July 2017 Review

July wasn't that shining for music. Maybe I chose the wrong stuff to listen to, but in the end I came out with a solitary A rating from 13 albums. I was all pepped up and ready to give the Arcade Fire album a big thumbs up and thee top spot, until I heard it. I heard a few things about how bad it was and I thought "Nah, never! This is the band that gave us Mountains Beyond Mountains for goodness sake!" But yeah, it's really bad. I'm not even gonna try and get tickets for their tour. Everything else was pretty good, though. A couple of solid rap releases, an experimental EP from one of my musical heroes, a tight catchy rock record and an album from a counter-culture legend are the top 5 this month.

The Rest:


Arcade Fire - Everything Now - C-

You know that trope that you see everywhere? Those bank adverts with vanilla poetry trying to be all kitchen sink about the modern world, or when BBC runs an article asking Are Millennials Killing The Glass Blowing Industry? Or when your dull friend from school who you've not seen for a decade posts up a Clickhole article titled A Photographer Removed The Phones From All These Pictures Of People And Like, Wow Man So Deep And Meaningful, Such A Fresh Take? Well, guess what! Arcade Fire have done an album all about that, and it's called Everything Now! They must have been up all night thinking of that title.

The beginning of the album promises so much - A quiet intro building up to an ABBA-inspired piano line that pierces through the darkness atop a pulsing rhythm, which announces Everything Now with the grandness we've come to expect from Arcade Fire's traditionally strong album starts, but unfortunately, the whole thing goes downhill sharply from that point. With Electric Blue, a synth-rock blaster as an exception, Everything Now, on the whole, plays like a Killers cutting room floor studio session. Compare with huge moments from years past like Wake Up, Power Out or Ready To Start and there's no contest. Musically, this is absolutely the worst album Arcade Fire have put out to date.

The lyrics are obtuse and ham-fisted to the point where it feels like a joke. Moments such as Chemistry, an upbeat throwaway song that may or may not be ironic, the 3 minute double track Infinite Content and Infinite_Content, with it's painfully trite "observational" lyrics "Infinite content, infinite content/We're infinitely content" presented over and over as if the meaning behind them is this monumental revelation no-one has thought of before, and We Don't Deserve Love, the last song proper, a dreary indulgence that clocks in at six and a half minutes are amongst the band's lowest ever. To go from Reflektor, the expansive zeitgeist masterpiece of 4 years ago to this is one of the steepest drops in form of any artist I've experienced in some time.

It's just really, really tiring to be bombarded with this kind of bullshit, (which is ironic, considering) and for a standard-bearer of the millennial generation's musical landscape to now participate in this kind of shallow self importance is beyond frustrating, and is little more than an insult to the fans who grew up through their teens on them in the mid-00's, loved them and made them millionaires. Sorry for ranting, everyone. I'n gonna have a few beers and listen to Funeral.

Boris - Dear - B

Foster The People - Sacred Hearts Club - C

HAIM - Something To Tell You - C

Lana Del Ray - Lust For Life - C

Melvins - A Walk With Love and Death - B

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Doom Patrol - C


The Best:


01: Tyler, The Creator - Flower Boy - A

Hip-hop's problematic bizarro-altar boy is back. With his own music label, clothing brand, and media streaming channel to run, Tyler could be forgiven if he had taken some time between releases. But barely 2 years on from his whacked-out opus Cherry Bomb, we have the opportunity to embark on another guided tour around Tyler, The Creator's carnival of satanic delights.

Tyler's brand on Flower Boy is heralded by the plucked strings, the radio-jingle female choruses and his own shape-shifting vocal style. He's low-key one of the most creative and original artists on the scene right now. He's not occupying the same stadium-filling, global sensation platform as Kanye, Drake or Kendrick, but his work over the past few years has been just as worthy. Tyler has managed to teeter on the knife edge of commercial viability and critical acclaim for his last 3 releases. Time will tell if he will explode into a Hip-hop supernova or shrink into a cultish backwater, but at least with Flower Boy, he's given himself a little while longer on the cusp.

His evolution as an artist over his full-length catalogue is pleasingly traceable, and the maturation present on Cherry Bomb has extrapolated further; Flower Boy is dreamier, headier, plusher. There are still a few sinkholes of darker material though, pressure drops that pique the ambient melancholia and stretch out the longevity of this project, sly nods to his psychotic past on Goblin. While Cherry Bomb is clearly his finest moment to date, Flower Boy is a vital component of Tyler's creative psyche, and represents the further cooling of his once-livid persona.

02: Nine Inch Nails - Add Violence - B

As the 2nd EP of a promised trio of releases, Add Violence has set Nine Inch Nails on collision course with the end of this year, and the expected denouement of a series that has already yielded some excellent moments. Some fans are speculating a full length record at the end of the greyscale rainbow, pointing to lyrical cues and hints embedded in videos and artwork. We'll have to wait and see on that, but for now Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are gradually cracking the window to their world and letting the light stream through.

The wide scope of musical styles on this E.P is exciting, and offers an insight into what could end up being the most creatively unfettered era of Nine Inch Nails to date. While the 80's synth driven Less Than stands with Head Like A Hole, Discipline and The Hand That Feeds in the upper realms of the hook-laden singles arena of Reznor's work, Add Violence also contains the longest ever Nine Inch Nails track - The Background World, whose muffled lyrics and gradually decaying outro is sheer pornography for fans of Reznor's envelope-pushing, harsh soundscape material. This Isn't The Place is the best song on the E.P, a slow plodder with little structure and whispered vocals, bearing all the hallmarks of Reznor and Ross's atmospheric soundtrack work post-With Teeth.

It's a huge step for Reznor to have Atticus Ross as an official member of Nine Inch Nails, and it's been drastically understated. This is a project now approaching it's 30th year, and not once before has Reznor officially accepted someone else into the group. Trusted collaborators such as Robin Finck, Charlie Clouser, Alessandro Cortini, Chris Vrenna and Danny Lohner have all worked extensively with Nine Inch Nails and never been an official member. By inducting Ross into this new role, Reznor is making a big statement about how he expects the band to evolve over the next few years. Maybe we'll get a new album, perhaps something different altogether, but in any case, come the end of 2017, the picture will be much clearer about this new release era from the band.

03: Shabazz Palaces - Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines/Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star - B

These are technically two separate releases, however as they came out within weeks of one another, I'm counting them as one double album. Shabazz Palaces, the enigmatic duo from Seattle are one of cerebral Hip-hop's uncut diamonds. I'd never heard anything else they've done before this pair of astral-plane surfing albums came around, and I was pleasantly surprised at the scale of this ambitious project. There's not a lot of discernible switch-up in style between these twin releases, however Gangster Star is probably a little more accessible than Jealous Machines.

The group draw lyrical sensibilities from obvious sources like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, whereas the deep, penetrating music verges on Trip-hop at times, with sounds which UNKLE and DJ Shadow fans will find familiar. It's a spacey, perky soundscape that makes this double album a delightfully easy listen. Shine A Light, the lead single, a King-Geedorah-era DOOM inspired instant classic is the best song on either record, and for all the brainy wordplay on these Quazarz releases, it's the sub-3 minute sample-and-strings piece that takes the top spot. That's somehow fitting.

They can sometimes delve a little too much into self-indulgence at times, leaving beats playing too long after the meat of the song has been done with, or adding a 3rd verse where 2 will suffice, and of course a double album from such a little-established act is a big statement to try and pull off, but this is still a great project, and a hidden gem in 2017's glittering rap-spectacular. We are certainly in a golden age of the genre.

