, out on the streets, where the scene is at once more bitter and more alive with tension, simmering with discontent. Sneering vocals and dystopic lyrics compete with funky keyboards, taking the shallow urban glamour of a Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to the dance floor without losing any of the menace.
