Stormzy – Heavy Is The Head
Whether or not you're a fan of the grime side of rap, the British star's second album is only really a part of his profile - the clear leader of a movement, a voice, a charity and educational pioneer, a heroic black British figure who took Glastonbury by storm. There's several mentions of his performance at that festival in this album, but also, after the triumphant opening with the track Michael, plenty of numbers that show how the crown is indeed heavy – pressures, friendship jealousies and rivalries. But while the album clearly looks to break into America, there's oodles of British references and voices to keep it real with guests such as Headie One who boasts of speeding near Canterbury on Audacity and the Mancunian-style Aitch on Pop Boy. So, much spikiness among the regal glory the is the towering figure of Michael Ebenazer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. Out on #Merky/Atlantic UK.
Stormzy – Crown
Free Nationals – Free Nationals
Feeling loungey, lazy and in the mood for some smooth, squelchy, plinky plonky jazz funk? Then who better to serve it up that Anderson .Paak's backing band. Their frontman only appears on one track, Gadget, but this is largely laidback stuff with a series of guests to stretch out to, and make luurve. Beauty & Essex featuring R&B singer Daniel Caesar and UMO might be an obvious example "smells like sex and flowers, we've been gone for hours", but there are many deliciously hazy numbers too, such as this: Out on Empire/OBE.
Free Nationals, JID, Kadhja Bonet & MIKNNA - On Sight
U-Bahn – U-Bahn
The Australian five-piece band, yet another from the thriving Melbourne scene, release a debut LP (out earlier this year but now on limited vinyl) that comes with a joyous fusion of glam-pop and new wave and echoes of early Devo or Subway Army. They describe it as "nostalgia for futures that never came to pass; suburban boredom and sexual dystopias", and indeed it is, filled with reverb, analogue synths and off-beat rhythms, put together by founders Lachlan Kenny and Zoe Monk is a fun-loving, humorous, freethinking reboot of early electronica pop, particularly bubblegumy Right Swipe or the post-punk Beta Boyz. Out on Melodic/Future Folklore Records.
U-Bahn – Beta Boyz
Arlo Parks – Super Sad Generation
Another release from earlier in the year but on limited vinyl with downloads from the first two LPs/EPs, this is as the name suggests is filled with melancholy, and a generation "taking ketamine, killing time and losing our patience". But don't get too depressed, because it has echoes of Portishead, Syd of the Internet and Lily Allen. There's also Parks's poem, London, and Sophie, a song about "crumbling under expectations and feeling helpless, but with a persistent, quiet sense of hope underpinning it”. Says it all really. Out on Beatnik Creative.
Arlo Parks – Super Sad Generation
Eddy Current Suppression Ring – All In Good Time
Another cult Australian band, though not new, but releasing for the first time in nine years. Fuzz guitar indie, simple, no-nonsense, wittily self-depcrating and catchy stuff from members of Total Control (Mikey Young) and Boomgates. Out on on John Dwyer’s Castle Face label.
Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Our Quiet Whisper
Daniel Lopatin – Uncut Gems Original Soundtrack
American electronic producer Oneohtrix Point Never releases more film music under his own name, this time for what is indeed a gem of a 2019 film about a gambling addicted jeweller, Howard Ratner starring Adam Sandler. The music is a fascinating mix of arpeggiated electronica, 80s chase-scene music, techno, sexy saxophone and silly operatic, and a host of other sounds to heighten the craziness of Ratner's risky world and state of mind. Out on Warp.
Daniel Lopatin – The Ballad Of Howie Bling
St Vincent / Kraviz – Masseduction Rewired
Can you really re-work a classic album by St Vincent from 2017, a favourite on these pages? Russian producer Kraviz has a go, putting it through all kinds of filters and lenses with various guest producers, multiple versions and formats, downloads, and three EPs. Savior – Butechno Mix, for example sounds like it's straight from Acid Manchester 1988, or Chicago footwork producer Jlin turns the bleak Smoking Section into a frenetic bass ballet, while Hyperdub producer Laurel Halo’s lengthens Young Lover into six frenetic minutes. Interesting, but bewildering to listen to, and perhaps just a little too commercially overstretched. Out on Loma Vista.
St. Vincent - New York (Nina Kraviz Vocal Remix)
Burial – Tunes 2011-2019
It's the season of best of compilations, but this might be the pick of them, capturing the output of one of the most innovative, ghostly ambient, mysterious musical figures of the decade – Will Bevan. Out on Hyperdub.
Burial – Tunes 2011-2019
This week's selection is by The Landlord.
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