In Part 1 we explore the new Everything But The Girl album Fuse, and ask is it worth the 24 year wait? In Part 2 we play Spin It or Bin It? The theme this month is new music … tracks that have been released since Feb 1st 2023.Part 1 | Album of the Month | EBTG | FuseIt's Nolan's choice this month and we go with the long awaited / not even expected 12th studio album from Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt. It's rare that we get to talk about an artist that we all have a significant relationship, but this is a great example. In January we got treated to the track Nothing Left to Loose but the album offers much more. It's got just about every type of EBTG track you can think of and some of their best tracks ever.Go listen to the album – HereGo watch some videos – HereGo buy some of their stuff – HereSome links that we reference and recommend; Pitchfork interview – Click HereBBC Radio 5 Live interview – Click HereEBTG in conversation at Rough Trade – Click HerePart 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New MusicIt's been a few months since we did new music so here we go. There's a definite whiff of summer in the air!Nolan chose – Amplify by Rodriguez Jr.David chose – Mo Se B'ola Tan by The Estuary 21 Joey chose – Sandrail Silhouette by Avalon Emerson Guy chose – Everybody's Saying That by Girl RayIn order to chose our tracks we create a long list, then a short list of 4 tracks each. Each of our 4x track short lists are collated here … have a listen. *** Enjoy the episode ***We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
In Part 1 we explore the new Everything But The Girl album Fuse, and ask is it worth the 24 year wait? In Part 2 we play Spin It or Bin It? The theme this month is new music … tracks that have been released since Feb 1st 2023.
Part 1 | Album of the Month | EBTG | Fuse
It’s Nolan’s choice this month and we go with the long awaited / not even expected 12th studio album from Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt. It’s rare that we get to talk about an artist that we all have a significant relationship, but this is a great example. In January we got treated to the track Nothing Left to Loose but the album offers much more. It’s got just about every type of EBTG track you can think of and some of their best tracks ever.
In order to chose our tracks we create a long list, then a short list of 4 tracks each. Each of our 4x track short lists are collated here … have a listen.
Over the last few weeks it’s been hard to avoid the excitement of the return of Everything But The Girl, and their latest release Fuse after a 23 year hiatus as a group.
Everything But The Girl are one of my favorite stories in music. Together in a relationship (both as creatives and as a couple) since their teens and releasing music since 1984, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have walked a fine line with the music business and fame. They have been able to continuously make music whilst keeping their lives as separated as possible from the industry, fame and its pressures as possible whilst still being present. Before putting ETBTG on hold in 2000, they amassed 12 top 40 singles and 11 top 40 albums.
Fans interest in what Tracey and Ben have done together and on their own (at least in name) is like a train journey with multiple stops allowing their fans to jump on an jump off at different destinations as they have traveled through jazz, folk, pop, indie and dance influenced releases. Some destinations similar to the others, some very different. Brother Joseph is heavily vested in their earlier releases as his parents were fans. My journey started after I hopped on just after ‘Missing’ which has resulted in a journey less about the group and more about both Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn’s solo works through Ben’s community of Buzzin’ Fly and Tracy Thorne’s rare but effective collaborations with the likes of Tiefschwarz on ‘Damage’ and later four critically acclaimed solo albums. Both have had thoroughly successful individual journeys but have always been underpinned by the history of EBTG.
I’m mindful that I’m not delving too deep into the history of the group, but this article in the Guardian is worth a read.
Through both their musical efforts and also literary efforts there is little doubt in their creative talents which has allowed them to continue to stay present since first gaining recognition in the mid 80’s. Intertwined in their own creative paths and raising a family has always been Watt’s rare autoimmune disease Churg-Strauss syndrome. Those who follow Watt in socials would have had an insight into his forced isolation from his family throughout lock down which resulted in Thorn re-visiting the idea of EBTG and their collaboration. After some persuasion, Watt and Thorn started to create their long awaited follow up to 1999’s ‘Temperamental’. When it was finished, Thorn nonchalantly posted on twitter about it ahead of going out for dinner, whilst the music trainspotters of the world went into meltdown. What would it be like? Both had released a wide range of music since the last album. If anything for me it brought on the realization that my history with Everything But The Girl was actually everything but as their individual work is honestly where my love of their music lies. In the build up to the album 4 singles were released which strongly laid out their stall for a much talked about return.
The lead off track of Fuse (which was also the lead single) ‘Nothing Else To Loose’ was championed by brother David as his track of the month on a recent This Is Not Happening podcast episode and is everything I wanted from a EBTG release. Thorn’s harrowing vocals float through a well-orchestrated music journey with strong hints of the Buzzin’ Fly Records releases that were always present in my record bag throughout most of the 2000’s. There is little doubt that the track will be a favorite for many throughout 2023 and beyond. ‘Run A Red Light’ and then ‘Caution In The Wind’ followed as singles as they do on the album. All three solid tracks that easily fell into non stop plays in our house.
