It's the last day of January so here's a mix of the tracks I've listened to most this month. Hopefully I'll do one every month and then it will make the selection of my 'Best Of 2017' tracks much easier at the end of the year! Here's the tracklisting:
Beyond The Wizards Sleeve - White Crow (Erol Alkan Rework)
sir Was - Falcon
Loyle Carner - The Isle of Arran
Thundercat - Drunk (feat. Michael McDonald & Kenny Loggins)
2017 will see the release of Moon Duo's fourth album 'Occult Architecture', split across two volumes, the first of which is out on February 3rd. Celebration the hidden patterns and connections embedded into life, having two separate volumes signifies the light/dark, day/night and yin/yang of everything.
So what do we get on Volume 1? You may already have heard the driving, pounding riffs on lead single 'Cold Fear', a track that gnaws at your bones like some psychedlic horror-trip soundtrack.
This album spreads its wings wider than that. There's the fast-paced, electro-riffing of 'Cross-Town Fade' which reminds me A LOT of 'Love Missile F1-11' by Sigue Sigue Sputnik - the video for that is below in case you've never heard it.
'Cult of Moloch' is a glam-rock stomp through child sacrifice, while 'Will of the Devil' is a much more open and straightforward 80s type of track. Closer 'White Rose' is the album's epic Krautrock moment, complete with motorik drum beat and phased guitars, and gives you a full ten and a half minutes to lose yourself in an alternative musicverse.
It will be interesting to see how 'Volume 2' differs when it's released later in the year, but for now this is a suitably dark and wintry half of the story.
Having had this album on repeat for 7 days I'm already sure that it's gonna be a contender for album of the year. It's been a long time (5 years) since the last album by The xx, and is some ways this feels more like a follow up or companion piece to 2015's 'In Colour' by Jamie xx than 'Coexist'. It's certainly the most consistently upbeat album they've put out, with some great dance tracks, while even the slower songs sound deeper but somehow less sad than before.
The few samples on here are well chosen - I'm sure you've already enjoyed singing along to Hall & Oates in 'On Hold' - and really add to the warmth of the songs. In the middle there's an (almost) solo song each for Oliver and Romy, where the pace slows a bit before picking up again as the album moves on. I particularly like 'A Violent Noise', which is a bit like a brother to 'Stranger In A Room' and like that track doesn't have any drums on it. the 1-2 of 'On Hold' and 'I Dare You' are a brilliant pair of upbeat tunes and send you on your way, via the melodic 'Test Me', to the end of the album.
I can't really exaggerate how good this record is - from the production to the tunes to the silky vocals there's absolutely nothing wrong with it at all. I bought the vinyl boxset (see pic below) which has a few extra tracks, of which 'Naibe' is the best. But whatever format you prefer just go out and buy it!
They're back - and it's about time! Damon Albarn loves a political comment, so what better time to release this scathing attack on capitalism than on the eve of the inauguration of President Donald fucking Trump. Featuring the beautiful vocals of Clemantine as well as some input from Albarn himself, it's a more mature sounding Gorillaz (for all the Spongebob Squarepants featuring video in the background). Let's hope for much more like this from him as 2017 rolls on.
Taken from the album 'LNLNN' which is out today on Atomnation, this is a beautifully Scandinavian slice of crisp and clean electronica. The tracks on the new album have evolved from their last album 'Lulin', but this time the ambient shapes have been defined into a more dancefloor-oriented style.
'Utopia' is the first track from 'Future Politics', the new Austra album which is released on January 20th. Here Jana Hunter (Lower Dens) remixes it, and in doing so she somehow make me thing of Eurythmics. It's definitely got an 80s vibe to it, have a listen and see what you think.
Created in collaboration with Simian Mobile Disco, this is Dear's state of the nation address over a deep and dark house groove. "As time marches on I don't know what else I can do" he sings, "maybe something's wrong with us". Unfortunately he's probably right.
This track is featured on Dear's forthcoming DJ-Kicks collection which is out on January 27th through !K7.