04: Broken Social Scene - Hug Of Thunder - B

05: The Fall - New Facts Emerge - B

May 2017 Review

It took me a while to get this blog complete, partly because I was busy getting hammered in a field for the 2nd half of June, but also because I wasn't that enthused about most of these releases. Aside from the top 2, it's been weak. Writing about average releases is hard, because you can't say much about it. *Shrug* June's releases are way better so I'll see you next month. Here's May:


The Rest:

Faust - Fresh Air - B

Football, Etc - Corner - C

Mac Demarco - This Old Dog - C

Slowdive - Slowdive - C


The Best:


01: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Birth Of A Ghost - A

After all the gump I spewed last month about the slew of average offerings in the Ipecac series, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has characteristically produced an unmitigated triumph near the end of the release cycle to blow everything I said out of the water. Birth Of A Ghost has come out of nowhere to take one of the top spots in the heated, ravenous expansion that is OR-L's vocational artistic conquest. There appears to be no form of music that he doesn't want to touch. Perhaps a Burmese Folk/Jazz/Metal exploration next time? We can only anticipate.

Ghost plays out across a teasingly short 25 minutes, a gourmet selection of rich treats that leave you wishing for an extra minute, a few bars more, a dozen more measures. Often records like this can be frustrating, but within such constraints you can usually find the brightest lights in OR-L's repertoire. He usually makes every second of his sub-30 minute albums count, maybe it's the lack of too many noodling sections, or the final breath of the closing track leaving you wanting more, but however you want to swing it, Ghost is a prime example of El Maestro's ability to produce concise statements in any given genre, with seemingly very little effort.

It's unfair to label this as merely a "classical" album, vague as that term is. There's pop song structure, rock arrangements and modern soundscape elements that accompany the orchestral domination of this novella, making it like a truncated film score. OR-L's creative finger-dabbling does stretch to film making, so it figures. Ghost is one of the most original releases from OR-L in years, an unexpected shot in the dark. He keeps us on tenterhooks, guessing and jumping the gun with disparaging reviews. Forgive me, Omar. I'll never doubt you again.

02: The Amazons - The Amazons - B

This one was a nice surprise. The Amazons are being predictably subtle-hyped as the New Exciting Sound Of Modern Rock by the likes of NME and Radio 1, and to be honest I was ready to listen to this 3 times, slap a C on it and call it a day, like so many others of their ilk have deserved in the past. What is contained within The Amazons however, is a strikingly balanced set of songs that will entertain listeners from across guitar music's broad spectrum.

To be fair to The Amazons, they are a young band, barely 3 years together and already playing major festivals and receiving healthy radio play. They can not, and should not be expected to produce god-tier material on their first attempt, but they do make a bloody good go of it. Their riffs are a heady mix of grunge and garage rock, familiar but still with that wonderful debut-album frailty. They have originality and honesty that hasn't yet recoiled from the sting of public scrutiny. Their sound is sweet enough for prime time media play, but with enough edge for alternative ears to enjoy. You can see them playing out The Jonathan Ross Show, but they'd also do a grand job of headlining a raucous, sweaty club tour.

Burn My Eyes, Something In The Water and In My Mind are awesome, medium-paced guitar slammers, Black Magic is the kind of big rock banger Royal Blood wish they could write and the reverb-soaked single Junk Food Forever is disarmingly natural. All of these are topped with Matt Thompson's widely expressive and controlled vocal style, which will only improve with time. The Amazons is a fresh and brilliant debut, and I hope we don't have to wait for too long for more to come from this bright young foursome.

03: The Mountain Goats - Goths - B

04: Kasabian - For Crying Out Loud - B

What kind of music do Kasabian make? From the chart-topping lager-drenched anthems such as LSF, Fire and Eez-eh, the casual listener could easily pass them off as nothing more than laddish indie, music for the football hooligans who were in their first year at school when the band formed way back when in 1997. As Kasabian have proved however, is that they are capable of mixing their famous, Radio-1 moulded singles with esoteric, sometimes downright experimental tunes, and along with the rich vista of synth-driven melodies and jazzy, Morricone-inspired sections of Vaudevillian psychedelia, they have a sound that - To this writer at least - is virtually uncategorisable.

To their latest album then, For Crying Out Loud, the horrendously-artworked Alt-pop oriented follow-up to 48:13, their Ibiza club-bangers attempt of 3 years back. What instantly struck me about Crying is the lack of a real single - The song chosen to open release proceedings for this album was You're In Love With A Psycho, a beige, zoned out composition packaged with a frustratingly insensitive video. The song sounds like a poor version of Days Are Forgotten, and would probably have been better off left as album filler. The rest is similarly lukewarm - Not bad, but a distinct lack of energy vibrates throughout.

Crying is best seen as a showcase for the band's ascent into maturity; as Kasabian enter their 3rd decade together, they are calming down, and developing songwriting skills that will serve them well on future releases. That said, Crying does have a clutch of worthy tracks. Are You Looking For Some Action is my top pick; A sprawling, 8 minute indie/dance epic that harks back to latter career Happy Mondays, with a little zing of Talking Heads. It comes replete with full saxophone, guitar and percussive breakdown sections to spark life into Crying's mid-section. Other songs of note are the light-rock head-nodder Good Fight, and the downbeat acoustic number Put Your Life On It, which closes out the album with a sense of "Wait, where did all the big tunes go?" West Ryder remains their masterpiece.

05: At The Drive-In - In•ter a•li•a - B

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez enjoys 2 entries on my top 5 this month, rounding off the selection with At The Drive-In's first album since their 2000 alt-blockbuster Relationship Of Command, their white-hot breakthrough record that steadily led to the messy implosion and break up of the group. They returned this year with In•ter a•li•a, their first album without founder member Jim Ward. There's not a great deal more to say - This album is very similar to their previous sound. They have managed to maintain the energy from the glory days, and a few tracks standout amongst the better songs from their initial string of releases - Continuum, Incurably Innocent and Hostage Stamps are all well worth a go.

Even though the initial 2012 tour was labelled as strictly for the money, in this era of comebacks and reformations, a new record felt inevitable. What ATD-I has produced with In•ter a•li•a is exactly what you'd expect from this kind of band, at this stage in their lives. It hasn't broken any new ground in terms of musical style, but there is still a lot of life left in Bixler-Zavala's lyrical output, and with the temperature of a Mars Volta reunion being tepid at best, this is going to be the only Omar/Cedric music we're gonna get for some time.

April 2017 Review

It's finally happened. I listened to a stone-cold, balls-to-the-wall classic album this month, and was able to give it my first non-retrospective A* rating. You know that feeling when you listen to an album on release, and you just know it's a god-tier release from the first listen? That happened this month. Take a bow, King Kenny. No one came anywhere near you in April.


The Rest:


Alvarez Kings - Somewhere Between - D

Czarface - First Weapon Drawn - B

J Dilla - Motor City - C

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Killing Tingle Lifted Retreats - B

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Solid State Mercenaries - C

OR-L's long list of releases on the Ipecac label is coming to a close, with only a few albums left to go. I'm gonna have to be honest, even as a big Omar/Mars Volta fan, I'm quite happy about that. I really don't think it's been worth it, on the whole. As a fan and a completist, I like listening to everything he puts out, even with this hugely prolific period. But aside from a clutch of genuinely great albums (Sworn Virgins, Arañas en la Sombra, A Lovejoy, Cell Phone Bikini) the series has been fairly average. There's only so many songs with him mumbling unintelligible lyrics that I can hear without it getting samey.

You know how your favourite artists often say they have a vault full of ideas, sketches and unreleased projects? Those off the cuff comments under their breath in interviews that leave tantalising images of albums not yet realised? You think about the great possibilities of what lies waiting to be discovered - What if it's the best thing they've ever done, what if it's like OK Computer or SGT Peppers, just sitting there, ready to be found. Yeah, well there's a reason why they don't get released. Omar seems to be fully clearing out his garage, and we get to watch the whole yard sale. Solid State Mercenaries is another formless, dull record from the box at the back of the room. Apart from Lightning Round. That's a nice song.