‘When You Mess Up’ was the first song they wrote together when starting on this project which the Vulture review called ‘culture-war commentary delivered as motherly advice’, though Thorn highlighted that in fact that she wrote it in the voice of giving advice to herself. Where the track sits in the curation of the album tracks, it also reminds us that ETBTG have never been a one trick pony and are here to give as a wide spectrum of music that they want to make. ‘Time And Time Again’ carries classic ETBTG feels, as does ‘No One Knows We’re Dancing’ which was inspired by the lack of a dance floor community during the pandemic with nods to the packed Sunday clubs that Watt used to DJ in throughout the 2000’s. A space and time that I personally loved and miss.
As we delve into the second half of the album 4/4 pace of the album eases off as slow cords and distorted synths take you to a calm place with ‘Lost’ evoking a dreamy atmosphere whilst Thorn’s ever present raspy voice before ‘Forever’ brings back a slight pace and presents itself as one of the stand out tracks on the album. On ‘Interior Space’ the unimaginable happens; Thorn’s sacred vocals are process through auto-tune with and unexpected fascinating result. Rounding off the album is ‘Karaoke’, which chimes familiar tones of EBTG tracks of the past whilst Thorn delves into her mixed feelings surrounding performing live, sadly a hint of the reality of any of us seeing them live anytime soon is fairly unlikely.
Thorn said in a recent interview with the BBC “there are lots of recurring themes of desperately trying to connect with people and then [there are] dreamlike lyrics of being out in a club or in a bar. All this stuff bubbled up from those periods of isolation, where we just weren’t allowed to do the things we loved for a long period of time” which is evident in the album and the lyrics.
You could easily say that EBTG are a band that have always evolved and you would struggle to pigeonhole them. To me this release is a melting pot of their journey. EBTG have released an album which is so relevant to the current sound of music, pulling from their vast history of releases and seamlessly intertwining touch points of their past whilst moving forward. It feels that this release is an unintended perfection of timing in waiting for the world to catch up with them to release the album that listeners from all stops of their journey will appreciate and enjoy. I write this only a few days after the release, and there’s still a lot to digest throughout the album. I mentioned earlier that all of their albums have charted in the top 40, though none have got to number one. At the time of writing this, they are battling Enter Shikari for the top spot in the albums chart. It seems that perhaps I’m not the only one that thinks ‘Fuse’ was worth the wait, and their patience is already bearing fruit.
In Part 1 we explore the new Everything But The Girl album Fuse, and ask is it worth the 24 year wait? In Part 2 we play Spin It or Bin It? The theme this month is new music … tracks that have been released since Feb 1st 2023.Part 1 | Album of the Month | EBTG | FuseIt's Nolan's choice this month and we go with the long awaited / not even expected 12th studio album from Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt. It's rare that we get to talk about an artist that we all have a significant relationship, but this is a great example. In January we got treated to the track Nothing Left to Loose but the album offers much more. It's got just about every type of EBTG track you can think of and some of their best tracks ever.Go listen to the album – HereGo watch some videos – HereGo buy some of their stuff – HereSome links that we reference and recommend; Pitchfork interview – Click HereBBC Radio 5 Live interview – Click HereEBTG in conversation at Rough Trade – Click HerePart 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New MusicIt's been a few months since we did new music so here we go. There's a definite whiff of summer in the air!Nolan chose – Amplify by Rodriguez Jr.David chose – Mo Se B'ola Tan by The Estuary 21 Joey chose – Sandrail Silhouette by Avalon Emerson Guy chose – Everybody's Saying That by Girl RayIn order to chose our tracks we create a long list, then a short list of 4 tracks each. Each of our 4x track short lists are collated here … have a listen. *** Enjoy the episode ***We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
In Part 1 we explore the mesmerising (but opinion dividing) 2nd album by Kelela, ‘Raven’. In Part 2 we play ‘Spin it or bin it?’ … but do we really? The theme this month is our favourite De La Soul tracks … is anyone really going to bin a De La Soul track?
Part 1 | Album of the Month | Kelela | Raven
It’s Joey’s choice this month and we’re focusing on an intriguing, vibe of an album called Raven by Ethopian-American artist Kelela. It’s 15 tracks, over an hour and plays out like a late-90s, early-00’s post club mix tape. There’s lots of opinions on this album, in the critical sphere they’re almost universally (really) positive, the album being on of the best reviewed albums of the year. However, its a 100%, unquestioning love-in on This Is Not Happening.
Live Jimmy Fallen performance of ‘Enough for Love’ – Here
Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | De La Soul tribute
After the sad passing of Trugoy the Dove, we pay tribute to De La Soul. This is the 1st time that the question ‘spin it or bin it’ is completely redundant.
Check out our 16 track De La Soul tribute playlist (4 tracks each) can be found – Here (this is a good one!)
Next Month
In part 1Nolan brings ‘Fuse’ by Everything But the Girl as our Album of the Month, in Part 2 we play ‘Spin it or bin it’ with new tracks for the last 3 months.
