Juga-Naut | Monolith Cocktail Blog

24 for 24: an alternative hip-hop retrospective

January 6, 2025

MATT OLIVER’S CHOICE ALT HIP-HOP ALBUMS FROM 2024

Blockhead – Mortality is Lit! (Future Archive)

Doctor Zygote – Beats to Use (B/C)

Jon Phonics – Say Less (B/C)

Nappa – Midnight Music (First Word)

Spectacular Diagnostics – If You Feel Like You Lost a Soul (Blah)

2024 saw a string of contrasting instrumental projects putting MPC-pushing fingers to pursed lips. A classic of drum machines and synths becoming sentient and boom bap being capitalised by AI, helmed by Jam Baxter cracking his knuckles on the album’s introduction, ‘Beats to Use’ by Doctor Zygote nods heads by the pendulum of luminous pocket watch. Each drug-named beat is an electro-fied exercise of 8-bit-ish skitters, of hot wiring, implied mania, lab techs knowing too much and late 90s data crunching, daring rhymers to break its gaze. Of similar rear view mirror unease, Nappa’s ‘Midnight Music’ fiends for shadowy, shivering, silver screen set pieces to twitch curtains by. Again, it’s all about what might be lurking around the corner – the setting this time a once grandiose country mansion now dilapidated and ripe for retribution the moment the clock strikes 12 – with added summoning of Aim’s ‘Demonique’,a well-placed Billy Ocean sample, and effective artwork marking the veteran UK producer as a master of the dark arts.

One for headphones to kill outside noise with, Jon Phonics’ prophetic ‘Say Less’ makes a quick-fire dash through the scruff of the streets sound comfortable and leisurely: a trip hoppy set of jazzy, drum-heavy loops and quick edits getting straight down to brass tacks and sparking gritty aromas and emotions. Just as slimline and equally never found fighting the clock, Spectacular Diagnostics (like Phonics, doubling up in 24 with the collaborative ‘Appetites’ LP), administers a series of psychedelic episodes on ‘If You Feel Like You Lost a Soul’, symptoms ranging from light-headedness to jaded paranoia to Return-of-the-DJ flashbacks with Marcus Pinn on the cuts, as the Chicagoan hits the sampler square in the chops. Back in instrumental mode after last year’s Monolith Cocktail-recommended ‘The Aux’ NYC’s Blockhead – another double 2024 releaser (‘Luminous Rubble’) – declares ‘Mortality is Lit!: a roaming 67 minute adventure primed for existentialism, but as much about what brightness lies on the other side of Alice’s looking glass – plus, its pot-pourri of styles and tempos puts audio-visual potential at its nimble fingertips.

Brother Ali & unJUST– Love & Service (Travelers Media LLC)

The quiet commentator watching the world like a hawk with his not-mad-just-disappointed demeanour, Brother Ali continues his customary pinpoint accuracy of observation, as regards to why ‘love is for all’ isn’t a universal truth. Showing a sliver of chagrin on ‘The Collapse’ and going in on ‘Manik’ (“want me to lose consciousness and choose violence I guess”), is the sort of simmering annoyance that made up him sticks from Minneapolis and relocate to Istanbul. Producer unJUST provides rolling funk with global lineage wading through deeply crated mothballs, and collages recalling when foreign sound sources were pie in the sky (appropriately, the album was conceived in a modern, fibre-optic way). Wise yet understatedly caustic through politics and oppression, and with ‘Cadillac’ a classic storyteller made more provocative by Ali’s poker face, nothing gets past ‘Love & Service’. Better yet, Brother Ali has another album readied for 2025.

Common & Pete Rock – The Auditorium Volume 1 (Lorna Vista)

Old skool giants in tandem – no, not Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre – eliciting one of those what if, state-of-the-game propositions before purism started getting shouted down. The wordplay/namechecks of opening track ‘Dreamin’’ put the album in a great position from which it never flags. Rhyming with a soft grin throughout, spirituality that elder statesmanship allows at the front of on ‘We’re On Our Way’ and ‘Wise Up’, Common knows that the soul overlaps and fitting of individual puzzle pieces will always just be, with Pete Rock’s MPC ESP giving the Chocolate Boy Wonder status a holy glow. The effortlessness of everything makes it sound as if ‘The Auditorium’ was constructed all in one go – no throwaway tracks, both in 14-strong quality and length (everything’s a ‘proper’ minimum of 3 minutes 45). The original what-if quickly wonders why ‘The Auditorium’ didn’t happen earlier; let’s hope ‘Volume One’ does actually mean there’s more to come.

Conway the Machine – Slant Face Killah (Drumwork Music Group)

The lasting observations of ‘Slant Face Killah’ are of when the beats react to Conway’s gangster focus that’s gun barrel straight (“I don’t care who we gotta score on, as long we win”), by forcing the needle to wobble out of the groove in a warped vinyl disorientation like your life flashing before your eyes. These pretty irresistible stomps, releasing the wrath, retribution and weight-stacking with rhymes getting by through force of conviction that re-up when comfortable in his lane (you can’t hate lines like “the G.O.A.T. rapper, Mount Rushmore should be resculptured with four of me”), have the effect of Conway as an iced out Pied Piper that you can’t help but fall in with. The more subtle beats don’t do the album justice, but there’s enough raw power and star studded assists (Method Man, Joey Bada$$, Ab-Soul, Swizz Beats, Alchemist) to cause a stampede.

Dead Players – Faster than the Speed of Death (High Focus)

The ultimate in odd couple-buddy cop algorithms, Jam Baxter and Dabbla as Dead Players tell modern folk tales with an intricacy that can be unceremoniously reduced to a one-fingered salute. Which is what makes ‘Faster than The Speed of Death’ such a thrill; it may sound like a James Bond lampoon, but two of the UK’s finest rhymers – sub-Lock Stock, slovenly scholastic meets rat-a-tat rambunction – are about finding the most exacting ways of dumping you on you backside both physically and mentally. Either that, or they’ll simply aim a boot to your groin (“I wouldn’t give me a millimetre of wiggle room if I was you”). Theirs is a telepathy able to simultaneously intertwine threads and go for self (the syllable symmetry of ‘Gasoline Sazerac’), swerving and serving GhostTown’s productions that soundtrack fables landing on your doorstep and ruthless flails through unsettling, voodoo-splashed landscapes (in no small part to its conception in Mexico). Compelling storytelling in geezer patter: ‘Dead Players, all the wins are genuine”.

Desert Camo – Desert Camo (Old Soul)

“This ain’t commercially packaged, I don‘t quote for a quota” – all you need to know about ‘Desert Camo’. Dusty and arid this is not, with Utah’s Heather Grey producing autumnal windows into the mind, loving funk and soul restorations possessing a wind-in-your-hair freedom, leaving itself open to bracing gusts (such as the rippling disquiet of ‘Sun Lord Mixtape’ and ‘Eyes & Ears’) that infiltrates the idyllic scenery. Pulling his Californian collar up, Oliver the 2^nd on the mic counteracts and complements as stoical and softly cynical, never found looking gift horses in the mouth – the rustle and crumble of grounded leaves under a size nine boot, if you will. Quelle Chris and Nolan the Ninja guest on an album that for all its after hours pointers of easing you down, is one to equip yourself with when nothing’s gonna get in your way.

Essa & Pitch 92 – Resonance (First Word)

We’ve heard nowhere near enough of Essa pka Yungun in recent years, one of the UK’s comfiest and most natural on the mic and whose classic ‘The Essance’ received a twentieth anniversary re-up last year. Riding with Pitch 92 (Sparks’ ‘Full Circle’ and Pablo’s Maker’s ‘Paper Planes’ in 2024) on production, Essa’s effortlessness on the mic and verbal spaciousness – a place for every word, and every word in it’s place – creates a friendly familiarity that a) makes you think you’re being performed for personally, and b) makes the hip-hop album for those that think they don’t like hip-hop. Soulful, grown joints such as ‘Right Now’ and ‘That’s The One’ lead the vibe that ‘Resonance’ has plenty of live band potential, where egos are left at the door, confidence is consummately managed (“an album of the year contender” is all in good taste), and crowdpleasing stories like ‘Sweet’ come correct. ‘Resonance’ = right for heavy rotation.

Gangrene – Heads I Win, Tails You Lose (ALC Records)

Alchemist and Oh No reconvening appears to have slightly slipped under the radar in 24, or rather, oozed from the sewer from which previous albums ‘Gutter Water’, ‘Vodka & Ayahuasca’ and ‘You Disgust Me’ metastasised. As expected it’s worst fears realised with sludgy boom bap, Godfather/Untouchables-isms and B-movie flexes on ‘Dinosaur Jr’ framing the fires of its two titans selling you the seediest of underbellies. Alchemist as ever is at pains to explain psyches in that rushed-yet-strident tone of his, with Oh No’s piloting flying close to off the handle. Not horrorcore per se despite titles such as ‘Oxnard Water Torture’ and ‘The Gates of Hell’, but hitmen who want to make your exit memorable – ‘Watch Out’ has the nerve to flip Slick Rick’s ‘The Show’/Inspector Gadget theme – as they fine-tune the colours of the fever dreams they occupy (even offering a diversion tactic on the peaceful ‘Cloud Surfing’). An album that’s the correct call.

Juga-Naut & Mr Brown – Relative to Craft (We Stay True)

New personal bests in 2024 from Juga-Naut having also released the mustard ‘Bem II’ LP, ’Relative to Craft’ is another blessing of liquid wordplay with personality pushing past hooks, connection of ideas/“dictionary rap”, more riches of pop culture references (as well as making the seemingly mundane pop and sparkle) and that characteristic ostentatiousness and gentlemanly muscle (“display the grace and decorum of a true G”) indicative of a local Nottingham boy done good (“the tastemaker, the gatekeeper, the bricklayer, the mick-taker”) whose successes you can’t begrudge, still seeking due respect from those who haven’t cottoned on yet. Mr Brown’s production on ‘Relative to Craft’ is dapper funk and soul with a faint hint of threat, parping horns and romantic strings, befitting of one of the UK’s best decorated, getting lower and more dimly lit on the pukka ‘Camel Coat’ but otherwise showing that life is good. Simply, bespoke UK hip-hop.

Lupe Fiasco – Samurai (1^st & 15^th)

When Lupe Fiasco is on song he immediately re-enters the thinking of the planet’s best emcees. ‘Samurai’, a loosely conceptual half hour about a battle rapper’s theology (with an interesting inspiration part of its backstory), is Lupe totally at one with the mic as if he has the hip-hop game on a string. Top to bottom production from Soundtrakk is funk and soul for lush and humble lazy days, that perhaps not immediately helpful to bars taking out competition, let Lupe roam free (‘Cake’), theorise clearly, tell stories with a sweet suppleness recalling the joy of ‘Kick Push’ from all those years ago, and pluckily just do his thing. It’s the classic leg sweep of setting you up for attacks you don’t anticipate, but this is never an aggressive album that’s more about the honour than the body count, an immersive experience to pick the bones from on every listen.

Marv Won – I’m Fine Thanks For Asking (Mello Music Group)

The Detroit day-to-day chronicled by Marv Won (“the urban legend, smart enough to know that words are weapons”), determines “life is a movie that has a mask and gloves”. Narrative flair commenting on domestic violence and ‘Roc Nation Brunch’ starting as a jokey namecheck, before encouraging empowerment over a flip of ‘It Was a Good Day’, means the album title’s readymade ambiguity become autobiographical (struggles necessitating a reassuring, everything’s-gonna-work-out interlude), and perhaps a nod to underrated status. Resolutely under no illusion, within the first two tracks he’s hinted at personal vulnerability (not confessional as such, more this-is-me statement of fact) ahead of unloading by any means necessary, though Marv Won’s burdens are quick to rein him back in. Never far from being grounded by his beliefs (though the legitimate reasons of ‘Nosy’ raise a laugh), it’s a rich album (better than fine, in fact) with an occasional rough seam.

Midnight Sons – Money Has No Owners (Chong Wizard)

Zilla Rocca and Chong Wizard advise you to invest in this laidback-and-kicking-it LP with People Under The Stairs fingerprints all over what is a touchstone for true skool beats and rhymes, crowned by an impossibly, perfectly placed Mobb Deep sample on ‘Marathon Man’. While it’s undeniably in the entertainment business (the sunny ‘New Boss’; Rocca eschewing hip-hop’s champagne dreams with quips about his Bandcamp sales), listen-on-listen it’s a tougher, broodier nugget than it lets on. The demeanour throughout remains for top-down travels, but as the Wizard weaves old soul samples for when the temperature starts dipping, a shift in mood, wit and securities, such as on ‘Men Never Take Advice’, is only a scratch of the surface away in the album’s second half. ‘Money…’ comes out bouncing like a bad cheque, but leaves you with more food for thought: should be a perfect showstopper on stage.

Mopes – Deadowbrook (Strange Famous)

Pitching somewhere between Scooby Doo mystery, GhostFace caper and certificate 18 slasher, Mopes dares a bunch of emcees to venture to ‘Deadowbrook’ on an entertaining splatter rap concept. Giving it some heavy metal devil fingers thumbing through a comic book, Mopes’ Halloween soundtrack, with beats mixing fake blood and seas of claret, inspires some great tag-teaming between Strange Famous’ finest investigators, whose knees you can hear knocking together, or who are prepared to dive straight into the belly of the beast (“kill or be killed…it’s a stake through the heart and crucifix in the fist”). The album’s essence is this mix of performance: matter-of-fact, everyday weirdness stands beside delusions, conspiracies and paranoia. Buck 65, BlackLiq (totally reading the script on ‘Sneakerbox’) and Sage Francis lead the out-of-towners with pitchforks and flashlights, but everyone’s who’s summoned plays their part in mythologising the ‘Deadowbrook’ legend.

Moses Rockwell & Plain Old Mike – Regular Henry Sessions (HipNott)

Plain Old Mike is on the beats, Moses Rockwell is on the mic, and the ‘Regular Henry Sessions’ are an inventory of good old-fashioned hip-hop basics and quality control. Their ease of approachability is full of 60s/psych/funk samples, Homeboy Sandman/Open Mike Eagle-style deliveries, self-deprecation (“betting on my last good braincell…I hope that our tape sells”), car-chase cool (‘Duck Sauce’), and the feel is that their mission statement is to rock up wherever, and knock it out the park with a mix of no pretention and almost downplayed craft. ‘Regular Henry…’ sneaks its way out of the New York underground so as to get you checking their passport and contending claims that they “live on a prayer and sleep on a knife’s edge”, but you can’t front on this dynamic duo genuinely enjoying one another’s creativity.

Pastense – Sidewalk Chalk, Parade Day Rain (Uncommon Records)

A model representation of scything hip-hop from a lapsed future, made loud from blacklisted drum machines, sleazy synths where rats have gnawed through the wiring, and producer Uncommon Nasa backsliding to 90s indie ideals. The unflinchingly gruff pessimist Pastense walks through the rubble he may or may not have created, voice raw from trying to make himself heard in the backfire of civilization falling, the star of a disaster movie where’ll there be no redemptive sequel (“today was better than yesterday, but still I’m fearful” likely a big hit in tattoo parlours across the world). Though ‘Broken Statues’ sneaks in some funkiness, ‘Journey Back to Reality’ wholly reflects Pastense’s mindstate of “aint no future in your frontin’”, rarely coming up for air as his list of grievances dips over a horizon of corrupted neon. An unwieldy, angle-grinding behemoth to submit to.

Revival Season – Golden Age of Self Snitching (Heavenly Recordings)

Blasting out of Atlanta – “the way I be coming in like the intro music from Jaws” – and with an eclectic mindstate bringing GA brethren OutKast to mind (there’re bits of Death Grips and clipping in there too, while sharing label space with Kneecap makes sense at the home of Doves and Baxter Drury), Reveal Season begins as a thoroughly bracing experience. Jonah Swilley’s production encourages sharp intakes of breaths amidst shards of 4×4 punk rock beats, ramped up funk and reverb, and Brandon Evans’ livewire rhymes look for a crowd to dive into bare-chested while wearing out the stage (“I’m going in cos I don’t know no different”). ‘Boomerang’ and the gangster ‘Chop’ herald the album’s second half doing more ‘hip-hop’ jams, getting their Beastie Boys in the basement with bass pedals on. First time listening, you never know where it’s headed, but every subsequent listen is still a joyride.

Vincent, The Owl & Nick Catchdubs – 100 Proof (Fool’s Gold)

Only eight tracks and 22 minutes long, as per their previous collaborative parameters, but featuring some of the year’s most straight-up neck snaps and brags bringing home the bacon, ‘100 Proof’ is the ultimate shoulder-high ghettoblaster parade for soon-to-be-shook subway patrons. Meyhem Lauren, Chris Crack and Fatboi Sharif are along for the ride as Jersey City’s Vincent, The Owl – loudmouth, but only so everyone can hear – goes all in with flying show-n-prove colours and nostrils flaring like a prize bull, threatening to go haywire on ‘Bruv My Luv’ and ‘Venti Valente’, complete with a call-n-response hook that’s daft enough to sound completely in context but also old skool-appreciative. Catchdubs catches fire with the knowledge of what’s unpolished and to-the-point, pushing kicks and breaks through brick walls for front rows to bang their heads in unison. The set up is throwback, and the reward is a knackered rewind button.

Vitamin G & Mr Slipz – Prophet of Doom (High Focus)

Potent UK umbrage taken by Mr Slipz’ spectrally-dipped beats that knock all the way through with Oriental-themed, way of the warrior lineage (a default setting maybe, but one that a lot of producers get wrong), and Vitamin G’s brim low, fuck around and find out-rhymes that achieve Zen in dismissing all comers (peaking on ‘From The Drop’). The undeviating consistency reflects the pair’s dedication to working to a hard, pre-ordained, after dark gameplan, with a glance of neo-soul (another default that can go either way) not found lagging thanks to Vitamin’s potency, and naturally providing a more introspective route (‘Vulnerable Youngens’) for the album to follow and a different shade of darkness to chase. Both walk through the valley of the shadow of death and come out smelling of roses, with ‘The Internet’ featuring Jehst and Farma G as succinct an address of modern living as you could wish for.

Wish Master & Kong the Artisan – His Story (Noel & Poland)

Cappo collaborator Kong the Artisan came up trumps in 2024 with J Littles on the ‘Massa’ LP and with Guilty Simpson (who features here) for ‘Giants of the Fall’. The very deliberate stylings of Bristol’s Wish Master leave a big mark on KTA’s slick, slinky, sticky backdrops that can prick the atmosphere and plunge everything into darkness at the drop of a hat. WM follows suit, the sort of boss mode flow allowing itself time to think, that’s so sure of itself and can fill a room with the view that nothing has to be complicated. ‘His Story’ can be broken down into two acts: the retrospective, opening title track is a curveball, as when followed by ‘Masterpiece’ with the ever abrasive Datkid, everything becomes smoked out and tinted, Further along the line, Wish Master values taking a reflective moment, as if to not take his crown-wearing privilege for granted. Shout to Delia Smith on ‘Let’s Have It’ as well.

Your Old Droog – Movie (Rem-U-Lak Records)

“I’m spitting life sentences, you a slap on the wrist”: either Your Old Droog has been a master of keeping fans on tenterhooks down the years with his series of mini-albums, or a fully-realised 17-track piece (complete with easy-to-ignore skits), is worthy for its shock value. Unlike the critically acclaimed TV series that then flops at the box office, everything’s here from scene one – the punchlines and putdowns (the wince-inducing ‘What Else?’), the adlibs, the namechecks, the cockiness, the cold-veined stories (‘Roll Out’), and the seamless transition towards more compassionate material (‘I Think I Love Her’, ‘Grandmother’s Lessons’, the clever angle of ‘How Do You Do It?’) completing/confirming his performance circle. Owning the funk and mobster movements lead by Harry Fraud and Madlib on production, “Bob Dylan without the harmonica…y’all ain’t nothing but mall cops or hall monitors” is a silver screen superstar.

Honorable mentions; Cappo – Starve; LIFE Long & Noam Chopski – In The Day of the Night; Mark Ski – Recless; MegaRan & Jermiside – The Lure Of Light; Muja & Dub Sonata – Break the Stereo; OldBoy Rhymes – The Sane Asylum; Philmore Greene – The Grand Design; Seez Mics – With SFR; Sly Moon – No Gamble No Future; and Vega7 the Ronin – Kawasaki Killers.

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The Monthly Playlist For November 2024

November 29, 2024

CHOICE/LOVED/ENJOYED MUSIC FROM THE LAST MONTH ON THE MONOLITH COCKTAIL: TEAM EFFORT

The Monthly Revue for November 2024: All the choice, loved and most enjoyed tracks from the last month, chosen by Dominic Valvona, Matt ‘Rap Control’ Oliver and Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea. As always our selection features a real shake up and mix of tracks that we’ve both covered in our review columns and articles over the last month, plus those tracks we didn’t have room to feature at the time.

Covering many bases, expect to hear and discover new sounds, new artists. Consider this playlist the blog’s very own ideal radio show: no chatter, no gaps, no cosy nepotism.

___/TRACKLIST_____

Les Amazones d’Afrique ‘Wa Jo’
Mulatu Astatke & Hoodna Orchestra ‘Major’
Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp ‘Speak by the E’
Marcelo D2 & SambaDrive ‘Samba de Primeira/Encontro com Nogueira’
Les Sons Du Cosmos ‘LAUNDRY’
Ric Branson Ft. Relense ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’
Juga-Naut Ft. Mr. Brown ‘Camel Coat’
Nowaah The Flood ‘On Location’
Blockhead ‘Orgy At The Port Authority’
Berke Can Ozcan & Jonah Parzen-Johnson ‘The Saint’
Elea Calvet ‘Landslide’
Roedelius ‘217 09’
Lolomis ‘Kristallen den Fina’
The South Hill Experiment ‘Silver Bullet’
Sparkz & Pitch 92 ‘Genius’
Jack Jetson & Illinformed ‘Pray’
Spectacular Diagnostics & Kipp Stone ‘BUCKET LIST’
Cavalier & Child Actor ‘Knight Of The East’
Walking The Dead ‘Fun Facts’
Humdrum ‘See Through You’
The Conspiracy ‘Tick Tok’
The Awkward Silences ‘Mother I’m on TV’
Trupa Trupa ‘Sister Ray’
Neon Kittens ‘Demons’
Bloom de Wilde ‘Dwindi’
Bell Monks ‘Before Dawn’
Spaces Unfolding & Pierre Alexandre Tremblay ‘In Praise of Shadows Pt. 2’
Gasper Ghostly ‘Floor Thirteen’
Son Of Sam & Masta Ace ‘Come A Long Way (Jehst Remix)’
Hegz & Dirty Hairy ‘Ruby Murray’
Glowry Boyz ‘FREE FALL’
Django Mankub ‘BEATSEVEN’
Sly & The Family Drone ‘Joyless Austere Post-war Biscuits’
Lolomis ‘Sieluni tanssimaan’
Cumsleg Borenail ‘Parade You ‘round Town’
Sam Gendel, Benny Bock & Hans P. Kjorstad ‘Charango’
Yazz Ahmed ‘A Paradise In The Hold’
Maalem Houssam Guinia ‘Matinba’
Baldruin ‘Hinein, hinaus, hinuber’
hackedepicciotto ‘Aichach – Live in Napoli’
Hornorkesteret ‘Krekling’
The Muldoons ‘Hours And Hours’
Juanita Stein ‘Motionless’
Sassyhiya ‘Take You Somewhere’
John Howard ‘If There’s a Star’
The Tulips ‘Haven’t Seen Her’
Jamison Field Murphy ‘Ermine Cloak’
Graham Reynolds ‘Long Island Sound’
Mauricio Moquillaza ‘___’
Kotra ‘Trials Of Discernment’

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Filed in Uncategorized ·Tags: Baldruin, Bell Monks, Berke Can Ozcan, Blockhead, bloom de wilde, Brian 'Bordello' Shea, Cumsleg Borenail, Dirty Hairy, Django Mankub, dominic valvona, Elea Calvet, Gasper Ghostly, Glowry Boyz, Graham Reynolds, hackedpicciotto, Hegz, Humdrum, Jack Jetson, Jamison Field Murphy, John Howard, Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Juga-Naut, Kotra, Les Amazones d'Afrique, Les Sons Du Cosmos, Lolomis, Maalem Houssam Guinia, Marcelo D2, Matt Oliver, Mulatu Astatke, Neon Kittens, november playlist, Nowaah The Flood, Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, Pitch 92, Ric Branson, Roedelius, Sam Grendel, SambaDrive, Sassyhiya, Sly & The Family Drone, Son of Sam, Spaces Unfolding, sparkz, Spectacular Diagnostics, the awkward silences, the monthly playlist for November 2024, The Muldoons, The South Hill Experiment, The Tulips, Trupa Trupa, Walking the Dead, Yazz Ahmed

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The Monthly Playlist Revue: February 2024

February 29, 2024

ALL THE CHOICE MUSIC FROM THE LAST MONTH

Let’s keep this short and get straight to the action, with the musical journey we’ve created for you. From the Monolith Cocktail TEAM (that’s me, Dominic Valvona, plus Matt Oliver and Brian Bordello Shea) all the choice music from February on one exceptional, eclectic playlist.

:::TRACKLIST:::

Bab L’ Bluz ‘Imazighen’
Liraz ‘Bia Bia – Reeperbahn Festival Collide Session’
Trio Rosario ‘Cuande Me Muera’
Masta Ace & Marco Polo ‘Certified’
Your Old Droog w/ Roman Streetz ‘Northface With The ACGs’
clipping. ‘Tipsy’
Bostjan Simon ‘Bebey’
Vatannar & G.A.M.S. ‘Aminat Pt. 4’
Will C. ‘Colossal Pound Cake Break’
Yamin Semali ‘Boo Boo The Fool’
Juga-Naut ‘Shampain’
Revival Season ‘Chop’
Willie Evans Jr. ‘Bargaining’
Nowaah The Flood & Giallo Point ‘No Speculation’
Black Milk ‘In The Sky’
mui zyu ‘The Mould’
Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer ‘Stay Centered’
OdNu + Umlaut ‘Kaizen’
Louis Carnell & Wu-Lu ‘Eight’
Madeleine Cocolas ‘Bodies II’
Otis Sandsjo ‘OOMY’
David Liebe Hart & Jason The Cat ‘I Believe In The Unknown’
Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble ‘Open Me’
Confucius MC, Pitch 92 & Jehst ‘Days Hours Minutes’
Dr. Syntax & Gotcha ‘The Urge’
Sly Moon ‘Aces Baby’
Reef The Lost Cauze ‘Umar’s Revenge’
Renelle 893 & Bay29 ‘Art Thief’
Kingmakers Of Oakland ‘Too Long’
Kemastry, Jazz T & Ramson Badbonez ‘Apocalyptic Flows’
Dyr Faser ‘Bronze’
Ryann Gonsalves ‘Lost & Found’
Oliver Birch ‘On Our Hill’
BMX Bandits ‘Time To Get Away’
DAAY ‘Follower’
Maria Arnqvist ‘Rubies And Gold’
The Children’s Hour ‘Dance With Me’
The Pheromoans ‘Faith In The Future’
Boeckner ‘Euphoria’
epic45 ‘Be Nowwhere’
James jonathan Clancy ‘Black & White’
Flowertown ‘The Ring’
twin coast ‘Forget To Know’
The Legless Crabs ‘Stuckist Manifestos In The Western World’
The Deli, Moka Only & Baptiste Hayden ‘Fivefourthreetwoone’
Ol’ Burger Beats ‘For The Family FT. Awon’
Da Flyy Hooligan, D-Styles ‘Gallery Oasis’
Spectacular Diagnostics ‘1000 Heartbeats’

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Filed in Uncategorized ·Tags: Bab L'Bluz, Black Milk, BMX Bandits, Boeckner, brian bordello, Daay, dominic valvona, Dyr Faser, Electronica, epic45, February 2024, hip hop, jazz, Juga-Naut, Liraz, Masta Ace, Matt Oliver, Mui Zyu, new music, OdNu, Otis Sandsjo, Playlist, Psych, The Monthly Playlist Revue February 2024, Yamin Semali, Your Old Droog

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Choice Albums of 2022: Part One A to L: Anthéne & Simon McCorry to Lyrics Born

December 12, 2022

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 23^rd spot and another the 22^nd; 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

ＢｌａｃｋＭｅｓａ ‘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.

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Filed in Uncategorized ·Tags: A to L, Aftab Darvishi, Aldous Harding, Andrew C. Kidd, Apollo Brown, Armstrong, Avalanche Ksito, Avantdale Bowling Club, best albums of 2022, Black Mesa, brian bordello, Broadcast, Brown Calvin, Bruno Hibombo, Caterina Barbieri, choice albums of 2022, choice albums of 2022 part one, cities aviv, Claude, Dana Gavanski, Dark Jazz project, dominic valvona, Dubbledge, Eamon The Destroyer, Eerie Wanda, El Khat, Evan Kertman, Exociety, flat worms, forest robots, Future Kult, Gold Panda, GOON, Graham Domain, guillotine crowns, Gwenno, Healing Force Project, Houseplants, IBERI, Jam Baxter, John Howard, Juga-Naut, Juilan Cope, Kahil El'Zabar, King Kashmere, Kristine Leschper, Labelle, Liraz, Loyle Carner, Lyrics Born, Matt Donovan, Matt Oliver, Mike Gale, Oliver Birch, Roger Eno, Simon McCorry, Sven Helbig, The Good Ones, The Legless Crabs, Yara Asmar

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Monthly Playlist: November 2022: Cities Aviv, Mui Zyu, Edrix Puzzle, Juga-Naut, Illogic, Arthur King…

November 30, 2022

CHOICE MUSIC FROM THE LAST MONTH
CURATED BY DOMINIC VALVONA

The very last monthly playlist of 2022 is a bumper edition of eclectic choice music from the last month, with a smattering of tracks from upcoming December releases too.

This month’s picks have been collected from Dominic Valvona, Matt Oliver, Brian ‘Shea’ Bordello and Graham Domain. The full track list can be found below the Spotify link.

The monthly will be back in the New Year. Until then absorb this behemoth of a selection, and next month, ponder and peruse the blog’s 140 plus albums of 2022 features.

TRACK LIST IN FULL

Black Market Karma/Tess Parks ‘The Sky Was All Diseased’
Enter Laughing ‘Met Me When I landed’
Salem Trials ‘Man From Atlantis Is Dead’
Humour ‘Jeans’
Cities Aviv ‘Funktion’
Vlimmer ‘Mathematik’
Gabrielle Ornate ‘Phantasm’
Dead Horses ‘Can’t Talk, Can’t Sleep’
Lunar Bird ‘Driven By The Light’
Mui Zyu ‘Rotten Bun’
Thank You Lord For Satan ‘When We Dance’
Pozi ‘Slightly Shaking Cells’
My Friend Peter ‘When I Was’
U.S. Girls ‘Bless This Mess’
Sofie Royer ‘Feeling Bad Forsyth Street’
Surya Botofasina ‘Beloved California Temple’
Edrix Puzzle ‘Shadow of Phobe’
Let Spin ‘Waveform Guru’
Etceteral ‘Gologlavka’
Juga-Naut ‘Camel Walk’
The Pyramids ‘Queens Of The Spirits Part 1’
Illogic ‘Nowhere Fast’
Planet Asia/Snowgoons/Flash ‘Metabolism’
Dabbla/alone ‘Adept’
Karu ‘Spears Of Leaves’
Neon Kittens ‘Nil By Vein’
Renelle 893/King Kashmere ‘My Demons’
Mount Kimbie/Don Maker/Kai Campos Ft. Slowthai ‘Kissing’
Homeboy Sandman/Deca ‘Satellite’
Uusi Aika ‘S-T’
Gillian Stone ‘The Throne’
Raw Poetic/Damu The Fudgemunk ‘A Mile In My Head’
Boldy James/Futurewave ‘Mortemir Milestone’
Arthur King ‘Dig Precious Things’
Tom Skinner ‘Voices (Of The Past)’
Trans Zimmer & The DJs ‘Wind Quintet No. 3 In E Major, Second Movement’
George T ‘Dub On, King’s Cross’
The Dark Jazz Project ‘Great Skies’
Noémi Büchi ‘Measuring All Possibilities’
Russ Spence ‘Spectrum’
Seez Mics/Aupheus ‘Cancel The Guillotine’
Dezron Douglas ‘J Bird’
Fliptrix/Illinformed ‘Eden’
Apollo Brown/Philmore Greene ‘This Is Me’
Illogic ‘She Didn’t Write’
Milc/Televangel Ft. AJ Suede ‘Ronald Reagan’
Vincent/The Owl/Nick Catchdubs ‘Fade 2 Black’
Shirt/Jack Splash ‘Cancel Culture’
Clouds In A Headlock/ASM/Daylight Robbery ‘3D Maze’
The Strange Neighbour/Leolex/Bobby Slice Ft. DJ Sixkay ‘Keep Your Head Straight’
Kormac Ft. Loah & Jafaris ‘Bottom Of The Ocean’
A. O. Gerber ‘Walk In The Dark’
Ben Pagano ‘Hot Capital’
Hög Sjö ‘Love Is A Gamble’
Kinked ‘Introduzione Alla Fabula’
Årabrot ‘Going Up’
Old Fire Ft. Julia Holter ‘Window Without A World’
Meg Baird ‘Star Hill Song’
Susanna/Stina Stjern/Delphine Dora ‘Elevation’
Rita Braga ‘Nothing Came From Nowhere’
Orchid Mantis ‘Endless Life’
The Zew ‘Come On Down’
Ocelot ‘Santa Ana’
LINN ‘Okay, Sister’
Sanfeliu ‘Grassy Patch’
Young Ritual ‘Ages’
Yermot ‘Leaning To Lie’

Posted by domv

Filed in Uncategorized ·Tags: Apollo Brown, Arabrot, brian bordello, cities aviv, Clouds In A Headlock, Dezron Douglas, dominic valvona, Edrix Puzzle, Electronica, Enter Laughing, George T, hip hop, Illogic, jazz, Juga-Naut, Karu, Linn, Lunar Bird, Matt Oliver, Milc, Monthly Playlist November '22, Mui Zyu, My Friend Peter, Neon Kittens, new music, Noemi Buchi, Orchid Mantis, Playlist, Psych, Rita Braga, russ spence, Salem Trials, Sanfeliu, Sofie Royer, The Pyramids, The Zew

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Monthly Playlist Revue: October ’22: Muramuke, Marlowe, Voice Actor, Lira, Underground Canopy, Keep Shelly In Athens…

October 31, 2022

PLAYLIST SPECIAL
TEAM EFOORT/COMPILED BY DOMINIC VALVONA

Each month the Monolith Cocktail pool of collaborators search long and hard for the choicest of choice tracks; mixing genres and geography into an encapsulation of the last month on the blog.

That team includes me (Dominic Valvona), Matt ‘rap control’ Oliver, Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea, Andrew C. Kidd and Graham Domain.

You may have noticed since the summer that we’ve started compiling a Youtube playlist version, which includes extra bonuses from the No Base Trio and a seasonal treat from Escupemetralla plus some alternative tunes from the same artists on the Spotify list.

So without further ado, here is the October Revue:

And the Youtube version:

Full Track List:-

Montparnasse Musique Ft. Muambuyi and Mopero Mupemba ‘Panter’
Muramuke ‘Just One More’
Balaklava Blues ‘BEAT UP’
Marlowe/L’Orange/Solemn Brigham Ft. Deniro Farrar ‘Godfist’
Rockness Monsta/Method Man/Ron Browz ‘Beastie Boyz’
BeTheGun ‘Metropolis’
Lee Tracy/Isaac Manning ‘Love Is Everything’
Lee Scott Ft. Sly Moon ‘THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT, THE LESS I CARE’
Voice Actor ‘Battling Dust’
Juga-Naut ‘To The Table’
Ernesto Djédjé ‘Nini’
Liraz ‘Mimiram’
Mehmet Aslan/Niño de Elche ‘Tangerine’
Underground Canopy ‘Space Gems’
Valentina Magaletti ‘Low Delights’
Carl Stone ‘Sasagin’
Tau & The Drones Of Praise ‘Bandia’
Keep Shelly In London Ft. Sugar For The Pill ‘Don’t Want Your Romance’
Librarians With Hickeys ‘I Better Get Home’
Una Rose ‘Partly’
Carla dal Formo ‘Side By Side’
Derrero ‘Long Are The Days’
Super Hit ‘Donde’
Rahill ‘Haenim’
David Westlake ‘English Parish Churches’
Cormac o Caoimh ‘Didn’t We’
VRï ‘Aberhonddu’
Tuomo & Markus ‘Highest Mountain’
Pitou ‘Dancer’ Dana Gavanski ‘Strangers’
The Zew ‘Come On Down’
Brona McVittie ‘Living Without You’
Brian Eno ‘These Small Noises’
Edouard Ferlet ‘REFLEX’
Rich Aucoin ‘Esc’
Puppies In The Sun ‘Light Became Light’
Short Fuze Ft. Dr. Khil ‘Love Letters To The Lost’
Loyle Camer ‘Speed Of Flight’
Ill Move Sporadic/Tenchoo ‘Amulet Chamber’
Atmosphere ‘Sculpting With Fire’
Ghoster ‘CRAME 4’
Clark ‘Frau Wav (Brief Fling)’
Verbz/Mr Slipz ‘Music Banging Like’
Jester Jacobs/Jack Danz ‘Opportune’
Darko The Super/Yuri Beats ‘Don’t Stay’
Open Mike Eagle ‘I’ll Fight You’ A.G. ‘The Sphinx’
El Gant Ft. DJ Premier ‘Leave It Alone’
Heavy Links/Luca Brazi ‘Complicated Theory’
Fliptrix, King Kashmere/Pitch 92 ‘Primordial Soup’
Shirt/Jack Splash ‘Death To Wall Art’
Smellington Piff/Ill Informed ‘Hard Times’

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Monthly Playlist: March 2022: Terakaft, Kick, Paten Locke & Edan, Koma Saxo…

March 30, 2022

PLAYLIST SPECIAL

Another eclectic spread of all the artists/bands/ensembles/collaborations that have piqued our interest, warmed our hearts and got us thinking during March, the Monthly playlist collects tracks from all the reviews, mentions during the last 31 days on the blog. There are also a number of tracks that got away, or we just didn’t have room for.