The King Blues - The Gospel Truth - D


The Best:

 
01: Kendrick Lamar - DAMN - A* 


This is something very special. Kendrick Lamar has been one of the biggest stars of this current generation of bright prospects in the rap game, his 2015 release To Pimp A Butterfly was an ambitious, sprawling project that stormed the charts and topped many end-of-year lists. Following up on such a roaring success would usually be beyond most artists, but with DAMN, Lamar has surpassed the high water mark from any of his previous work. This is his best album yet.

Lamar's narrative string on DAMN is the best it's ever been. He weaves a highly detailed lyrical soundscape that takes in references from the bible, politics, music, racial tension and his own experience, forming an hour-long statement using a loose theme of the end of days to describe the socio-political turmoil in the USA. DAMN has those harsh vocal hooks and long, winding verses that Lamar has built his brand on. It's got the prophetic edge he touched on in earlier releases, but now it's right at the forefront. It's a dark, direct album that takes no prisoners.

There are catchy singles like Humble, Element and Loyalty that will be counted as huge hits from 2017 mixing with more progressive pieces like Yah, Lust and Fear. While there are several forms of music and style on the album, DAMN is different to Butterfly in that it's concentrated. Lamar has trimmed off the fat on his style to make a leaner, more effective record. I always thought that was a sticking point with Butterfly - Far too many ideas that didn't work. DAMN is different to that. It's short with no filler. It's far too consistent from front to back for me to begin listing any highlights, but the peak moments on DAMN are hair-tinglingly intense. It's a snapshot of a great artist at his zenith.

Lamar's style is hard to pin down, he's not strictly a mainstream Hip-hop artist other than by virtue of his success, but it would also be wrong to call him simply cult or cerebral. He has that righteousness and pomp that assists the finest rappers in delivering their message. His ability to mould pop-rap hooks with minutes-long introspective verses is the key to his ascendancy. His style evokes images of some of  the greatest names in rap history - That direct, urgent flow you hear from rappers like Tupac, Kanye West, RZA and Nas.

DAMN will be remembered for years to come as the point Kendrick Lamar officially elevated from Crown Prince to the undisputed king of Hip-hop. DAMN will be ranked alongside the great classics of the genre, alongside the platinum standard releases from the legends Kendrick will have spent his childhood lip-syncing to in the mirror. More mature that Good Kid..., More accessible than Butterfly, More polished than untitled unmastered, and more angry, more vital and more relevant than any other rap record you'll hear for a long time. This is album of the year. We might as well pack up and go home, because it doesn't get any better than this.

02: Animal Collective - Meeting Of The Waters - B


Animal Collective is a fluid ensemble, with members interchanging and evolving with each release. It's a lottery of artistic vision - You'll never know what they're going to come up with from one release to the next. I was quietly disappointed with last year's mushy Painting With, and while I skipped its companion release The Painters, I was still well up for giving Meeting Of The Waters a few spins.

Animal Collective released Meeting for Record Store Day, after recording it live in a rainforest, of course. That's a canny summation of the album's sound. You can hear rain showers and wind rustling through the trees. The album is peaceful and calm on the surface, underpinned with an isolated psychological edge. Meeting is a solitary walk into the forest, it's about being totally alone and trapped with your thoughts. Merely 2 members of the collective are credited on this album, which underlines the disparate feel throughout.

I'm a total sucker for noise and drone on albums. When it's piqued by small islands of song structure, it's all the better. After the 13+ minute journey of the opening track, Meeting turns a corner into Man Of Oil, an acidy acoustic piece, and it's like you've wandered through the forest and stumbled across someone sat playing guitar. Meeting has a subtle playability, It's such a compact record, barely breaching past 30 minutes, but it feels long and involved. It's trippy, broody, dark and reflective. Its weirdness and bohemian sensuality define the sound of a band that repeatedly refuse to conform to categorisation.

The Collective don't have any kind of official video on Youtube for this release, but it's only 30 minutes long, so listen to the whole thing, why dontcha.


03: Feist - Pleasure - B

04: Gorillaz - Humanz - B

One of the bigger anticipated releases for 2017, Humanz was dropped as the usual art-and-music double whammy from Gorillaz, one of the finest and most unique pop bands of the last 25 years. With Blur being on recording hiatus for most of the last decade, Gorillaz is arguably Damon Albarn's most important project - Certainly the most popular, and since the post-Britpop era was heralded with one of it's biggest stars forming a virtual Pop/Hip-hop/Electronica/etc, group, we've enjoyed a swathe of high quality albums, with image, art and animation just as important as the galaxy of guest stars that feature on each one. Their self-titled 2001 debut was verging on revolutionary in terms of execution and ambition, and they've steadily improved since.

Humanz is a bit of a damp squib for me, though. It's too disjointed to stand up to the better Gorillaz albums like Demon Days and Plastic Beach. It's a collection of songs which all sound fairly good together, but they could be played in any order and still achieve the same effect. Most of the guest appearances don't uplift the album, and there's no real direction or point to any of it. There's an identity to Gorillaz that fails to come out properly on Humanz. They concede too much creative licence to their guest stars, rendering the album devoid of a cohesive theme. However while this is nowhere near their finest moment, Humanz is worth a few spins and the inevitable world tour that will follow. Gorillaz is a project that still has plenty of mileage left, and if one of their lesser releases is this good, that just goes to show how special Gorillaz is.

05: Talib Kweli - The Seven - B

March 2017 review

Hey, look. I'm sorry. I know I've mentioned the character string "Omar Rodriguez-Lopez" so much on this blog that the words have lost all meaning, and that he's released about 4 million albums in the past year, but honest to goodness the two OR-L records from March are good enough for the top spots they've been given. Azul, Mis Dientes is quite an accessible release, a kind of edgy-goth version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Gorilla Preacher Cartel meanwhile, is nothing short of magnificent.

I was just gonna make it a top 5 this month, but I didn't want to put the Soulwax records in the doldrums with the rest of the mush. It's too good. So it's another bumper top 6 list. In the end, it was easy - March's albums brought 6 distinctly average records to go along with my top picks, and I chose the ranking in minutes. Also, I'm happy to finally put a Metal album as my top spot. Metallica's effort from last year nearly got a #1, but I wanted to save it up for something that really kicks you hard in the balls.


The Rest:


Jamiroquai - Automaton - C

Sleaford Mods - English Tapas - C

Temples - Volcano - C

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Damage and Joy - C

Pulled Apart By Horses - The Haze - B


The Best:


01: Mastodon - Emperor of Sand - A

One thing about this album that caught me straight away was how, even in the midst of long progressive instrumental sections and brutal riff-shredding, there is still room for acres of hooks, vocal and otherwise. Emperor Of Sand, Mastodon's 7th studio album, has a lot to offer in terms of an easy experience for the casual listener. It's a good introduction to a band that are known for their uncompromising complexity. Pieces such as Precious Stones, Andromeda, and the epic closing track Jaguar God easily stand up to the rest of Mastodon's back catalogue, and will likely be touted as classic moments in years to come. One other thing I get out of this record is how easy the grooves and melodies come - The band are still happy in one another's company, and with the direction they're going in, even after almost 2 decades together.

This one will not ultimately please the purist fans, who will long for the heavier sound of the bands early output. They'll point to the 3 Doors Down sound from Show Yourself - To be fair the song is a total clanger - and say that Mastodon have lost their edge. But there is nothing on the rest of the album that isn't able to stand up to proper scrutiny, and while it's certainly exciting and impressive for a band to put together a 4 album concept project, eventually there will have to be a change in direction. With Emperor, Mastodon have mixed up elements of hard rock, alternative rock and progressive metal and come out with something very special. They continue to evolve and grow, and they are still one of the finest Metal bands to come out of the past 25 years.