In Part 1 we explore the new Everything But The Girl album Fuse, and ask is it worth the 24 year wait? In Part 2 we play Spin It or Bin It? The theme this month is new music … tracks that have been released since Feb 1st 2023.Part 1 | Album of the Month | EBTG | FuseIt's Nolan's choice this month and we go with the long awaited / not even expected 12th studio album from Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt. It's rare that we get to talk about an artist that we all have a significant relationship, but this is a great example. In January we got treated to the track Nothing Left to Loose but the album offers much more. It's got just about every type of EBTG track you can think of and some of their best tracks ever.Go listen to the album – HereGo watch some videos – HereGo buy some of their stuff – HereSome links that we reference and recommend; Pitchfork interview – Click HereBBC Radio 5 Live interview – Click HereEBTG in conversation at Rough Trade – Click HerePart 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New MusicIt's been a few months since we did new music so here we go. There's a definite whiff of summer in the air!Nolan chose – Amplify by Rodriguez Jr.David chose – Mo Se B'ola Tan by The Estuary 21 Joey chose – Sandrail Silhouette by Avalon Emerson Guy chose – Everybody's Saying That by Girl RayIn order to chose our tracks we create a long list, then a short list of 4 tracks each. Each of our 4x track short lists are collated here … have a listen. *** Enjoy the episode ***We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
In Part 1 we speak in depth about Young Fathers latest album ‘Heavy Heavy’ and how it packs such a punch in 32 minutes. In Part 2 we play ‘Spin it or bin it?’, the theme this month is the curious anomaly that is ‘Post Genre’.
Part 1 | Album of the Month | Young Fathers | Heavy Heavy
It’s Guy’s choice this month and we return back to an artist that we spoke about 9 years ago when they released their debut ‘Dead’. Across 3 previous releases, Young Fathers have secured near universal critical acclaim, yet little commercial success. Is Heavy Heavy the album that will change this. It looks like it. But that doesn’t mean this is a collection of easy listening pop tunes. We discuss what this is, what we love and the live experience. If you know them enjoy, if you don’t dig in!
This month, we’re going to live with and experience Raven by Kelela. It’s an album that deserves the extended attention that a ‘This is Not Happening Album of the Month’ receives. It’s a long album, 15 tracks and just over an hour in length. But it’s not just its length that makes it worthy of spending more time with. It’s a sophisticated, rich and complex album that requires thought and reflection to fully appreciate. I get it, I’m making this sound like hard work aren’t I? For me it isn’t hard work, never was and never will be. The rewards are obvious and they come on the very first listen.
But let’s start at the beginning, with the simple question of who Kelela is? Kelela Mizanekristos is a 39 year old Ethiopian American who started releasing music in the early to mid 2010s and her first studio Album ‘Take Me Apart’ in 2017. The album received near universal acclaim (see link to Metacritic 84% review score). Even the most negative review of this album described it as ‘Forward thinking R&B animated by restless innovation’. There is something about her relative maturity as an artist in her 30’s making her way in the industry that can be clearly heard in her music. She speaks of this in interviews “I had to learn how oppression works in the music industry, specific to my experience as a queer black woman.” Her sense of self and agency is palpable. It’s what her music sounds like.
It’s been a long time since 2017. It’s been strange since 2017. There’s a lot of ground to cover and much for an artist to reflect on when creating their 2nd album. So what does Raven bring us? What does it sound like? Last month we had a healthy debate about Genre and Post-Genre when discussing ‘Heavy Heavy’ by Young Fathers. And genre is going to come up again here and it’s another interesting discussion. To categorize and define is to be human, yes it can be reductive but it’s so natural it’s impossible to avoid. What genre is Raven? I have read lots of reviews of Raven, lots of them, all of them? You get from a work of art what you bring to it, your experience of it is in itself a self-portrait. This is proven by one review referring to this album as ‘ambient’ another refers to it as ‘dance’ another as ‘R&B’. In truth (at least my truth) it’s all of those things. I do think that predominantly it is an R&B album, but an R&B album that uses worldly influences and the legacy of 40 years of ‘dance’ music to speak it’s truth. I refer you back to ‘Forward thinking R&B animated by restless innovation’, a comment made about her debut that applies perhaps even more to Raven. This is avant garde, experimental R&B. But I also think it’s ‘not ‘R&B’ enough to interest people who have an aversion to ‘R&B’. Or perhaps it’s enough about ‘dance music’ or ‘ambience’ for people with an aversion to ‘R&B’ to still find it massively rewarding.
Beyond genre descriptions, it’s a very interesting album to talk about. It plays out like a late 90’s or early 00’s post-club mix. Its eclectic-ness comes from its exploration of genre but it’s tied together tightly and cohesively with the single minded vision of a true artist. Some tracks feel like you’re on the dance floor, some feel like you’ve left the dance floor but you’re still in the club, you’re still in the realm of that experience but somewhat dislocated from the drive of the main room. Some tracks feel like the woozy, trippy, half connected experience of a post-club taxi or train ride home. Other tracks feel like a post-night-early-AM intimate sexual experience.
Dance floor energy is intwined with ambient comedowns but always in a way that perfectly meshes these experiences and never feels disjointed or anything other than perfectly curated (back to the post-club-mix vibe). The build of tension and it’s subsequent release is a recurring theme and it is a theme that is explored to perfection.
The overwhelming feeling that I get from experiencing this album is one of immersion. I can think of few more immersive albums. If you can humour me while I make a small semantic detour … I think perhaps ‘submerge’ is more accurate than ‘immerse’. Its close to impossible not to use water-based simile and metaphor to describe this album. It is inherently moist (!!!). It’s fluid, sweaty, flowing, dripping, at times mist-like in it’s ambience and then tidal in it’s shear power. You get the point, this is an album that you can actually drown in.