We have Matt Oliver once more on the rap control, picking another essential showcase of new hip-hop cuts from Your Old Droog, Fly Anakin, Juga-Naut, The God Fahim and Jesht. Plus a myriad of borderless picks from every genre imaginable; including tracks from El Khat, Koma Saxo, Big Thief, Sweeney, ASSASSUN, Crows, Alice Dreamt, Kick, Adam Walton, Kristine Leschper and plenty more.

THOSE TRACKS IN FULL ARE:::

Paten Locke & Edan ‘Fried’
Koma Saxo w/ Sofia Jernberg ‘Koma Krig (Ft. Lucy Railton & Maria Reich)’
El Khat ‘Djaja’
Terakaft ‘Jagwar’
Etienne Jaumet & Fabrizio Rat ‘Rive Opposte’
Big Thief ‘Time Escaping’
Tone Of Voice Orchestra ‘That Kind Of Day’
Pussy Riot w/ Vérité & Latashá ‘Laugh It Off’
Martha D Lewis ‘Dawn’
Sweeney ‘The Break Up’
ASSASSUN ‘Over Again’
Le Pietre Dei Giganti ‘Ohm’
Bleak Soul ‘Mundane, USA’
Kick ‘Sirens Never Sleep’
Nova Charm ‘Over.Loading’
Exociety ‘Good Grief (Ft. Rav, Kill Bill: The Rapper, Scuare & Airospace)’
Raw Poetic & Damu The Fudgemunk ‘Chewing Gum’
Fly Anakin ‘Sean Price’
Neuro… No Neuro ‘Take A Step Outside Of Yourself’
Mai Mai Mai ‘Fimmine, Fimmine (Ft. Vera Di Lecce)’
Your Old Droog ‘.500’
Flying Monk ‘Fuck The Fame (Ft. Axel Holy)’
Elzhi & Georgia Anne Muldrow ‘Every moment (Ft. Dudley Perkins)’
PLOP & JUNNU ‘Totnoy’
Tom Caruana ‘3000 Volt Scarf (Ft. Lee Scott & Jazz T)’
Psych Major ‘Peace Bridge (Ft. Jamal Gasol, Wyze Wonda, DNTE & Toneyboi)’
J Scienide ‘Danceteria’
Juga-Naut ‘Dressed As Myself’
V Don & Sauce Heist ‘Wray & Nephew’
The Other Guys ‘Crepes And Breaks’
Isambard Khroustaliov ‘Cryptoersatz’
Simon McCorry & Anthéne ‘Distant Glitter’
Leaf Dog & BVA ‘Devil’s Breath’
Stinkin Slumrok ‘SHOW ME’
Jehst, Confucius & Mr Brown ‘Daily Planet’
The God Fahim ‘4 Matic’
Nicolas Zullo ‘Strano Siero’
Chlorinefields ‘Finally’
The White Russian ‘B Child’
Shelterheart ‘Empty Pockets’
The Lancashire Hustlers ‘Happiness On A String’
David Åhlén ‘My Only Treasure’
Rodrigo Bragança ‘Third Walkers’
Fatoumata Diawara ‘Dji L’eau (Malian Movement)’
Amaru Tribe ‘La Serpiente’
Istanbul Blues Kumpanyasi ‘Keep The Lord (In You) – Live’
Papercuts ‘Palm Sunday’
Crows ‘Garden Of England’
Alice Dreamt ‘All Those Little Things’
Harry Christelis & Pedro Velasco ‘LD13’
Alex Izenberg ‘Egyptian Cadillac’
Bart Davenport ‘Billionaires’
Carl Erdmann ‘Turritella Flats’
Σtella & Redinho ‘Charmed’
Adam Walton Cloudbursts II’
Kristine Leschper ‘Carina’
Pjusk ‘Aftenblå’

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The Monolith Cocktail Playlist Revue: Feb 2020: Chassol, U.S. Girls, Juga-Naut, Pongo…

February 28, 2020

PLAYLIST
Dominic Valvona/Brian Shea/Matt Oliver

The behemoth Quarterly Playlist Revue is now more! With a massive increase in submissions month-on-month, we’ve decided to go monthly in 2020. The February playlist carries on from where the popular quarterly left off; picking out the choice tracks that represent the Monolith Cocktail’s eclectic output. New releases and the best of reissues have been chosen by me, Dominic Valvona, Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea and Matt Oliver.

The full track list is as follows:

A Journey of Giraffes ‘Into The Open Air’
Graham Costello’s Strata ‘Cygnus (Edit)’
Calibro 35 ft. MEI ‘Black Moon’
The Four Owls ‘Honour Codes’
Juga-Naut ‘Jackson Pollock’
Chassol ‘Rollercoaster Pt.2’
Dream Parade ‘Adderall’
U.S. Girls ‘4 American Dollars’
Piney Gir ‘Puppy Love’
November Bees ‘Pot Called Pan’
Joss Cope ‘Indefinite Particles’
Slift ‘Hyperion’
Martin Mansson Sjostrand Trio ‘Overkilghetsflykten’
Bob Destiny ‘Wang Dang’
Dueling Experts ‘Dark Ninjas’
TrueMendous ‘That Don’t Mean’
Confucuis MC ‘Look Deeper’
Lewps Hekla ‘Rose Gold Ruger Pose’
Pulled By Magnets ‘Gold Regime People Die’
The Dream Syndicate ‘The Regulator (Single Edit)’
Mai Mai Mai ft. Maria Violenza ‘Secondo Coro Delle Lavandaie’
Sad Man ‘Door’
Pongo ‘Quem Manda No Mic’
Ranil ‘Cumbia Sin Nombre’
Nordine Staifi ‘Zine Ezzinet’
Adebukonla Ajao And Her Group ‘Aboyin Ile’
Mazzi & Tac ‘Brackets’
Dillion & Batsauce ‘Self Medicated’
Elaquent & Chester Watson ‘Airwalk’
A Journey Of Giraffes ‘Poet’s Muse’
Jimi Tenor ‘Lassi Laggi’
Seu Jorge & Roge ‘Sarava’
John Howard ‘It’s Not All Over Yet’
Birgitta Alida ‘Closely’
Anytime Cowboy ‘Story Of Skin Island’
King Krule ‘Comet Face’
Brian Bordello ‘Liverpool Hipster Set’
Postcards ‘Dead End’
Zinn ‘Diogenes’
Mazeppa ‘The Way In’
Vivienne Eastwood ‘Hanging Gardens’
Village Of The Sun, Binker & Moses ‘Village Of The Sun’
Simon McCorry ‘The Nothing That Is’

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Rapture & Verse: August 2019: Ash The Author, Black Milk, Giallo Point, Juga-Naut, Kool Keith…

August 12, 2019

HIP-HOP REVUE
Words: Matt Oliver

The latest edition of Rapture & Verse has put itself forward for an ‘Old Town Road’ remix (#1 in the year 2056), but will not be writing any top 50 lists for fear of admonishment when omitting Morris Minor and the Majors. Some singles first: a whodunit tiptoe from Pitch 92 allows justice-serving Verb T and TrueMendous to catch a ‘Cold Case’, nimble, mean-streaked rhymes leaving no stone unturned. Four instrumentals from the mighty Chairman Maf are nice, summery and don’t ‘Muff’ their lines, cheeky samples warping the beats in the sun. DJ Shadow and De La Soul’s old skool autopilot guzzles ‘Rocket Fuel’, a simple, effective weapon held down by horn overtures moving overground: a nation of breakers, poppers and lockers can be found greasing their joints in anticipation. ‘It’s Not That Simple’ claim Pawz One and John Henry, when actually the opposite is true, giving the front row what they want across eight tracks like it’s a regular day at the office. Beats and rhymes for the win, getting straight into a gold-reflected groove. Celph Titled’s ‘Paragraphs of Murder’ is not a fuzzy wuzzy Hallmark card; fact. The more obvious answer is, head banging music in an invincibility cloak.

Albums

Anchored by the indomitable ‘Reeboks’, Baileys Brown stirs the pot so everything’s ‘Still Fresh’, in the name of accommodating a bunch of microphone herberts. Datkid, Axel Holy, Lee Scott, Dabbla and Hozay rise up to run their mouth and take advantage of BB’s background diligence, skimming the scummy but with buckets of fizz and a little soul stardust answering the title’s call, keeping the hottest point of the club within striking distance of a couch and headphones combo.

Live at the barbecue, Giallo Point and Juga-Naut make the grind look easy when heading ‘Back to the Grill Again’. For the most part GP is weighing up which yacht to rock rather than measuring you for concrete shoes, and Jugz’ designs on alt-opulence are ones listeners want to achieve themselves rather than being put off by claims bordering on the outlandish. Running through crews like a hot knife through butter, from now only order these cordon bleu beats and rhymes, a gangster gourmet with an all important UK garnish.

Apex’ twins Ash the Author, forcing the issue and leaving pauses for thought to leave you defenceless (“raps like Moe Syzslak, straight ugly”), and Ded Tebiase, a double bluffer on the beats seeking dusty sunrises through the blinds and spreading bad voodoo to make you jerk your head back. The pair haven’t got time to be messing about and have got you covered, in tune with the changeable British summertime. One for a shoulder-high ghettoblaster.

Taking the form of the staunch Chester P, The Nameless Project surveys the wreckage of the world, wrapped in yellow and black barricade tape. It reaches a conclusion of dislocated beats under extra terrestrial duress, and disdainful observations, hauled straight from the corner, that you better start believing quick. Uneasy listening where you daren’t touch that dial.

‘The Return’ of Sampa the Great is a mind, body and soul experience requiring complete immersion (clock watchers – this isn’t for you), the indigenous explorations and fearless art of performance making it more odyssey than album. Lead by that trickily playful, Bahamadian flow sounding like it’s chewing a ton of bubblegum ready to spew napalm, funk wrecking ball ‘Final Form’ becomes a bit of a one-off in a meandering, richly textured, provocative astro/political soul installation, able to slot in a rework of The Stylistics. A debut to have critics clamouring.

A new Kool Keith album, entirely produced by Psycho Les: ‘Keith’ is the album dreams are made of to some hopeless hip-hop romantics (Jeru the Damaja and B-Real pop in to propagate the fantasy). In the real world of 2019, it’s another day of the Spankmaster’s unmatched imagination running feral, throwing his “jockstrap to the critics” and in the direction of stocky Beatnuts fare that sides with the eerily vacant, and the sometimes peppy over the sleazy. ‘Holy Water’ doing Barry White is the headline treat, yet the album improbably goes about its business with minimum bother.

Superhero worship and hip-hop purism: birds of a feather, supremely executed across eight tracks by P.SO and 2 Hungry Bros on ‘American Anime’, detailing the vagaries of the respective scenes so both the nerds and the B-Boys can have their revenge. The mild-mannered everyman by day brings out the superpowers of beats, rhymes and managing the concept like its second nature, just like your favourite lycra clad centrefold.

Grieves’ ‘The Collections of Mr Nice Guy’ uncomplicatedly detangles affairs of the heart, including self assessment, before undermining the album’s title in a kindness-for-weakness dismissal. His switch in focus with no discernible change up, means eight softly bedded lullabies bite back and keep everyone interested and entertained, as well as being a perfect introduction to latecomers.

“A varied album documenting stressful trials, psychedelic endeavours, and copious inhalations of marijuana” – that’s the lowdown on YUNGMORPHEUS and Fumitake Tamura’s ‘Mazal’. Suffice to say, side effects may cause drowsiness, though in fairness the lyrics are as much as blunt as they are blunted, red mist over red eyes looking over an out-of speakers-experience that still manages a surprise sneak attack of Shadez of Brooklyn’s ‘Change’.

Ambitiously advertised as an EP, Black Milk continues to show he knows exactly how to work the sweet spot of soulful hip-hop with something to say on the album length ‘Dive’, never stooping low to conquer. A soundtrack for heat waves and cool for the eye of the storm, it’s that movement around and manipulation of sounds that sets him apart, not to mention his rhymes sitting between confident/authentic open mic night performer bringing with him a disarming bedside manner.

