Paul Weller – On Sunset
Never one for complacency or sitting still, the modfather continues to push well beyond hismoniker. For starters, this year he has already released an EP of musique concrète instrumentals on the left-field electronic label Ghost Box. But the main course for 2020 is more of a mixture of old and new - harking back to some 60s influences, that lusher sound he moved towards with The Style Council in the 80s (Mic Talbot plays Hammond on three tracks here) and his solo revival in the early 90s with Wild Wood. Opener Mirror Ball is an eight-minute piece of shimmering synths and electronica pop. Earth Beat is an oddball jazzy electronic reworking of The Willows, a track from Ghost Box co-founder Jim Jupp’s 2004 debut as the Belbury Poly. Village has a zen Buddha sense of laidback contentment. There's a gentle dappled light to it all, and the overall feel of the album, alongside some interesting sounds, is easy, breezy, gliding, even some laissez-faire, as he sings on the title track: "All the places we used to go /Belong to a time / Someone else's life /Another time." But with his track record, there may well be a storm on his next. Out on Polydor.
Paul Weller – On Sunset
The Irrepressibles – Superheroes
Best known, though perhaps not well known enough, for in the first decade of the millennium for the shimmeringly glorious single In This Shirt, and the album Mirror Mirror, the theatrical English 10-piece led by flamboyant countertenor Jamie McDermott, were a mini orchestra of pirouetting strings and grandiosity. But the frontman, now known simply as Jamie Irrepressible, after several years living in Berlin, has shifted the focus more towards dance and electronica with a particular twist. His voice is lower in tone, key and volume, with a delivery more whispering and intimate, overseeing songs of lust, longing, romance and identity that shift between ghostly poetic tremblings to full-on gay abandon dance music, building and accompanied by variety of offbeat, intriguing sounds. Opener Anxiety is a stripped-down mixture of synth, percussion and subtle voice, as if presenting a Bladerunner-type cityscape, while the song International is like a blurry catwalk of voices including guest Valerie Renay. Let Go, however, is the standout track, a triumph of sexy, physical momentum. And there are many other moments of ethereal, exquisite beauty, such as synth and choral song The Child Inside Falls In Love, all the way to getting full on down-and-dirty kinky on the thumping tie-me-up Dominance, which has a certain John Grant humour to it, while The Abandonment of … EGO!, featuring Jon Campbell, is a quirky mishmash of voices, electro bass, piano, and jazz sax. Perhaps a little more of Jamie's full soaring voice would bring some extra satisfaction, but sometimes, there’s no going back. This is a real departure from before, nevertheless the result is erotic, sensual, and playfully innovative. Out on Of Naked Design.
The Irrepressibles – Let Go (Everybody Move Your Body Listen to Your Heart)
Margo Price – That's How Rumors Start
Third album by the rising Nashville star since 2016's Midwest Farmer's Daughter is fuelled by a colourful background of considerable ups and downs that more match the classic country singer profile. Her family lost the farm when she was a child, then there was a very dark period of drink, drugs, petty crime, some prison, living homeless in a tent, and the death of her infant son. You can't argue the now 37-year-old hasn't lived the life, and she's also been compared to Bobbie Gentry and Loretta Lynn in her songwriting. Her style, broadly country, also spans soft-rock, psychedelic rock ballad (Twinkle Twinkle for example), stomping road songs, and sprinkles of pop (Stone Me). Heartbreak, small town frustration and the full emotional roller coaster is here. Hold tight. Out on Loma Vista.
Margo Price – Letting Me Down
Keleketla! – Keleketla!
Following a sample from this album on our New Songs section a few weeks ago, the LP is now released is the fabulous collective album of South African and British musicians marshalled by Coldcut and their label Ninja Tune. It has a running theme - Keleketla means “response” in Sepedi - alluding to call and response throughout the style and structure of these songs. The Keleketla arts initiative in Johannesburg set about this project for the In Place of War charity. The album features gqom producer DJ Mabheko and anti-capitalist hip-hop collective Soundz of the South, percussionist Thabang Tabane and the late Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. As well as Future Toyi Toyi, key tracks include Papua Merdeka, with Allen drumming to a joining a great guitar line on Miles James working of the Lani Singers’ tale of the Indonesian occupation of West Papua, or the beautiful brass and piano arrangement on Swift Gathering. Crystallise meanwhile rapper Yugen Blakrok, London saxophonists Tamar Osborn and the Comet Is Coming's Shabaka Hutchings’ with scratches by DeeJay Random and Coldcut’s rumbling sub bass. Energy, collaboration, and musicianship of the highest order. Out on Ninja Tune.