One thing I love about this album is that despite the 6 year wait since Kelela’s last album, this was recorded in a fortnight in Berlin. Obviously post production can be added but there is something in this compressed recording period that can be heard and benefits the albums cohesiveness. This cohesiveness belies the vast list of producers that worked on this album (Kelela, Asmara Yo van Lenz, LSDXOXO Bambii, Florian, TM Zeisig, Brandon Peralta, Kaytranada Khalí Carela, AceMo Fauzia, Paris Strother Badsista Mocky). The only way that that there can be this many different artists contributing to something that sounds this cohesive is for someone to be in total control of the vision. It is clear that this clarity of vision is Kelela’s.
I’ve written this early in the month, before my thoughts and feelings have fully formed. I hope this introduction is a useful doorway into the album. Somethings that I’ve not even mentioned that are worth thinking about;
Her voice … wow
The song writing …
How the lyrics reflect the global experience since her debut
The sequencing of the tracks … and the side A / side B structure
The opening track / closing track perfection
… there is more but I will leave you to find it
For me Raven is a work of rare genius. It’s my ‘Album of the Year So Far’. So much so that I am nervous to put this up for discussion. But that’s what we do. Enjoy.
I find it staggering that it’s a whole 9 years since we covered Young Fathers’ debut Dead on the pre-podcast Blog days. In fact, it feels like a different lifetime, like so much before 2020 does. And yet almost a decade on, once I saw Heavy Heavy was dropping into my podcast slot, it didn’t seem like any other album would get a look in. But as soon as I picked it, I had to ask myself: just how much Young Fathers have you really listened to in the last few years? What do you know about them? Because it’s funny how much you like an artist or act and realise that outside those headphones you couldn’t even name them all.
The answer wasn’t quite as embarrassing as I’d quite feared, but it was much more odd tracks over supporting whole albums, which suddenly felt like I’d missed one of the most fascinating bands around completely. This thought would solidify over the next few weeks until it felt like a millstone. Despite this, one of the big reasons I’d chosen Heavy Heavy was just how much I’d loved the initial singles that appeared over the past 9 months. Geronimo arrived in July last year and as well as listening to it regularly, Spotify seemed to want to push it in my direction, something that puzzled me, (and there’s a wider discussion on the algorithm to be had later on). It made my end of year long list in 2022, with its quiet whispers sitting atop a brass-driven motif, before the discordant harmonies drew me in as it broke into song. A song, on its own, unwrapping the mystery of Young Fathers’ own kaleidoscopic sound and unique character in one, three-and-a-half minute epic.
Three more singles followed, in that strange streaming-era way that means you know a big chunk of most albums before they land, and each was different in its own brilliant way, from the bleak beauty of I Saw, evoking discarded immigrants (perhaps?) or – according to the band (from a recent Guardian interview) about how we all watched Brexit unfold and did, well, nothing. One song, many meanings. Follow-ups came from across the music spectrum: Tell Somebody’s swelling, orchestral lament and Rice’s loose, percussive chorus of voices. Of course, in isolation they felt like four great singles, but somewhat disconnected. But then, that’s how Young Fathers operate. Nothing is (as in Rice, the album’s opener) ‘in an orderly fashion’. They thrive on genre-bending records, jumping between styles even within a single chorus. But then, when it’s part of a whole, it all seems to fall into place.
Once thing I knew we’d get in comparison to some of the longer recent albums was brevity, focus and power. Heavy Heavy came in at 32 minutes, across ten songs. Heaven. Joey would have to get back through at least track 2 before his 39 minute walk ended! While not every album has to be 3 minute songs, this feels like a definite follow-on from their last album, 2018’s Cocoa Sugar, which saw the band make their most structured record to date, with its leaning on pop songs’ formula even as they retained their own badge. But where Cocoa Sugar was as restrained as Young Fathers get (and that word is doing a lot of heavy lifting here), Heavy Heavy has, for me, much higher highs and lower lows, musically and thematically.
Like all the best records it flies by: I’ve put it on twice many times already. But unlike some records which slip by almost unnoticed, this never fails to take the attention. In a music landscape of often rigidity – though lord knows there’s more than enough amazing music around – Young Fathers’ glorious m.o. of disregarding expectation and just letting rip – both softly and abrasively – is what marks them apart and frankly should have them even more lauded than their Mercury Prize-winning reputation deserves. I’ve listened to this album a lot, and while I have loved its sheer inventiveness, its vigour, its ability to slip between so many different colours on the spectrum, for a long while I struggled to work out how it made me feel.
Because we are all about the feels. And as I marvelled at Drum’s energy and uplifting falsetto, or Shoot Me Down’s chopped up samples dissolving into a weighty chant, or Ululation’s tribal wailing, it took me ages to land on what it meant. But now I’m there. It’s just JOY. The energy, the life that comes from this record, the way it lifts me up, you stand in its brilliant glare, absorbed, and then 30 minutes later, it’s gone. And I will sit there with a grin on my face, not sure what I’ve just listened to, what it may mean, but that I have experienced something pure. And that’s hard to pin down, and across their albums while the meaning may be elusive, even as Be Your Lady’s piano explodes into feedback, noise and a slew of vocals, I know that I am alive.
