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Roisin Murphy - Hairless Toys

  • Published in Albums

Roisin Murphy has been a household name for quite some time, from her '90s stint as part of Moloko to her two solo albums in the noughts. Her first album in eight (!) years is the incredulously titled Hairless Toys (which brings me back to nothing anyone has ever wanted to talk about, ever), and is as far removed from her well-received Overpowered in style as it is in time. Overpowered was filled to the brim with “songs”, and where that album took her version of glittery, shiny, accessible (yet somehow apathetic) disco to pop radio, Hairless Toys moves it to the dark, seedy,hidden-thus-more-inaccessible club side of it. This results in an album that is more experimental, but has perhaps less wide an appeal than her previous LP did.

Just looking at the tracklist gives you a clue as to how far removed this is from “pop radio”, which her last album at least rubbed shoulders with. There is only one song that clocks in under the five minute mark, and that is counterbalanced by a nine minute behemoth called ‘Exploitation’. Next to that one you have songs called ‘Evil Eyes’, ‘Uninvited Guest’, ‘Exile’, and ‘Hairless Toys (Gotta Hurt)’, none of which will soundtrack a feel good rom-com anytime soon. The first track, ‘Gone Fishing’, is inspired by the cult documentary Paris Is Burning, which, if you’d try to teach American subcultures with that, might just land you in jail in some countries. The sheepskin has been shed, and the wolf has decided to only come out when just the freaks are still around.

The first batch of tracks come closest to the House scene it is inspired by, with ‘Gone Fishing’ having some percussion (though too slow to really be dancefloor material) to underscore the narration of building an alternative family for the outcasts, like the houses of the ballroom scene documented by Paris Is Burning did. What is striking is the way Murphy uses her voice, not in the pop diva way as on Overpowered at all. The amount of genres it references is notable as well. Yes, there is the bass and percussion, but also the warpy sounds of more experimental electro genres, and there’s a recurring jazzy guitar and bass as well. Not to mention the song specific sounds, like the funk and sad horns in ‘Evil Eyes’, the trippy electro in ‘Exploitation’ with it’s lengthy instrumental outro (not the most inviting one at that), or the hoodoo barbershop quartet in ‘Uninvited Guest’.

The B side of this LP features less of the funk of side A, starting off with the sad, almost country tinged ‘Exiled’ (down to the delivery of the vocals, which say that she feels “vanished from your love”). ‘House of Glass’ has a thuddy beat to start with, though jazz sounds come in later to help the talky vocals of Murphy, going with bass and a guitar riff as it ups the pace later on. ‘Hairless Toys (Gotta Hurt)’ features a piano to which one could do a ballet/modern dance to, with Murphy’s whispery vocals saying that “there were injustices, along the way”. ‘Unputdownable’ is the album’s closer, starting almost fairy-tale Disney like with those sounds (which is it’s very intent, I’m sure). That song has two parts where she steps away from that feel, almost exemplifying the album’s B-side as a whole: eclectic, but definitely with a purpose behind it all.

The first four songs have in common that they are all related, somewhat, to aspects of dance, without being aimed for the dancefloor. The second part of the LP is more varied in terms of style. Constants, though, are elements of multiple genres floating around, the non-pop use of Murphy’s voice (more narrative and/or rhythmic), and the themes. Running away from the synth-pop and R&B feel of her previous album, Murphy’s fusion of elements only reinforces the theme of not quite belonging anywhere. Via its variety she builds an intriguing-yet-grotesque house for the exiled, uninvited, and exploited. Yet, she might turn off some (many?) along the way as well, as, for instance, the instrumental outro of ‘Exploitation’ will test quite a few people’s patience. Giving it a go on a streaming service might never have been as useful as here, as the album as a whole might be too out there for people who primarily enjoy Murphy’s more accessible output.

Hairless Toys is available from amazon & iTunes.

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The Weekly Froth!

  • Published in Columns

 

The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

Track of the Week:  ‘Thinking About You’ by TCTS feat. Leo Kalyan

Lets jack it up with this one, as it immediately comes out of the gates full throttle with it’s dancing shoes on. Fast paced beat, nice synth riff, extra percussion, and quite the vocals from Leo Kalyan who says that oh my, she certainly got the best of him. In the mean time TCTS is working that thing, keeping the beat going and making sure that extra synths and percussion either add to the rhythm or the sense of pace. Kalyan, in the mean time, narrates his tale of woe, saying that You hit me like a hurricane. I love the rhythm in this one, it is so dancey and catchy, and he adds the synth at the exact right time to get some oomph going. That 2:40 backtrack moment is some nice little trickery (though I could’ve done without, to be honest) that then allows for the illusion of pace when all the main elements come back in. TCTS throws in some piano as well, and this is just one of those vocal house tracks that just does it for me. If you know my column, I’m a vocal house kind of guy, and this is right up my alley.