02: Omar Rodríguez-López - Gorilla Preacher Cartel - A

This is exactly what I like from OR-L. It's one of those crazy albums of his where you don't know what's coming next. This is due to the scrapbook nature of the album, as it takes in material from across his entire solo output, and even before - Some of the material is understood to have been written or at least conceived around 2000. OR-L has chopped and fiddled with multiple cuts from his previous records on and come out with an album that defines his own idiosyncrasy, and he's called it Gorilla Preacher Cartel, of course.

The outro suite Loveless//Interceptions/Of Pride is by far the finest moment on Cartel, and represents the pure randomness of the album. It's an extended version of Upon Golden Ice, a song from the earlier 2017 release Roman Lips. This now has an extended middle instrumental section that was jammed live by The Mars Volta around 5 years ago. It's wonderful stuff. Usually I'm turned off by OR-L's flagrant frankensteinism, but this speaks to me. I'd still say that Sworn Virgins is the best of the Ipecac series, but Cartel breaches the top 5 for sure. It's a wide-ranging album that buzzes with ideas and visions, far beyond its 40 minutes.

03: Blanck Mass - World Eater - A

Blanck Mass is the blackened alias of Benjamin Power, one half of the drone duo Fuck Buttons, in which he explores a dancey, industrial-Techno sound, with plenty of noise thrown in for good measure. His album Dumb Flesh from a couple of years back made this writer's top 10, which has now been followed by the enigmatic World Eater.

Nothing on here bangs as hard as Dead Format, the single from the afore-mentioned 2015 release, but that seems to be the point - This is not a straight-up club anthems record. World Eater is to be digested in one go. There are several tracks on the record that don't make sense on their own, but because of their position and timing on the album, really resonate when they come up on the playlist.

The beats are hard, the noise is noisey, and those industrial late-90's Nine Inch Nails sensibilities are all hallmarks of the sound Power is making into his signature style. I dig the niche he's made for himself with this project; there's so much depth and space to explore in the sound. World Eater is a rung above the last release, with more progressive song structures and longer noise sections. It's not something you'd put on in the car with your mum, but it's blistering hot if you like that sort of thing. And I do. I really do.

04: Raekwon - The Wild - A

With Raekwon being the most vocal of RZA's detractors in the Wu-Tang inner circle from the past few years, it's unsurprising to see that he is not among the army of producers and guest spots on The Wild. Indeed, no-one from the dozens of Wu-denizens that once so heavily populated solo albums of this ilk are to be found. This probably isn't much of a statement, but it's an indication of the era. The Chef is carving his own turkey now, at the head of his own table. And a good job he makes of it, too. Raekwon manages to create a classic, simple sound with the tools at his disposal, which makes The Wild a smooth ride from front to back.

After Fly International Luxurious Art, his failed mainstream experiment of 2015, Raekwon needed to truly hit it out of the park with his next release to get him back on track. With The Wild, he's done that. Back to basics, and back to the beats that made him and the Wu so loved. I'm not saying he's incapable of more radio-friendly mid-10's style tunes, he's just not comfortable in that mode. This is the man responsible for Only Built 4  Cuban Linx, for chrissakes. He needs to be edgy and dirty. The Wild is far from a mid-career curio for the Wu-completists. It's a strong album in it's own right.

05: Omar Rodríguez-López - Azul, Mis Dientes - B

06: Soulwax - FROM DEEWEE - B

February 2017 Review

Yep. There were some awesome releases in February. From contemplative rap, to crazy idiosyncratic Jazz Funk via a long, long folk album, it's been a good ride. Any month with a top 6 is a great month. It means I can't bear to drop something off the list into the doldrums of The Rest section. Albums in 3rd and 4th in these months would possibly be top in other lists. The top 4 from February were greatly enjoyable, and all of them represent widely different styles of music. This blog's already too long, so here we go:


The Rest:


Big Sean - I Decided. - C

Dirty Projectors - Dirty Projectors - C

Omar Rodríguez-López - Chocolate Tumor Hormone Parade - B

Omar Rodríguez-López - Ensayo de un Desaparecido - C

Xiu Xiu - FORGET - C


The Best:


01: Jonwayne - Rap Album 2 - A

Comeback albums are volatile currency. There's an inordinate amount of pressure on the artist to deliver. It's an illustrative microcosm of human nature that a time on the sidelines raises this brand of sneery expectation. It's our shameful desire to see people who have got themselves out of a pit fall straight back in. I'd like to think that a slightly stronger desire in us is the one that wants to see people overcome that expectation. And with that in mind, after a tough ride through alcohol abuse and a career hiatus during which he thought he may never get back in the game, it's awesome to see Jonwayne drop an impressive early contender for one of the top Hip-hop albums of 2017.

Rap Album 2 is a stoic meditation on personal struggle. It's one man's diary, a document of human experience. Initially you notice the subtle, styled beats and lack of hooks through the record, and you realise - In the best way possible - This ain't gonna be top 40 radio. Jonwayne's flow and rapping lends itself to the music and fits smoothly over the top. His lyrics are nakedly honest, they tell us all we need to know about his journey through the last few years. He talks about it all with gravitas and a lack of bitterness that suggests he's moving past the tough times, and is now able to reflect on exactly how he feels. It makes Rap Album 2 exclusive and personal, but it also makes it mature.

Listen to Out Of Sight, Human Condition, and the magnificent final track These Words Are Everything. These are heavy philosophical verses. They are wide open windows into Jonwayne's life. He's given us an open door to his past few years, lyrically concise and musically unique. Rap Album 2 is listenable, enormously relatable, and easily makes the top of the list of a very good month of releases.

02: Sampha - Process - A

Process was one of the most hotly anticipated releases for 2017, and something I'd had on my list for some time. Sampha's virtuous Soul vibes ripple delicately across this project, and it's fair to say that the hype was justified - Process is a grand, eloquent Pop/Soul project, brimming with pathos. The music is densely layered, yet simultaneously light and easy to listen to. It washes over you in waves. From the first listen, Sampha's budding musical prowess shines out, and from front to back, Process is a sweet journey.

There's something about honest British songwriters that popular music institutions love right now, more than usual, and Sampha slots into that mould very well. The obvious single Blood On Me is as off-the-shelf alt-mainstream as it gets - It's got that pealing intensity that will keep it on Radio 1's playlist for months. The rest of the album is decked out with emotionally charged concise pieces, each one forming a vital part of the picture. There's no filler on Process.

One song I can't get out of my head is (No One Knows Me) Like The Piano, a sparse piano/vocal tune about the piano in Sampha's mother's house that he learned to play on. There's so much love and tenderness in that song, it threatens to go too schmaltzy here and there, but never goes over the edge. It's a solo performance worthy of someone far more accomplished than a songwriter, on his full length debut, and even though it sets a high benchmark for Sampha, it's obvious he should be able to surpass it with little effort. Process is a sheen-polished debut from an artist with bags of potential.

03: Thundercat - Drunk - A

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. I'd known Thundercat was gearing up for a release from his Twitter activity for some time, (follow him if you like random bursts of nutty craziness on your timeline) and so have been adequately prepared for Drunk and it's whacked-out funk-bass and jazzy twiddlings.

Thundercat's greasy pawprints are all over modern music. He's directly orchestrated big chunks of recent albums by Flying Lotus, Chuldish Gambino and Kamasi Washington, to name just three of the 2 dozen projects he's featured on since the mid-00's. That's before you count the decade he's spent as bassist for Sucidal Tendencies. Now he's put out his own full length. Dude's prolific.