‘One Word No Space’ = no space for wasted words – standard procedure from Donwill, another expertly, effortlessly concentrated spectacle (35 minutes long brings the repeat button quickly into play). Soulful but with a kick (production from Tanya Morgan teammate Von Pea), laidback but with lessons to take from, it’s another backing track for a barbeque going long into the evening.

Posted by domv

Filed in Uncategorized ·Tags: Ash the Author, Baileys Brown, Beatnuts, Datkid, De La Soul, DJ Shadow, essential hip-hop, Giallo Point, hip hop, Juga-Naut, Kool Keith, Matt Oliver, P.SO, Pitch 92, rap, Rapture & Verse

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Albums of 2018: Part One: Idris Ackamoor to The Moonwalks

December 3, 2018

Selected by Dominic Valvona, Matt Oliver and Gianluigi Marsibilio.

The decision making process:

Being the exhaustive and eclectic set of features our (choice) albums of the year are, we know you probably don’t need to or want to dally about reading a long-winded prognosis of our judgement process. But here it is anyway.

Continuing to shy away from fatuous rating systems and ‘best of lists’, the Monolith Cocktail endeavors to offer a more visceral and personal spread of worthy ‘choice’ picks, with no album dominating or holding any particular numbered position – unlike most of our contemporaries lists, stuck with the ridiculous task, for example, of explaining why one album is more deserving of their fatuous numbered spot than another.

With no hierarchical order, we’ve lined our album choices up alphabetically; split into two features – A (Idris Ackamoor) to M (The Moonwalks), andN (Thomas Nation) to (Thom Yorke) Z.

All of our favourite new and reissued albums and EPs from 2018 are of course considered to be the most interesting, vibrant and dynamic of the year’s releases. But the best? Granted, to make this list you have to have made some sort of impact, but we’d never suggest these entries were categorically the best albums of 2018: even if that might be true. Instead our list is an indicator of our amorphous tastes, rounding up another year in the life of the Monolith Cocktail, and we hope, introducing you to titles and artists/bands that may have dropped below the radar or got lost in the noise of more commercial better promoted releases.

All selections have been made by me (Dominic Valvona), Matt Oliver and Gianluigi Marisibilio.

A.

Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids ‘An Angel Fell’ (Strut Records)

Serving a worthy musical apprenticeship from and imbued by the masters Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Cecil Taylor, the polymath musician, activist, director of The Pyramids ensemble and torchbearer of spiritual and Afrofuturist jazz, Idris Ackamoor once more makes holy communion with the cradle of civilisation on the lamentable An Angel Fell. Imploring a unified message, a connectivity, a reminder that we can all trace our ancestry back to the same place, Ackamoor follows up on ‘We All Be Africans’ with an epic sweeping album of Afro-jazz 2-Step ‘Warrior Dances’ and plaintive primal jazz catharsis.

Walking through the Valley of The Kings; sailing aboard Sun Ra’s Arkestra; conducting the empyrean; evoking Kuti’s Lagos Afrobeat jive; Ackamoor and his troupe traverse the mismia of a broken, corrupt world, delivering cries of anguish and auguers aplenty. Whether penning requiems to the gunned-down black victims of the US Justice system (‘Soliloquy For Michael Brown’), or in radiant prayer (‘Sunset’), they effortlessly and wondrously summon forth the leading lights of each musical genre they inhabit. Afrobeat, gospel, spiritual, funk, blues, future-past-present all come together in one of the year’s most important, enlightening and defining opuses.

(Dominic Valvona)

Ammar 808 ‘Maghreb United’ (Glitterbeat Records)

Throwing the traditional unwieldy Maghreb, before it was demarcated and split into colonial spheres of influence, back together again in the name of progress and unity, Sofyann Ben Youssef fuses the atavistic and contemporary. With past form as one half of the Bargou 08 partnership that gave a modern electric jolt to the isolated, capitulating Targ dialect ritual of the Bargou Valley on the northwestern Tunisia and Algeria border, Youssef under the moniker of Ammar 808 once again propels the region’s diverse etymology of languages, rhythms and ceremony into the present, or even future: hopefully a more optimistic one.

Jon Hassell’s ‘possible musics’ meets Major Lazer, the traversing adaptations from the Gnawa, Targ and Rai traditions and ritual are amorphously swirled or bounced around in a gauze of both identifiable and mystically unidentifiable landscapes. Mixing modern R&B, dub, electro effects with the dusky reedy sound of the evocative gasba and bagpipe like zorka, and a range of earthy venerable and yearning vocals from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria artists, Youssef distorts, amps up or intensifies a resonating aura of transformative geography and time.

Nothing short of visionary. Full review…

(DV)

Angels Die Hard ‘Sundowner’ (Jezus Factory Records)

Admittedly taking some time to grow on me, the Angels Die Hard combo’s Monsterism Island meets Les Baxter ethnographic phantasm of a remote Southeast Asian archipelago instrumental concept album, Sundowner, has finely unfurled its full magic: just in time to be included in the annual albums of the year features.

Imbued with a legacy of progressive, alt-rock, psych, exotica and post-punk influences plus Julian Cope’s Krautrock compendium, the Angels transduce and channel a cornucopia of styles once more as they soundscape the tropical island of Andaman. An environmental clarion call as much as a progressive rocking exotica, Sundowner is dedicated, at least partially, to the environmental tragedy of the plastic-strewn oceans.

Beachcombing a radioactive luminous landscape of musical opportunity, from bummer downers to mind-expanding space rock jams, these Angels expand their horizons (literally), on the band’s best album to date. Some ideas work better than others of course, but when they do get it right they produce some fantastic opuses of amorphous abandon. Full review…

(DV)

Any Other ‘Two, Geography’ (42 Records)

The story of Adele Nigro (Any Other) is made of beautiful songs originating from a desire to subvert a rather conservative musical culture, just like the Italian one.

2018 has given us many beautiful pieces, of the most varied atmospheres, but to find a compact and complete album in each of its parts, touch refuge in Two, Geography (42 Records).

The numerous collaborations that Any Other has collected, as a musician, in recent years, have been invaluable to develop, refine and embellish her poetics.

The sonorities of the album are very distinct, and at the same time loquaciously soaked by all the experiences brought on stage (or in the studio) during the year that is inexorably past.

With Two, Geography, however, there is more, Adele coming out with her head held high, they are not only beautiful pieces that stand out for their immediacy and vitality, but also the international character of the project.

Any Other’s work was immediately presented as something else, for depth and acuity, starting from that ‘Roger Roger, Commander’ or from the same singles who announced Two, Geography.

The simplicity in intertwining linear arpeggios, bright rhythmic lines and a voice, both delicate and particular, makes us immediately think of the disc in a different way, we immediately understand that such a sound must be appreciated with attention and in its various nuances.

Since the first bars of ‘Silently. Quietly. Going Away’ (the first work of Any Other) you could see her skill in shaping a song form as a real opportunity for musical and textual speculation.

The song ‘Capricorn No’ is a monument of modernity that comes on, not only for its immediate and deep style, but because it plays with the atmosphere that you can hardly expect from an Italian artist.

The work as a whole is a challenge, a part of a musical resistance, a progressive push in the sea magnum of ideas that too often settle down, even in brilliant artists.

Any Other is the 2018, the beautiful and fundamental face to make us remember that, all in all, this year went well.

(Gianluigi Marsibilio)

B.

Anton Barbeau ‘Natural Causes’ (Beehive/Gare du Nord)

Ian Hunter via Robyn Hitchcock via Luke Haines via Julian Cope, wrapped inside an enigma, the Sacramento born, Berlin-based, Anton Barbeau changes his style of delivery repeatedly yet always maintains an idiosyncratic ingenuity in whatever he does. The results of an aborted project under the Applewax banner, made in the run up to the 2016 US elections, Natural Causes is the reflective, more open antithesis to what would have been a far darker and mournful proposition. Richly melodious and halcyon, this most brilliant new collection finds Barbeau both transforming some of the back catalogue (for the better) and penning new glorious sounding maverick pop songs: The quality of which are cerebral, memorable, melodic but also adventurous and inventive.

Barbeau and a congruous cast of guests lend a touching caress to a songbook of contemporary surreal lyrical musings and love songs. Unrushed, even breezy in places but hardly lacking intensity, there’s an air of nostalgia in homages to the radio stations and DJs that first sparked interest in the young Barbeau on the Hunter fronts Tom Petty band finale Down Around The Radio. And with a nod to one of the music cannons greatest ever records, The Beatles Sgt. Pepper kaleidoscope, a stab at a popsike hit (a missing link from one of Strange Days magazines 80s halcyon compilations) is made with a song that was originally written to be recorded at the venerated Fab Fours’ inner sanctum of Abbey Road, with the quirky Disambiguation.

Fans of Barbeau will be once again charmed by his unique songwriting abilities, and those still unfamiliar with the inimitable generation X artist of renown will find much to love about his psychedelic pop genius. Full review…

(DV)

MC Paul Barman ‘Echo Chamber’ (Mello Music Group)

“Potent politics, funky lounge lizard off-the-tops and bizarre hypotheses, burrowing its way through the toughest of leather bound volumes to have you picking the bones out for weeks on end” RnV May 18

In many ways this is the consummate Paul Barman album, but it bears repeating straight off the bat, while trying super hard to not sound incredulous, that ‘Echo Chamber’ features production from ?uestlove, DOOM and Prince Paul (funky/sidekick status, from stoop to playground), with additional contributions from Mark Ronson (upping the ludicrousness with a tweak of The Ronettes’ ‘Sleigh Ride’), Masta Ace and Open Mike Eagle. That’s some serious string pulling from an explicitly cult concern only reinforcing his standards in lewdness and a smart Aleck riot act both downplaying and toadying a racing IQ (his relocation to Mello Music Group keeps him in his own lane as well). Ridiculous as ever with the dictionary and remaining a brilliant observer – see ‘Youngman Speaks on Race’, and ‘Commandments’ going one better by taking the Decalogue to Sesame Street and Biggie’s Bed-Stuy – Barman carries on making the longest of long shots with battle raps that’ll bamboozle and WTF one-liners that Jackanory or congress will sadly never benefit from. Bigger, better and geekier than ever.

Bixiga 70 ‘Quebra Cabeça’ (Glitterbeat Records)

Translating as the ‘puzzle’, Bixiga 70‘s latest album is a full 360-degree panoramic evocation (both joyful and lamentable) of their homeland’s African roots. Translating those roots, an ancestry that runs through many of the band members (some individuals descended from the Africa-Caribbean religion of ‘candomble’ for instance), Bixiga are also inspired on this journey by some of the highly talented artists they’ve shared various stages with over the years. Artists such as the Ghanaian highlife singer Pat Thomas, the Nigerian sublime traversing saxophonist legend Orlando Julius and Brazilian octogenarian star João Donato. Incorporating the lot they merge their brass-y signature carnival funk and shaking Afrobeat sass with cosmic voodoo, Afro-jazz and sloping funk.

The quality as always shines through on every track, with the visions and evocations of both Africa and Bixiga’s city home of Sao Paulo articulated by an energetic but also ruminating soundtrack of the tribal, funky, cosmic, tropical, gospel and ritual. The slave portal of Benin, further outlying deserts of the sub-Sahara and busy rhythmic bustles of Nigeria are channeled via the melting pot hubs of Brazil on the group’s most epic, ancestral and geographical straddling album. It only remains to see just how great it will sound live on stage. Full review…

(DV)

The Bordellos ‘Debt Sounds’

Brian Bordello ‘The Death Of Brian Bordello’ (Metal Postcard Records)

In a parallel universe the Jesus And Mary Chain never left East Kilbride; Julian Cope never formed the Teardrop Explodes; and Brian Wilson was in fact born in St. Helens in the late 1960s, and recorded all his opusus on a Tascam four-track, inspired by Mark E Smith. This alternative world is one the dysfunctional family circle The Bordellos inhabit. Probably the best lo fi rock’n’roll-meets-post-punk-meets-the-Spaceman 3 hapless band you’ve never heard of, the prolific group, headed by the patriarchal masthead Brian Bordello, have been luridly, sinisterly, laughably and pessimistically knocking-out their brand of disgruntled alternative yearnings for a decade or more with little attention from anyone other than us loyal fans – who probably need our heads examined in all honesty. You either get them or you don’t. And you could find some of their more confrontational dark humour (songs about the BBC killing John Peel, still loving the musical cannon of Gary Glitter, and on this album, Debt Sounds, some sinister predatory sexual allured shclock about Rolf Harris) too unsettling, even perverse.

