FKA twigs – Magdalene
Five years since her debut album, LP1, Tahliah Debrett Barnett finally makes a welcome return, and her profile of polymath enigma remains firmly, as well as singer-songwriter, even more so dancer, kung fu and visual artist, after no shortage of personal problems – health and celebrity relationship (Robert Pattinson) heartbreak. This album from Cheltenham artist has an even stranger, starker quality, her voice at times a shattered glass of vulnerability, sounding almost on the verge of tears. sounding both robust and yet fragile in a mix her unique genre, a mix of "alt-R&B", static noise, gunshots, electronica and rumbles. Her profile as an alternative Bjork with added sexual twist seems to be crystallising. Out on Young Turks.
FKA twigs – Cellophane
Moor Mother – Analog Fluids Of Sonic Black Holes
The poet, activist and musician from Philadelphia is an artist of clever collage and political passion. This fourth album is again one that's impossible to define – a mix of sampled voices, drones, poetry, rap, strings, electronica, it draws heavily on issues of racial prejudice in America with tones ranging from rage to humour, even bringing in the disembodied voice of Paul Robeson singing the spiritual Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen into the mix. It's a work brimming with hurt, history and hunger from The Myth Hold Weight to Master's Clock. Looking back, LA92 to Passing of Time. It takes time to seep in, but in the future, this may become something of a musical landmark. Out on on Giovanni Records.
Moor Mother – After Images
Kele – 2042
The many faces and styles of the charismatic Bloc Party frontman, Kele Okereke seem to come together on this fourth solo album, mixing folk, rock, indie, musicals, African high life and dance music, summoning various parts of his previous output. This album spits out and passionately expressing many political issues, from the Windrush scandal, citing MP David Lammy's great speech, to police brutality protester and US quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and most powerfully of all, the Grenfell fire– on the extraordinary Let England Burn There’s also Natural Hair, a song about two black boys falling for each other. Kele stirs up the emotional and political in one potent number after another. Out on KOLA Records/!K7.
Kele – Jungle Bunny
Girl Ray – Girl
The indie trio of Poppy Hankin, Iris McConnell and Sophie Moss return with their second album that has gone much more pop, in a Helped perhaps by Metronomy and Christine & the Queens producer Ash Workman, it has something of Tom Tom Club about it. Fresh, light, clever and sophisticated. Out on Moshi Moshi.
Girl Ray – Girl
Omni – Networker
Third album from the Atlanta postpunk trio has a cleaner, less busy sound than their previous Deluxe (2016) and Multi-task (2017), but is still sharp, arhythmic, clever stuff, reminiscent of Gang of Four and Wire, and the overall theme, with the title in mind, is internet life. Very scroll. Out on Sub Pop.
Omni – Sincerely Yours
Land Of Kush – Sand Enigma
This complex, ambitious project of Sam Shalabi Libyan-born musician of Egyptian parents, along ith many collaborators is a heady mix of postpunk, free jazz and panglobal folk. The previous album came out in 2013 when Egypt was in a more hopeful post-Arab Spring state, but now this latest reflects more troubled, confusing, dislocated times. From a santur solo to stabbing strings it is filled with astonishing moments, with great guest performances from Sarah Pagé playing an Arabic sounding harp on Recuerdo to Japanese singer Maya Kuroki howling over a weirdly funky Tinariwen-style fuzz-funk-rock on Safe Space. Out on Constellation.
Land of Kush – Safe Space
Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron – Lost Wisdom Pt 2
Painfully delicate, melancholy heartbreak songs by singer-songwriter Phil Elverum, who previously performed as The Microphones and later Mount Eerie. Driftingly sad and beautiful, like a slow-motion sunset on water, two albums later they are still inspired still by the death of his wife in 2016, and since then his breakup after a year with the actress Michelle Williams. Julie Doiron provides a highly complementary co-voice. Out on PW Elverum & Sun
Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron – Belief pt 2
Son Of Town Hall – The Adventures of Son Of Town Hall
The delightful London-based British/American duo of Ben Parker and David Berkeley bring intricate finger-picked guitars, fine fiddle, brass and smoothly vocal harmonies in a theatrical turn that is steampunk folk, dressing up as 19th-century New Yorkers. Great musicianship and beautifully balanced singing offer up a transport of delight into another era. Out on Bandcamp and self-released.
Son Of Town Hall – The Line Between
Björk – Country Creatures (12inch remixes)
A bonus item of three tracks of mutual remixes, the main items of which are fabulous and contrasting reworkings of Bjork's Features Creatures from 2018's Utopia. The Knife's version is rhythmic, pacey and stabbing, while Fever Ray's is stranger and more serene. Björk in turn remixes a Fever Ray track. Just shows how these three original artists can recreate with great flair. Out on One Little Indian
Björk – Features Creatures (The Knife remix)
This week's selection is by The Landlord.
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