BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition - October 2019

MUSiC ALBUM REVIEWS
Interview
DANNY BROWN
uknowhatimsayin¿
Warp Records
JOHN WARWICK
PREFAB
SPROUT'S
FRONTMAN
PADDY
McALOON
STILL
MAKING
MUSIC...
ON AN
ATARI?
By GLENN ALDERSON
Paddy McAloon is tinkering in his
Northern England studio trying
to emulate the sounds of a guitar
using an Atari Computer when he
answers the phone.
The 62-year-old songwriter is
often credited as one of pop-rock’s
greatest songwriters for his masterful
work with his band Prefab
Sprout, but due to his worsening
tinnitus, the sound of an actual
guitar—or any amplified musical
instrument—causes him immense
discomfort.
“Listening is not quite the
pleasure that it was. I only have so
many hours in a day where I can
work before my tinnitus just exhausts
me,” he says in a thick English
accent. “I play the guitar but
sometimes when I’m working on a
song I use what I call a ‘fake guitar,’
where I program the Atari to sound
like a guitar part. It’s tedious and
boring and I’m probably old enough
to know better, but sometimes I get
carried away doing it.”
McAloon is optimistically working
on the long-awaited Prefab Sprout
record, Femme Mythologiques, and
the band’s first new music since
2003’s experimental rollercoaster
of a concept album, I Trawl the
Megahertz. Originally released
as a solo album, Megahertz was
inspired by the shortwave radio
shows he would listen to while at
home recovering from a detached
retina. Earlier this year, Sony Music
Paddy McAloon
reissued the album under the Prefab
Sprout name as it was originally
intended.
Prefab Sprout rose to fame
in the late 70s and early 80s
with their unique brand of new
wave-inspired outsider pop music
that often got lumped into the new
wave movement, but stood tall
above the rest thanks to production
from Thomas Dolby on their
breakout album, Steve McQueen.
They experienced great success
in the UK—and mildly in North
America—with pop hits such as
“Cars And Girls” and “The King
Of Rock And Roll,” cementing the
band as innovators in the evolving
landscape of pop rock.
With a nod to prosperity and
everything that once was, the band
is celebrating reissues of their first
three albums: their debut, Swoon,
which introduced the world to
McAloon’s idiosyncratic songwriting
with subtle male-female harmonies
courtesy of bandmate Wendy
Smith; Jordan: The Comeback, an
overly-conscious but pleasantly
confident sophomore album; and
their earnest third album, From
Langley Park To Memphis.
But McAloon however is not interested
in looking back, only forward.
For him, creating ensures he doesn’t
get left behind as a footnote in the
music history books. In fact, he’s
infamously known for his archive of
unfinished material that he’s barricaded
parts of his studio with.
“I’ve got a grand piano that I
can’t get near because of the piles
of songs I’ve written since the year
2000. It’s kind of hidden behind
this wall of packed boxes full of
music, which is a great tragedy,
really.”
McAloon has been teasing his
archive of unfinished material
for decades but assures those
recordings aren’t anywhere close
to being released.
“It’s not a like a Prince or Frank
Zappa situation where there are a
bunch of finished records waiting
to go. It’s more like I’ve written
songs for an album and they’re on
cassettes. I’ve got the paperwork,
the chord charts, but very few
are finished. I can’t just reach out
to a shelf and play you an entire
unreleased album, but I can find
you the box.”
For now, fans can enjoy the
band’s back catalogue while
McAloon remains hard at work,
committed to replicating that
perfect guitar sound for his next
offering using his Atari computer.
The new song he’s speaking about
is called “Mary Magdalene Blues.”
“It’s got a strummy mildly funky
guitar part. I’m nearly finished it
actually. This afternoon I may have
it finished and then I will commit it
to tape.”
Best Track: Cars and Girls (From
Langley Park To Memphis)
It’s been three years since Danny
Brown released Atrocity Exhibition—the
album he famously spent
$70,000 of his own money on
samples for. While the Detroit
native may be making different
financial decisions with his fifth
album, uknowhatimsayin¿, one
thing remains the same: even after
over a decade in the game, he’s still
one of the most inventive and fun
rappers there is.
uknowhatimsayin¿ features executive
production by none other than
Q-Tip, who also produced the majority
of the beats. The influence of
the ATCQ pioneer is strong on the
warm, sample-driven beats: tracks
like “Theme Song” and “Change
Up” could be lifted directly from the
Native Tongues heyday with their
jazzy vintage vibe. The laid-back,
classic feel combined with Brown’s
contemporary flows results in an
era-bending mash-up we could only
have dared to dream of.
Additional production contributions
from the likes of Flying Lotus
and experimental jazz duo Standing
on the Corner add layers to the
sonic palette. The wide-ranging
features from JPEGMAFIA, Run
The Jewels, Blood Orange and Nigerian
spoken word artist Obongjayar
are the perfect complement
to Brown’s chameleonic character
throughout.
“I’m livin’ my best life,” Brown
boasts on the song of the same
name, and we wholeheartedly
agree.
Best Track: 3 Tearz
Josephine Cruz
24 BEATROUTE OCTOBER 2019