August 2016 Review

August was another grand month for music. I had to go for a top 6 again. Too much quality to merely put out 5. I found myself wishing for more time to really get to grips with some of the top releases. I usually have any given album sussed in 5 listens or less, but the top 3 certainly deserve a double figure amount of spins.

I've listened to countless hours of music in my time, but it still astounds and delights me how a band or artist can squeeze so much content into an hour of sound. It's what keeps me coming back. I'm really happy with the top album this month. It was a genuine random punt, I just listened to it because it was made by such a legendary group. It's mad how things work out, really. If you'd have told me at the start of the year that I'd have been gushing my heart out about an album which has Justin Hawkins on it, I'd tell you to GTFO. August was awesome, I'm already looking forward to some big releases from September, too. I hope you like it:


The Rest:


Crystal Castles - Amnesty (I) - B

Experimental electronica


Dinosaur Jr - Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not - C

Alternative Rock/Indie


of Montreal - Innocence Reaches - B

Indie/Psychedelic/Electronic


Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Blind Worms, Pious Swine - B

Alternative Pop/Alternative Rock


Thee Oh Sees - A Weird Exits - B

Alternative Rock


The Best:


01: De La Soul - and the Anonymous Nobody... - A

Alternative Hip-hop/Rock/Pop

Sometimes, being a legendary artist can be a poisoned chalice. Your seminal breakthrough record will be the one all your later material gets measured against, and people will inevitably be disappointed. You'll be expected to play the old classics at each show, even though you may have no passion for them any more, after decades of gigs and thousands of performances. One way to remedy the late-career ennui is to remain creative and fresh. Easier said than done, but De La Soul are managing to do just that.

and the Anonymous Nobody... is a truly audacious project. Broadly, it's a Hip-hop album (of course) but to brand it as just that would do disservice to the many surprises and curveballs De La Soul pack into this album. It's dazzlingly overwhelming on the first few listens, the brainy twists, tempo shifts, and little snippets all tumble out of the bag of tricks in an even and considered manner. It settles down after you get to grips with the content. Nobody is a grower.

There is so much familiar content here to latch on to. Pain, one of the initial single releases, is a slice of golden, Snoop Dogg-featuring West Coast Hip-hop that could have been recorded 20 years ago. Snoopies, a sleeper track featuring the one and only David Byrne, undulates between a weird pop section and a couple of rap verses. Perhaps the most bizarre featured artist is Justin Hawkins (yes, THAT Justin Hawkins) who has been plucked from obscurity to belt out theatrical vocals on Lord Intended, a Blues-heavy guitar jam. These are but 3 examples of the wonderful quirkiness that De La Soul bring to the fore on Nobody.

The crazy randomness and mutant nature of the genre-splicing on Nobody is what gives it so much strength. It's quite lovely to see that a group like De La Soul, over a quarter of a century in the game, can come out with something as brilliant and fresh as Nobody. There's been bigger rap releases this year, but this is just as exciting as anything the new generation of young Hip-hop stars have come out with. De La Soul still have a lot to share with us. They haven't taken their foot off the gas since the 80's. Long may they continue.

02: Frank Ocean - Blonde - A

Alternative Pop/Ambient Pop

Frank Ocean is one of those exciting artists who are seemingly impossible to pin down to one genre. He blends elements of Soul, Pop, R 'n B, and Hip-hop to form his uniquely ambient style. His exhortation during Nights - "This feel like a quaalude" sums it up perfectly - His music is a delightful head trip. A good coma.

Blonde is a pleasant scrapbook of sketches, a sparse but welcoming world of friendly happiness. One thing that resonates throughout the album is Ocean's sheer joy at performing, often his mumbling delivery breaks into glorious, triumphant vocal melodies. You get the picture he's happy just to be here, and though his career is going from strength to strength he's still humble and thankful for where he is. It lends sincerity to Blonde, making it an easy, sympathetic album to listen to.

There's a distinct lack of continuity to Blonde. You could put this album on in a random order, and it'd still feel right. The only motif is the ambient synth riff present on at least 4 tracks, in the background of the skits and throughout most of the final song. That just about ties everything together, but apart from that, you're on your own. This is a good thing; you're permitted to wander around the sound world at your leisure, picking and choosing favourite moments to savour as the album meanders dreamily along.

There's no video I can find on Youtube for this album - shame, because Pink And White is a beautiful song. Stick that on Spotify, whydontcha.


03:  65Daysofstatic - No Man's Sky: Music For An Infinite Universe - A

Post Rock/Electronic/Ambient

The soundtrack to Everyone's Favourite Game just happens to be orchestrated by one of the UK's most underrated bands. 65daysofstatic may not assault the charts with each single release or headline Glastonbury every 5 years, but they have a dedicated cult following, and a huge amount of respect for their monumental brand of electronic Post Rock.

No Man's Sky has been a good couple of years in the making, and it shows. Each piece is written to perfection; every sparse drone, every inch of feedback is planned meticulously to afford the maximum amount of emotion and expression to the listening experience. Epic is a word often associated with this band, but it's so true - Listen to the peaks during songs such as Monolith and Red Parallax, hair-raising moments that catch the breath from the bottom of your lungs. 65 is 15 years old, and still pushing out creative and credible work.

No Man's Sky is effectively a dual project - The album proper is 10 (relatively) short compositions, but is packaged with 6 soundscapes which clock in at well over an hour, doubling the album's length. This may feel daunting to the casual listener, but it is worth diving into all of this music. It represents a handy summation of 65's work to date; the album oscillates comfortably between the guitar-heavy and electronic elements that define their sound.

I'm a bit biased here - 65 are one of my favourite bands, and are from Sheffield. I've gigged in the same venues, recorded in the same studios and have a couple of mutual friends with some of the band members. South Yorkshire's a big village, as they say. But I think the A rating is justified through the sheer breadth of this project, and the ease of it's execution. 65 are a band firmly rooted in their groove, and they have their own unique sound within the wide parameters of Post Rock.

04: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Arañas en La Sombra - B

Experimental Rock/Progressive Rock

05: Russian Circles - Guidance - B

Metal/Progressive Metal

"Instrumental Metal album" is half a sentence that isn't going to excite a lot of people, and when I had a look at this I have to say I expected this to be a filler record to flesh out the month's choices. Instead, I found Guidance to be a thoroughly enjoyable listen, easy to catch on to, and highly accessible.

The intro salvo covers the first 3 tracks of Guidance, breaking you in to the tightly-wound grooves that make Russian Circles teeter on the knife edge between Hard Rock and Metal. The genius of those intro tracks is that there isn't one definite moment where The Heavy Bit comes in, obviously an elemental staple of heavy guitar music. This keeps you engaged and receptive, and before you know it, 20 minutes have passed.

Guidance isn't going to appeal to anyone who isn't already familiar with this genre, but it's well worth a spot in the top 6 this month. If nothing else, the mid-album zenith Afrika should be an essential listen for any true metalhead, in a year where there hasn't yet been a true classic of the genre to listen to.

06: Banks & Steelz - Anything But Words - B

Hip-hop

So that's that for another month. To all my Volta-heads (I know y'all read this) I'm well into all those early TMV grooves on Arañas en La Sombra. It's such a nostalgia trip listening to that record. Some of those sessions must have been proto-Volta sessions, no? Like, Frances The Mute era. Anyway, this OR-L multi-release thing is VERY exciting. See you in a month.