Reviews: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, DJWWWW & MC PLAY-STATION®

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu Pika Pika Fantajin (Warner Japan, 2014)

It's a little difficult for me to consolidate my feelings towards Kyary Pamyu Pamyu without reaching for the overblown imagery of her Western mega-pop counterparts; your Lady Gagas, Katy Perrys et al. Hell, even Avril Lavigne has paid tribute to Kyary's outlandish style with the blog-stirring video for "Hello Kitty". But if you manage to look past the ultra-kawaii maximalism of the visual and performance aspects of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, you may find some of the most enticingly crafted pop ohrwürmers of recent memory, in any language. Her latest offering, Pika Pika Fantajin (which roughly translates to "Shiny Shiny Fantasyperson"), is more of the same, which is to say: stuffed to the brim with colourful instrumentation, viral hooks and a glorious sense of unreality. It does falter in places - "Ring a Bell", Kyary's first entirely English song, is so lyrically insistent that it winds up being a tiresome experiment above all else - but for the most part, Pika Pika Fantajin will likely be one of the most gleeful pop pleasures of the calendar year. That is, until Momoiro Clover Z release their new album.




DJWWWW & MC PLAY-STATION® *'~ 僕らのFANTASY *ﾟ​+​.​｡​:​;​+​.​:​;｡​+​ﾟ​*​♡ (Wasabi Tapes, 2014)

DJWWWW, MC PLAY-STATION®; purveyors of TOTAL SENSORY OVERLOAD and DENSE, NEBULOUS "COLLAGE" MUSIC (or, better yet, "epic collage"). Made up of 10 tracks with none of them edging over 4 minutes in length, *'~ 僕らのFANTASY *ﾟ​+​.​｡​:​;​+​.​:​;｡​+​ﾟ​*​♡  is a post-post-Oswald exercise in sheer sampledelia, almost totally forgoing melody and rhythm in the process. Well, maybe that's a little untrue; it's there in traces, only to be wiped out by a wave of digital noise or crushed beneath another sample almost instantaneously. Perhaps the real entertainment of *'~ 僕らのFANTASY *ﾟ​+​.​｡​:​;​+​.​:​;｡​+​ﾟ​*​♡  is picking out the blink-and-you'll-miss-it plundering; Kanye West, Waka Flocka Flame, Autre Ne Veut, D/P/I (I think?) are all given the DJWWWW/MC PLAY-STATION® treatment, sometimes all within the same 30 seconds, and it amounts to an amazing mess of pop culture and Bandcamp cool/weird/other.

Review: The Soft Pink Truth

The Soft Pink Truth Why Do the Heathen Rage? (Thrill Jockey, 2014)

Can popular music ever exist without politics? Even in mainstream, charting music, one cannot help but get the sense that, now more than ever, artists are bringing an explicit political agenda to their work. Beyoncé, perhaps the foremost singer in pop, male or female, described herself as a "modern-day feminist" in an interview with Vogue UK, before taking this notion to its logical extreme on her self-titled album late last year: surely only Yoncé can shout "bow down, bitches!" over a drilling trap beat, before dedicating the middle portion of the same track to an excerpt from feminist writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. An overtly political record, then, but also the fastest selling album in the history of the iTunes Store. Away from the Billboard 200, the likes of Sleaford Mods and Young Fathers are spinning intriguing political narratives of their own, deeply rooted in background and personal circumstance.

Perhaps, however, we try to shoehorn politics into a musical context too hastily. For all the thinkpieces and articles on the supposed feminism of Miley Cyrus, the tracks on Bangerz, both lyrically and musically, remain effectively apolitical in nature; this is music for the party, which by design defies any political reality. This escapism is ultimately shallow, but Cyrus most certainly knows that she needn't create discussion through her music, so she doesn't. In the case of Cyrus and Bangerz, it's the aesthetic which takes precedence, and while on some level she may attest that her image subscribes to feminism, she is also aware that sex very much sells. Unlike Beyoncé, her ass is less a liberation front and more a platform from which to sell records.

This, then, poses a different question; can popular music exist without sex? In a Freudian sense, sex has manifested itself across all "popular" (I use this term quite broadly here) genres; not just amongst charting/radio music, but also at the more esoteric end of the popular music spectrum. From a distance, black metal might appear to be totally and utterly sexless, with many of its practitioners employing distinctively misanthropic, sacrilegious imagery in their work. It is upon closer inspection that themes of sexual desire and lust begin to appear, and this also happens to be where Drew Daniel's Soft Pink Truth project enters the fray. The Soft Pink Truth is the Matmos member's playful dance-orientated output, probably best known for 2004's Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Soft Pink Truth?, a collection of hardcore punk songs reimagined as synth-heavy house. Having spent the better part of a decade mainly focusing on his operations in Matmos, Daniel has emerged with the first Soft Pink Truth record since Do You Want New Wave...: this time, an album of black metal covers.

That Daniel should even touch genre classics such as Venom's "Black Metal" or Darkthrone's "Beholding the Throne of Might" is problematic in and of itself; black metal fans are famously dogmatic, and reconfiguring these tracks as house/electronica is enough to provoke bile-spewing internet comments as it is - indeed, the video for the "Black Metal" cover has already had a number of commentators express their distaste for Daniel's treatment of the original - but the most provocative issue underpinning Why Do the Heathen Rage? is sexuality. Daniel occupies a unique vantage point, as both a self-professed black metal fanatic and a homosexual man. It is this situation that drives the very essence of Why Do the Heathen Rage?, for this isn't so much a "profanation" of black metal as it is a complete genre deconstruction, not only gleefully attacking the dogged authenticity it strives for, but also the extreme homophobia and prejudice of some of its practitioners.

Daniel's makeovers penetrate themselves deeply into black metal's kvlt principles, reimagining aggressive riffs as acidic synth squeals, blast beats as punchy drum machine patterns, and so on. Interestingly enough, it's not only black metal that is being retooled here; baffling house and pop interjections appear throughout, such as Chuck Roberts' famed "let there be house!" proclamation on "Let There Be Ebola Frost". While this certainly smacks of a kitschy, self-indulgent appropriation of the genre, this tongue-in-cheek approach is not without a degree of respect for the material that is being worked with. The lyrics of the respective tracks Daniel takes to are kept intact, and the vocal delivery of these lines tends to retain the same raspy growl; clearly, these covers function not only to critique the narrow-mindedness of the black metal community at large, but ultimately to celebrate the music itself as Daniel confronts the fascistic ideals of his beloved genre.

