Monthly Playlist: May 2023: Delilah Holliday, Tony Allen, Alecs DeLarge & King Kashmere, Lucia Cadotsch…
May 31, 2023
CHOICE MUSIC FROM THE LAST MONTH: TEAM EFFORT
The Monthly Revue playlist of 2023; a choice selection of tracks from the last month on the blog. Curated by Dominic Valvona with Matt Oliver on the Rap Control once more, and music from reviews by Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea, Graham Domain and Andrew C. Kidd. Expect to hear the unexpected.
TRACKLIST//
Alecs DeLarge & King Kashmere ‘Damien Darhk’
Samuele Strufaldi ‘Davorio’
Les Dynamites ‘Pop Oud #2’
Andrew Hung ‘Ocean Mouth’
Matt Saxton ‘Freedom’
John Parish & Aldous Harding ‘Three Hours’
Lunar Bird ‘The Birthday Party’
YOVA ‘Feel Your Fear’
Atmosphere ‘Dotted Lines’
Illogic ‘Hot Lead’
Odd Holiday, Mattic & Daylight Robbery! ‘It Is Whut It Iz’
Delilah Holliday ‘Silent Streets’
Big Yawn ‘Crying’
Tony Allen ‘No Beginning’
Harold Land ‘Chocolate Mess’
Baby Cool ‘Magic (Live)’
Dyr Faser ‘This Menace’
Mekong ‘Out Of Control’
The Telescopes ‘(The Other Side)’
The Bordellos ‘Attack Of The Killer B-Sides’
Adjunct Ensemble ‘Nothing Grows/How Dare You Be Free’
Kassa Overkill, Danny Brown & Wiki ‘Clock Ticking’
Depf & Linefizzy ‘My Love’
Paw One ‘Sepekku’
Cas One ‘Silver Spoons’
Axel Holy & Badhabitz ‘Runnin’
Efeks, The Strange Neighbour & Downstroke ‘Its Only Right’
Chocolate Hills ‘Mermaids’
Orange Crate Art ‘We’re Just Innocent Men’
Tinariwen Ft. Fats Kaplin ‘Ezlan’
Cherry Bandora ‘Esy’
Danuk ‘Sewqo’
Lucia Cadotsch ‘I Won’t’
Jman & The Argonautz ‘Green Light’
Chuck Strangers & Obii Say ‘Say’
Billy Woods, Kenny Segal & Danny Brown ‘Year Zero’
Caterina Barbieri ‘Swirls Of You’
August Cooke ‘Flying Swimming Dredging’
Liz Davinci ‘I’m Through With Love’
Kayhan Kalhor & Toumani Diabate ‘Anywhere That Is Not Here’
Oceans ‘Mike Tysong’
Creep Show Ft. John Grant ‘Moneyback’
Jean Mignon ‘Canadian Exit’
A (near) 150 albums survey of the year, with choice eclectic albums chosen by the Monolith Cocktail Team.
Well was I wrong last year when I called 2021 the annus horribilis of all years. It has been soundly beaten by the shit-show that is 2022. The invasion of the Ukraine, cost of living crisis, another hideous wave of Covid – which even if the jabs are being rolled out, and the deaths rate, hospitalisations is nothing like the first wave back in 2020, is still causing major illness, absences and disruptions to a society already facing a heap of doomsday scenarios -, strikes, activism, fuel poverty, Iranian protests, and the continuing horror show of a zombie government being just some examples. Yes 2022 qualifies as one of the most incomprehensible years on record of any epoch; an ungovernable country in the grip of austerity point 2.0, and greater world untethered and at the mercy of the harridans on either side of the extreme political divide, the billionaire corporates and narcissist puritans.
And yet, it has been another great year for music. Despite the myriad of problems that face artists and bands in the industry, from a lack of general interest to the increasingly punitive costs of touring and playing live, and the ever encroaching problems of streaming against physical sales and exposure, people just can’t quit making music. And for that we, as critics – though most of us have either been musicians or still are – really appreciate what you guys do. In fact, as we have always tried to convey, we celebrate you all. And so, instead of those silly, factious and plain dumb numerical charts that our peers and rivals insist on continuing to print – how can you really suggest one album deserves their place above or below another (why does one entry get the 23rd spot and another the 22nd; unless it is a vote count) –, the Monolith Cocktail has always chosen a much more diplomatic, democratic alphabetical order – something we more or less started in the first place. We also throw every genre, nationality together in a serious of eclectic lists: no demarcation involved.
The lists include those albums we reviewed, featured on the site in some capacity, and those we just didn’t get the time to include. All entries are displayed thus: Artist in alphabetical order, then the album title, label, who chose it, a review link where applicable, and finally a link to the album itself.
Because of the sheer number of entries, we’ve split that list in to two parts: Part One (A – L) starts with Anthéne & Simon McCorry and finishes with Lyrics Born; Part Two (M-Z) begins with Machine Girl and finishes with The Zew.
