Tag: new music

Posted in Album of the Month, New Tunes

DECEMBER: We Got It From Here… – A Tribe Called Quest

Posted on by David Allison

Ach, so late on this one. Soooooo sorry.

I mean, there’s not much to say in a weird way, is there? After an EIGHTEEN YEAR gap, and after losing one of the group’s cornerstones and founder members, Phife Dawg, and without much of a contribution from Ali Shaheed, who would be have been surprised if ATCQ would have returned with something a bit tired, a bit old, a bit derivative.

Instead, they rock up with one of the albums of the year and add a genuine new chapter to an already glittering career. Like Bowie’s Blackstar, this album is one you’d be happy to put next to their finest like their debut or Midnight Marauders.

Let’s be clear: they’re not totally reinventing themselves, and there is something enjoyably familiar about hearing that ATCQ sound. But what makes this such a thrilling listen is to hear Q-Tip and the crew sounds so vital, so passionate, so playful and so political.

It’s almost an embarrassment of riches. The first four or five songs are all stone cold classics, and almost every contribution brings out the best in everyone – the tracks with Andre 3000, Busta Rhymes, Kendrick Lamar and Anderson .Paak are all total standouts. It also rewards repeated plays, and each time I find a new track that I’ve overlooked.

If there’s a criticism, it’s maybe that with it’s a touch overlong, and with the loss of 2 or 3 tracks, it would have been flawless. But actually, there’s not really a track I dislike intensely, and I love nearly all of it.

Welcome back ATCQ. The world missed you. The world needs you.

Posted in Music chat, New Tunes

Nadia Rose – SQWOD

Posted on by David Allison

I love everything single about this more than I can say. So perfectly formed. What a video. So much colour, so much life. I wonder if a UK rapper like this might blow up globally soon. Feels so much fresher and less bloated than most US counterparts (Kendrick et al notwithstanding). Dunno. Anyway, enjoy…

Posted in Album of the Month, Music chat, Uncategorized

NOVEMBER: Susanne Sundfor – Ten Love Songs

Posted on by David Allison

There are periods in musical history when a certain country or part of the world suddenly has a flourishing of incredible output. British rock in the 60s, French electronica of the late 90s/early 2000s, Brazilian tropicalia of the late 60s, German krautrock of the 70s, the late 80s/early 90s golden age of hip-hop.

To add to that, I honestly think we might have to start thinking of Scandi pop of the noughties and teens (WTF are we calling this decade? Can someone please decide – we’re half way through!). The extraordinary explosion in electronic pop from the icy inlets of Northern Europe is really quite something. From Robyn to Royksopp to Annie to Fever Ray, not to mention Swedish Karl Martin Sandberg and his Norwegian cohorts who have written more pop music for American artists than anyone else in the last decade – the breadth, the quality and the standard of their output puts everyone else to shame.

What I love most about it is that there IS a unifying feel and sound, even if the bubblegum of Annie and the icy krautrock arthouse of Fever Ray couldn’t be further apart. There’s a love of melody – and – for me, this is the clincher – there’s a melancholy at the heart of it all that tugs at your hearstrings. Hell, think back to ABBA. They did just that. Perhaps that’s in the DNA of every Scandi performer somewhere!

Also notable is how female fronted this wave is. And somewhere in the midst of all this, here is Susanne Sundfor, sitting RIGHT in the sweet spot of everything I’ve described. The fact that this stunning album – there’s no other word for it – is not a million seller around the world is testament to the embarrassment of riches coming from her part of the world. But do note that in her native Norway, she is a MASSIVE star and this album sold by the truckload.

So, yes, I’m a fan of this kind of stuff, that sounds so effortless but has been toiled over so expertly. But how can this not beguile? From the chugging motorik of Accelerate to the aching pop of Kamikaze, to the grand balladeering of Silence, Sundfor has a wide palette to draw upon, and she doesn’t put a foot wrong. This is undoubtedly one of my albums of the year, and I’m so looking forward to delving into her back catalogue

Finally, one moment that makes my heart skip every time – when the fierce OTT pop madness of Accelerate slips into the chugging, bubbling beginning of Fade Away and you know you’re heading into an entirely different tune. And yes, there IS a touch of ABBA in Fade Away. Why not? You can always learn from the masters.

 

Posted in Album of the Month

JULY: Get to Heaven – Everything Everything

Posted on by David Allison

So so sorry this is so late. July is nearly over, and alas I’ve been unwell. Anyway, plenty of time to digest this fine album, huh?

I thought this might be a bit more of a curveball after a straight run of albums we’ve all pretty much liked. So I’m dying to know what you think – though from what I’ve heard, you’ve warmed to it to.

EE are an odd proposition – odd to me because I know the bass player Jeremy via his partner Katie. He is a deeply lovely man and I’ve always wanted to like the band more than I actually do. They have so much going for them that I like – that uptight arthouse funk thing is right up my street – anything that descends from the Talking Heads line is going to get my vote. They’re GREAT live, they’re fine musicians, and they know how to write a killer melody.

The insurmountable problem I’ve had in the past is with lead singer Jonathan Higgs’s voice. Male falsetto is always a tricky beast, up high in the register and it can sound pure and unfettered, but lower down the register near the ‘crack’ with the normal voice, it can sound violently horrible. So I’ve heard their music over the past years, and time and time again, I’ve nearly dipped my toe in the water, but something has stopped me. I’ve had a listen on Spotify, and thought to myself – I couldn’t stomach a whole album of this. Same thing happened with Wild Beasts (bought 2 albums, never listen to either).

Something changed when I first heard Distant Past (btw, how crazy is that video? Brilliant and brutal). The moment I heard it, I thought: this is BRILLIANT. And then came Regret. Same. Something had clicked. Maybe his voice has smoothed out, but my god, those choruses. They’re like the best music of your childhood belting out in your head. They’re *irresistible*.

When I first heard the album as a whole, I thought it started incredibly strongly, then faded a bit. As time has gone on – and I’ve played this a LOT – that’s changed. I’m not sure there’s a genuinely weak track on there. And now I’m wondering whether I’ve dismissed their earlier work too quickly – or whether they’ve just hit a new high watermark.

I love the queasy mix of glorious pop melodies and his eloquent, angry and paranoid lyrics. It’s quite overwhelming at times, but hell, we don’t get to say that much about pop music these days. I love it very much. And so, weirdly, do my kids, even though they keep asking me about the lyrics, “Why does he feel like a fat kid in a pushchair?” Good question, kids.

Anyway, over to you. Have Everything Everything got That Something?

Posted in Uncategorized

(introducing?) Lapsley

Posted on by misterstory

So I am very infrequently ahead of the curve so sorry if this young lady has been all over the place and I am late to the party … but I love what this young lady does. She’s 18, from Southport and sounds very beautiful.

This one is very ‘Lordes’ in her vocal delivery, it perhaps has what you were missing from the Lordes album Brother David?