As an exposé on the abstruse sexuality of black metal, Why Do the Heathen Rage? succeeds spectacularly, with lines like "riding Hell's stallions, bareback and free" reframed to now perhaps indicate the latent homoeroticism of some of the sacred cows of the staunchly masculine genre. It also succeeds as both an imitation and a respectful tribute to the unfuckable-with musical and thematic values at the beating heart of black metal. Above all, however, it succeeds as a Soft Pink Truth album; even without the serious historical subtext of Why Do The Heathen Rage?, it can be appreciated on its own terms as a hard-hitting, amusing and, occasionally, even danceable set of tracks.

Review: Death Grips

Death Grips niggas on the moon (Harvest/Third Worlds, 2014)

Death Grips have never taken a conventional approach in releasing their albums, with 2012's NO LOVE DEEP WEB being leaked by the group against the will of their ex-record label, Epic, and 2013's Government Plates dropping out of the blue to the delight of hype-beasts and experimental hip-hop junkies everywhere. niggas on the moon was no exception to this rule, with their latest release going viral via their Facebook page, with little more than the information that the Icelandic avant-garde veteran, Björk, features on all 8 tracks, alongside the kind words "have a sad cum bb". The post was then signed off from "us", which incidentally has caused much dispute over the album's controversial title considering the ethnic backgrounds of both the drummer and producer in the band.

Rory Ferreira A.K.A Milo, nerd-rap's "loquacious public speaker", had an awful lot to say about say about the choice of the title niggas on the moon almost immediately after the album's release early in the morning of the 9th of June, stating that "two white dudes [Zach Hill and Andy Morin] just put out a record called niggas on the moon and i hate them for it". A bold comment with logical reasoning, no doubt, but Twitter's general lack of acknowledgement towards to the album title really epitomises the current state of hip-hop lyricism whereby the 'n word' has become almost meaningless. The offence that the word once carried has effectively been forgotten and thus it is used in the bad taste that Ferreira spoke of more often nowadays, so it will be interesting to see the band's reaction to the criticism at a future date.

The album's content, however, is indisputable, and although it is clear that the band has taken yet another extensive change in direction with their latest release being driven by MC Ride's fervent raps as opposed to the synthesisers and percussion loops that very much distinguished Government Plates, the band's most powerful attributes have been grinded together and in doing so, Death Grips have produced their most refined work as of yet, and what can only be described as a contemporary masterpiece. niggas on the moon opens with a thunderous track, "Up My Sleeves", that really sets the scene for the album as it is characterised by the violent darkness of Ride's lyrics; 'I was conceived by my disease' being a particularly stand out line with it feeling like an extension of NO LOVE DEEP WEB's introductory track "Come Up and Get Me" due to the harshness and brutality of Ride's raspy flow.

One thing that can be said for listening to the album for the first time is that it is certainly difficult to follow, with aggressive lyrics being lost in the mix of noisy drum patterns and Björk samples on "Have A Sad Cum" and footwork-like production on "Voila" adding a new dimension to the niggas on the moon experience. It is an album that unforgivingly forces itself upon you and leaks frenzied energy into your eardrums, but as far as experimental music goes, the first half of this album is an absolute game-changer.

Review: Sun Kil Moon

Sun Kil Moon Benji (Caldo Verde, 2014)

Despite having a back catalog of over 30 full-length albums dating back to 1989 and being a profuse frontman for Red House Painters, and unforgettably Sun Kil Moon, it feels like it has taken nearly 25 years to actually get to know Mark Kozelek. He has never been shy when expressing feelings towards his idols or openly grieving over various family members or ex-girlfriends, but like Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d City or any of Thom Yorke's releases alongside alt-rock legends Radiohead, Benji is a personally driven story highlighting Kozelek's painful life experiences by draining repressed memories and recounting life events that shaped his career, for better or for worse.

Of course, an ever present theme in Benji is that of death, which is hardly surprising after learning of Mark Kozelek's boxing fanaticism and the history of fatalities that go along with the sport that influenced his own musical sound and direction so strongly that he changed the band's identity from Red House Painters to Sun Kil Moon in homage to Korean lightweight boxer, Sung-Kil Moon. Kozelek was in attendance at the Manny Sanchez fight in 2001 whereafter Sanchez was brutally murdered, and stated to Mark Ortega of The Queensberry Rules boxing blog that "it hurts when anyone dies young, but when you see the backgrounds of these guys and the path they've taken to try to find some light in their lives, it hurts to see them die young." This draws strong parallels to the opening track, 'Carissa', whereby Kozelek gratingly intones "Carissa was thirty-five, you don't just raise two kids and take out your trash and die"; he doesn't just want to put you in the situation of those directly affected, he intends to relate these emotions directly to the lives of the listeners.

Like many of Sun Kil Moon's previous releases such as Ghosts of the Great Highway, Benji is an unpredictable array of meandering folk-rock sounds that is primarily distinguished by acoustic guitar riffs and underlying instrumentals, but then other overpowering contemporary sounds suddenly begin to prevail as the listener is dragged deeper into the gloomy macabre. 'Pray For Newtown' demonstrates this through the introduction of dispiriting drums whilst Kozelek pleads his audience to "think of their families and how they mourn and cry", clearly referring to the massacre of 20 children and 6 adult teachers in the 2012 Connecticut shootings. The album isn't all doom and gloom however, with tracks such as 'Jim Wise' being accompanied by a vintage electric keyboard to give it an air of natural simplicity, and 'Ben's My Friend' supplying us with one of the most dubious saxophone solos of the year thus far.

Whether you have followed the work of Mark Kozelek for the past 25 years or you've only recently discovered his projects as part of Sun Kil Moon, he has nothing left to hide. Benji is the perfect exposition of both the beauty and ugliness in society, and whilst it is an autobiographical album that is very much personal to Kozelek, it is one of the most accessible albums of 2014. It investigates the way in which darkness is constantly affecting our everyday lives, which is a topic that's seldom explored in popular song; "everybody got up and stretched and yawned and then our lives went on", and that's what makes it such a profound listen.

