May 2016 Review

I only got 'round to 8 albums in May. Not much took my fancy this month. It did allow me to get well acquainted with what I did choose. I actually wanted to review 9, but one of them was Bob Dylan's album, a like-for-like covers album of old standard pop songs. Seems like everyone sells out at some point, eh? I'd have to have given it a D, and I can't bring myself to do that to such a legend. At the other end of  the scale, my #1 album this month is a total banger. It could even be the best of the year.


The Rest:


Catfish And The Bottlemen - The Ride - C

Indie/Garage Rock


Kate Jackson - British Road Movies - B

Pop/Indie


The Best:


01: Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book - A

Alternative Hip-hop/Gospel/Soul


Coloring Book was one of the most anticipated albums of 2016. Chance The Rapper, an upcoming starlet of hip-hop on the crest of a wave, championed by such names as Kanye West and Jay Electronica has dropped his 3rd album, and 2016 seems so much brighter all of a sudden. Coloring Book has this delightful positivity that pours into your heart from front to back, and obligates you to smile. Chance's hyper-elation spreads generously thick musical effervescence over every track. The listen is not taxing in any way; Coloring Book, for it's length is a joy to listen to, with a perfect combo of initially pleasing hooks and deeper musical dynamics that demand well over a dozen spins.

As with a lot of Hip-hop records these days, there is a rich cast of guest spots. Chance sometimes dominates songs and sometimes allows his friends to take centre stage, making the entire experience flowing and collaborative. Chance's moniker may lead some casual observers to label this as Just Another Rap Album, but Coloring Book is so much more. There is as much Soul and R 'n B on here as anything else, and along with the glorious Gospel choir sections peppering the album, Coloring Book is a genuine masterpiece of a style of music so young, it barely has a genre specified. Let's call it Gospel Hip-hop.

The socio-political situation in The States is complex and troubled, especially for the POC community, and in this context Coloring Book is all the more sweet. It shines out beams of hope and love in the face of so much hostility, an antidote to the dark swell, a beacon in the fog. Looking at the high level of quality in the tracklist - No Problem, Blessings, Same Drugs, Juke Jam, Smoke Break - All these are incredible pieces, varied in style, produced to a razor sharp standard and treated with a high level of care. Chance has poured all his energy into this project, and helped with a cast of musical super-luminaries has achieved something really special. Album Of The Year contender.

02: Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool - A

Experimental/Ambient

A new Radiohead album these days is a rare occurence, coming with the frequency of a general election or a solar eclipse. The Abingdon boys are grown up, with wives and children to look after, solo projects to work on, and Greenpeace campaigns to be the face of. When they do get back to the lab as a fivesome, the product always ends up succinctly representing a different half-decade of reflection on the world, people, and the human condition. A Moon Shaped Pool is the latest epoch-definer from Probably The Best Band In The World.

Everything that is to be said about Pool has been said, and said, and said. Yorke's lyrics are mysterious, emotional and cutting as ever, Greenwood's musical arrangement (especially the string sections) are breathtaking and refreshing. The rest of the band, as always fill their boots. Radiohead are 5 separate artists who come together to form something that is at times indescribably superb and wonderful. We all know that.

What is worth saying is that Radiohead have torn up their own rule book with Pool. As experimental and genre-defying as the band have been over the years, they have kept a certain feel and structure to all of their songs. Most Radiohead songs have rigid verse/chorus/etc structures that temper the swell of virtuosity. Very few Radiohead songs clock in at over 5 minutes, very few lack a chorus. With Pool, Radiohead have done away with these restraints and released their most experimental, ambient album; their most creatively free project to date.

I feel though that this is actually a negative thing, as Pool lacks the solid, driving paranoid meticulousness that makes their top tier releases untouchable. As such, Pool is in the mid range of Radiohead's back catalogue, better than Amnesiac and Pablo Honey, but not troubling the likes of OK Computer, In Rainbows or Kid A. But after all, a middling Radiohead album is still better than the vast majority of music. This will fit snugly in the top 10 of many end of year lists.

03: Adult Jazz - Earrings Off! - B

Jazz/Experimental


This is one of those releases I took a random punt on. I literally only listened to this because I thought the name Adult Jazz was a wonderfully simple name for a band. I mean seriously, how come no one nabbed that decades ago? Anyway, Earrings Off! is grand.

The style of Adult Jazz is quite simple for such an off-the-wall group. The album is composed of sparse horn arrangements and is easy to listen to. The wailing vocals from lead singer Harry Burgess are the centrepiece, floating nicely over the repetitive motifs from the band. His lyrics are simple and expressive. There's a measured craziness about Earrings Off! that is instantly endearing, the dichotomy of the emotional vulnerability and the mature inspection in the lyrics mixing up with the texturally exciting music to form a unique and fascinating artistic style.

It's a shame it's so short, because Earrings Off! is full of brilliant ideas and creativity, and surely a full length project would not drop the quality level. There are only 7 tracks and 3 of them aren't really "proper" songs, serving as bridges between the madness. The finished product is delightfully consumable, the band have bags of talent and love showing it off to the world. Earrings Off! is well worth a go, for even the most casual listener.

04: Katatonia - The Fall Of Hearts - B

Melodic Metal

05: James Blake - The Colour In Anything - B

Pop/Soul

The Dud:


Death Grips - Bottomless Pit - D

Alternative Hip-hop


Is this what you kids listen to these days? Is this cool? Is this the music of the era? Of the people? Is this the vessel that carries the message? Have I missed the boat? Have I finally passed the threshold of old age and gone into pipe-and-slippers land? Should I just chuck it all in and get my Daily Mail subscription sent off and be done with it? If I don't get to listen to this album again, then take me there now.

The thing I admire about Punk music is the obvious - It backs its strong lyrical message with angular, loud, discordant music to create an artistic statement that fully transcends the need for acute musicianship. It pushes through the vain pretences of society and screams revolt. It's simplicity allows anyone to make it, and anyone to love it. But the important thing is the message. It has to be a statement. It has to mean something.

And so we come to Death Grips, the mid-2010's musical equivalent to Punk. But lyrically, there is no statement, no meaning. The sound drops quickly into a dirge of angry noise, shouting and no dynamics. Bottomless Pit loses all it's worth through never having any meaningful thrust in the first place. It taps into the unrequited anger of youth but offers no answers to the rage. There is at least a credible sense of displeasure at the futility of facile modern pop culture, but it never comes up for air under the melee. This is worse than that Wolfmother album.


So that's May. I surpassed 50 albums this month, so I'm well on track for at least 100. I'm looking forward to compiling a strong top 40 come the end of 2016. There's some great June albums I'm already getting my teeth into, and I promise I'll do more than 8 next month. Hope you check out the less famous albums this month, smaller artists need the exposure. Listen to Adult Jazz, they're bloody mad! And don't @ me about Death Grips. I can't believe a label put out that album. It's awful.