This year’s picks have been chosen by (Dominic Valvona), Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea, Matt Oliver, Andrew C. Kidd and Graham Domain.
A.
Anthéne & Simon McCorry ‘Mind Of Winter’ (Hidden Vibes) Dominic Valvona
Review
Seigo Aoyama ‘Prelude For The Spring’ (Audiobulb) DV
Review
Armstrong ‘Happy Graffiti’ Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea
Review
Yara Asmar ‘Home Recordings 2018-2021’ (Hive Mind) DV
Review
Avalanche Kaito ‘S-T’ (Glitterbeat) DV
Review
Avantdale Bowling Club ‘TREES’ Andrew C. Kidd
B.
Caterina Barbieri ‘Spirit Exit’ (Warp Records) ACK
Review
Jam Baxter ‘Fetch the Poison’ (Blah) Matt Oliver
Oliver Birch ‘Burning Daylight’ BBS
Review
Ｂｌａｃｋ Ｍｅｓａ ‘Research Facility’ (猫 シ Corp. ‘Selected Works’) ACK
Brigitte Beraha ‘Blink’ DV
Review
Brian Bordello ‘Cardboard Box Beatles’ (Metal Postcard Records) DV
Review
The Bordellos ‘Ronco Revival Sound’ (Metal Postcard Records) Graham Domain
Review
Boycalledcrow ‘Wizards Castle’ (Waxing Crescent Records) BBS
Review
Broadcast ‘The Maida Vale Sessions’ (Warp Records) GD
Apollo Brown & Philmore Greene ‘Cost of Living’ (Mello Music Group) MO
Brown Calvin ‘dimension//perspective’ (AKP Recordings) DV
Review
C.
Loyle Carner ‘Hugo’ (EMI) MO
Tom Caruana ‘Strange Planet’ (Tea Sea Records) MO
Cities Aviv ‘Man Plays The Horn’ (D.O.T.) DV
Claude ‘A Lot’s Gonna Change’ (American Dreams) DV
Review
Clouds in a Headlock ‘Breakfast in Phantasia’ (Offkiltr/Fat Beats) MO
Julian Cope ‘England Expectorates’ BBS
Link
D.
The Dark Jazz Project ‘S-T’ (Irregular Frequencies) DV
Review
Aftab Darvishi ‘A Thousand Butterflies’ ACK
Review
The Difference Machine ‘Unmasking the Spirit Fakers’ (Full Plate) MO
Review
Ferry Djimmy ‘Rhythm Revolution’ (Acid Jazz) DV
Matt Donovan ‘Habit Formation’ DV
Review
The Doomed Bird Of Providence ‘A Flight Across Arnham Land’ DV/BBS
Review
Dubbledge ‘Ten Toes Down’ (Potent Funk) MO
Review
E.
Eamon The Destroyer ‘A Small Blue Car – Re-made/Re-modelled’ (Bearsuit Records) BBS
Review
El Khat ‘Albat Alawi Op.99’ (Glitterbeat) DV
Review
Kahil El’Zabar Quartet ‘A Time For Healing’ (Spiritmuse) DV
Roger Eno ‘The Turning Year’ (Deutsche Grammophon) GD
Review
Eerie Wanda ‘Internal Radio’ (Joyful Noise Recordings) DV
Exociety ‘Deception Falls’ (Exociety) MO
F.
Fera ‘Corpo Senza Carne’ (Maple Death Records) DV
Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita ‘Echo’ (bendigedig) DV
Review
Flat Worms ‘Live In Los Angeles’ (Frontier Records) DV
Review
Forest Robots ‘Supermoon Moonlight Part Two’ (Subexotic) DV
Review
Nick Frater ‘Aerodrome Motel’ (Big Stir Records) BBS
Review
Future Kult ‘S-T’ (Action Wolf/AWAL) DV
Review
G.
Mike Gale ‘Mañana Man’ DV
Premiere
Dana Gavanski ‘When it Comes’ (Full Time Hobby / Flemish Eye) GD
Review
Gold Panda ‘The Work’ (City Slang) ACK
The Good Ones ‘Rwanda…You See Ghosts I See Sky’ (Six Degrees) DV
Review
Goon ‘Hour of Green Evening’ (Demode Recordings) Graham Domain
Review
Guillotine Crowns ‘Hills to Die On’ (Uncommon Records) MO
Review
Gwenno ‘Tresor’ (Heavenly Recordings) GD
H.
Aldous Harding ‘Warm Chris’ (4AD) GD
Healing Force Project ‘Drifted Entities Vol. 1’ (Beat Machine Records) DV
Review
Sven Helbig ‘Skills’ (Modern Recordings) DV
Review
Bruno Hibombo ‘Parting Words’ DV
Houseplants ‘II’ (Win Big Records) DV
Review
John Howard ‘From The Far Side Of A Miss’ (Kool Kat) DV
Review
I.
IBERI ‘Supra’ (Naxos World Music) DV
J.
Juga-Naut ‘Time & Place’ (Juga-Naut) MO
JPEGMAFIA ‘OFFLINE!’ ACK
K.