Review: D/P/I

D/P/I 08.DD.15 (Leaving, 2014)

How does Alex Gray do it? His prolificacy is undeniable, but it is never at the expense of quality; ever since 2011's absolutely essential I'm Fuckin You Tonight under the retired Heat Wave guise, he has managed to retain a creative hot streak matched by few in the (veritably Fukd) game. Perhaps the key to his consistent freshness is the sonic and stylistic flux he undergoes between projects, from crafting lucid thoughts as Deep Magic to the garbled, glitchy sampledelia of the D/P/I project. Gray was particularly productive in 2013 under the latter alias, releasing two fantastic albums in Espresso Digital - #35 on my list of favourite albums from last year - and Fresh Roses, as well as a collaborative mixtape with Ahnnu which was composed solely of Drake samples.

With the artistic momentum very much working in his direction, Gray's latest D/P/I joint, cryptically titled 08.DD.15, continues in the same vein as his preceding ventures under the moniker: sample-based microscopy, disorientating beats and an uncanny pop nous which binds the whole thing together. Many artists operating within the realms of musique concrète and glitch, such as the likes of Rene Hell, tend to favour sonic abstraction over melody, and this is where Gray's deconstructions differ slightly. While 08.DD.15 is still a decidedly bizarre, experimental album, his ability to displace sounds and re-compose them into something that is aesthetically pleasing is a remarkably unique trait of his. The track "HE.YY" is a case in point - what begins as a molecular reconfiguration of a vocal cut is transformed into a dynamic synth-like texture, complete with a stuttering drum kit for good measure.

08.DD.15 captures the very essence of what Gray is shooting for with D/P/I - the strange, almost hostile sounds of experimental music colliding with amiable street smarts (lest we forget that the 'D' stands for DJ). It also continues in the lineage of being wonderfully incomplete; in a lot of cases, this might be a negative, but it makes perfect sense for an artist who can seemingly toss out quality releases at will, ensuring that every passing D/P/I album is as invigorating and unpredictable as the last.

Review: Young Fathers

Young Fathers DEAD (Big Dada, 2014)

Ever since leaving Black Sugar Records in 2011, this Scottish alternative hip-hop trio have moved further and further from their self-proclaimed "psychedelic hip-hop boy band" sound and into a far darker realm of the genre, carrying with them their trademark percussive sound and ever-faithful young hipster fan base. DEAD perfectly embodies this vehement movement as it isn't only a showcase of their most emotion-heavy work to date, it is also a conscious blend of the group's mixed heritage of Nigeria, Liberia and Scotland, with proof of the latter coming through eminently in the droning bagpipe and military drum ridden opening track 'No Way' which sets the tone for the rest of the album; a raspy procession of intoxicating rhythm and blues numbers, with strong overtones of abstract hip-hop and intelligently cultivated production.

NME dubbed the band as being "locked somewhere between De La Soul and 3T, but re-imagined for the hipster generation." which is an undoubtedly fitting description as DEAD clearly wasn't created with the intention of appealing to mainstream audiences, it appears to be more of a statement of anti-genericism which is also a strong theme in De La Soul's critically acclaimed 1989 debut 3 Feet High And Rising. Despite the unconventional feel, however, all tracks bar one clock in at under 4 minutes long, making it a tightly wound project that is constantly shifting between the twisted and distorted beats that effortlessly merge together in a sonic frisson similar to that of the works of Seattle-based Shabazz Palaces.

Young Fathers' collective lyrical dexterity is among the strongest assets on this project, with powerful hooks and profound verses being an immanent feature throughout the album. A track that epitomises this literary mastery is 'War' which begins with the lyric "big fish little pond/more like a whale in the motherfucking ocean" to portray strong feelings of desperation and solitude before continuing to tell the story of a mother that lost her child through the tragedy of warfare; Massaquoi and Bankole don't make it a comfortable listen by any standards.

For me, DEAD is a paragon of the warped musical universe that Young Fathers have created through their immense communal understanding of the various genres that are explored in their work, and although it may not be their most mind-blowing album to date, it is distinguishable as a project that challenges the audience as well as pushing the boundaries of their own musical capabilities. With this in mind, the future holds much potential for Young Fathers, and it'll be more than interesting to see which route they continue down in forthcoming releases.

Review: Actress

Actress Ghettoville (Werkdiscs, 2014)

Sometimes, a new album comes out and questions my very relationship with music, and my own consumption of it. The last record that significantly challenged me in such a way was probably Far Side Virtual, James Ferraro's nightmarish ringtones-turned-performance-art dystopus (if I may invent a word for it). While a lot could be said about Ferraro's philosophical influences and conceptual insight, channeling Baudrillard, grime and Second Life, what made Far Side Virtual such a hellish cultural hallmark was that it reconfigured seemingly redundant sounds - MIDI, computer blips, the Wii start-up menu - into a Frankenstein-ian monstrosity of a generation's maximalist values. Beneath the chintz and the promises of the digital age, the scariest thing about Far Side Virtual was that it was grounded in reality; as noted by its creator, "people kind of live in it already."

What's the connection, then, between this ersatz album and Ghettoville, the latest (and possibly final) release from Darren Cunningham's Actress project? The niches carved out by the respective artists couldn't possibly be further from each other: while Ferraro crafted a claustrophobic, densely layered simulacra of new age synths and Garageband drum loops, the two preceding Actress albums have been spatial, micro-repetitious deconstructions of house and techno. Ghettoville, however, is an intriguing entry into Cunningham's artistic lexicon, as it forgoes the cosmic sonics of R.I.P and Splazsh and retreats into a congested, dusty headspace which recalls industrial music and crud-infused beat tapes.

Naturally, Ghettoville can be viewed as a direct sequel to Actress' slept-on debut album, Hazyville: not only in name, giving the impression of a release cycle coming to an end, but also in the atmospherics conjured up by Cunningham. If Hazyville spent the majority of its time shrouded in a mysterious fug, Ghettoville takes the haze to its logical extreme, with a scraping, scratchy aesthetic imposed on near-enough every last congenital fiber of the album. Moments of clarity are few and far between: this is a nebulous record, and as such it's possibly the most aurally challenging of Actress' transmissions to date.