So – if we are to try while appraising this brilliant album – what the hell are Young Fathers? Song to song, it may be possible to divine something approaching genre. But nothing is certain from track to track, but it ends up feeling like it was all meant to be together. I can’t think of anyone else that really does this, though I will return to my favourite reference point: Genesis Owusu. I know we did this in reverse too, but I am now wondering how much Young Fathers he listened to? Because while Owusu has more funk and soul, courtesy of his tight musical collective, there is so much to see parallel here. But if its frustrating (not to me) for some to try and work out what this band is, it seems the music press, and platforms don’t seem to know either. People think they’re hip-hop (nope), noise (sometimes), rock (honestly). To me they are exploring the outer edges of pop music. It may not sound like a lot of pop you know, but it’s 3 minute songs, with song structure, and a group that really wants to push things to the limit, but they have a world and it’s very much their own. Even if no one can categorise it, who cares? Radio stations can’t even work out if they play them.
There is also a tangential link to Episode 30’s Rozi Plain album, Prize. While it may seem incongruous, the lyrical metaphor and opacity of Heavy Heavy leaves you searching for your own answers, as some of the best music only manages. Is Rice about slavery? Racism? Is Tell Somebody about mental health? Joy? Pain? It isn’t clear, but perhaps like last month’s album, it doesn’t really matter. Young Fathers are often elusive about their meanings, but if it works, it works? It’s refreshing not just to need to work to unpick lyrics, but to not still be sure 25 listens in.
I have also spent some time again with Dead, and their other two albums, 2015’s White Men Are Black Men Too, and the aforementioned Cocoa Sugar, and they have been every bit as fantastic as the first and newest were. Dead was – running to it last weekend – way more familiar than I’d have thought it would be. Music really does still have that ability to transport you to a time and place. For Dead, I’m not 100% sure what I was doing in 2014 when the album came out in February – probably being seasonably dismal – but an album that I remember felt way out of my comfort zone at the time, but nonetheless memorable, felt at turns familiar and also fresh. Get Up in particular, leapt out, its off-key drone still sounding really new, angry, edgy and vital. It’s a rare feat managing that after so long, but perhaps the genre-hopping/avoiding music they make means this is all the more possible. Through the albums, as a whole lineage – and I listened to all 4 in a row one Sunday – they feel so cohesive together, all this big universe that they have made their own. In a post-genre world, how does a band like Young Fathers fit in?
Finally, there’s the videos, shot almost all in non-widescreen, another incongruous but seemingly bold statement in a pushback against the general music ‘machine’. They are striking, from older ones such as Low’s washed-out colours, or the visual attack of Shame to the new album’s visceral I Saw or Tell Somebody, to the dry humour of Toy’s casting of children as leaders, despots and maniacs. As their music does, the visual medium shows us just how vibrant and full of ideas they are, making things they want, the way they want. And we can all celebrate that.
In Part 1 we explore the new Everything But The Girl album Fuse, and ask is it worth the 24 year wait? In Part 2 we play Spin It or Bin It? The theme this month is new music … tracks that have been released since Feb 1st 2023.Part 1 | Album of the Month | EBTG | FuseIt's Nolan's choice this month and we go with the long awaited / not even expected 12th studio album from Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt. It's rare that we get to talk about an artist that we all have a significant relationship, but this is a great example. In January we got treated to the track Nothing Left to Loose but the album offers much more. It's got just about every type of EBTG track you can think of and some of their best tracks ever.Go listen to the album – HereGo watch some videos – HereGo buy some of their stuff – HereSome links that we reference and recommend; Pitchfork interview – Click HereBBC Radio 5 Live interview – Click HereEBTG in conversation at Rough Trade – Click HerePart 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New MusicIt's been a few months since we did new music so here we go. There's a definite whiff of summer in the air!Nolan chose – Amplify by Rodriguez Jr.David chose – Mo Se B'ola Tan by The Estuary 21 Joey chose – Sandrail Silhouette by Avalon Emerson Guy chose – Everybody's Saying That by Girl RayIn order to chose our tracks we create a long list, then a short list of 4 tracks each. Each of our 4x track short lists are collated here … have a listen. *** Enjoy the episode ***We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
In Part 1 we speak in depth about Rozi Plain’s new album ‘Prize’. It’s a curious, warming gem of an album that really needs to be talked about. In Part 2 we play ‘Spin it or bin it?’, the theme this month is Protest Music.
Part 1 | Album of the Month | Rozi Plain | Prize
David’s choice this month is an artist that he has a long relationship with, Rozi Plain. Rozi was new to the rest of us so we were all playing catch up. I can’t remember an album that needs to be talked about (in real life, with human beings) as Prize. You will hear me processing what I actually feel about the album, live, while we discuss it. I think I probably come out of the discussion with a slightly different conclusion to the one that I had at the start. All good albums get better with more attention but this one absolutely demands it.
Please, please, please go and give it a listen. I think most people will find something that they love about this album.
Konstantinos Papis’s interview for Our Culture – Here
Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Protest Music
We all pick a track based on a theme, present the track and ask the simple question, Spin it or Bin it? The theme this month is a simple one ‘Protest Music’. There are no limitations or rules this month other than, as always, we try to bring new music or a new context to each other.