Kamikaze Palm Tree ‘Mint Chip’ (Drag City) BBS
Review
Kick ‘Light Figures’ (Anomic Records/Dischi Sottoernnei/Sour Grapes) DV
Review
King Kashmere ‘Woof’ (High Focus) MO
Evan Kertman ‘Rancho Shalom’ (Perpetual Doom) BBS
Review
KMRU ‘Temporary Stored’ ACK
L.
Labelle ‘Éclat’ (Infiné) DV
Review
The Legless Crabs ‘Always Your Boy’ (Metal Postcard Records) BBS
Review
The Legless Trials ‘Cheese Sandwich’ (Metal Postcard Records) BBS
Kristine Leschper ‘The Opening Or Closing Of A Door’ (Anti-) DV
Review
Liraz ‘Roya’ (Glitterbeat) DV
Review
Francesco Lurgo ‘Sleep Together Folded Like Origami’ (Bosco Records) DV
Review
Lyrics Born ‘Mobile Homies’ (Mobile Home Recordings) MO
Review
Keep an eye out later this week for Part Two.
Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last ten years I’ve featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world that we think you’ll want to know about. No content on the site is paid for or sponsored and we only feature artists we have genuine respect for /love. If you enjoy our reviews (and we often write long, thoughtful ones), found a new artist you admire or if we have featured you or artists you represent and would like to buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail to say cheers for spreading the word, then that would be much appreciated.
Quarterly Revue Playlist 2019: Part Two: Apparat, Cairo Liberation Front, Tinariwen, Sampa The Great, Seba Kaapstad…
June 25, 2019
PLAYLIST
Compiled: Dominic Valvona/Matt Oliver
Art: Gianluigi Marsibilio
From an abundance of sources, via a myriad of social media platforms and messaging services, even accosted when buying a coffee from a barristo-musician, the Quarterly Revue is expanding constantly to accommodate a reasonable spread that best represents the Monolith Cocktail’s raison d’etre.
As you will hear for yourselves, new releases and the best of reissues plucked from the team – me, Dominic Valvona, Matt Oliver, Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea, Andrew C. Kidd and Gianluigi Marsibilio (who also put together the playlist artwork) – rub shoulders in the most eclectic of playlists, with tracks as geographically different to each other as Belem and Palermo.
Digest and discover as you will, but we compile each playlist to run in order so it feels like the best uninterrupted radio show or most surprising of DJ sets.
Our Daily Bread 325: Aldous Harding ‘Designer’
May 10, 2019
Album Review::Gianluigi Marsibilio
Aldous Harding ‘Designer’
(4AD) 27th April 2019
Escaping any form of classification with a measured and completely tailored style on the vibrations of your soul, “Designer” is the perfect creature of Aldous Harding.
In ancient Greece the poets who dealt with epics, took the stories of the incredible heroes and mixed their tangible existence with legend and fantasy. Aldous Harding has shaped a record that describes, tells and immerses us in an epic of pain, a bittersweet story of a unique artistic life. The singer-songwriter’s faith and hopes cannot be strengthened even in paradise. In three verses: “Breathe in and out/ Kissing The Doubt/ And Whisper softly” she hides the essence of a veil of Maya, still unbroken and that will remain there to make us contort by doubts. A narrated, sung and lived track in which the coordinates of being are lost.
Designer feeds on doubts and acts of faith, moments of contemplation and intellectual depth.
Everything goes hand in hand with a series of atmospheres that are cured and varied, with the incredible touch of John Parish, songs like ‘Treasure’ or ‘Weight of the Planets’ use a register that draws a way of writing songs that I would call “oneiric pop”.
Interestingly the record features the minimalist pinches of guitar and the simplest of Stornelli, both of which intersect in a definition of aesthetic research precision.
Women in music don’t need any #MeToo, the most beautiful and profound message of truth is given by powerful records like this or by the work of Weyes Blood, Stella Donnelly and Phoebe Bridgers.
Designer is a record that speaks and tells the creation on the one hand less mythological, less biblical. Aldous Harding is a wandering goddess who makes mistakes, collapses and precisely for this reason takes on dreamlike connotations, enriched by a deep humanity.
This record interacts in the closest way to a contemporary definition of creativity, in fact the explosion of sounds, ideas and atmospheres does not start from a pure idealization of a thought but rather from a profitable interaction with Parish, who with loads of loop stations, etheric sounds and dreamy voice, has drawn an imaginary, much more precise than in the past, on an artist who felt the need.
Despite the fact that the female author’s panorama is full of projects rich in contemporary and interesting sounds, a Gothic and slightly blacker chaos was missing. Designer is a record that corresponds to the description, philosophical, of formativity (“formativity”) that indicates “a doing that, while doing, invents the way of doing” (Un fare che mentre fa, inventa il modo di fare).
Everything is full of a creativity that rhymes with intimacy; Designer is a feminine universe that narrates a new genesis, a beginning.
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