Debts Sounds, in the manner of a Half Man Half Biscuit play-on-words, is The Bordellos low cost Pet Sounds. That may not be initially obvious. But stay with me on this one. Fashioned and realised by Brian from the band members and even affiliates, girlfriends and whatnots various outpourings and late night sessions into a most epic song book of unrequited love, sick love, obsessed love, compromised love, salacious love, and even some tender love – they excel themselves on the laid bare and touching ‘Spirograph’ and quasi-Beatles ‘My Life’ meets the hardened north romanticism of ‘I May Be Reborn’ (Take this for a line: “Every smoking chimney my Statue of Liberty”), Debt Sounds is full of great maverick performances and songwriting, made in a period of crisis, anxiety and manic depression. Ok…so more Don Van Vliet than Brian Wilson, but still a valid comparison.

Whereas will you hear odes, homages and eulogies to Jimmy Campbell and Faron’s Flamingos to a back track featuring vague indifferent shades of Thom Yorke, Cope, Velvet Underground, Red Crayola, Joy Division and the The Seeds? Nowhere that’s where. Brian Bordello’s Track-by-track breakdown…

Knocking out records on a whim, it seems inconceivable that the leader of the Bordellos has never actually released a solo effort until this year (and only a few weeks from the end of 2018). Paring down, enverated, Brian Bordello steps outside the family unit on his debut solo, The Death Of... Not expecting many flowers on that graveside elegy of a album title, Brian takes a sort of reflective pause and looks back on a litany of tropes that have come to encapsulate his resigned fatalism. With only a clipped, rough and unguarded acoustic guitar and his trusted Tascam for company, Brian pays tribute to rock’n’roll icons Eddie Cochran (again) and Mark E Smith (who Brain thinks should be canonised as a saint); wears his heart on his sleeve cooing songs about lingering memories of bunk-ups, unrequited wooing gone wrong and lost kitchen sink romances; and languishly but candidly weary sonnets on depression.

As lo fi as it can get, Brian’s most intimate, personal performances yet strip away all the caustic dissonance and fuzz to reveal his most brilliant songwriting. The Death Of is an often beautifully morose songbook that lays bare the talents of a true uncompromising outsider.

(DV)

Brace! Brace! ‘S/T’ (Howlin Banana)

Producing gorgeous hues of softened psychedelia, new wave, Britpop and slacker indie rock, this young but sophisticated band effortlessly melt the woozy and dreamy with more punchier dynamic urgency on their brilliant debut album.

Squirreled away in self-imposed seclusion, recording in the Jura Mountains, the isolation and concentration has proved more than fruitful. Offering a Sebastian Teller fronts Simian like twist on a cornucopia of North American and British influences, Brace! Brace! glorious debut features pastel shades of Blur, Gene, Dinosaur Jnr., Siouxsie And The Banshees (check the “I wrecked your childhood” refrain post-punk throb and phaser effect symmetry guitar of ‘Club Dorothée’ for proof) and the C86 generation. More contemporary wafts of Metronomy, Mew, Jacco Gardner, the Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Deerhunter (especially) permeate the band’s hazy filtered melodies and thoughtful prose too.

A near-perfect debut album, an introduction to one of the most exciting new fuzzy indie-pop bands of the moment. Full review…

(DV)

Apollo Brown & Joell Ortiz ‘Mona Lisa’ (Mello Music Group)

“Rugged but always smooth, reflective with a forked tongue…there’s a lot of comfort to be taken from the union of two opposing authority figures exercising supreme quality control” – RnV Nov 18

This duo’s mutual will to only work with the elite – Joell Ortiz as a member of Slaughterhouse, Apollo Brown extending his collaborative run after shared albums with Skyzoo, Ghostface Killah, Ras Kass, Planet Asia – is head start number one. Yes these are extremely experienced experts in their field who shouldn’t drop the ball, but 12 tracks, one emcee and one producer, two guests maximum, and everything absolutely finely tuned is still the best advantage to press home. A steadiness to both performances has BPMs instantly finding their sweet point so instrumental richness can build, settle, simmer and seduce, and vocals slip straight into the pocket housing an imperceptible line between recognition and vengeance. The introspection of ‘Mona Lisa’ pays respects with a feeling that it doesn’t pay to dwell, that while everything may be upbeat and secure – visuals of sauntering down a street and coloured in something like a high definition sepia – slippery slopes, with ‘Cocaine Fingertips’ the album’s most rotten apple and situations like the bittersweet resonance of ‘That Place’, are always around the corner. Another win for the seemingly indefatigable Mello Music Group as well.

(Matt Oliver)

C.

The Cold Spells ‘S/T’ (Gare du Nord)

Esoterically gentle and wistful, The Cold Spells debut long player is a gauze-y organic and ambiguous (to a point) affair of undulating ‘moss covered’ circuitry, folk, quintessential English psych, paisley patterned hallucinogens and Kosmische.

Communing with the ether, connecting with the psychogeography of their chosen environment – from the soft Wiccan with forebode travail of Thomswood Hill to the alluded-to abandoned mental hospital waste ground near Hainault -, a host of spirits tune in and out of the continuous, though (as we’re told) not in a linear order, flowing suite of laudanum imbued Victoriana lyricism and Beatles-esque melody.

A surprise package, quietly unassuming, the trio’s encapsulation of an age of ghostly memories – the ancestors inhabit the band’s present to address the here and now concerns of a troubled, unstable world – is magical and gently lamentable; a perfect evocation of aicd folk and pastoral esotericism, as beautifully plaintive as it is ominous. Full review…

(DV)

D.

Die Wilde Jagd ‘Uhrwald Orange’ (Bureau B)

Fashioning a mysterious ‘Clockwood Orange’ world of Gothic and ominous dreamscapes, inspired by and named, in part, after the studio it was produced in, and by both the 17^th century menagerie paintings of the Flemish artist Frans Snyder and the collected devotional Medieval period songs of the Llibre Vermell De Montserrat artifact, Die Wilde Jagd’s Sebastian Lee Philipp takes us on an eerie, cosmic and slinking travail through a throbbing sophisticated earthy electronic soundtrack. His musical partner on the group’s adroit debut self-titled experiment, producer Ralf Beck, is excused from the follow-up but lends out his extensive racks of vintage analogue synthesizers to Philipp, who transforms and obscures their banks of sounds into ghostly permutations, shadowy creatures and lurking, dancing and honking sonorous cries from a murky wilderness.

Uhrwald Orange is a classy imagined score, balancing cool, gleaming and aloof German electronica with menacing, nocturnal earthiness, yet also reaching for the celestial. One minute imbued with hints of Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Eno, Cluster, and Faust, the next slinking on to the Tresor club or Basic Channel dancefloor. In short: a most impressive album. Full review…

(DV)

Dur-Dur Band ‘Dur Dur Of Somalia: Volume 1, Volume 2 And Previously Unreleased Tracks’(Analog Africa)

A highlight in a catalogue of outstanding reissues from the Analog Africa label, intrepid crate digger Samy Ben Redjeb reprises the first two volumes of Somali fusion funk music from the legendary 1980s outfit, the Dur-Dur Band. Embodying a period in the decade when Mogadishu could boast of its cosmopolitan reputation – notably the European chic Via Roma stretch in the Hamar-Weyne district, a colonnade for café culture, cinema and of course music – the hybrid Dur-Dur Band moped up the polygenesis fever of their native city with effortless aplomb during their short heyday.

Saved from ‘tape-hiss’ and ‘wobbles’, remastered to sound the best they’ve ever sounded, these curious but above all loose-limbed nuggets successfully merged a myriad of Somalia traditions with a liberal smattering of disco, reggae (via the northern part of the country’s ‘Daantho’ rhythm style; an uncanny surrogate for Jamaica’s number one export), soul and funk. Mirroring a similar fusion thousands of miles away in New York, the Dur-Dur languidly produced an electrified no wave-new wave melting pot.

Split up across a triple LP and double CD formats the Dur-Dur Band’s first two albums proper, Volumes 1 and 2, and a couple of unreleased tunes feature on this, the first in a promised series of re-issues. Released originally in 1986, the first of these and the band’s debut album, Volume 1, has a rawer unpolished but snazzy sound that saunters, skips and grooves along with aloof coolness to sweltering laidback funk; opening with the wah-wah chops and a fuzzy organ stunner, ‘Ohiyee’ , which lays down a sophisticated but explosive spiritual dance floor thriller. Volume 2 by contrast seems a little brighter and tropical; beginning as it does with the dub echoed, Trenchtown pirate radio broadcast ‘Introduction’.

Going further than most to bring the sounds of Africa to a wider audience, the Dur-Dur Band release proved to be one of the label’s most difficult, as Redjeb tackled the geopolitical fall-out of a country devastated by civil war to bring us a most unique sounding and essential collection. Full review…

(DV)

E.

Elefant ‘Konark Und Bonark’ (9000 Records)

Emerging from the Belgium underground scene, with members from a myriad of bands, each one more obscure than the next, the Elefant in this room is a twisted agit-post-punk, boiler come forensic team suited troop of noise peddlers. Lurking around basement venues for a while now, the sludge metal and gallows Krautrock merchants have released a slurry of EPs but never a fully realized album until now.

For an album that grapples with Marilyn Manson, Swans, Killing Joke, Muse, industrial contortions and Germanic experimentation, Konark Und Bonark is a very considered, purposeful statement. Though things get very heavy, implosive and gloomy and the auger like ghosts in the vocals can sound deranged, there is a semblance of melody, a tune and hint of breaking through the confusing, often pummeling, miasma of artificial intelligence armageddon.

A seething rage is tightly controlled throughout, the sporadic flits and Math Rock entangled rhythms threatening to engulf but never quite reaching an overload, or for that matter, becoming a mess. Elefant’s prowling and throbbing sound of creeping menace and visions of an artificial intelligent domineering dystopia is an epic one. Arguably the band have produced their most ambitious slog yet and marked themselves out as one of Belgium’s most important exports of 2018. Full review…

(DV)

Bernard Estardy ‘Space Oddities: 1970-82’ (Born Bad)

‘Fragmented D’une Empreinte Magnétique: Rares 1966-2006’ (Gonzai Records)

Because sometimes you just can’t decide, I’ve chucked in two reappraisal celebrating compilations of the odd, curious, thrilling and kitsch flights of fantasy musical fragments/sketches/soundtracks/compositions from the late and most gifted venerated French composer Bernard Estardy. I can’t even claim that these are great collections, let alone the best albums of the year, but they’ve kept me smiling all year.

Nicknamed ‘The Baron’, the founder of the CBE recording studio (which he set up in 1966) collaborated with a host of famous French icons in his time (arranging, producing or sound engineering for Johnny Hallyday, Francoise Hardy, Nino Ferrer, Michel Sardou and Jean Guidoni amongst others), but found an unleashed creative freedom as the master of consoles on his own excursions and dream flights of curiosity. Enjoying a resurrection of a sort in 2018, in part down to his daughter Julie Estardy‘s biography ‘The Giant’, Bernard’s eclectic back catalogue, from the realised to cutting room floor, is being reissued or rediscovered by a new generation through a number of different labels, both in France and internationally.

Two such compilations swept me up in their bombast; the first an album that couldn’t be described any better than the title it comes with, Space Oddities, and the second, Fragmented D’une Empreinte Magnétique, a Gauloises hotbed of weepy venerated organ romanticism and salacious sleek soundtracks. The first takes library music to the stars and beyond on a sassy opulent voyage of esoteric cosmic discovery. Jazz meets deep space on a drum-heavy collection of mysterious thrillers, phantasms and exotic awe. Tracks such as the more romantic, flute-y glide in space blues ‘Slow Very Slow’ sound like they could have made it to the ears of Goldfrapp or Greg Foat. The second of the pairing frequents more Earthy realms, pitching gospel with Bacharach yearnings, sentimental laments (the torn love soliloquy ‘It’s A Lovely Day To Die’ sums it up perfectly) and the strangest of deep-chested sung French cowboy soundtracks (A very Parisian journey to buy your ciggies, ‘La Route Au Tabac’, is rerouted through a lonesome pine trail). Both are as brilliant as they are audacious; a refreshing escapism and proof of a unique talent.