I’m a big fan of mystery in music. By that I mean, listening to something and not quite knowing what it means, or what the words are saying, or what the melody is doing – but somehow, mysteriously, being moved by it. Bowie is, of course, the master of this, and Kate Bush likewise. But it’s always great when you come across something in the corner of the musical universe that is somehow not quite like anything else. You couldn’t quite say what genre it is, why you connect with it, or why it specifically speaks to you. Rozi Plain falls squarely into that category for me.
I first came across Rozi via This Is The Kit, the Bristol based folk-rock band fronted by the brilliant Kate Stables. And I first came across This is The Kit, bizarrely enough on a Maison Kitsuné chill out compilation sometime in the late noughties, when I was still taking my daughter to nursery, because I remember how much she liked the song ‘Two Wooden Spoons’.
Rozi P is a member of that band and tours and plays with them, as well as forging her own solo career. I’ve loved This Is The Kit for a long time, though interestingly I would say that they are a folk/folk rock/alt folk band. Whereas I’m not sure what Rozi Plain is. Anyway, I first came Rozi via Kate Staples, and at some point, I must have decided to listen to her 2016 album What A Boost.
Everything about that album is ‘unassuming’. The cover art, where Rozi has her hood on a raincoat, back to camera, facing a field. It’s like a not very good camera photo. It’s not artful, it’s very ordinary. She doesn’t look like a pop star at all. She never has, actually. I’ve never seen her do a ‘photoshoot’. Anyway, if I’m being honest, I liked but didn’t love that album. I guess I was expecting This Is The Kit v2, but actually it much more subtle, introspective and – yes – unassuming. It sounded like it didn’t mind if you listened to or not, it was there anyway, quietly existing in it own little corner.
How I underestimated that album. Because in the last 3 years, I bet you it’s one of the albums I’ve played the most. I return to it like a lost friend and I’m always happy to see it. And here’s the thing – I still feel like has a mystery to it, like I don’t quite know what it is. But it got under my skin like nothing else. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to describe her music, and I think that what is has is a lot of SPACE. It’s not folk music at all, the songwriting is pop music, but has an openness and a slight wonkiness that makes me thing of jazz more than anything?! Is that just me?
The mix and instruments are wide apart; it’s not fussy, it’s not trying too hard. It’s intimately produced, everything up close in the mix, and the really clever icing on the top is Rozi’s double tracked (ALWAYS double tracked!) vocal, both perfect and flat and, again, unassuming. No vocal ticks, no showing off. Subtle AF. But my god, it’s effective.
So to this new album, which has moved her sound and the conversation about what she is and what she does on considerably. This is squelchier affair, a lot more synths and swathes of electronic sound. But what remains is that commitment to the subtle, the mysterious and the gently persuasive. I don’t want to get hung up on a whole gender thing and resort to any stereotypes, but I do think this is a very female take on songwriting – it is insistent but it’s not trying to show off. And I get that someone could listen to this and miss the whole thing. To be honest, I was worried when I chose it that you all might feel that way too, and it’s been heartening to hear that she’s connecting with you.
So what’s going with the songwriting. Let’s start with a slightly fanciful quote from her own Bandcamp age:
The music of Rozi Plain has always felt like a freeze-frame. A colourful and graceful snapshot of the world, paused, suspended in time, and then gently toyed with, like stepping out of the linear world as we know it.
Yeah, I know, it’s a bit much, but it does touch on something. The songs kind of in a here and now. They’re about a current conversation, something that’s happening in real time. That’s actually quite unusual!
In Agreeing for Two, she sings: “What should we call it If nothing will do? It’s nothing we’ll do But what should we call it?”
I mean, who knows what the argument/discussion is about. But we know that feeling, right, about not being able to find common ground in a relationship?
All the way through the album, there are refrains in the lyrics that are repeated so often they’re like mantras:
If it’s a feeling/That’s going/When it goes/You even know/Help for you/Help for you/Help for you..
My god, that could be anything. Depression? The end of a relationship? Trying to help a friend? I love that space these songs give you to make sense of them in your way. Prove Your Good goes even further, reducing most of the whole song to that mantra (note it’s not Prove ‘YOU’RE’ Good but Prove YOUR Good i.e. prove that you have worth).
I’m going to go even further and do the worst thing possible: quite Pitchfork:
Working with minimalist guitar, gentle vocals, and an understated rhythm section, Plain constructs a careful lesson about the awe of being present in the moment.
Back to that thing about time again. Maybe that’s what keeps me coming back to her work. Listening to it puts me in the moment. I’m here and it’s now. I can work to it, I can relax to it, I can think to it. Can’t think of many records that’s true of.
I’m already loving this as much as the last record, and I’m also really grateful that it feels like a significant musical step forward. She’s not staying put, she’s on the move. And I’m very happy to be on the journey with her. Very much looking to your thoughts on this fascinating album!
