TASTE OF JOY - TRIGGER FABLES (1995)

I promised that I would keep my finger on the pulse of CD cover concepts and this is the third album I have found with "breast cupping". Please understand that I'm not actively seeking them, they just seem to stand out when I'm browsing through endless covers. As you can see this one is slightly overshadowed by a large, pregnant belly, painted with what looks like a depiction of the Earth. I'm assuming this is some sort of Mother Earth symbolism? However, I ignored any misgivings about a possible hippy ambush and made the purchase.

Taste Of Joy are pleasant enough, a fairly straightforward guitar band featuring a female vocalist, their sound sits somewhere between the Bangles, Voice Of The Beehive and the Go-Go's but maybe with a more folky twang. Most tracks are well-crafted and enjoyable without being massively memorable, the type of album that you have on in the background and soon passes by before you've really noticed.

Titles such as Gun Pointed, Hands Are Tied, Loaded and Went To Jail seemed to suggest a lot of weaponry might be involved and possibly even some trailer park revenge crime but that's probably just my warped impression of the American dream. In fact, Hands Are Tied had a pleasant Belly (no pun intended) feel about it, that nice drawling vocal sliding between the guitars. So Long gives a welcome short, stripped-back pause before the slow-burn rocking continues. There's a slight feel of the Beatles on some tracks, an aspect I'm not really keen on.

Top Tracks: Hands Are Tied, Blood Divine.

Verdict: Fail - the wrong type of belly.

STARS - SET YOURSELF ON FIRE (2005)

This is second CD cover I have reviewed which has featured an image of "breast cupping" -  for want of a better description. A strange phenomenon in design which will feature again in my next review, just to prove that I'm paying attention to my own plan to find CD covers with a similar concept.

To me, this cover image looked reasonably militant with a hint of pink revolution and with the Set Yourself On Fire title I could only predict an energetic album full of modern-day punk anger. Track titles such as Your Ex-Lover Is Dead, The Big Fight and Soft Revolution provide further evidence for my theory and it was a good enough assumption to make my purchase.

I was completely wrong. Your Ex-Lover Is Dead opens with the vocal sample "When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire" and with that you expect it to be followed by an explosion of drums and guitars......and noise. But no, it is followed by a gentle orchestral intro building into quite a delicate and thoughtful indie-guitar track, all nicely backed with strings and a knowing sway. As soon as the second track Set Yourself On Fire flickers through the speakers it confirms that have I been duped, this isn't going to be the gritty, raw sound of violent rebellion, it is the dainty sound of art school poets with violins, cellos and glockenspiels.

There's a real charm about the male/female vocals that interchange on the majority of tracks and the lyrics give a glimpse of other people's lives, intimate yet never fully revealed. Tracks such as Celebration Guns and He Lied About Death also provide a worldly commentary about the bigger picture, quietly cutting and eloquent rather than aggressive table-thumping.

The album does have moments of fuzz and fire but it is the stories of relationships and fumblings such as The First Five Times and One More Night which really provide the most fun. Any frenetic moments are well-controlled and the downbeat sections are lovingly crafted and overall there's a terrific blend of indie rock, atmospheric electronics and classy orchestration.

This is not the type of music I usually listen to but I really enjoyed it.

Top Tracks: Your Ex-Lover Is Dead, Ageless Beauty, What I'm Trying To Say, One More Night,

Verdict: Pass - a soft revolution is still a revolution.

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Here are a few tasters from YouTube

AGE OF JETS - GO GO GADGET POP (2004)

I decided to have another pop at a CD with a robotic theme. Quite simple cover artwork but showing multiple robot devices (that's a tick in the robot box) by a band called Age Of Jets (tick in the box for retro) with the title Go Go Gadget Pop (tick in the techy title box). So almost a full house before I had even considered the track titles, they just added to the appeal.

Go Go Gadget Pop starts with the rockingly catchy lo-fi indie meets electro Beast With A Billion Eyes, a song which throws nearly every trick into the mix. It seems to last longer than its 3mins 36seconds, not in a bad way but in a maintains-the-interest good way. For The Love Of An Eskimo melts the diversity for a slightly more ponderous indie ditty, on my first play that's when I began to worry as Fun Führer drops us further into fairly straightforward guitar-based indie. My hopes for robots started to disappear. Cue sad robot eyes. 

However, much to my relief Peter And Sarah and then the explosive RPM pulled the journey back into indie-with-keyboards territory. Robotman instantly hooks you and towards the end launches into an unexpected Stereolab-like moment of joy, there's perfectly enough low-grade circuitry to satisfy my craving for music for automatons. "Listen to the robotman!" indeed.

I'm not sure if I am starting to have a breakdown but, to me, Volvo somehow sounds like Belle & Sebastian recreating a student disco version of Kraftwerk's Autobahn, it is kind of familiar yet slightly warped. The indie-guitar feel returns with Popstars, a sweary and shouty song about copulation Experience Goes A Long Way plus Photos Of Dead Pets. There's a final return to robotworld on Stormtrooper and then the album ends.

Go Go Gadget Pop is a mixed console of indie-pop, I found some of the production a little rough in places but there's enough underlying charm and variety to please the listener. Some decent tunes too. They get a bonus point for releasing this through the wonderfully brilliant Damaged Goods Records.

Top Tracks: Beast With A Billion Eyes, RPM, Robotman

Verdict: Pass - at times they may be dirty little robots, but they're still robots.

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Here is a taster from YouTube:

RUBBER BAND BANJO - SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY (2010)

I was in the mood for something spacey and electronic when I spotted this artwork. The lunar landscape and the scientifically-themed titles such as Bugs & Biofuels, Self-Assembling Virus Spaceship and Human Engineered Pathogen all combined to offer a formula worth investigating. On the negative radar was the possibility of the album featuring banjos.

All I can really conclude is that Synthetic Biology completely fulfilled the brief, an album of well-crafted instrumental electronica. Whilst remaining fairly linear in approach it incorporates enough interesting sounds, rhythms and effects to make it enjoyable throughout.

It isn't out of this world spectacular or highly experimental but it is an atmospheric and sometimes explosive soundscape of technology. Just what the doctor ordered!

Favourite Tracks: Circuit Bender, Bugs & Biofuels, Dark Matter Of The Genome

Verdict: Pass - thankfully, in this space, nobody can hear banjos.

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Here is a sample I found on YouTube: