Stuff UK — June 2017

REVIEWS

Sixteen years after a less

than amicable ‘indefinite

hiatus’ left behind one

of the genre’s greatest

modern records, punk

rock’s hairiest band are

back with an album that

seems to have all the

right ingredients but

is missing that special

something.

This is unmistakably

ATDI, but it’s all a bit ‘by

numbers’. That’s not to

say it’s without its charms:

Ghost Tape No.9 updates

the pneumatic stomp of

Joy Division’s She’s Lost

Control, while Governed

By Contagions, Holtzclaw

and Torrentially Cutshaw

are the closest they come

to recapturing the power

that made Relationship of

Command such a thrilling

album. But there are too

many examples here of

a band merely retreading

old ground.

Tom Wiggins

STUFF SAYS +++,,

Q I’m Alan Partridge_Netflix

Q David Brent: Life on the Road_Amazon

Q Nathan Barley_Now TV

Philly urchin Alex G made

a huge breakthrough with

his last album, Beach Music,

adding a new depth of

songcraft to the lo-fi charm

of his earlier home-made

efforts. Rocket keeps it

scruffy but adds prog, jazz

and Appalachian folk to the

familiar Sparklehorse and

Elliott Smith influences...

yet somehow manages to

not be a horrific mess. It’s

a slow grower, but a gem.

Richard Purvis

STUFF SAYS +++++

Damon Albarn’s zany

band of cartoon chaos

merchants are back with

another concept-heavy

record of melancholy pop.

While the cast list is stellar

• everyone from Grace
  Jones to Vince Staples
  pops up – it lacks a killer
  single in the vein of Clint
  Eastwood. Is it really
  too much to ask for one
  solid gold banger on a
  20-song record?
  Rob Leedham

STUFF SAYS +++,,

STREAM LISTEN

In.ter A.li.a_At The Drive-In

Rocket_Alex G Humanz_Gorillaz

Inside No.9_Netflix

From the twisted minds

that gave us The League

of Gentlemen, each

episode of Inside No.9

tells its own story but

they all have one thing

in common – they’re

absolutely brilliant.

From whodunnits and

ghost stories to a silent

episode about a pair of

burglars, they frequently

go from hilarious to

horrifying within a few

seconds. There’s almost

always a twist, which, if

you spot it coming, means

you’re either one of the

writers or a liar.

Its more conventional

but no less funny

predecessor Psychoville

was also recently added

to Netflix.

It’s hard to pick Partridge’s high points but his time in the

Linton Travel Tavern has to be up there, with series two

providing plenty of quotable moments. Dan! Dan! Dan!

David Brent’s movie debut is a long way from The Office

(how could it not be?) – but however much you hate to

admit it, there’s a bit of him in all of us.

Julian Barratt’s long-suffering Dan Ashcroft battles the

poverty of being a writer in the face of ‘the idiots’ who

work at brilliantly blinkered lifestyle mag Sugar Ape.

BRIT
COMEDY