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The Saturday Review

City Times brings you another round-up of what’s hot and what’s not from the world of music

CHIPMUNK – I AM CHIPMUNK

Precocious, Gobby and arguably the UK’s leading mainstream rapper, Chipmunk paints an occasionally unusual lyrical canvas for his first major label release.

In the liner notes for I Am Chipmunk, the 19-year-old mentions that he’s blessed with the “gift of the gab” – and this youthful sense of infinite possibility pervades the album, which opens with the modestly self-referential Saviour.

“With a face like mine/How could I be camera-shy?” he asks during infectious shuffle Diamond Rings with Scottish newcomer Emeli Sande – choosing to ignore the fact that he earned the nickname Chipmunk for his squished-together features.

And he’s clearly not shy about his luck with the ladies “(“I can turn your girl into mine”), his skills as a rapper (“I’m lyrically Mayfair in Monopoly”) or, having completed his studies before entering music full-time, his grades (“I’m proof you ain’t gotta be a nerd to get As”).

But this bravado is tempered with shades of self-doubt and introspection. Role Model discusses his reluctance to accept his influence on those younger than him and the paranoia of being in the limelight, while in Dear Family the boy born Jamaal Fyffe concedes to those close to him that he can be rude, materialistic and egotistical.

The teenager also thankfully steers largely clear of the blight of Auto-tune, and even tries a spot of crooning for ballad Sometimes (“And no I don’t think I can sing, before you start getting all critical,” he huffs amusingly at the end).

While the record is nestled firmly in commerical territory, Man Dem, Business and Beast touch upon Chipmunk’s past in the grime genre, the former a particularly grubby treat alongside fellow rising star Tinchy Stryder.

Number one single Oopsy Daisy is the pop tonic to these tracks, and suits his naturally unthreatening demeanour as a heart-on-sleeve confessional.

While I Am Chipmunk has cemented Fyffe’s place as an industry unit-shifter, it remains unclear whether the rapper has the natural reserves of talent to mature into a long-term prospect as the face of UK hip-hop.

RATING: 6 out of 10

Choice picks: Diamond Rings, Oopsy Daisy, Man Dem

On the radar

Who we’ve been listening to this week

Taking Back Sunday – Cute Without the E (Cut from the Team)

With snotty vocals and one of the best choruses ever to spring from pop-punk, the New Jersey band take a surprisingly laissez-faire approach to structure and production.

Cute Without the E packs an almighty wallop while still managing to sound like they’re performing live from one of their parent’s basements.

Blur – The Universal

Given the impressive muscle behind Blur’s musical canon, perhaps offerings like The Universal don’t get the full credit they deserve.

Of any band in the last 20 years, few can match the foursome for technical innovation, experimentation and ability to capture the zeitgeist of their culture.

In this way, the Britpop kings are arguably The Beatles for the modern age. If that’s the case, this orchestral anthem is their Eleanor Rigby.

Adele – Hometown Glory

Nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at this year’s Grammys, Adele seeks renewed inspiration from the seemingly mundane details of her London roots.

Backed by just a piano and scattered strings, the soul singer’s voice injects equal amounts pathos and pride into Hometown Glory – making it the perfect across-the-pond riposte to Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind.

SUGABABES – WEAR MY KISS (single)

Despite an ongoing carousel of lineup changes, the Sugababes prove they’re as feisty and seductive as ever with latest single Wear My Kiss.

Much like 2002’s Freak Like Me, the cut-glass industrialism of the backing track belies the dedication of the trio/franchise (delete as appropriate) to the permanent touchpoints of pop music.

“I’m just a pretty little thing/Get up, make you wanna sing/Make you wanna buy a ring,” chant Heidi, Amelle and Jade in unison. You’re not wrong girls.

Marching like clubland’s answer to Lenny Kravitz’s Fly Away, this no-nonsense track again demonstrates that the Sugababes have the chops to supplant the fast-crumbling Pussycat Dolls as the arch temptresses of the charts.

And, now that they’ve joined forces with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation record label, it looks as though the British girl group may finally be primed to conquer the States with new album Sweet 7, due for release next week.

RATING: 7.5 out of 10

CHERYL COLE – PARACHUTE (single)

The trouble with singers who live under the paparazzi microscope is that the listener feels compelled to dissect their lyrics with the fastidiousness of a forensic investigator – even if, as in this case, they don’t write their own music.

And thus the soon-to-be-divorced Cheryl Cole has fallen into the same league as your Britneys, your Amys and your Peters (Andre or Doherty, take your pick).

Speaking of which, Parachute has more than a hint of the Winehouse about it with its classic soul leanings and shiny dolour, although the dents and scratches which define the Rehab singer have been neatly buffed out. Cole’s Newcastle speaking voice on The X-Factor has been replaced by a more marketable mock-American accent, and the vocals are so heavily layered this could easily be mistaken for a track by her five-member pop outfit Girls Aloud.

While an observer might attempt to glean meaning from lines such as “You are your own worst enemy/You’ll never win the fight” in relation to Cole’s loverat footballer husband Ashley, ultimately the song is about surviving the odds.

Most strikingly, however, is the inclusion of tinny, toy soldier drums, which rattle through the track – giving it a true sense of identity and helping place another well-paved slab on Cole’s gilded path to solo stardom.

RATING: 8 out of 10