Cunningham's deployment of vocal samples had always been subtle, a secondary aspect to the loops, beats and keys of the music itself, but Ghettoville subverts this by not only making vocals a central element of the sound, but in some instances the focal point of the track. Some commentators have noted the parallels between Actress' treatment of samples and the Internet micro-genre vaporwave, which similarly dislocates and reimagines vocal cuts from sources such as pop, RnB and soul. The vaporwave connection becomes an extremely significant one upon further examination: indeed, the aforementioned Far Side Virtual is very much stylistically attached to the vaporwave genre, and a notable element of the ethos of these enigmatic online presences (INTERNET CLUB, New Dreams Ltd. et al.) is that they explore our fascination with the Internet's convenience as a platform for distribution and the ensuing throwaway culture it consequently creates.

It's telling that one of the most poignant moments contained within Ghettoville is a simple vocal loop, accompanied by a three note progression. "Don't", which spans just over a minute in length, carries the intonation "Don't stop the music", possibly extracted from a rather ubiquitous pop artist. With the album's press release calling for music's eulogy, this track can be straightforwardly dissected: the "pseudo artists" run rampant, reducing the essence, the wonder of music into a hollowed-out void. No hope - "Zero satisfaction." The unbearable truth; the music will, at some point, stop.

The perceptive unity of what is actually a rather diverse release is a testament to Cunningham's hoodwinking approach to sound. Amidst the crushed sample-and-loop aesthetic, the sophisticated inner workings of Ghettoville will reveal themselves with intent listening: it's formed upon the basis of a ghostly shell of techno, fused with productions tics from the left-field. However, I still must ask myself - does Ghettoville question my relationship with music as Ferraro and the plucky web enigmas have? In a nutshell, yes. With what is possibly the final release in the Actress image, Cunningham has evoked a hopelessly bleak existence - the musical ghetto - and while our innate desire for music will continue, we are already living beyond music history. R.I.P Music 2014.

Review: Eminem

Eminem Marshall Mathers LP 2 (Aftermath Entertainment)

I haven't a fucking clue how to open this review, so I shan't. Here's a (Facebook) dialogue of mine and Joe Sherwood's time with the Marshall Mathers LP 2:

Gilbey: My iTunes play count for MMLP2 currently stands at 18 and I still don't have the foggiest clue whether I love it or not. Thinking about it, its a hell of a lot better than Recovery although that isn't too hard I guess... yeah I love it.
Sherwood: tbf recovery was a pile of crap. this however... its much better than anything I thought a man of ems vintage could produce
Gilbey: I think his vintage has actually worked to his advantage on this is I'm honest. Most of the beats that he and Rubin worked on are testament to many of the tracks on the first LP, that's probably why I like Brainless so much... that beat is raw.
Sherwood: yeah man, having heard the beat for rap god i wasn't exactly expecting much, but on the whole i have to say the production is above average for late-period em.
Sherwood: speaking of rap god... what do you think of it
Gilbey: Well let's just put it this way, when he was on Radio 1 with Zane Lowe on Monday and revealed that he freestyled the whole track, I think I creamed... his flow is just absolutely untouchable. That shit about Ray J and Fabolous? My gosh that had me in bits.
Sherwood: if it was indeed a freestyle, then i guess em truly is the goat. shame he had to do it all over a wack beat
Sherwood: and the homophobia aint gonna win him any points in these hyperaware times

Gilbey: Talking of which, that Craig Jenkins Pitchfork review really pissed me off... I think he slated his controversial lyrics more than they reviewed the actual musical content. I'll admit that his politically incorrect slurs go too far sometimes but come ON man, it doesn't make him a bad rapper...

Sherwood: well em is operating within a genre which is heavily reliant on lyrics
Sherwood: but yeah you still cant knock his technical ability

Gilbey: Despite that, 90% of his lyrics are absolutely stellar, you can appreciate that after just listening to the first 30 seconds or so of Rap God. "...they said I rap like a robot so call be Rapbot. But for me to rap like a computer must be in my genes/jeans, I've got a laptop in my back pocket." JEEEEEEEZ

Sherwood: especially if theyre straight off the top of his dome

Gilbey: I actually read somewhere - I think it was in Complex's interview with Rick Rubin - that he writes lyrics all day every day to keep his mind exercised, and that he discards about 98% of the raps he writes. Surely that's gotta make him one of the most committed in the game?

Sherwood: probably, its just that said commitment is no substitute for quality lyrics, something hes lacked of late

Gilbey: Fair point, I thought his references to I'm Back and The Real Slim Shady in So Far... were pretty damn cool though, ngl. Anyway enough of the lyrics, what about the features?

Sherwood: fuck rihanna, all im saying
Sherwood: kendrick had a good turn on love game tho, some quality punchline rapping

Gilbey: To add to that, fuck Nate Ruess.

Sherwood: tru say

Gilbey: Kendrick's verse is so hard. Its been nice to see him feature on a lot of tracks in 2013 actually, he seems to have a very different street-smart persona when rapping on his own tracks to his comical, almost angry, approach on tracks like Nosetalgia and Control

Sherwood: its great having em and kendrick on the same track. like, one of mainstream hip-hops biggest artists collaborating with one of mainstream hip-hops most promising stars

Gilbey: I posted on Twitter a while ago that Kendrick's got the potential to become the greatest rapper alive and I'd definitely still stand by that. YOU WANNA SEE A DEAD BODY?

Sherwood: on a slightly related note, dig the kendrick sample on 18+ new mixtape
Sherwood: back on topic doe
Sherwood: is mmlp2 something of a swansong? a new beginning? or just another record?

Gilbey: That's an interesting one actually. I certainly wouldn't say its a swansong because he's still easily got another couple of albums in him, from what I've seen in interviews and documentaries he treats rap like a way of life so he'll want to hold onto it for as long as he can. A new beginning however... I'm really not sure, its difficult to say considering its a sequel to a 13 year old album. We'll just have to wait and see I guess

Sherwood: so, another record? id say so, albeit better than all of his recent stuff

Gilbey: Yeah I'd say its his best piece since The Eminem Show 11 years ago, loved that shit. One last thing, Em won a Global Icon Award at the MTV EMAs for MMLP2... deserved?

Sherwood: hmmm, probably. em IS a global icon, and mmlp2 is a pretty decent album of his, so alls good in my book

Review: The Range

The Range Nonfiction (Donky Pitch, 2013)

Nonfiction is the debut full-length from Donky Pitch's very own producing trailblazer, James Hinton, who has been enjoying a considerable buzz over the past year or so over the release of the EPs Disk and Seneca. However, upon hearing the intricate farrago of chillwave, footwork and jungle beats on his latest assemblage, it is evident that this 25 year old arriviste hasn't only appeared on the IDM scene in order to put out generic dance records and make a living off techno hypebeasts; he has come to expand the ever reforming barriers of modern bass music.

