With thoughts of summer jams getting me through the beast from the east, get stuck into this brothers!
Month: February 2018
Hurray for the Riff Raff – ‘Pa’Lante’
I am sorry. I have been meaning to share this with you for over 12 months now. Pa’Lante means ‘go forward’ or ‘advance’ ‘progress’. It’s a common Peurto Rican abbreviation often used in political and/or social contexts. The ‘day in the life’ like time change in the middle is jarring on first listen but becomes part of the joy on successive listens. The sample is a recording of Pedro Pietri’s seminal 1969 poem “Puerto Rican Obituary,”. She also name checks my daughter ‘Silvia’ in the final verse. I have romantic notions that my daughter will love this song in years to come and will envision her dad cheering her on as she ‘go’s forward’ in life … ‘to Sammy and Silvia I say ‘Pa’Lante’.
This is not happening 2018
Why don’t we curate a best tracks list of 2018 as we go? We can review in Dec/Jan ’19 and cut it down to top 10 or 20 and argue and fall out and stuff?
Sorry David and Guy … it may involve Spotify?
Mahalia – Sober
This is so good!
Defari- Acknowledgement feat. Evidence
I’ve had this track on repeat for the last day. Love it!
Kendrick et al. – Black Panther Soundtrack
The Black Panther soundtrack was released yesterday … Kendrick Lamar has writing credits on all tracks and appears on a number but most importantly his finger prints are all over this one. Some great guest appearances and collaborations. I’ve only heard through a couple of times but considering its a ‘Various Artists’ soundtrack it hangs together really well.
Hookworms – roll up for your LCD fix and more
Long time since I’ve been as taken with an album as the new Hookworms album. As a local band, I’ve kept an eye on them for a long time (they’re FEROCIOUS live), and have enjoyed their heavy Krautrock workouts, but I wouldn’t say that either of their first albums have stayed with me that much.
All that has changed with the new album, Microshift. It’s a complete reinvention of everything they’ve done – suddenly full of wide open spaces, electronics and dance rhythms and MJ’s voice – which you suddenly realise is actually brilliant. I have been playing it to DEATH for the last week.
Bearing in mind this blog’s collective love for LCD, Hot Chip et al, I’d be absolutely astonished if there wasn’t a fair bit of love for this. I urge you to listen to the whole album in one go. It’s still an indie record, sure, but it has its eye on so much more than that.
I also love the way they’re using their sound to really dig at real stuff. This is about depression and the death of a friend and other disaster – and finding a way out of the other side. It’s compelling and really life-affirming. Again, James Murphy would be proud.
This is an absolute contender for album of the year for me, and yup, it’s only Feb.
February Album of the Month: Bicep – Bicep
Hype. I really struggle to buy albums that have hype around them. I don’t know why?Maybe because I have seen the mechanics of how albums get hyped, and I have grown to discount it now to being a load of rubbish. The issue is that at times there are albums that have deserved their hype growing through well-earned excitement, self-propelled by fans. Bicep’s debut album is a case and point of this; I fought it and massively then regretted it when I finally gave it a go. This album desserves the hype.
So where did the hype come from you ask? Well if you ask any of the cool kids they’ll tell you that ‘Bicep are the Irish production duo behind the most-excellent Feel My Bicep blog which has a reputation for blogging only the finest quality house, disco and techno.’ In-fact every article about them seems to start with that line. My line is this: ‘Bicep popped onto my radar a few years ago whilst playing the Space terrace in Ibiza. Ever since they seem to have kept on popping up every few months. Aside from the blog they make some really good music. They’re edit of Diminica’s ‘Gotta Let Go’ propelled them into every club in the summer of 2015 and the rest is history’. At this point I must admit this is when I stopped paying attention to them, too much hype.
I don’t want to delve too much into this album as I want you to discover it yourself. I will say that there are some massive ticks for me with their debut long player.
- It’s a dance album that takes you on a journey between laid back to head down in a dark corner stomping and does it well.
- It’s a dance album that is an actual album and not just a bunch of singles strapped together.
- Instead of releasing on a major label they have signed to Ninja Tune, which I think is pretty cool.
Sadly I don’t go clubbing anymore. I’m not sure if I even want to go to a club ever again. I do still like dance music and I think there is allot of great music being released. Dance music seems to have superseded four decades and with that four generations of new fans. If this is what clubbers are listening to at the moment a firmly tip my hat to them, this is good shit.
This was one of my (late) top picks for last year and I love it. I hope it ticks as many boxes for you as me. Enjoy brothers.
Classic Album: Gang Starr – Moment of Truth
I must admit that I was a bit surprised that the rest of the brothers have neglected Gang Starr from their music collections, though it excites me that I’m welcoming you all to something new.
Gang Starr consisted of two members, MC Guru and DJ Premier. By the point that this album was released in 1998 both as a group (this was their 5th album) and side projects (Guru’s Jazzmazztazz and DJ premier well know beats through the famed D&D studios) Gang Starr were arguably at the top of their game. This album had ALLOT of expectations around it from all levels. The questions was could classic Hip Hop live in 1998?
If you recollect in the 1998 it was a time of champagne and fur coats in rap videos, the back end of the West Coast Vs East Coast beef and the accent of No Limit records….. essentially there was allot of whack rap being released. It was also a time that independent hip hop was gaining traction. The rise of the internet was allowing underground independent hip hop record labels such as Rawkus, ABB Records and Fat Beats distribution to have a wider reach. Very much at the forefront of boom bap backpack rap Gang Starr whom had allot to prove with this album. Their record label wanted radio plays, they wanted to keep their street cred. The result could go either way. Could they still engage the mainstream whilst keeping the backpackers happy?
This album for me was a masterstroke in making a complete album without losing credit. The NY underground boom bap is heavily represented with tracks like ‘You Know My Steez’, ‘The Milita’ and ‘Work’. On the other hand they dipped their toes into the mainstream with tracks like ‘Royalty’ and the reflective ‘Moment of Truth’.
Guru’s voice commands respect and his lyrics span from insight to straight battle raps. Look up the lyrics for ‘You Know My Steez’. I must have listened to that track 100 times in the first day I had the album. As for the beats that DJ Premier came with, and the cuts….. to this day are some of the best!
This album brings back allot of memories for me, I was listening to it when my plane was approaching London when I came over to UK for ‘a few months’ in 2001. Inspecta Deck’s verse on ‘Above the Clouds’ being one of my favourite of all time and apt as the plane broke through the cloud cover of the UK to expose London. ‘Work’ is still one of my favourite tracks to get me going when I run. The tingle that I got the first time I heard ‘You Know My Steez’, and how I lost my shit when I first hear Freddie Foxx on ‘The Militia’.
I still come back to this album, it’s a classic. Give this some time and enjoy. There’s lots to get stuck into with Moment of Truth.
First Aid Kit – Fireworks
This is most likely old hat for you biys as 6 music has been hammering it, but I love the new track by First Aid Kit.
thisisnothappening.net 