Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Spoonbill - Zoomorphic (Omelette/AmpHead)

Posted: 10 Mar 2009 01:20 PM PDT

There’s a vague reference to 16th century painter, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, on Zoomorphic’s cover, in that it uses his technique of creating an image out of the illusory use of unrelated objects. Arcimboldo painted faces made out of fruit and vegetables, Zoomorphic depicts a spoonbill (an ibis related wading bird) photoshopped together out of disparate household, electronic and mechanical equipment, along with, most obviously, the wooden spoon. As an analogy to the music on the album, it’s a great place to start.

Spoonbill creates electronic-based music with hefty doses of quirky samples - many of which are unrelated to the final product, but create the enjoyable sonic illusion of fitting together smuggly. Blues harmonica, cartoon boings, flamenco guitar, jazz trumpet, harp trills, cash register bells, all over a foundation of electronic funk and gritty synth bass. It doesn’t always work - ‘Wonkball’ is a one joke example of what happens when you fall on the wrong side of the line that Spoonbill, a.k.a. Jim Moynihan, is treading. However, elsewhere, he generally gets it right, particularly when he relies on sturdier rhythms. His cut and paste approach often reminds me of Meem, without such a focus on acoustic funk samples, but with a similar approach to upbeat party moodmaking. Tracks like ‘Feather Leather’ and ‘Mangle Boogie Bangle’ make excellent use of sharply cut sampled elements and pulsing bass to build an irresistible groove. Later tracks on the album, ‘Les Lilas’ and ‘How It Goes’, decelerate to a half time lope to round the album out as more than just a collection of party tunes.

There is always great danger with this kind of work to settle into kitsch novelty, but Spoonbill mostly avoids the pitfalls. While the music is undoubtedly fun, there are robust foundations to his arrangements and an ear for detail which rewards repeated listening.

Adrian Elmer

Micachu and the Shapes - Jewellery (Rough Trade)

Posted: 09 Mar 2009 11:00 PM PDT

Micachu and the Shapes' debut album could prove to be the most exciting 2009 release from Rough Trade, if not any label. Emerging as an MC amongst the London grime scene, this is Mica Levi's first full-length attempt at pop, and the results are charming, experimental and exciting. First single 'Lips' opens with a guitar riff that sounds like it could have been a left over from Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica sessions, before launching into a mixture of DIY punk and glitch noises. 'Turn Me Well' marries a vacuum cleaner to electro bleeps to a surprisingly poppy effect, and listening to 'Just In Case' is like flicking a knackered radio between a Spanish flamenco channel and a pirate grime station. There's a lot of bands in the UK that are currently blending the world of guitars with the underworld beats, some in a much more contrived way than others. With Micachu and the Shapes, however, it sounds organic; the video game sound effects sprinkled over 'Golden Phone' compliment the song, rather than make a forced fusion. Eccentric and seductive, Jewellery is an extremely promising debut which leaves us all wondering what this wonder girl is going to do next.

Joe Barton