As Pitchfork rightly claimed, "Nonfiction isn't an album easily pegged to any scene or narrative currently circulating about electronic music", as it fluctuates between faster paced tracks with warm vintage vibe, (e.g. 'FM Myth'), and low-key R&B influenced numbers that sit comfortably in the stoner psychedelia spectrum. Despite the presence of more club-orientated members like 'The One' and the aforementioned progressively bassy 'FM Myth', the album always feels tightly packed and neatly presented due to Hinton's conscious ear for production and harmonious juxtapositions, similar to some of UK born Squarepusher's earlier releases such 'I Wish You Could Talk' and 'Do You Know Squarepusher'.

Quirky drum patterns and warped synthesisers take centre stage on Nonfiction, but hard-edged vocals and the ebb and flow of almost tranquil piano pieces are also exceedingly prominent throughout the album. This, combined with the contrasting foggy echoes of muffled grime samples, leaves you with a slightly inebriated feel as the intelligently apposing oppositions draw you further and further into the dense layers of IDM fantasia.  

All in all, given Hinton's ability to take sounds from a multitude of complex genres and mish-mash together in such consonance, it is perfectly clear as to why he goes by the name of The Range - the future looks extremely promising for the underestimated 25 year old.

Review: Death Grips

Death Grips Government Plates (Third Worlds, 2013)

"Fuck you". It's an appropriate lyric for Death Grips. "Fuck you" is Death Grips to a T. They say "fuck you" to record labels and fans alike. MC Ride's various quotables demonstrate an extreme lack of self-preservation - he don't give a fuck about himself. All signs point towards two middle fingers to everyone and everything. Their latest "fuck you" is Government Plates, released with absolutely zero fanfare onto the unsuspecting Deep Web, complete with visual accompaniments to each of the eleven tracks. Suffice to say, the people of the blogosphere lost their shit, all of them scrambling to write a feature on Government Plates as fast as they possibly could. It's strange to think a band as hostile and abrasive as Death Grips could invoke this sort of madness, but it's as good a testament as any to the group, who have been turning heads since 2011 with their incendiary blend of hip-hop, industrial, noise, rock, etc. No group working in the confines of hip-hop sounds quite like Death Grips, and Government Plates is possibly the furthest-removed from hip-hop they've reached in their short, trailblazing lifespan.

What's initially striking about this release is that MC Ride's vocal involvement seems to have been significantly pared back. A lot of the dense lyricism that blew your system on The Money Store and No Love Deep Web has been reduced to short, stabbing phrases. Take the previously released "Birds", wherein MC Ride does his best Lil B impression: he clumsily stumbles over his words, pays little attention to conventional rhyme schemes (not that Death Grips are renowned for their conventional approach to lyricism) and just generally sounds unfocused, disorientated even. It's a bewildering change of pace from a guy who previously screamed lyrical abstractions about paranoia, murder and Lady Gaga. Other tracks seem to remove Ride from the equation altogether, such as the twitchy "I'm Overflow", but his ferocious spirit is ever-present throughout the album by means of vocal manipulation and sampling, despite not having as much to say this time around.

Flatlander and Zach Hill's production on Government Plates remains resolutely Death Grips, but perhaps even less considerate of song structure than ever before. Stylistically this release lies somewhere between the cold, minimal No Love Deep Web and the overblown Money Store, with face-melting synths clattering against hard hitting drumming: the Dylan-referencing "You might think he loves you for your money but I know what he really loves you for it's your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat" opens the album fantastically with the sound of breaking glass, high-pitched skronk, Ride's disturbed shrieking and Hill's massive, masculine beats. While the pace is often altered, the intensity of this album remains constant, and it's indicative of a group who still abound with frenetic energy two years on from their original incision into hip-hop.

Primitive and guttural as ever, Government Plates is more than the stopgap it could have been. Instead, it's another highly satisfying collection of paranoid, twisted tracks, albeit with more emphasis placed on the frazzled music than MC Ride's mind-bending raps. In true Death Grips style, it also happens to be a free download, so say "fuck you" to everyone you know and cop this shit while it's hot. Tomorrow isn't coming, it's here right frickin' now, and it sounds insane.

FREE DOWNLOAD

Review: Laurel Halo

Laurel Halo Chance of Rain (Hyperdub, 2013)

Ina Cube has followed an interesting musical trajectory under her Laurel Halo moniker. The sound of Laurel Halo is in constant flux, be it the ethereal, warped pop of the King Felix EP, the dislocated dance music of Hour Logic or the queasy ambiance of last year's Quarantine. A few months ago, her Behind the Green Door EP was released, which proved to be a meticulously crafted not-quite-house excursion which defied any suitable listening experiences; it wasn't repetitive enough for a gym playlist, nor was it quite as involving or forward-thinking as any previous releases.

In a way, defying convention is what the ever-evolving Laurel Halo project is all about. The aforementioned Quarantine was possibly the single most divisive release of 2012, and this divisiveness lay in Halo's controversial decision to leave her vocals untreated and at the forefront of the album's sound. The rift between the record's admirers and doubters was obvious, ranging from its rather conspicuous position atop The Wire magazine's end-of-year chart to angry commenters spewing bile over it (as one RateYourMusic reviewer eloquently puts it, "This is just fucking awful"). Chance of Rain sees Halo drop the vocals, or at least removes them from the forefront, and while it certainly won't prove to be as controversial as its predecessor, it's no less challenging for it. In fact, it's a markedly singular release in a year already filled to bursting point with alternative experiences.

On Chance of Rain, Halo is continuing to explore the dislocated techno/house of her Behind the Green Door EP. While the EP was steeped in the rigidity of said genres, this record is a far more contemplative and flexible record which manages to upend the archetypal techno sound. Opening track "Dr Echt", which takes its name from the Dutch word for a river ford, clears space with 80s jazz-esque electric piano keys, before "Oneiroi" fills the void with pulsating, subtly shifting synths and frenetic drum patterns. Throughout the album, displaced melodies are introduced and deftly worked into the record's framework; the title track features a particularly elegant piano arrangement, which completely alters the track's dynamic.