(DV)

Evidence ‘Weather or Not’ (Rhymesayers)

“From the moment he draws first breath on ‘Weather or Not’, Evidence embarks on a masterclass” – RnV Feb 18

A meteorological masterpiece showing that it’s rarely sunny in LA, whenever it rains it pours, and that Evidence is always bringing the weather with him. Ever laconic but whose economy of words is always wisely directed and word association seems slight but cuts deep, Ev walks the streets with collar up and hands dug into pockets, seemingly always in search of a contentment whose elusiveness he’s fine with. This prolongs a character pairing the enigmatic with a spokesman calling it straight down the line (“things I never thought about, trying to be elusive in the process, get forgot about”), a wallowing wanderer with whiplash in the tale and forever in control of his destiny (feel the tempered triumph of the concluding ‘By My Side Too’). A spread of AM band forecasts, a splash of psychedelic epiphanies and head nodders that buck like a bronco from Premier, Nottz and Babu, plus some Step Brothers espionage from Alchemist, allow the Dilated Peoples man to find you: because ‘Weather or Not’, you can’t run, you can’t hide.

(MO)

F.

Flora Fishbach ‘À Ta Merci’ (Blue Wrasse)

The French music press we’re told have fallen hook, line and synth for the alluring contralto voice of Flora Fishbach, who’s 80s revisionist pop twist on chanson oozes with such sophistication that its difficult not to embrace. Fishbach picked up the album révélation award at the Le Prix des Indés for best independent debut LP, winning high praise and plaudits galore ever since. Looking to make a similar impact across the Channel, the ‘bohemian darling’ has just released a deluxe edition of her electro pop requiem À Ta Merci. That decision is more or less echoed in the album’s title, which translates as, “at your mercy”.

Featuring the original running order and a bonus septet of gorgeous live recordings, this aloofly chic, yet theatrical, and especially when performing, animated album recasts Françoise Hardy as a disco pop and electro swooned crooner. Effortlessly channeling the vaporous dreamy pining of Kazu Makino on the moon dust sprinkled fantasy title-track and ambient textured, synthesizer bass bubbling yearned lament ‘Un beau langage’, and a Gallic Alison Goldfrapp on the opening ice-y cool malady ‘Ma voie lactée’, Fishbach adds a French nuance and sensibility to the synthesized pop ascetic: a signature you could say that despite the revivalist backing of electronic drum pads, post-punk sass, Moroder arpeggiator, Rococo harpsichord and hi-energy is unmistakably contemporary and French.

With the momentum already building in France and with the recent runaway success of music press darling Christine And The Queens (who I personally find utterly dull) I’m sure the UK will embrace this sophisticated chanteuse. This is overwhelmingly a better, more fun record than Christine’s (or the name she’s now adopted, Chris). Fishbach has certainly impressed me enough – what’s not impressive about referencing the philosophical aloof quandary that is Rimbaud’s “Je est un autre” (“I am another”) on a tropical slinking crystalline pop song, Un Autre Que Moi (“Another Me”) – to recommend her as one to watch in 2019. Full review…

(DV)

Fliptrix ‘Inexhale’ (High Focus)

“‘Inexhale’ masters the art of knocking you down with a feather: the pugilistic psychoanalysis is untouchable” – RnV Sept 18

It’s a little disingenuous to say Fliptrix became the High Focus main man this year, given he’s the driving force behind the label and already has a back catalogue of textbook pen and pad amplification. What with the label’s ever bubbling pool of talent seeing Ocean Wisdom blazing all and sundry, Jam Baxter expanding his cult appeal and two late night smokers from Coops, ‘Inexhale’ could’ve played the holding role and sat in the pack. But with breath control putting a copyright on the title and not a single word wasted, it’s an album that will leave you levitating. Be that from his street level strain of spirituality – letting the sharp end of something herbal work him over, or thoroughly aware of the rights and wrongs of his surroundings – or from the velocity of what’s spat (‘Inside the Ride’ doesn’t and won’t ever flop). Then flipping what the surroundings suggest, and never getting lost in the haze even with eyes at the reddest, Fliptrix finds the perfect medium between headphone moments and smacks to the head.

(MO)

Fofoulah ‘Daega Rek’ (Glitterbeat Records)

Bustling onto the transglobal London and Bristol scenes in 2014 with their earthy and urban bombastic fusion of Wolof African culture and dub electronica rich debut LP, the Fofoulah ensemble laid down the template for the a unique adventurous sound. Though taking its time to materialize, four years on, the follow-up album hasn’t just moved on but supersonically zoomed into the experimental void; even an esoteric, spiritual one at times.

Daega Rek, ‘the truth’ when translated from the Wolof language of coastal West Africa, sees Fofoulah’s saxophonist, keyboardist and producer Tom Challenger transmogrify the original Gambian talking drum of the group’s shamanistic rapping lead Kaw Secka and the accompanying percussion and propulsive drumming rhythms of his band members. (All of which were laid down at the Real World studios). Secka would then reappear in post-production to record his half spoken/half-rapped protestations and observations; the results all re-shaped into a ricocheting lunar-tropical bounding dub cosmology.

Skipping and skittish in motion; pushing the envelope as they pay tribute to lost brothers (‘Kaddy’ pays 2-Step rhythmic eulogy to the late photographer Khadija Saye who died in the Grenfell Tower disaster), the visceral taste of home (‘Chebou Jaine’ dedicated to Secka’s cousin, who cooked the best national Gambian dish) and search for the truth, Fofoulah lunge into the electrified dub ether of sonic adventure. Full review…

(DV)

G.

Goatman ‘Rhythms’ (Rocket Recordings)

An amorphous exploration of world ‘rhythms’ as transduced by one the mysterious Scandinavian GOAT band members through a an arsenal of filters, modulators and oscillations, the debut Goatman suite blends its polygenesis inspirations perfectly.

Offering up magical and scintillating rhythms galore, from Kuti’s compound Afrobeat to a tremolo and laser bouncing variant of RAM’s Haiti vibe, you can expect to hear the venerable tones of gospel, jazz, reggae, psych and pure ethereal acoustic Kosmische on this sonic flight of fantasy. Earthy yet light enough to soar, this impressive experiment side-project channels its influences perfectly to conjure up new musical ideas. Echoes of GOAT are never far away of course, yet this imaginative take feels more natural, more organic, and above all, more soulful. A fantastic debut.

(DV)

H.

Jack Hayter ‘Abbey Wood’ (Gare du Nord)

Bringing light, or at least opening up a psycho-geographical narrative dedicated to the very edges of a largely ignored London postcode – so far out on the South Eastern outskirts as to be part of Kent –, an earnest Jack Hayter composes a yearning lament to Abbey Wood on what is his first solo album in fifteen years.

Hayter’s deftly played, with twangs of bucolic and Baroque folk, blues, synthesized atmospherics, Americana and reverent chamber music, multilayered songbook connects with the psychogeography of his chosen location. From songs about the Abbey Wood diaspora and its position as a gateway to the world to laying cooing elegiac wreaths to those unfortunate victims of the WWII Arandora Star passenger ship tragedy, Hayter produces a lived-in musical novel, rich with references, landmarks and peopled by those who left an indelible, if at times fleeting, mark upon this much forgotten or passed over postcode: their ghosts, no matter how small the part they played in its story, never inconsequential; remembered and written about with a certain gravitas by the erstwhile troubadour, who performs the most accomplished and brilliant of testaments. Full review…

(DV)

Homeboy Sandman & Edan ‘Humble Pi’ (Stones Throw)

“A banquet of slaps that will become one of your five a day, and ultimately year” – RnV Oct 18

If seven or so tracks are good enough for Pusha T, Kanye etc, then they’re an ample fit for this elite underground swashbuckler of a showdown brought to us by the matchmaking Gods. Having flitted around the periphery for what seems forever, Edan returns with some of his best, ear-piercing archaeology to date as he shifts the B-boy-psych continuum once more; and Homeboy Sandman, both revelling in getting in the thick of it and firing off missives as he’s swept along for the ride, gets off the wall (“see me looking photogenic in the Book of Genesis, waving off medicines”), yet reels off some of the realest in recent times (it’s still, and shall remain, all about ‘Never Use the Internet Again’, which stylistically is actually a bit of a left-turn). The feeling pervades that the pair are proudly gladiatorial, indulging in friendly, unspoken competition as much as fighting the good fight as anointed hip-hop saviours. Let’s hope the sub 30-minute running time means the door is open for a second bout some time soon.

(MO)

J. Juga-Naut & Sonnyjim ‘The Purple Door’ (Eat Good Records)

“Their usual, indomitable personas on the mic never skimp on Michelin-starred quality, and they still aren’t the ones to test if you think they’re pushing their luck” – RnV Aug 18

It’s an album largely based on elitist boasts, expensive trinkets and accessories and some pretty outlandish claims, but hey, these boys done good. Larger than life and living the playboy lifestyle making the ludicrous seem obtainable – you too can be a ‘Purple Door’ gold card holder – Juga-Naut and Sonnyjim transform the Midlands into St Tropez with a load of gala funk to make a red carpet entrance to, with just a hint of a twinkle in its eye like a felonious exile that has everyone’s backing. That said, you can’t live the life of a Rat Packer if you ain’t got the gab, and these two are no novices: the great suitability of their top table rhyme personas – Juga-Naut will have you believing every word he spits, Sonnyjim coming in dry and stonefaced yet smelling (and producing) like a million bucks – shares a love of all things gastronomic on the likes of ‘Duck Season’ that comes sweeping down a spiral staircase, while ‘Look Around’ takes a moment to act more tactfully, pledging family honour like a good fella. It might not be dining etiquette, but these two are pulling chairs from under the competition.

(MO)

Park Jiha ‘Communion’ (Glitterbeat Records)

Circumnavigating the globe to bring much-needed exposure to new sounds, Glitterbeat Records imprint tak:til gives a second wind to a suite of acuity serialism from Southeast Asia. Released originally in South Korea in 2016, the neo-classical musician/composer Park Jiha’s debut solo album Communion is given an international release by the label.

Inspiring what we’re told is a burgeoning Korean music scene (well, an alternative to the K-Pop craze), a chief progenitor of the movement Jiha alongside collaborative partner Jungmin Seo originally melded the country’s musical heritage with an eclectic range of contemporary sounds as the 숨[suːm] duo in 2007. Releasing the highly influential regional albums Rhythmic Space: A Pause For Breath (2010) and 2^nd (2014), Park and Seo crossed the time zones to perform at both WOMAD and SXSW. Congruously putting the duo on hold to explore a more ‘personal’ and minimalistic ‘musical vocabulary’ as a solo artist, Jiha dexterously balances the air-y abstract breathes of the ‘piri’ double reed bamboo flute, the searing twang of the ‘saenghwang’ mouth organ and the softly paddled patter of the ‘yanggeum’ hammered dulcimer in what is a dialogue between a dulcet calm, the meditative and an entangled dissonance.

Transforming Korean traditions into a more experimental language that evokes the avant-garde, neo-classical and jazz yet something quite different, Park Jiha’s tranquil to entangled discourse evocations reach beyond their Southeast Asian borders both musically and metaphysically into something approaching the unique and amorphous. Full review…

(DV)

John Johanna ‘I’ll Be Ready When The Great Day Comes’ (Faith And Industry)

More a mini-album, even 12″ to be contrary, the beautifully cooed, warbled and ached venerable I’ll Be Ready When The Great Day Comes is nothing less than an afflatus anointed paean to a higher purpose. Informed by the mystical cosmology of the Eastern Orthodox Church, John Johanna‘s spiritual blues-y and gospel rock’n’rock hymns are both diaphanous and mesmerizing, even hypnotic; recalling visages of Morricone, Fleetwood Mac, Terakaft, Dirtmusic and Wovenhand as it wanders a picturesque but troubled soundscape.

On the devotional pilgrimage, the troubadour of the most evocative, stirring country burr, switches between aching falsetto yearning to lovelorn cowboy on the Andes romanticised cooing, and from the ethereal to fraught, as he makes communion.

No two songs are quite the same, as the wooing rustic sits next to (what can only be described as) the holy desert rock fusion of Native Indian and Afro-beat title track, and Bossa shuffle meets Yonatan Gat raindance. It all congruously comes together in one most divine service. A minor masterpiece.

(DV)

M.

Marlowe (L’Orange & Solemn Brigham) ‘Marlowe’ (Mello Music Group)

“Both excel in never revealing what’s steaming around the next corner, even when you’ve grabbed your toothcomb for the umpteenth time” – RnV July 18

Another yearly round up, another L’Orange inclusion. North Carolina stands up as latest collaborator Solemn Brigham rhymes his ass off: weirdly, without necessarily feeding off what the producer is trawling, and helping create something of an odd couple match made in heaven. L’Orange sets the scene, usually a funky hoedown, a sample-heavy brouhaha anticipating a stand-off or a psychedelic neck-snap. As is his wont, there’s a narrative to be spun, or some simple time-travelling to be done where no two bops are the same. Brigham on the other hand, blurbed as “summoning the holy spirit of Big L” without getting sucked into the danger zone, just jumps in with a garrulous B-boy stance and goes for it. Without L’Orange surrounding him in a world of imagination, give Brigham a park bench and a ghettoblaster and the results would be the same. What he does guarantee is that you’ll be going back to what he has to say, and whatever the variables, the energy and entertainment (grounded surrealism?) never dips. L’Orange may have found himself an emcee to keep on retainer.

