Destroyer – Have We Met
Another variation of style of many from the profound, declamatory Canadian pop singer-songwriter Dan Bejar with his 13th album under the Destroyer umbrella as well as many more as The New Pornographers and more. This time it's a full funk 80s pop to the fore with his distinctive talky voice and cryptic lyrics that undeniably pull you in. The music channels a whole decade, from The Police to The Associates to Pet Shop Boys. Tracks to check out: It Just Doesn't Happen, The Raven, and Cue Synthesizer. Bleakly wry, upbeat and strangely compelling. Out on Dead Oceans.
Destroyer – Cue Synthesizer
Squarepusher - Be Up A Hello
Tom Jenkinson returns with the 90s persona with a heady mixture of drum’n’bass, electronica, dance, jazz, organ music and television themes, variously frentic, wobbly, squiggly, manic, and as on second track Hitsonu, sounding a bit like a video game gone into hyperdrive. Nervelevers is aptly named, Speedcrank does sound like a slight overdose, while Detroit People Mover slows you down as if it were an alternative to Bladerunner. Crazily complex, but a total dancey buzz. Out on Warp, of course.
Squarepusher - Oberlove
Drive-By Truckers – The Unraveling
A 12th album by the alt-country, southern rock band from Georgia, recorded at the the Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis. As the title suggests, these songs are particularly direct, emotional, and angry. Armageddon’s Back in Town takes a whirlwind Springsteen-style journey into whiplash of events in everyday life, while the final Awaiting Resurrection dives headfirst into the despair and pain roiled up by the current troubled times. Out on ATO.
Drive-By Truckers – Armageddon’s Back in Town
Sam Lee – Old Wow
Third album from the folksong specialist, this time in collaboration with Suede's Bernard Butler. Lee has a strong, rich voice, and his formula is to rework traditional songs into fresh form, and this is certainly a successful. Death, grief, nature, love and a whole lot more intertwine in a tapestry of past and present, such The Garden of England, Lay This Body Down or The Moon Shines Bright, joined by Butler and Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser. A young, solo male alternative to The Unthanks. Out on Cooking Vinyl.
Sam Lee - The Moon Shines Bright feat. Elizabeth Fraser with Bernard Butler
Ben Watt – Storm Damage
Fourth solo LP and the third of a trilogy (Hendra 2014 and Fever Dream 2016) for the singer-songwriter who has had a long career, from working with Robert Wyatt to being the co-writer and partner with Tracy Thorn on Everything But The Girl. This is intense, frank, emotional material, and as Watt says: "The album came out of an intense period of personal anguish and political anger. In terms of sound, it's "a future-retro trio" of upright piano, double bass and hybrid acoustic-electronic drums, set against a half-lit backdrop of lone analogue synths, spiralling echo spins and impressionistic 'found sounds' adapted from online public-domain recording archives. Low's Alan Sparhawk makes a guest appearance. Out on Unmade Road.
Ben Watt – Summer Ghosts
Smoke Fairies - Darkness Brings the Wonders Home
Welcome return with the seventh album by Chichester's Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies with solid, driving rock indie with a touch of folk. There are even echoes of Fleet Foxes with Seattle producer Phil Ek at the controls. Out of the Woods to Disconnect, it's a strong consistent album. As Davies put it: “Times of darkness are when people are often the most imaginative. It helps you to see all the wonders of the world you hadn’t noticed before - the things you’ve been blind to because you’ve been on autopilot for so long.” Out on Year Seven.
Smoke Fairies – Disconnect
J Hus – Big Conspiracy
Stark, slick hip hop from the British Gambian rapper, aka Momodou Lamin Jallow, who grew up in Stratford in east London, and has returned from a spell inside for carrying a knife. This is a mixed bag, but there are some clever lines, and it's far more reflective than his first, Common Sense. Out on Black Butter.
J Hus – Reckless
Frances Quinlan – Likewise
The lead songwriter and frontwoman of the Philadelphia-based band Hop Along releases a solo album - adding to her guitar-based instrumentation synthesizers, digital beats, harps, strings, and a wide variety of keyboards. A little shrill at times, but often also sensitive and moving such as on Now That I'm Back. Out on Saddle Creek.
Frances Quinlan – Rare Thing
Don’t forget to also check out our favourite albums of 2019:
Aldous Harding to Richard Dawson to Michael Kiwanuka: favourite albums of 2019 – part 1
Billie Eilish to FKA twigs to Weyes Blood: favourite albums of 2019 – part 2
This week's selection is by The Landlord.
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