Ultimately, Chance of Rain is another exemplary entry into the canon of one of electronic music's finest current artists. Despite doffing its cap to the genres and movements that influence it, Chance of Rain never fully embraces them. Instead, it creates its own headspace, an airy dreamscape infiltrated by off-kilter techno beats and fragmented micro-repetitions of sound. Many, myself included, were initially disappointed that Halo's vocals wouldn't be resurfacing this time around, but the beauty and grace of this instrumental suite can make a case for itself.

Review: Milo

Milo Cavalcade (Hellfyre Club, 2013)

Milo, member of Scribble Jam champion Nocando's label Hellfyre Club, is the latest breakthrough in abstract hip-hop. You may be questioning yourself, "Abstract hip-hop? What on earth could that possibly imply?", but after listening to any of his 5 acclaimed releases, it will soon become strikingly clear. His music has been dubbed by Rate Your Music as being a part of the rap sub-genre 'nerdcore', and with track names such as 'Sophistry and Illusion' and lyrics based around 'boiling the elements down into the axioms', it is evident that Milo clearly isn't your generic rap artist.

Cavalcade is a mixtape that showcases the self-reflective and mindful lyrics that truly epitomise Milo, and although I have thoroughly enjoyed every piece of work since his debut album I Wish My Brother Rob Was Here, I feel like his lyrical adeptness and general artistic awareness have evolved dramatically over the past two years and have harmoniously mingled together to create one of the most conceptual mixtapes of 2013. This 'awareness' comes through well in the first track, 'Geometry and Theology', which contains a thought-provoking concept from the late Ludwig Wittgenstein in the opening minute about the origins of language, and then transitions to a dreamy spoken-word verse that flits between themes of the generic fangirl on Twitter and the Book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament. It sounds like it should be an awkward mish-mash of trivial nonsense, but in reality, it works so perfectly well.

Although none of the tracks on Cavalcade reduced me to tears like 'The Ballad of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy' on the EP Milo Takes Baths so very nearly did, producer Riley Lake's airy, dream-like production really creates an overwhelming atmosphere; the samples from America and shadowy drum beats fluctuate between creating a quiet, ambient atmosphere and a strangely pleasant harsh one.

All in all, Cavalcade marks the beginning of a promising career for Milo, and I am thoroughly intrigued as to whether he shall continue in this direction on future releases.
 

Review: Mosh

Mosh Empire (Self-released, 2013)

Since the release of his debut album, Monarchy, in late November 2012, Adam Bignell (A.K.A Mosh) has become a well-established name on many sites such as Soundcloud and Bandcamp. With tens of thousands of hits within a few months and much positive feedback on social networking sites, the release boded well for the future, and for this reason Empire was born.

Empire is an ingenious blend of various genres, predominantly those of electro/punk persuasion, which have been slightly lacking this year due to the primary focus on a more soft-edged finish, and so it has been interesting to hear Mosh's personal take on the evolution of electronica. The foremost track, 'Empress', perfectly exemplifies the tone of the rest of the album due to the tranquil stringed Oriental instrumentals that open and close the track, and also underlie a powerful and imposing electronic bassline throughout; although it isn't a particularly abrasive listen, it isn't an album to be taken lightly.

My favourite track on Empire was one of the longer pieces, 'Zodiac Overdrive',which brings the album to a mid-point climax through the use of formidable overdriven electric guitars and indignant vocals from Melanie K.A. The controlled distortion of the various musical implements really emphasises the quality of Mosh's level of production which can be seen from start to finish on the album, and for this reason Empire is a definite must-listen.

Review: Friendzone

Friendzone DX (Self-released, 2013)

The duo of James Laurence and Dylan Reznick, aka Friendzone, initially came into prominence in 2011, having made waves in the blogosphere with production for Bay Area cloud rappers Main Attrakionz - these two tracks, "Perfect Skies" and "Chuch", would later be released as instrumentals on Collection 1 (one of my favourite mixtapes of 2012). 2013 has proved to be another stellar year for Friendzone, with production credits for the likes of A$AP Rocky and Mykki Blanco and their own Kuchiburi Network 3 mix, and they've capped it off fantastically with DX, their first proper "album".

The day-glo cover art sets the tone rather nicely; DX creates an intimate headspace almost immediately with opener "Taswell", wherein a string sample is chopped, looped and paired with a booming beat, before heavy synths and fragmented vocals are bought to the fold. Such is the energy of Friendzone's sound that they can morph an Aphex Twin ambient work into an upbeat, dynamic banger on "RetailXtal" and fuse melancholic piano loops with cloud beats on "8AM", all while retaining their own distinctive style. In an increasingly homogenised world of hip-hop producers, the density of DX's production carries a lot of weight, and in a way, this is Friendzone's Donuts or Cosmogramma; it acknowledges its hip-hop and rap roots, but it never needs an MC to carry itself forward.

Friendzone are quick to distance themselves from their memetic namesake, as the oft-cited post on the group's Facebook goes:

"our name doesnt mean that sexist bullshit regarding girls putting "nice guys" in the friendzone. it's always meant your inner circle....

2013 is the year we take friendzone back from the bros"

If this was their mission statement for the calendar year, DX signifies the accomplishment of said mission. It's not only a love letter to the cloud rap scene they heavily contributed to, but it's also an indicator of where they're at this juncture and where they're going to take their sound in the future, and as such they've transcended the unfortunate connotations of their chosen moniker to become a powerful force in their own right.

Review: John Butcher / Thomas Lehn / John Tilbury

John Butcher / Thomas Lehn / John Tilbury Exta (Fataka, 2013)

British upstarts Fataka have already amassed an impressive-looking catalogue of experimental musicians, boasting names such as Okkyung Lee, Matthew Shipp and Eddie Prévost, among others. Despite the prominence of these figures, Exta surely has to stand as the label's biggest release yet, in what is a meeting between three of the most celebrated artists in the world of free improvisation.

According to the label's website, 'exta were the organs of a sacrificed animal offered up to the gods - the lungs, heart, liver and gall bladder', and the five tracks here are named accordingly, albeit in Latin. It's difficult to find the musical connection to sacrificial rite on Exta, but perhaps it lies in the almost surgical precision of every sound that these musicians make. Precise improvisation may sound like an oxymoronic term, but in this case it's fully justified: Butcher, Lehn and Tilbury play off of each other so very well that the end result is frighteningly good.