Keleketla! – Crystallise
Dream Wife – So When You Gonna …
A welcome kickass second album by the London-based postpunk-pop trio of Rakel Mjöll (lead vocals), Alice Go (guitar), and Bella Podpadec (bass). It leaps straight off where the last did, straight into material with much sexy mischief, energy and humour, and should hopefully catapult them into bigger audiences. The poppy Sports! even has a dash of Girls Aloud at their finest, the title track as a catchy CSS-like guitar line, Hasta La Vista as an indie disco style, while Validation is packed with whip-smart lyrical asides. There are also deeper emotions present, such as on Temporary, about a miscarriage, with softer, jangly guitars and singer Rakel showing displaying a more tender delivery. Always a delight in a live setting, this new album captures their broad range and appeal. Out on Lucky Number.
Dream Wife – Sports!
A.A. Williams – Forever Blue
A mature, beautiful debut for the London-based pianist and singer who here also features guests Johannes Persson (Cult Of Luna), Fredrik Kihlberg (Cult Of Luna) and Tom Fleming (One True Pairing, ex-Wild Beasts). Williams, who appears as mysterious woman in black, is classically trained, and her musically is based around strong piano chord progressions, with added strings, drums and more, loosely rock-classical that mixes the sensual and ethereal with the grand. Hearbreak and more abound, and her voice hovers with a perfect strength and fragility on all eight tracks. Standouts include Melt, which builds powerfully with drums, All I Asked For, Dirt with a restrained minimalism. Powerfully sublime. Out on Bella Union.
A.A. Williams – All I Asked For (Was To End It All)
bdrmm – Bedroom
This excellent indie-shoegaze debut by the five-piece band from Leeds and Hull led by Ryan Smith has a layered guitar richness and scale that echoes in, the big sound of My Bloody Valentine, The Cure's Disintegration, Cocteau Twins and a dash of RIde. Right from the off, with Momo, moving into Push/Pull and A Reason To Celebrate, the momentum is full, resting later with the ghostly (The Silence). A lot of 1980s influences here, but no less impressive and powerful with other standout tracks Happy and Is That What You Wanted To Hear? Out on Sonic Cathedral.
bdrmm – A Reason To Celebrate
Hania Rani – Home
A follow-up to debut album Esja, this is magical album of atmospheric, cinematic complex piano, high vocals and subtle electronica by the Polish artist from Gdansk, who splits her time living between Warsaw and Berlin. Joined on some tracks by bassist Ziemowit Klimek and drummer Wojtek Warmijak, this is a rich album of storytelling. Rani has also composed the music for her first full length film – I Never Cry directed by Piotr Domalewski and for the play Nora directed by Michał Zdunik. The album is best as a listen-through experience, but standout tracks include Buka, Letter To Glass, Zero Hour, Rurka and I'll Never Find Your Soul. Out on Gondwana Records.
Hania Rani – F Major
Mystery Jets – A Billion Heartbeats
The British band based on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham's sixth studio album had a digital release in April, but now comes out in other formats and reflects something of a state of nation and state of a generation. Variously tender and fierce, abstract and full of classic rock energy, rich vocal harmonies, heavy guitars and rallying cries, its key theme is taking personal responsibility, and the power in becoming engaged in this troubled world. There's the powerful rock opener, Screwdriver, the big drums of Petty Drone, History Has Its Eyes On You, the passionate title track and more ("our true colours come out"), or the acoustic, wistful Hospital Radio. Indie rock remains very much alive and kicking here, and isn't afraid be up front about it. Out on Caroline.
The Mystery Jets – A Billion Heartbeats
This week's selection is by The Landlord.
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