In Part 1 we explore the new Everything But The Girl album Fuse, and ask is it worth the 24 year wait? In Part 2 we play Spin It or Bin It? The theme this month is new music … tracks that have been released since Feb 1st 2023.Part 1 | Album of the Month | EBTG | FuseIt's Nolan's choice this month and we go with the long awaited / not even expected 12th studio album from Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt. It's rare that we get to talk about an artist that we all have a significant relationship, but this is a great example. In January we got treated to the track Nothing Left to Loose but the album offers much more. It's got just about every type of EBTG track you can think of and some of their best tracks ever.Go listen to the album – HereGo watch some videos – HereGo buy some of their stuff – HereSome links that we reference and recommend; Pitchfork interview – Click HereBBC Radio 5 Live interview – Click HereEBTG in conversation at Rough Trade – Click HerePart 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New MusicIt's been a few months since we did new music so here we go. There's a definite whiff of summer in the air!Nolan chose – Amplify by Rodriguez Jr.David chose – Mo Se B'ola Tan by The Estuary 21 Joey chose – Sandrail Silhouette by Avalon Emerson Guy chose – Everybody's Saying That by Girl RayIn order to chose our tracks we create a long list, then a short list of 4 tracks each. Each of our 4x track short lists are collated here … have a listen. *** Enjoy the episode ***We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
Our first AOTM episode in 2023 finds us exploring Ab Soul’s ‘Herbert’ in Part 1 and we focus on New Music for ‘Spin It or Bin It’ in Part 2.
Part 1 | Album of the Month | Ab Soul | Herbert
It’s Nolan’s choice this month and he’s taking us to his spiritual home – Hip Hop with Ab Soul’s late 2022 release, ‘Herbert’. For once, we’re all coming to this artist pretty fresh . Nolan’s been banging on about the singles from this album for like 6 months so giving the album some extended love seems a natural choice.
If you’ve not heard it, we think it’s well worth a listen …
Our discussion focuses on how we’d describe the album, mental health, suicide and how these topics impact the album, the length of the album, the bangers and of course we touch on a few of the clangers too.
We mention a few things that we’d highly recommend checking out, so here are the links;
Joey’s alternative, 10 track playlist that focuses on the bangers – Here
Guy’s alternative, 11 track playlist that focuses on the narrative – Here
Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | ‘New Music’ (Nov ’22 onwards)
We all pick a tack based on a theme and present to the rest of us to ask the simple question, Spin it or Bin it? The theme this month is a simple one ‘New Music’. The only rule is that the track has to be released after November 2022. We chose albums from as far a field as Doncaster and Russia.
David is in the hot seat for AOTM and he’s bringing Rozi Plain’s new album ‘Prize’ to the table. We’re all getting stuck in and seeing how we live with the album for a month or so. In Part 2, ‘Spin It or Bin It?’ will be a good one too … the theme next month is Protest Music.
As we start of a new year of what I imagine will be another year of fantastic music, I like many am still mopping up the spill over of late releases in 2022. An easy choice for this month’s album of the month would have been either the new Stormzy or Little Simz releases which are both exceptional. But they have had a lot of well deserved coverage and I’m sure most of us are well into their releases being in heavy rotation. Instead I’m bringing to the table and album that is complicated, and I’m confident is going to be a challenge to at least 2 of the 4 of us. Why? Because it’s an album that I think shouldn’t be missed. The album I’ve chosen is Ab-Soul’s ‘Herbert’.
Ahead of the ‘why’, it’s important that we delve into the ‘who’. Cards on the table, though I’d like to say that I’m a big fan of hip hop and have a fairly extensive knowledge I don’t actually know that much about Ab-Soul or his music. With the exception of his membership in Black Hippy and being signed to TDE my knowledge stops there. Most recent articles focus heavily on his debut album ‘Control System’ and how his conspiracy theory lidded rhymes made him popular with underground hip hop heads and built him a strong following that lauded after him over his next few albums. All of this passed me. Though he’s signed by TDE, they have released his music independently whilst the majority of TDE artists such as Kendrick, Schoolboy Q, etc. have released their music through major labels such as Interscope. Previously happy with his underground path, Ab-Soul has admitted on numerous occasions recently that this latest release carried a heavy amount of pressure to break him into the mainstream. Part of the plan was to move away from his conspiracy theories and create an album that was personal and more of a reflection of him. Like the 3 others on this blog / podcast I have approached this album and artist with no history and previous impressions. Impressed by the initial singles I was expecting a well produced collection of solid songs. What I found is an album reflecting an artist’s internal and external turmoil, raw emotions, and a journey.
Not long after the release of Herbert, Ab-Soul confirmed in and interview with Charlamange that after completing the majority of the album he tried to commit suicide by jumping off of an overpass close to his mothers house. He largely blames substance abuse and the loss of his best friend for the attempt, though suicide has haunted Ab-Soul over the last 10 years with both his ex girlfriend Alori Joh as well as previous collaborator Mac Miller both taking their lives. Digesting this and the time of when many of the songs were recorded brings an immediacy to many of the tracks and exposes layers in the lyrics that I missed on the first few listens.
In a recent NPR interview he talked about ’the disconnect with the people around him that matter the most’ and how he dealt with this. Much of it is channeled through ‘Herbert’. The album is a journey, a musical memoir, it has a district start, middle and end. Songs interweave into each other as Ab-Soul works through his journey to getting to where he wants / needs to be.