There's a tension that runs throughout Exta, in a delicate balancing act between Butcher's writhing saxophone, Lehn's dry synthesizers and Tilbury's haunting piano. It's quite a spare assortment, but the recordings are never without occurrence, as the trio jump between eerie ambience, beautiful minimalism and unhinged chaos. As expected, the sonic palette of this album is fairly broad; the raspy slurping of Butcher's sax in "Cor", the trenchant piano in "Pulmo II" and the analogue bubbling of "Iecur" are just a few of the many intriguing sounds that are bought to the fold. The dynamism of Exta results in an ever-shifting, unpredictable experience, and as such it's a powerful, vital display from three of the very best in their field.
 

Review: Vic Mensa

Vic Mensa INNANETAPE (Self-released, 2013)

Following the split of Vic Mensa's rap group, Kids These Days, the future of the 19 year old was uncertain, so it was only natural for there to be much speculation as to whether his proposed debut mixtape would be a success or a complete flop. However, ever since he turned critics' heads after his stellar verse in Chance's "Cocoa Butter Kisses", Mensa has been quietly priming himself to break out of being a member of a not-so-successful rap group in order to shock the world with yet another Chi-town masterpiece, INNANETAPE.

There are various up-and-coming artists that feature on the tape including Chance The Rapper, Lili K and BJ The Chicago Kid, who recently attained new-found-fame through the incredibly successful release of Chance's second mixtape, Acid Rap, despite the fact that it wasn't released through a record label; an impressive achievement by any means. Ab-Soul (of Black Hippy) features on the track "Holy Holy", which shows off the strong flows of both himself and Mensa as they rap over a minimalistic underlying drum beat throughout the song, and with powerful vocals from BJ The Chicago Kid that emulate an early Frank Ocean, it is probably one of my favourite hip-hop tracks of the year. Other featuring artists include British singer-songwriter Eliza Doolittle and the multi-genre bassist Thundercat, who is most famous for his work with none other than Flying Lotus. Not a bad bunch of friends, eh?

I see INNANETAPE as being Vic Mensa's own version of 10 Day by Chance The Rapper. This of course isn't an offensive claim by any stretch of the imagination, but it just lacks a certain something, and although we hear moments of musical genius coming through on the tape, Mensa hasn't quite produced the finished product that we were oh so eagerly waiting to hear. Is it his flow? No. Is it his lyrics? Certainly not. Is it his choice of beat production? He's got Thundercat producing his tracks, are you fucking kidding me?! The only thing that Vic Mensa lacks, in my opinion, is direction; the tracks jump around too much for my liking, but considering that this is his second recognised solo release that definitely isn't something to worry about. This tongue-twisting teenager is definitely one to listen out for, and seems set to follow in Chance's footsteps by highlighting the dexterous and thoughtful side of Chi-Town rap.
 

Review: JCCG

JCCG Eje (Department Tapes, 2013)

JCCG is Joao Costa Gonçalves, who also happens to be responsible for Mediafired, The Exhalers and Sofa Pits. These various projects, Mediafired in particular, have yielded some rather ethereal, transcendent music that plays with my emotions and soothes my eardrums, so I was naturally quite excited to hear the next release from the guy. A constant running throughout Gonçalves' soundworld is reverberation, and while you could almost say it is a gratuitously employed effect, its use in his work feels warranted by the effervescent, airy sound it creates - last year's A Pathway Through Whatever is a case in point, with its serene, blissful vapor jams leaving a lasting impression long after the echo had fizzled away.

This time around, JCCG isn't applying screw techniques to the readymades of Kate Bush or Queen, but is instead manipulating the sounds of his own guitar (although he does have a little assistance from Sonic Youth on "Fundos"). I find it quite difficult to rest a finger on this particular style, but whenever I listen to Eje I find it to be ever-so-slightly reminiscent of Fennesz or James Ferraro's guitar work, and those of you familiar with either of those artists will know that's quite the compliment. If I were to sum up Eje in a single word, it'd be 'serene'; in keeping with much of Gonçalves's back-catalogue, it is a blissful, pleasant experience throughout. Therein lies an issue, however. Such a singular sound can become rather monotonous after a while - this a problem that hampered Okkyung Lee's recent album Ghil, and it hinders Eje a little as well. The aforementioned Sonic Youth sample certainly adds textural diversity to the album, but those looking for a widely varied sonic palette may come away disappointed.

All in all, Eje is yet another good release from Gonçalves, whose particular brand of sun-soaked hypnagogia is a sound I'd love to hear more of, albeit explored further and experimented with. There is a winning formula somewhere within Eje's nooks and crannies, and I have no doubt that JCCG can source it, bottle it and utilise it in his next project, whatever that may be.

Review: Drake

Drake Nothing Was The Same (OVO Sound, Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records & Republic Records, 2013)

It's here. Well, it technically isn't, it got leaked a few nights ago. But still, for the purposes of the review, it's here.

Ever since the start of 2013, the omnipresent OVO/Young Money rapper has been surrounded by nothing but impossibly high expectations, after he spontaneously drip-fed four brand new stellar tracks to the world over the course of a few months, including "Started From The Bottom", "Girls Love Beyonce, All Me", and "Hold On, We're Going Home". Critics were claiming that it was possible for the album to not only be Drake's best, but also for it to be one of the best hip-hop albums of the year, putting him alongside the likes of Danny Brown, Chance The Rapper, and of course the king of all that's G.O.O.D, Mr Kanye West. Now as I'm a proud skeptic, it was difficult for me to accept that it was possible for every track on an entire album to reach the impressively heightened bar that Aubrey Graham (worst rapper name ever?) had set for himself with his most recent releases/features; the melodic harmonies on "Hold On, We're Going Home" and the seemingly effortless flow on "Started From The Bottom" really made me think about the yet-to-be-released album in a depressingly pessimistic light. However, after listening to Nothing Was The Same from start to finish multiple times, I will accept that I was so very wrong.

"How much time is this nigga spendin' on the intro? Lately I've been feelin' like Guy Pearce in Memento."

