Untitled Document

UNCUT-Feb 2001(Uncut's 18-track guide to the month's best music*): SNAKE HEADS-Named after the notorious Chinese gangster ring responsible for the smuggling of illegal refugees into Britain, "Snake Heads" is already an integral highlight of Lincoln's live repertoire. The lone instrumental on the London quintet's debut EP, this brassy dollop of gumbo-punk shoots from the same Mexican hip as Calexico and Joe Strummer's long forgotten 1988 Walker soundtrack. Definitely a band to watch in 2001.

UNCUT-Feb 2001(First Cuts): LINCOLN-Alt.country animal magic-They're from London, there debut EP is Barcelona yet they call themselves Lincoln. To confuse matters further, Lincoln's sound is very much that of the American New West. This initial geographical confusion has its roots in the Jim Thompson novel / Sam Fuller movie Heed The Thunder set in turn-of-the-centuary Nebraska, who's central character is one Lincoln Fargo; the band's ideological inspiration. "I know we've got an American sound," singer Alex Gordon admits, "but there's a particular Englishness that effects what we do as well."Which could well explain why their most accomplished snapshot of heart broken Americana, "Johnny Morris," shares its name that stalwart of bygone British kids TV. "It was just something I wrote when he died, based on an obituary," Alex elaborates."He was a fairly formative figure in alot of people's youth. It was such a beautiful, uncomplicated time and his parting really put it into a chapter."The songs haunting Trombone solo (easily the saddest since Robert Wyatt's "Shipbuilding") proved an equally emotional experience in the studio. "I'd recorded it as a guitar solo but the moment Matt our Trombonist started playing I just let him take over. I thought either he feels the same way as me about Johnny Morris or he's thinking about something completely different, but equally moving."A genuine homage to the man who could voice over a lethargic orangutan like no other? "Absolutely, there's no irony in the lyrics that I write," confesses Alex, "they're all pretty much from the heart. Maybe I should try writing more frivolous songs, though. Then I wouldn't get so upset when people don't like them!" SIMON GODDARD

UNCUT-Feb 2001(Albums): Delicious mini-album from promising London five-piece - Like lugubrious US alt.country faves Lou Ford, Lincoln take their name from a character in a Jim Thompson novel, but inhabit the same sonic badlands of dusty, brooding grace and border town dislocation as Calexico and Tim Gibbons. The title track is a country sad duet (featuring Tracy Van Daal) as compelling as it is bleakly sparse, while the uneasy Spaghetti Western lament of "Bulletproof", the tumbling brass flourishes of "Snake Heads" and the bittersweet acoustic picking of "Haystack" are all testament to their wounded beauty. ROBERT HUGHES* SNAKE HEADS is track 2 on 18-track CD available free with UNCUT'S February issue.

UNCUT-Aug2001: KIBOKIN, Mini LP of lugubrious, dust-blown Americana via the Big Smoke: On thier recent languorous Barcelona EP, Lincoln forged themselves as the ultimate slo-mo mariachi desoerados you'd find kicking spurs in the bordertown saloons of a Django Western or serenading the shadowy Mexican spectres of a Juan Rulfo novel. If anything, Kibokin lengthens the shadows and ups the ante by embracing even more exquisitely-tiered arrangements. Singer Alex Gordon's adenoidal weariness is as emotive as Tindersticks' Stuart Staples (particularly on the stunning, "Travellin' Light"-esque duet, "Little Mistakes") while characteristically gorgeous brass flourishes pepper the songs. Not bad for five lads from Stoke Newington. ROB HUGHES