 

‘Gone Fishing’ by Roisin Murphy

How about some Roisin Murphy, eh? She is back, and will be releasing her new album Hairless Toys later this year. This track doesn’t see her in all smooth and belt-out pop mode, far from it. Actually, am I the only one thinking it a bit Bjork-y? With those more experimental percussion and auxiliary sounds, but also the way she uses her voice, way more whispery than I’ve ever heard before. And then, at about 1:30, she goes a pitch higher, and that’s just so beautiful right there. Murphy herself has said this song was inspired by the indeed quite inspiring documentary Paris Is Burning, which tells the story about the ballroom/vogue scene in NY in the '80s. “So beautifully dressed”, Murphy sings, after which she says “My mother’s mistake / my father’s heartbreak”. The tune itself is not so much inspired by the music these boys were vogueing to though, mind you. Murphy said the song is more of a Broadway soundtrack to that documentary, which I can kind of see, though a wicked Broadway show that would be. It’s more out there, I reckon, than just about anything on her Overpowered album, so it will be intriguing to see what kind of listen her Hairless Toys is going to become.

 

Edit Service 52 by Marvin & Guy

I’m A Cliche is back again with the next in their Edit Service, which is all free for you to download. This time it’s Marvin & Guy’s turn to set the dancefloor alight, and they come with a nice bassy synth sound to keep this track rolling, throwing a dash of funk on top of it all. About a minute in you get the kind of robotic vocals, and the auxiliary sounds take a turn for the futuristic as well. Which is, I think, in nice contrast with that distorted bass sound with that funky feel in it. There is an element of fun here, in the sound, in the vocals, in the mixing of all these different things, so as you’re grooving on the dancefloor (it is a slow burner, this one) you might find yourself with a little smile on your face as well. Something like that sequence from 3:25 though, that’s just brilliant, the way they use that bass sound, the added padding in terms of the percussion, and then the auxiliary sounds followed by the vocals: that build-up and flow is pretty awesome. A slice of fun for the boogie on the dancefloor, in Italian, no less.

 

‘Pleasure Principle’ by Janet Jackson (Classixx Recovery mix)

Now, you know you want to be dancing to Janet Jackson, don’t you? And she comes in at the eighteen second mark practically by her lonesome, just aided by some percussion and, later, some aerial synth sound. But at about 50 second in you already hear a bit of the funky synthesizer that’s going to give you that 80s dancefloor filler vibe, though the main dance element is the beat that comes in after the minute mark. Classixx make sure that it’s Janet’s show, with her vocals front and center in this one. The beat is a soft thud, there enough to dance to, but not enough to distract or take over in a danceclub anthem kind of way. A little bit later that synth gets a bit more prominent a role, but even that is subdued into this summer beach party kind of feel. It’s more a slice of soft synth-pop (more Zoot Woman than Cut Copy even) with Janet explaining the principle of pleasure. Oh I’m sorry, you needed something more than that?

 

‘Just Like You’ by Chromatics

Oh Chromatics, how I love thee. I still fondly remember that Glass Candy and Chromatics gig I went to a few years back, so awesome. Here, the vibe, again, exactly right in that cinematic kind of way, and then those vocals, so dreamy and melancholic and just a tad removed. Those backing vocals at about the 50 second mark, amazing, such a nice contrast with the main vocals. Again, you’ve got that Italians-Do-It-Better synth going on with that slow drum to give it some body and something to latch on to. This tale ends with a pathetic He looks just like you / He even loves like we used to...” on repeat, which is quite heart wrenching indeed. Again, no one does this kind of atmosphere better than Johnny Jewel and his Chromatics, with those beautiful synths working to perfection, and then that lazy beat and those vocals topping it all off like cherry on the best cake ever. New album Dear Tommy is gearing up for release, and I know for a fact that people are excited for that one.

 

‘Like A Thief In The Night’ Night Bandit (Superprince Edit)

Yeah baby, lets get that funk going. Superprince edit this ol’ Night Bandit play-that-funky-music Eighties tune. So you’ve got a beat in the background to keep it dancefloor friendly, you’ve got the funk-a-delic sounds going on from the original, and then those female vocalists come in singing that, Like a thief in the night, you took her lovin’ (oh, behave!). I mean, this is just that funky disco that I just love to hear on the dancefloor. It’s got all those characteristic elements, it’s got quite a bit of pace to it, and it’s got those female vocals that just belong in this genre. And, of course, it’s about love and loving and love making, and that’s what you want to hear about if you’re on a night about town. Just super fun, no weirdo sequences to halt the momentum, this one just keeps rolling out all the good stuff from that era in such a way we can dance to it in the discotheque on a Saturday-night-going-on-Sunday. Have fun kiddo’s!

 
 

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