Drunk is a murky set of 23 short tracks, Jazz, Funk, Pop and experimental pieces, strung together by Thundercat's superlative weirdness. There's a radio-friendly double header in the centre with Friend Zone and Them Changes, certainly playable at any given late-night party, but then there's songs like Captain Stupido that are probably best kept to the headphones. Thundercat's aforementioned co-conspirator Flying Lotus provides production on the majority of the album, and with a guest spot from Kendrick Lamar, (who else) Drunk is all the top boys of the cerebral beats world coming together to create something that is purely fantastic.

04: Sun Kil Moon - Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood - B

I once listened to this on a 2 hour train journey. It was perfect. Watching the green fields and isolated trees of the English countryside silently roll across the mid-spring vista, with the droney folk of Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood painted through it all made for one of the nicest transitions from London to the north I've ever had, and let me tell you, I've had A LOT of those. The album finished after I got off the train. That's how goddamn long it is. I think that's what detracts from the quality for me - It'd be an A with just 1/4 of the length taken off. Mark Kozelek's world is interesting, but it's not that interesting. His mumbling gets drowned out by most ambient noise and it's hard to catch the thread of the stories once they're lost.

I do love the wandery subject matter though, Light and Love is about politics, serial killers, musical heroes, it has a requiem for a friend who passed away. It's a loose concept album, based around 6 months of travel, the monologues and paragraphs in Kozelek's notebooks (surely he has sackfuls of them) somehow shaped into some level of cohesion and written into songs. There's no track under 5 minutes on this record, which gives you a good heads-up of how epic it is. While some of the content is hard to justify, (a 9 minute song called Chili Lemon Peanuts, anyone?) Light and Love contains some beautifully written stories and bravely honest moments. It's worth the ride if you have a couple of hours for a daydream.

Sun Kil Moon aren't exactly a chart-busting prime time act, so I couldn't find any Youtube video for this album, official or otherwise. Listen to Bergen To Trondheim, Butch Lullaby and God Bless Ohio to get a good feel for this one.


05: Stormzy - Gang Signs And Prayer - B

Unlike Wiley's Godfather from earlier this year, Stormzy tries out some wider ideas on Gang Signs And Prayer that elevate the scope of the project beyond Just Another Grime Album. This is nowhere near as cohesive, though. The off-brand tracks are probably the direction Stormzy wants to go - His reflective moments on Prayer are what kept me coming back, Blinded By Your Grace, 21 Gun Salute and 100 Bags are all worthy highlights, whereas intended bangers like Bad Boys and Big For Your Boots are a little flat and tacked-on.

That's not to say it detracts from the overall experience - This is Stormzy's first full-length release, and he's obviously put an enormous amount of love and effort into it's execution. Prayer is a statement on life, music and the world. In spite of some fairly derivative content, it's a great record, and in the end it is a statement worth making. It'll be exciting to hear his next release, and to see how his career pans out. Cigarettes And Cush is a massive tune, by the way.

06: Crystal Fairy - Crystal Fairy - B

January 2017 Review

January's records were an interesting clutch of releases to say the least. The first month of the year is always a slow starter in music. The industry kinda takes a month off and no big releases come along until the spring. Historically, several artists have preferred releasing albums/singles in January, as they will usually get a higher chart position than if they released in the summer, or at Christmas. So it is this year, the top album for January is unlikely to be an act many of you have heard of, and you'll see the 10 albums I listened to are a bit of a motley crew of established artists, forgettable mid-career albums and some downright clangers. There were some good albums though - There always is!


The Rest:


Japandroids - Near to the Wild Heart of Life - C

Ty Segall - Ty Segall - B

Omar Rodríguez-López - Zen Thrills - C


The XX - I See You - B

The 3rd album from The XX sounds like what they promised with Coexist - A louder, brighter record with more of a clubby influence. More beats, samples and texture. The quiet teenage kids have grown into their 20's and are exploring new sounds. Thing is, they aren't quite new enough. I See You still has the sound of the other 2 albums, and lacks the punch and progression you'd expect from such a young set of musicians. This is a B, but it's a low B.

This is along the lines of Jamie XX's solo album from the other year, which was lauded by critics on release. In Colour was conceptually sound and nicely executed, however it turned out to be dreary, drawn out, and ultimately rather dull. So it is with I See You - A good bag of ideas and some sweet lyrical phrases but overall a dissatisfying experience. The XX are still in possession of a lot of potential. They've just not realised it yet.


Vitalic - Voyager - B


The Best:


01: Dot Hacker - N°3 - A

Alt-Prog brood-mongers Dot Hacker have returned with N°3, their pensive foray into the lonely darkness. The enigmatic sheen pervades through it’s own measured urgency from front to back, Klinghoffer’s androgynous voice adding minimalist layers of harmony to the mix. This is a rock band, but they are not playing rock music. It’s black, atmospheric, and undefinable. There’s a collage of thoughts and emotions running right through N°3, a fever daydream of introspection.

The guitar work is exceptional at times. The Klinghoffer/Walsh partnership executes a melodic style of simple lines, carving and moulding the path of the song, weaving indelible patterns into the structure of each movement. It’s good to hear Klinghoffer’s guitar unbridled by the pop rock style of the latter Chili Peppers’ albums. In Dot Hacker he is able to take the lead on a creative project, and through that he shines.

The songs wander around in the mist, but always coming back home to greet you with familiar tones. This record is at once challenging and forgiving; elements that are easy to understand in one song may take multiple spins to get your head around in others. In the end, the band bring together several nuanced elements to present a unique package of sounds. N°3 has limitations, and isn’t going to change the world, but it is a genuinely brilliant, perfectly orchestrated project.

02: Wiley - Godfather - A

Wiley, the acceptable face of hardcore UK Hip-hop put out what is rumoured to be his last record in January, finally accepting the tag he has shirked throughout his career. Godfather is the pulsing return from the self-identified inventor of an entire genre. Wiley, in titling this latest record with his unofficial fan-decreed moniker, has given tacit acceptance to that status - Apprehensive though he may be to accept it, Wiley is Grime 101.

Usually, I can't stand Grime. Don't get me wrong, I understand how important it is. I just don't like the sound. This album really speaks to me though. Wiley's flow is monstrously good, and the consistency in his delivery is top notch. This is the driving force behind any good rap record - the beats will always come 2nd to a great MC. The ludicrous repetitive hooks, the dark imagery, the east London idiosyncrasy, it's all part of the image that Wiley feeds generously into each track. His universe is paved with slick, yellow lit streets and he knows every last inch of it.

Forgive me for making a crude comparison here, but Grime is the new Punk, isn't it? A youth-oriented, scene-based, revolutionary cultural art form. It's beyond music, that becomes secondary to the statement and pure fervent energy of it all. Wiley is the progenitor of this exponential movement, and with Godfather he's released some hyper-catchy single-ready tunes, without losing any of the edge that is vital to the genre.

03: Bonobo - Migration - A

04: The Flaming Lips - Oczy Mlody - B

The Flips dropped their first proper studio album in 4 years this past month, and they're one of those bands where it's the goddamn law that you have to listen to anything they release. So I did. After all, such a unique, long-lived and crazy band deserve that status. It was just about worth it. Oczy Mlody is a tripped-out sojourn in the enchanted wilderness, with a delightful supernatural peculiarity to it. The Polish song titles, the epic synth walls, the song with frogs croaking throughout, it's a bizarre, acid-distressed dreamworld. The lyrics are pink candy love hearts - songs about faeries, mystical castles and unicorns paint a rainbow-tinted view of the world, counterpointed by darker elements of death and destruction; a sinister horizonal corona always threatening to spoil the party. 

This is nowhere near The Soft Bulletin, Clouds Taste Metallic or Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, the albums in the seminal strata of this band's output. It's not even in the same room. There's some bits that drag like you wouldn't believe, and some sections that are psychedelia-for-the-sake-of-psychedelia, seemingly parodying The Flips' own 60's throwback sensibilities. But it is at it's heart, a genuine, well-crafted collection of sounds, hippie-anarchism and wonderful weirdness that this band are loved and famed for. There's not much new ground covered here, and is The Flaming Lips in 2nd gear. To be fair though, that's really appealing. A nice effort, and a gas to slip on during a long coach journey.

