Jonathan Boulet

Gubba  

(Pop Frenzy/Caroline)

by Ian Sinclair

After achieving popularity in his native Australia mining the kind of indie

that gets you support slots with Mumford & Sons and Kate Nash, 26-year old

Jonathan Boulet relocated to Europe to release this, his third album.

With Boulet citing Minor Threat, The Men and Dirty Beaches as key

influences, the noisy and fast Gubba is a huge change of direction.

Hold It Down kicks off by stealing the guitar motif from The Walkmen’s

Heaven before descending into relentless, ear-bursting garage rock.

Most of the other songs continue to bludgeon the listener – from Creeper’s

Led-Zeppelin-sized guitar riffs to the sardonically hooky You’re A Man and

the melodic quiet-loud closer High Five Guy.

Shot through with a basic pop sensibility, the incredibly loud and fuzzy

Gubba is a youthful triumph that suggests Boulet has much more to offer.

Just don’t expect another call from The Mumfords, Jonathan.

Ian Sinclair

The Levellers

Greatest Hits

(On The Fiddle Recording)

by Ian Sinclair 

The Levellers' fiddle-infused rock and anarchist politics have long made

them a marmite band, a situation not helped by their difficult relationship

with the music press.

Putting THAT aside, this 2-CD set — their second greatest hits album, with

the first being released in 1998 – highlights just how much good music the

Brighton band have made in the last 25 years.

Peak period anti-establishment anthems such as Fifteen Years and Liberty

still pack one hell of a punch, while later hits like the drink-a-long Just

the One and What a Beautiful Day highlight strong pop sensibilities. New

material comes in the form of reworked old songs featuring younger artists

like Frank Turner and Imelda May.

I have some minor quibbles — why omit the barn-storming Battle of the

Beanfield? — but overall the album proves the Levellers can rightfully take

their own distinctive place in the rock canon.