Drake has always utilised his intro tracks to the fullest by starting off the album as he means to go on - "Houstatlantavegas" on the So Far Gone EP, "Fireworks" on Thank Me Later and "Over My Dead Body" on his most recent release - and "Tuscan Leather" is no exception. It's a vehement track in which Drake continues to dismiss his opponents and boast about his rags-to-riches life story, but it's done in such an elegant way that makes you almost feel like he isn't bragging; he's simply bemoaning the obnoxiousness of his rap peers. The three verses are complimented by three different chops of the same Whitney Houston track, "I Have Nothing" (1992), and although this may sound like a strange pairing, the two artists blend together to create one of the purest hip-hop tracks of the year (so far). "How much time is this nigga spendin' on the intro?"- as long as he goddamn pleases.

"Next time we fuck, I don't want to fuck, I want to make love."

Although it's fair to say that Drake has found his tougher side on Nothing Was The Same in comparison to his most notable previous release, Take Care, there are still a few tracks on the album that take you back to his 'drunkenly texting ex-girlfriends and crying about it on the phone' days. Now although I always appreciate that he likes to throw in a softer track every so often to show off his multitude of skills, Drake's lyrical depth doesn't really take you much further than it ever has done on tracks such as "Marvin's Room", and this sometimes leaves you feeling like he doesn't particularly like to venture into the deep end when it comes to writing about his personal experiences. For this reason, I was relatively disappointed me after hearing the two most intimate tracks, "Own It" and "From Time", although considering the direction that Drake's been moving in over the past few years I think that these blips in lyrical greatness will definitely smoothen out. In a nutshell, either sort out your love life or man the fuck up, Aubrey.

"Look, just understand that I'm on a roll like Cottonelle."

All in all, Nothing Was The Same is Drake's greatest long player as of yet, and it will certainly be a contender on the renowned //APEX AOTY list.

Review: LAMPGOD & **Ł_RD//$M$

LAMPGOD & **Ł_RD//$M$ **$$EXT8PE?? (Bootleg Tapes, 2013)

It's safe to say that **$$EXT8PE?? is fairly dirrty. Not like you needed me to tell you that - the fact that it's being released alongside a strange promotional porno-video-collage and features song titles such as "**A$$IANMA$$TERBATION??" is telling enough. But **$$EXT8PE?? isn't just conceptually nasty, for it sounds grimy as hell too, encapsulating the grotty mixtape stylings that one may find on a Memphis rap tape.

At its core, **$$EXT8PE?? is a messy sound collage, comprised of stock music, soul and YouTube rips, all presented underneath a veil of hiss and static. It's an interesting approach even without the porn aesthetic, but the successful marriage of thematics and music takes **$$EXT8PE?? above and beyond other internet mixtapes and into its very own tightly-knit world of trash. The overriding motif of this album, just in case you haven't already figured it out, is pornography, and although this is mainly conveyed through the track titles, certain loops strongly allude to illicit love. Tracks like "**P.O.V.(2011)??", "**BLACKONBLACK??" and "**BU$$TEDCHEATING??" feature crushed soul samples with lyrics that definitely imply love-making, and on "**BABY$$ITTERGET$$CaUGHT??" a Bobby Womack snippet is screwed into a sexy, perverted jam. There's nothing particularly unique or new about the methods of sampling here, but these choice cuts are so intriguing and unpredictable that the album feels rather singular in its nature, and quite unlike any other sound collage project that 2013 has brought us (Ahnnu, Andrew Pekler, etc.).

In a year rife with small-time internet producers re-appropriating the past, LAMPGOD and **Ł_RD//$M$ have worked wonders with **$$EXT8PE??. It's an exciting, invigorating album, and it serves as even more proof that sample-based music can create enticing experiences with their palette of plundered sounds.

Reviews: Hair Police and Dean Blunt

Hair Police Mercurial Rites (Type, 2013)

Noise is chaos, and some of the best known provocateurs of the genre are keen to remind us of this - see the agitating Pulse Demon or the sickening Human Animal. However, what happens when noise is less chaotic and dissonant, and more nuanced?

"Ready to lose... the final grip."

Noise veterans Hair Police have dropped the harsher elements of their sound for Mercurial Rites, their first proper album in 5 years, and have instead explored the more ambient, atmospheric realm of noise. The result is a different kind of terrifying from the mangled, unforgiving Certainty of Swarms; this release meanders like a horror movie soundtrack, and any moments of (relative) peace are smothered with twisted sounds sourced from god-knows-where.

"I like this colour... I want you to know that."

Mercurial Rites is anything but mercurial, a slow-moving, dense piece of noise music that's more likely to threaten your sanity than your speakers. The best testament to the horror of this record is that the somewhat ordinary musical elements are still fucking scary in the context of the rest of the album - that vocalist Mike Connelly's flat, monotonous spoken word of "Scythed Wide" is just as ominous as his Whitehouse-meets-Malefic-from-inside-a-coffin shriek on "We Prepare" should tell you that Mercurial Rites is as unsettling as they come. Which is a very good thing, of course.




Dean Blunt Stone Island (Self-released, 2013)

The ever-stupefying Dean Blunt has followed up his brilliant The Redeemer with an album out of nowhere, titled Stone Island, probably in a reference to the brand of clothing (Dean has a thing for fashion, doesn't he?). Quite what it has to do with proceedings, I have no idea, but then who ever does with Dean Blunt? It seems that every single artistic move he makes is but another piece in a never-ending puzzle; over the past few weeks, we've seen the apparent dissolution of Hype Williams, a rare interview in Moscow, and now Stone Island, released in conjunction with the Russian webzine Афиша.

While Dean continues to make us scratch our heads, he also manages to win our hearts with some fantastic music, and this is no different. Stone Island is yet another awesome set, and although it's a continuation of the themes explored on The Redeemer, these tracks aren't - or at least don't feel like - mere castaways from his magnificent release earlier this year. Yes, Mr Blunt borrows from himself a fair bit; I can hear strings from "The Pedigree" and "Flaxen" reused here, but they are re-worked into the record in such a way that its difficult to deny their pulling power. The previously released "Heat", an affecting guitar track featuring vocals from Joanne Robertson, may seem at odds with the MIDI strings and samples on first listen, but it proves to be a touching highlight of the album - a simple, elegiac beauty in an album filled with musical peaks.

Stone Island is another great album from a great artist, but perhaps the best thing about it is that Dean Blunt is giving it away for absolutely nothing. Because, y'know, the music business works like that here in 2013.

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