05: Omar Rodríguez-López - Roman Lips - B

This is a fun record. Most of Rodríguez-López's albums are at least slightly weird, his passion for dissonance, crazy song titles and his odd singing voice tend to lend themselves to a discerning taste, but Roman Lips, OR-L's fortieth solo studio album has a forgiving, rounded edge to it. So you can listen to this one on the train without worrying about people hearing your headphone bleed and thinking you're odd.

A lot of what Omar's put out in the ever-burgeoning Ipecac series is average. (See The Rest, above.) That's OK - At the end of the day, when you're releasing an album every 2 weeks for months on end, you're not gonna churn out Sgt Peppers every time. Roman Lips is well above that malaise of average-standard releases, generally by virtue of the catchier tunes on offer. Omar can write a good old fashioned quirky pop song when he wants to - Outro track Fishtank, a Depeche Mode style mumble-fest is a great example of this element of his wide palate. This is a good listen for anyone who needs a gentle introduction to OR-L's spacious back catalogue.

December 2016 Review

The final month of the year is never really that good for new music. Everyone's on their holidays, or lazing about in the label's offices, watching the clock tick down and shopping for their Secret Santa present. No one wants to actually put the work into releasing an album. I found it hard to make up the numbers with the releases. I even considered a Neil Young album, for Chrissakes! The top album in December 2016 is the weakest no.1 of the year on this blog. It's still great to listen to though, even if you're not a fan of the artist. And so:


The Rest:


Omar Rodríguez-López - Some Need It Lonely - B

Experimental Rock/Dub


Omar Rodríguez-López - Nom De Guerre Cabal - C

Electronica/Experimental Rock


Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 3 - C

Hip-hop


EL-P and  Killer Mike dropped Run The Jewels 3, the predictably titled follow up to RTJs 1&2 on Christmas Eve, an early present from one of the game's most popular groups. There's been some pretty damn monumental rap records released this year but this one? Eh. Not so much.

Is this a joke album? It feels like a joke. The lyrics are appalling. Bragadoccio is the self-evident currency of Hip-hop, but lines like "I'm the shit/Looking at the money like it's mine to get/I'm the shit bitch/Everybody down, throw the pistol and fist" and "I got a good thing with a bad bitch/ that's rare bitch/She don't even like you hoes/she'll walk in the room take errr bitch" would have you laughed out of any half decent open mic night, so why do RTJ think they can spunk out such garbage? So it goes for all of the songs on this album, with far too many examples to mention.

The beats are bassy and decent enough, they keep the record simmering along with no real aural challenge and it's at least nice to hear a rare Zach De La Rocha guest spot on the final track. Ultimately though, RTJ3 carries on EL-P and Mike's infuriating insistence on constantly proclaiming themselves gods of Hip-hop without ever deigning to prove it. A schoolboy pissing contest.


The Best:


01: Omar Rodríguez-López - A Lovejoy - A

Experimental Rock/Synthpop 


After 12 releases in 2016 and 364 days, my best buddy Omar finally hits the top spot. A Lovejoy is as it's name suggests - euphoria on high, romping through verdant fields of pop, rock, synth and classical styles to achieve a truly brilliant climax to this year's releases. The record bubbles with tight pop loops and whispery vocal hooks, mixed with complex acid synth riffs. For the first time in 39 solo releases, El Maestro has taken command of a wonderfully effective synth string section in I Bet He'd Like That, which is a rare first for an artist with such a vast back catalogue.

You can be up in the clouds with the driving beats and basslines and then dropped flat out into ambient noise forests on the turn of a sixpence. This harsh dichotomy of pleasure and pain lifts the already stratospheric album above the rattle and clang of his middling releases to place it in the top tier of the Ipecac spectrum, along with Cellphone Bikini and Arañas en la Sombra.

Though this doesn't beat the exemplary Sworn Virgins to the top of the baker's dozen of releases from OR-L in 2016, it comes a close 2nd, and is a welcome surprise, dropped less than 48 hours before the close of the year, putting strength behind my regular lament at major publications putting out end-of-year lists in bloody NOVEMBER. It ain't over, 'till it's over.

02: Kid Cudi - Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' - A

Experimental Pop/Alternative R 'n B


Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' is the latest project from the genre-busting, ambitious and voraciously talented Kid Cudi. Split across 4 sections, each titled more opulently than the last, (the final quarter is named It's Bright And Heaven Is Warm, for goodness sake,) this album explores a wide range of moods and textures in search of a defining moment of  spiritual clarity.

Slayin' is best listened to as a skimming exercise for good tunes, rather than as a full-length session. There's plenty of R 'n B flavoured treacle to wade through to get to the good stuff, but it is worth it for highlights such as Cosmic Warrior, Frequency and Surfin', the latter of which features a subtle but effective guest spot from Pharrell Williams. My cut of choice is Distant Fantasies, a dark, enigmatic tune that harks back to the dark MF DOOM beats of a decade ago.

This one is a lot like The Weeknd's album from the other month. Not only stylistically - I should think the Venn diagram for fans of both artists features a healthy overlap - But also because it's just too long! Slayin' is almost 90 minutes in length, an enormous project, but that's not justified by the content. You could trim off a lot of filler and have one of the best records of the year. As it stands, Slayin' is a great listen for a long drive, and unfortunately, far too much of a good thing.

03: Nine Inch Nails - Not The Actual Events - B

Alternative Rock/Industrial Metal


Not The Actual Events was released with a characteristic lack of pretence to fulfil Trent Reznor's promise that Nine Inch Nails would return in 2016. Three and a half years hence from the superb comeback record Hesitation Marks, Events clocks in at barely over 20 minutes, so it doesn't quench the thirst a full length Nails LP would, but it is good to get stuck into a new chunk of flesh from the grand master.

Events has big shades of Reznor's 90's material, chainsaw guitars, enormous walls of  sound and distant, pained screaming are all over it. Along with that, there's a marked determination with this release to distance it from the rest. To that end, there's a measured influence from Atticus Ross; The Idea Of You has the most industrial feel to a Nine Inch Nails song since Broken, and the smooth production and industrial noise have his fingerprints all over it. There is also an ever-so-slight hint of How To Destroy Angels slipping through the cracks.

In the end though, the bulk of the sound comes from Reznor himself, as you would expect. Nine Inch Nails has this brillliant idiosyncrasy threaded through 30 years of releases, the same leitmotifs and lyrical phrases littered throughout the 3 decades of music, and Events is no different. Whether this is no more than a perfunctory flourish or an indicator of a new era in the disparate vista of releases from this life-long artistic project remains to be seen.

04: J. Cole - 4 Your Eyez Only - B

Hip-hop/Trap

05: Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love! - B

Soul/Funk/R 'n B/Psychedelic


Donald Glover's musical alter-ego snuck out a nice little record at the start of December. Moving away from his traditional rapping style, Awaken, My Love! represents Gambino's 3rd studio full-length, and a departure into more adventurous territory. I've always appreciated artists that take a left turn and try something new. Awaken at least covers that base, giving it some worthy moments, with elements of many different styles.

It doesn't do them much justice though, and after all's said and done, there's quite a bit of fluff on Awaken, and you'd have to be really dedicated to get any more than a handful of spins out of it. The music Gambino makes feels incredibly happy and fun, an open invitation to the world to enjoy the ride along with him. The appropriately sunny, keys-soaked California and the Megadrive synth-guitar masterpiece Redbone are the two stand-outs from this enjoyably flawed record.