Starting off with ‘Message In A Bottle’, the album is perfectly set up laying out his frustrations and ambitions. Whilst ’No Report Card’ gives us a hint of his state of mind through the recording of album with the chorus of ’so-low, don’t go so low, may day, grade a, no report card’ whilst dropping hints of frustration through lines like ’solar system, I’m sick of planet earth’.
Released last April, ‘Hollandaise’ was the first single from the album. It was the track that made me sit up and pay attention to Ab-Soul. I love the swagger and confidence of Ab-Soul on the track. It reminds me of Jay-Z on Reasonable Doubt. The beat also throbs of the Cali hip hop I grew to love in the early 90’s. It also sets Ab up perfectly for the next track ‘Moonshooter’.
My favourite track of 2022, Moonshooter is as close to hip hop perfection you can get. There are so many lines I love in this song, but the stand out has to be: ‘Hopped of the porch like, “One of these days I’ma hop out the Porsche”, caught up in a daze’. I’m not sure why, but it always sticks with me and makes me smile. The song alone paints such as great picture, and the video adds a next level to the track as it depicts two young boys and the mischief they can get up to on an average day.
‘FOMF’ is the first song that I struggled with on the album, it’s not my bag. With that, I can imagine the younger (under 40) listeners will really like this track as it’s got the trap feel that all the youngsters are into (I’ve shuttered whilst writing that). I can imagine a bunch of youth’s bouncing around to this will mobile phones in the air…. doing a trap dance to it.
Ab quickly won me back with ‘Goodman’ which samples one of my favourite tracks ‘Am I A Good Man’ by Them Two that we featured previously on Spin It or Bin It. It sits nicely at the midpoint and sets up ‘Do Better’ perfectly.
Whilst ‘Moonshooter’ was my favourite track of 2022, ‘Do Better’ is my theme song for 2023 as Ab highlights how he can always improve as the brilliant sample of Nick Hakim’s ‘Green Twins’ haunts the song.
Though the first half has a positive feel, the second half is a stark look into Ab-Soul’s mind at the time of recording the track. Do Better, thought touching on suicide, was recorded before his suicide attempt. Ironically it feels like he wrote it after. Soul has highlighted that his suicide wasn’t a direct attempt. It was driven by being under the influence and effect of his own drug use. Ab’s line of ‘Doing drugs was just a war with boredom but it’s sure to get me’ sadly foreshadows real life events that were soon to follow. We’ve talked on previous podcasts about the recent trend of artists, especially hip hop artists opening talking about mental health openly. For me this song is a glowing beacon towards the positive on a very dark subject, though I question its’ dynasty if events had ended differently.
‘Gang’nem’ slightly sidetracks the emotional flow of the album, but is special. I recently was listening to a conversation with Talib Kweli and Yassin Bay where they were discussing the concept of reality rap. Hip hop is a product of its’ environment and as it has taken over the mainstream I think some listeners forget about its’ roots. ‘Gang’nem’ taps into the gang affiliations that Ab-Soul grew up with and brought me back to hearting tracks of gang tales in my early days of getting into hip hop. Not to glorify gang culture, the track gives us a reminder that within much of metropolitan America, gang culture is still prevalent.
‘Wildside’ gives us a midway break through ‘Herbert’, though as we get to the second half I find the album hits some bumps in the road. For the brilliance of some of the songs in the first half of the album there are flaws in the second half. ’The Art of Seduction’ isn’t my personal cup of tea, whilst ‘Bucket’ and ‘Go Off’ aren’t to the level of the album and find themselves lost in the over all feel of the album. ‘Fallacy’ brings you back into the fold ahead of the James Blake produced ‘Herbert’. The title track is a reconning as he faces into his demons and layers of positivity start making their way into the album.
‘Church On The Move’ brings light to the album, it’s one of my favourite tracks on the album. I can see this as a single. The opening lyrics are a statement of intent.
“I sip my drink, I do my dance Don’t throw no stones, don’t hide my hands I played my part, I play it well I trim the fat, still tip the scale I fought that fight, I fall like Hell I ran that race, I tripped, I fell I got right back up (yeah)”
‘It Be Like That’ and ‘Positive Vibes Only’ continue to bring us to the light of the album as the inspiration of his journey continues to break through, ahead of the DJ Premier produced ‘Gotta Rap’ which brings his boom bap MC credentials to the table as he states:
“I even tried suicide and I don’t know whyI know better than most that the soul don’t die Took a leap, shattered my leg and lost some teeth And I’m still standing behind every word I speak, peep”
Ab-Soul has highlighted that the track was originally recorded before his suicide attempt, but it was important to re-wrote the lyrics of the song inline with where he wanted to leave the album.
Ab-Soul has created an album that serves the listener with some fantastic tracks that are catchy and should lead to streams, social media trends, and other tick box exercises that most artists and labels now focus on. As an album, Herbert is unintentional journey that unearths the path that he has fought through in real time. Though he’s a seasoned veteran of hip hop, you get the feeling that he is an artist with a new drive, and this album is the start of what could be an incredible run as an artist.
Presenting this album for our monthly review is risky, I get that it’s not everyones bag. Guy’s not going to like the language, Joey will think some of the lyrics are throw away and lazy, and David will need to spend more time than he perhaps has to dig into the lyrics (though when he does they will click). What I can guarantee is that when you commit to this album it’s an album that will stick with you.
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