So that's that for 2016. I'm gonna compile a top 40 over the the next few days and push that out. I'm very happy with my top choices from 2016, there's some obvious releases, some that have been wildly popular this year, some that have been underrated, and some I don't think I've seen in any end-of-year lists at all. I like to think my list reflects as wide a range of music as possible, which is the aim of this blog. One thing I noticed is lacking is debut albums, I think I've probably listened to less than 5 all year, which is something I want to remedy in time for 2017's top list. 2016's top choices are coming soon!

November 2016 Review

It was hard to listen to a full crop of albums in December, what with Christmas and New Year and drinking my body weight in Prosecco every weekend. In between the cheeseboard binges, endless travel and general festive fun I actually ended up listening to 9 albums. That's more than some people managed all year, so I'm happy with that.

The Progressive Metal fans amongst you will have spotted May's Protest The Hero EP sitting there, sticking out like spotty ginger child. I don't know why, but I had it in my head that it had been released in November, so I stuck it on the list with these albums and listened through. It's too good to not list to be fair, it only just missed the top 5, so it's going in!


The Rest:


Justice - Woman - B

Electro House/Nu-Disco


Protest The Hero - Pacific Myth - B

Progressive Metal


Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Weekly Mansions - B

Electronic Pop


Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Zapopan - C

Experimental Rock


The Best:


01: A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service - A

Alternative Hip-hop


With the tragic death of legendary MC and all-round decent dude Phife Dawg coming earlier in 2016, the Hip-hop world breathed a heavy sigh of resignation - It meant no more new material from A Tribe Called Quest, the cerebral superstars that have rang against the walls at any given 4am after party throughout the past 25 years. When the group announced the release of We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service mere months after Phife's passing, it signalled a surprise resurrection. Quest were back in the game, for the final round.

Q-Tip's voice is the smoothest in the business, the velvet-toned counterpoint to Phife's more rugged delivery. When they mix in with the idiosyncratic quirkiness and warm Jazz tones that comprise the Quest sound, it's hard to think of a Hip-hop group that can match them for sheer likeability. The tunes roll off the tracklist one-by-one and all add their own spice to the eclectic blend of sounds. We The People..., a short, downbeat statement on the oppression of minority groups, Melatonin, a chilled vocal-hooked instant Quest classic, Black Spasmodic, an off-kilter guitar skank, Movin' Backwards, featuring a top-notch turn from Anderson .Paak, all these songs are undeniably brilliant, pushing through with Quest's righteous Afro-centrism just as well as any of their 90's output did.

Phife is tributed on this record perfectly. It would be too easy to turn Thank You into a memorial project, overshadowing the fine work put into the album before he died. Instead, Quest dedicate only 2 songs to their fallen comrade, the easy-soul cut Lost Somebody and The Donald, which is a buoyant closing number, Phife Dawg's name being repeated affectionately over and over until the end of the record. That's fitting for Phife - From what I've heard of him, he'd never want it to be all about him.

Thank You holds on to the basic tenets the group gained fame for in their earlier years. They've not lost the magic after nearly 3 decades. It's wonderful that Phife ended up with a few verses on record for this project, their presence is a grand tribute for the man, it's good that he was able to put his imprint on the last ever Quest album. If this is the final chapter of A Tribe Called Quest's journey, it's a brilliant way to end such a distinguished group's time in the game.

02: Metallica - Hardwired... to Self-Destruct - A

Heavy Metal


The Hetfield/Hammett partnership is one of my favourites in all music. The great thing about the boys is that they are nowhere near the most technical or creative players in the world, but something happens when they get together that is teeth-clenchingly monolithic. Together, they've written some of the most ubiquitous and celebrated pieces of heavy guitar music, and along with one of  the worst drummers ever and a revolving cast of bassists, they've ruled the goddamn universe for about 30 years. They released a double album of Thrash Metal in November, and it's rock solid.

Hardwired... to Self-Destruct pulses with thrash and flex, calling back to their 80's material with chugging guitars, Hetfield's signature rallying calls, and complex song structure. They've always been anti-war, but this one feels like a specific statement against the rising tide of conflict across the globe. There's a lot of hard grooves on the album, with some softer tracks - The guitar work on Dream No More, Halo On Fire and Here Comes Revenge echoes Superunknown-era Soundgarden, ManUNkind is a wandering elaborate piece with many different moods. Songs like that give a break from the long thrash sections that reverberate throughout pieces like Atlas, Rise!, Moth Into Flame, Spit Out The Bone and the like. It's well-balanced, and just about worth the double album status.

Hardwired's got that Metallica imprint all over it - the barely controlled rage, the speaker-melting guitar solos, the sombre ballad sections, the distraught desperation at the insanity of man. The production is thick, it's a perfectly constructed brick wall. The guitars sit crisply above the drums, and the vocals only take prominence when they absolutely have to. Because that's why we're here, right? We want riffs. Perhaps that's what's so attractive about Hardwired, it's not Metallica doing covers, or stripping themselves back, or being clever. It's Metallica being Metallica.

This is Metallica's 10th studio effort, and the causal observer can be forgiven for thinking that there is little ground left to cover in their creative sphere, Metal being the intensely dense, nuanced genre it is. What you've got to remember here is that Hardwired is their first album since the complex and demanding Death Magnetic, now 8 years in the past, and is quite a switch-up from that album's style. It represents a sound they haven't explored on a record cover-to-cover for a quarter of a century. For that alone, it deserves its spot. While much of the latter half of 'Tallica's back catalogue has been routinely slung onto the "Yeah, it's alright" pile, I'd like to think that this one has a little more staying power. The best one they've done since The Black Album.

03: Animals As Leaders - The Madness Of Many - A

Progressive Metal/Jazz

04: Czarface - A Fistful Of Peril - B

Hip-hop


Rap's superhero obsession has permeated the genre's DNA since records began, with some of the most stoic personalities indulging in their own pseudonym-based villainy at some point in their career. Czarface is the latest iteration of Wu-Tang visionary Inspectah Deck and 90's beatsmiths 7L & Esoteric's coalition, and represents their own tribute to the cartoon heroes of their childhood. A Fistful Of Peril offers up an unapologetic slice of old-skool beats, pumping with the fresh production of the modern era.

Peril doesn't push the boundaries any further than last year's Every Hero Needs A Villain, but that's the point. Czarface is it's collective member's folly, their unfettered sandpit project, a reward for the big rap records of 20 years ago. The boys revel thoroughly in the flat-out, driven-through simplistic beats. Repetitive guitar chops and nerdy vocal samples abound. It's easy, smooth stuff. The age of Boom-Bap has passed, but its fans are still around, and there's plenty of room for this head-bopping gem in today's Hip-hop landscape.

05: The Weeknd - Starboy - B

Pop/RnB


Solo songsmith and Millenial Wail-milking The Weeknd drops his latest smooth cut of silk, with a smattering of impressive guest appearances. This album has surprised me in how little attention it's got from the mainstream music press - his sound is rhetorically zeitgeist. The melodic, pitch-shifted warblings sometimes morph into full-on rap verses, channelling the likes of Drake and Kanye, with whom Mr Weeknd could (and should) be granted contemporary status. Starboy is the kind of stuff that could only be made in the mid-10's; we will look back on music like this in 20 years and say it was the sound of the decade.

Sadly, Starboy is a good example of a trope I find completely distasteful in music - Too many songs on an album. I'm no minimalist by any stretch, (the 2nd album on this top 5 is a double) but there's an art to knowing when it's time to fade out the dying embers of the closing number, and on this album, that's around about the 12th track. Unfortunately, it just keeps going. When you stuff 18 songs on to the same disc, inevitably it will suffer from the inclusion of a lot of filler, which is such a shame, because there is absolutely no need to pad this record out. There are over half a dozen wonderfully catchy downtempo tunes lost in the swamp. It's worth finding them if you wanna dive in and have a swim.

That's November's choices. As always, I'm very happy with the top 5, there's just simply been loads of brilliant releases in 2016. The top list will be hard to compile, mainly 'cos I'm gonna have to leave some incredible records out of the top 20. It's gonna be good though, There are several albums I've loved this year that haven't had nearly enough recognition. So I'll recognise them. Happy New year, everyone.

October 2016 Review

There were some great albums released in October. I've been on the hunt for a solid, guitar-oriented, heavy album all year, and I think this month's crop might just have cracked it. There's been tons of great Hip-hop and pop albums I've listened to this year, but a lot of the guitar albums I've tried have been average, so it's been good to listen to some proper good heavy stuff. There's more coming up next month too. The calibre of the records in October was high, 5 A's were hard to rank, mainly because I didn't want to relegate such high quality albums to 4th or 5th. With a weaker selection, some of the top 5 could have been album of the month. This month's #1 is especially good, and might just sneak into the end-of-year top 10.


The Rest:


2 Chainz - Hibachi For Lunch - C

Hip-hop


Darkthrone - Arctic Thunder - B

Black Metal


Mono - Requiem For Hell - B

Post-Rock


Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Infinity Drips - C

Experimental/Noise/Ambient


The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Third World Pyramid - C

Alternative Rock/Psychedelic


Yelawolf - Hotel - B

Hip-hop


The Best:


01: The Dillinger Escape Plan - Dissociation - A

Mathcore/Experimental Rock


This album will be a choice way out of left field for most people. The 6th and final (if vocalist Greg Puciato is to believed) studio album from a heavy/shouty band with about a million notes in each riff is unlikely to be seen on many end-of-year lists in 2016. I wasn't expecting it myself; I've never given The Dillinger Escape Plan much of a chance, barring the superb Aphex Twin cover they pushed out over a decade ago. But this really is worth it. Trust me.

Dissociation's not an album that is easy to listen to, or rewarding in a traditional sense. What makes it so great is the span of different styles touched by the band, and the complex and subtle interplay of melodies that you only hear after 10 listens. There's a Jazz breakdown section in Low Feels Blvd that comes out of nowhere. It's a trip to listen to DEP develop that into a harsh Metal/Hardcore thrashfest over the course of a couple of minutes. That's what keeps me coming back to this record, there's surprises everywhere and progressive sections that need digesting over time.

Dissociation is full of half-time thrashy groove-drops, it has soaring vocal choruses, it has trapdoors that still catch you out after a few spins. There's not much in the way of accessibility here, but if you're listening to Dissociation to relax in the bath, you're barking up the wrong tree. Having said that, the closing pair of string-led songs bring the last 11 minutes back from the stratosphere, and ensure a soft landing. Nothing To Forget is markedly simpler than the other songs while the heartfelt vocal performance from the aforementioned Puciato on the closing and title track is incredible. If this is DEP's last ever album, it's probably the highest note they could reach.

02: Kate Tempest - Let Them Eat Chaos - A

Alternative Hip-hop/Spoken Word


Kate Tempest's long list of accomplishments belie a huge amount of work in her short time on this planet. Barely out of her youth, she's already a celebrated and much-loved wordsmith, known for possessing one of the most extensive vocabularies in UK Hip-hop and having a golden ability to utilise it. When I saw her new album pop up, it was an automatic addition to this month's short list.

Let Them Eat Chaos is a straight-up concept album based around one moment in time shared between 7 complete strangers. The story reflects Tempest's views on the world and modern London, which is explicit from the first few seconds. What makes this stand out however, is the gallons of pathos that flood through and greet you. It's a friendly, welcoming listen. The politics and social commentary aren't abrasive, and the balance between story and rhetoric is perfect.

Tempest brings her characters alive with honest care, her voice sometimes cracking with emotion, sympathising with their state. In turn, it makes you care about them, too. The people in Chaos are relateable in the extreme; As I was listening, I began to associate them with real people and faces I know. As the story progresses, through several different perspectives, and backed by some solid Hip-hop beats, Tempest's worldview, both warm and gritty, gets mapped out, and it's hard to disagree with the matter-of-fact common-sense nature of it. Her closing statement implores us all to love and care more. After all that's said and done on Chaos, that's a strikingly positive notion to take home.

03: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Cell Phone Bikini - A

Progressive Rock/Experimental Rock/Psychedelic


It feels like El Maestro is having a clear-out of the vaults with these albums. There's been some filler records that don't warrant much attention, and some of them have alternate versions of previously released songs on them. Hell, one of them even has an Ellie Goulding cover on it. This raft of releases (and with more to come in 2017) seems to be him drawing a line under his solo projects and putting everything out, for better or worse.

Cell Phone Bikini is one of the stronger releases. With an exciting blend of mid-career Mars Volta-esque guitar riffs and some powerful vocal takes from Teri Gender Bender, OR-L's long time musical collaborator, this is a great listen for any fan of OR-L's music. All the hallmarks of a classic OR-L release are on Bikini - His signature freaked-out guitar style, the idiosyncratic off-kilter song structuring, the mumbling distorted singing from his own voice contrasted with an intense, high-range lead vocalist, it's all there. It's a good representation of the breadth of his solo work for someone who's never heard anything he's done.

I don't usually like Teri's vocals on record, and to be honest I don't rate her as an artist/musician full stop. But her turn on Bikini completely lifts the album. It's the best thing she's ever been on, and shows a maturity and passion I've not heard on anything else, Le Butcherettes or otherwise. Her vocals on Suetre y Aire, Amarillo and Sell Yourself In in particular spring out of the mix and bring the songs to life. Bikini is an opportunity for Teri to stamp her brand on an album, and she shines out of each and every song.

OR-L is his generation's Zappa. He's worked with dozens of different musicians and spread out over countless forms of music. His style is hard to pin down, but there's a delightful fusion aspect to his work and it's uniquely weird. He's skipped through several vocalists in his time, and maybe with Teri Gender Bender, he's found a keeper. Bikini isn't the most experimental OR-L album, but it's a great showcase of his and Teri's partnership, and a positive sign for future releases from the duo.

04: Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker - A

Folk/Soft Rock


What can you say about Leonard Cohen that hasn't been said before? One of the most underrated of the God Tier songwriters of the last century, he was inspirational to millions, and enjoyed a career that spanned multiple decades. He succumbed to mortality barely 3 weeks after You Want It Darker was released. This album is his final statement, and deals with his imminent death in a brilliantly optimistic way.

It's impossible to not draw comparisons with this and David Bowie's Blackstar. Both projects are attempts by the artist to capture a final snapshot of their thoughts as the twilight of their existence closes around them. While I didn't really dig Blackstar, Darker is something I understood from the first listen. I think that's because it's simpler. Cohen has always been known for his poetic lyrics before any musical backing. While Bowie was a multi-faceted artist who created music, art and fashion as a package, Cohen's work is intended to be a vessel for his words. Cohen has never been cited for experimental envelope-pushing as Bowie was, simply as a great lyricist.

And so it is on Darker, the music is a gentle breeze accompanying the artist's reflections on an extraordinary life. Some of Darker is touched with sadness, but overall Cohen is content and humorous about death which makes what could be an uncomfortable album an uplifting experience. Cohen's final word is as moving as anything he's ever done, and signs off one of the greatest ever songwriting legacies with style and grace.

05: Meshuggah - The Violent Sleep Of Reason - A

Progressive Metal

That's October's picks done and dusted. I'm already listening to November's albums, and there are some superb releases already making my top 5 for next month a difficult choice. I'm looking forward to the end of the year top albums list. I'll have the agony of choice - This year has been stellar. As several professional publications release their end-year lists, I'm happy to see some of my top picks rate so highly, and kinda smug to see some of them ignored. I've now listened to over 100 albums this year, and I'm looking forward to putting together a really strong top 20.