(MO)

Hugh Masekela ’66-‘76’ (Wrasse Records)

A most poignant and timely reminder of one of the true greats, the mammoth 66-’76 collection shows a multifaceted Hugh Masekela: The exile. The trumpet maestro. The bandleader. The activist. The colonial revisionist. The angry young man. But also the conciliatory. These are just some of the many faces of the South African titan of jazz and African musical fusions that can be found inside the latest essential collection of the late great polymaths’ back durable catalogue.

Put together especially by Masekela and his good friend, producer and collaborator on a number of projects together, Stewart Levine, just before he passed away at the beginning of this year, the three disc spanning collection features key tracks from many of his most iconic and experimental albums (two of which are included in their entirety). But what makes this especially appealing to collectors and fans alike, is that many of these albums were never officially released in the UK and Europe before. Progressing in the chronological order they were recorded, we follow Masekela’s journey not just musically but politically across his most formative decade and his partnership with Levine and collaborations with such legendary ensembles as the Hedzoleh Soundz combo. From the combined jazz and Township fusions of The Emancipation Of Hugh Masekela all the way to criss-crossing the transatlantic slave routes on Colonial Man, this collection is a sheer joy. Full review…

(DV)

(MO)

Brona McVittie ‘We Are The Wildlife’

With the lightest, most deft of touches, Irish songstress and harpist Brona McVittie embarks on a voyage of ‘psycho-geographic’ inspired encapsulations of a mysterious, magical landscape and history on her debut album, We Are The Wildlife.

Tracing the sonic contours of London’s urban fringes and the rural landscapes of Mourne, McVittie pitches her fluttery diaphanous harp-led songbook somewhere between post-folk and the cinematic – helped along in part by the drifting trumpet evocations of film composer Hutch Demouilpied, who’s contributions sound at times like Miles Davis Dingo transported to an Irish peat bog.

Her ephemeral harp melodies and phrases often feel like a breath or just the merest hazy lingering presence of the instrument, which might in some ways be down to McVittie’s technique of playing them all on the guitar first before transcribing over. It certainly offers a different perspective and technique. And it certainly takes this heavenly traditional instrument into even more mystical, accentuate abstract realms, helped of course by an accompaniment of meadow flute (Keiron Phelan), sad bowed delicate strings (Richard Curran), searching fleeting slide-guitar and shuffling to full-on breakbeat drums (Myles Cochran). All of which amorphously pushes the often-ancient feelings and geography towards John Martyn and Bert Jansch one minute, towards the Incredible String Band or trip-hop the next.

Played with the lightest of touches, McVittie’s wildlife and Celtic inspired filmscape subtly crafts tradition into a cerebral suite of neo-classical and ambient folk. We Are The Wildlife is the most inviting and unique of debuts. Full review…

(DV)

Minyeshu ‘Daa Dee’ (ARC Music)

From the tentative first steps of childhood to the sagacious reflections of middle age, the sublime Ethiopian songstress Minyeshu Kifle Tedla soothingly, yearningly and diaphanously articulates the intergenerational longings and needs of belonging on her epic LP, Daa Dee.

Minyeshu left her native Ethiopia in 1996, but not before discovering and then learning from such acolytes as the doyen of the country’s famous Ethio-Jazz scene, Mulatu Astatke, and the choreographer Tadesse Worku and singers Mahmoud Ahmed, Tilahun Gessesse and Bizunesh Bekele. First moving to Belgium and then later to the Netherlands, the burgeoning star of the Ethiopian People To People music and dance production has after decades of coming to terms with her departure finally found a home: a self-realization that home wasn’t a geographical location after all but wherever she felt most comfortable and belonged:“Home is me!”

Evoking that sense of belonging and the theme of roots, but also paying a tribute and lament to the sisterhood, Minyeshu conveys with a sauntering but sorrowful jazzy blues vibe not only the burden and grind of daily life for many of her compatriots back home in the tumultuous climate of a fragmented and often chaotic Ethiopia, but also the joy of song and togetherness.

Not only merging geography but musical styles too, the Daa Dee LP effortlessly weaves jazz (both Western and Ethiopian) R&B, pop, dub, the theatrical, and on the cantering to lolloping skippy ‘Anteneh (It Is You?)’, reggae. Piano, strings and brass mix with the Ethiopian wooden washint flute and masenqo bowed lute to create an exotic but familiar pan-global sound. Minyeshu produces a masterful heartwarming, sometimes giddy, swirling testament that is exciting, diverse and above all else, dynamic. Her voice is flawless, channeling various journeys and travails but always placing a special connection to and emphasis on those special roots. Full review…

(DV)

Moonwalks ‘In Light (The Scales In The Frame)’ (Stolen Body Records)

At least geographically close to the spirit of the Motor City, if generations apart, Detroit’s Moonwalks brood in the shadows of the counterculture doyens that made it such an infamous breeding ground for snarling attitude garage, psych and acid rock in the 60s and early 70s.

Transitioning, so we’re told, from ad hoc abandon warehouse performances as a diy glam psych rock troupe to experimental space rock stoners, spiraling in a vaporous gauzy vortex of 80s British Gothic and acid shoegaze influences, the Moonwalks make a certain dynamic progression on their second full length album, In Light.

Sometimes they sound like a black magic rites Byrds and at others like a doomed The Glass Family on a bum ride. Their curtain call, The Joy Of Geraniums, is the most odd song of all; taking the Moonwalks into a whistling led peyote-induced trip to the Mojave Desert.

Vocally malaise the voices waft between Siouxsie Sioux, Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell. Of course it fits the nebulous cosmic doom and dreamy psych style of the group perfectly; ambiguously drifting through magical rites and sulky pretensions aplenty. Full review…

(DV)

Posted by domv

Filed in Uncategorized ·Tags: 2018, Afrobeat, albums of 2018, Albums of the year, ammar 808, An Angel Fell, analog africa, Angels Die Hard, Anton Barbeau, Any Other, Apollo Brown, Bernard Estardy, best albums, best music, Bixiga 70, Blues, Brace! Brace!, Brona McVittie, bureau b, debt sounds, Die Wilde Jagd, dominic valvona, dub, Electronica, Elefant, Evidence, Fofoulah, Folk, French pop, funk, Gambia, garage, Gare du Nord, Gianluigi Marisibilio, Glitterbeat Records, Goatman, gospel, harp, Homeboy Sandman and Edan, Hugh Masekela, Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids, indie, Jack Hayter, jazz, Jezus Factory, Joell Ortiz, John Johanna, Juga-Naut, Julian Cope, Konark Und Bonark, kosmische, lo fi, Matt Oliver, Monolith Cocktail, Moonwalks, Natural Causes, no wave, Park Jiha, paul barman, pop, psychedelic, punk, Somalia, Sonnyjim, spiritual, Spiritual Jazz, Stolen Body Records, Strut Records, Sun Ra, sundowner, the bordellos, The Cold Spells, the dur-dur band, Uhrwald Orange

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January 6, 2025

Blockhead – Mortality is Lit! (Future Archive)

Doctor Zygote – Beats to Use (B/C)

Jon Phonics – Say Less (B/C)

Nappa – Midnight Music (First Word)

Spectacular Diagnostics – If You Feel Like You Lost a Soul (Blah)

Brother Ali & unJUST– Love & Service (Travelers Media LLC)

Common & Pete Rock – The Auditorium Volume 1 (Lorna Vista)

Conway the Machine – Slant Face Killah (Drumwork Music Group)

Dead Players – Faster than the Speed of Death (High Focus)

Desert Camo – Desert Camo (Old Soul)

Essa & Pitch 92 – Resonance (First Word)

Gangrene – Heads I Win, Tails You Lose (ALC Records)

Juga-Naut & Mr Brown – Relative to Craft (We Stay True)

Lupe Fiasco – Samurai (1st & 15th)

Marv Won – I’m Fine Thanks For Asking (Mello Music Group)

Midnight Sons – Money Has No Owners (Chong Wizard)

Mopes – Deadowbrook (Strange Famous)

Moses Rockwell & Plain Old Mike – Regular Henry Sessions (HipNott)

Pastense – Sidewalk Chalk, Parade Day Rain (Uncommon Records)

Revival Season – Golden Age of Self Snitching (Heavenly Recordings)

Vincent, The Owl & Nick Catchdubs – 100 Proof (Fool’s Gold)

Vitamin G & Mr Slipz – Prophet of Doom (High Focus)

Wish Master & Kong the Artisan – His Story (Noel & Poland)

Your Old Droog – Movie (Rem-U-Lak Records)

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November 29, 2024

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February 29, 2024

Let’s keep this short and get straight to the action, with the musical journey we’ve created for you. From the Monolith Cocktail TEAM (that’s me, Dominic Valvona, plus Matt Oliver and Brian Bordello Shea) all the choice music from February on one exceptional, eclectic playlist.

:::TRACKLIST:::

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December 12, 2022

A.

Anthéne & Simon McCorry ‘Mind Of Winter’ (Hidden Vibes) Dominic ValvonaReview

Seigo Aoyama ‘Prelude For The Spring’ (Audiobulb) DVReview

Armstrong ‘Happy Graffiti’ Brian ‘Bordello’ SheaReview

Yara Asmar ‘Home Recordings 2018-2021’ (Hive Mind) DVReview

Avalanche Kaito ‘S-T’ (Glitterbeat) DVReview

Avantdale Bowling Club ‘TREES’ Andrew C. Kidd

B.

Caterina Barbieri ‘Spirit Exit’ (Warp Records) ACKReview

Jam Baxter ‘Fetch the Poison’ (Blah) Matt Oliver

Oliver Birch ‘Burning Daylight’ BBSReview

Ｂｌａｃｋ Ｍｅｓａ ‘Research Facility’ (猫 シ Corp. ‘Selected Works’) ACK

Brigitte Beraha ‘Blink’ DVReview

Brian Bordello ‘Cardboard Box Beatles’ (Metal Postcard Records) DVReview

The Bordellos ‘Ronco Revival Sound’ (Metal Postcard Records) Graham DomainReview

Boycalledcrow ‘Wizards Castle’ (Waxing Crescent Records) BBSReview

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) DVReview

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) DVReview

Clouds in a Headlock ‘Breakfast in Phantasia’ (Offkiltr/Fat Beats) MO

Julian Cope ‘England Expectorates’ BBSLink

D.

The Dark Jazz Project ‘S-T’ (Irregular Frequencies) DVReview

Aftab Darvishi ‘A Thousand Butterflies’ ACKReview

The Difference Machine ‘Unmasking the Spirit Fakers’ (Full Plate) MOReview

Ferry Djimmy ‘Rhythm Revolution’ (Acid Jazz) DV

Matt Donovan ‘Habit Formation’ DVReview

The Doomed Bird Of Providence ‘A Flight Across Arnham Land’ DV/BBSReview

Dubbledge ‘Ten Toes Down’ (Potent Funk) MOReview

E.

Eamon The Destroyer ‘A Small Blue Car – Re-made/Re-modelled’ (Bearsuit Records) BBSReview

El Khat ‘Albat Alawi Op​.​99’ (Glitterbeat) DVReview

Kahil El’Zabar Quartet ‘A Time For Healing’ (Spiritmuse) DV

Roger Eno ‘The Turning Year’ (Deutsche Grammophon) GDReview

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) DVReview

Flat Worms ‘Live In Los Angeles’ (Frontier Records) DVReview

Forest Robots ‘Supermoon Moonlight Part Two’ (Subexotic) DVReview

Nick Frater ‘Aerodrome Motel’ (Big Stir Records) BBSReview

Lupe Fiasco – Samurai (1^st & 15^th)

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

Caterina Barbieri ‘Spirit Exit’ (Warp Records) ACK
Review

Oliver Birch ‘Burning Daylight’ BBS
Review

ＢｌａｃｋＭｅｓａ ‘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

Brown Calvin ‘dimension//perspective’ (AKP Recordings) DV
Review

**Loyle Carner ‘Hugo’ (EMI) MO**

Claude ‘A Lot’s Gonna Change’ (American Dreams) DV
Review

Julian Cope ‘England Expectorates’ BBS
Link

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

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

Eamon The Destroyer ‘A Small Blue Car – Re-made/Re-modelled’ (Bearsuit Records) BBS
Review

El Khat ‘Albat Alawi Op.99’ (Glitterbeat) DV
Review

Roger Eno ‘The Turning Year’ (Deutsche Grammophon) GD
Review

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

Mike Gale ‘Mañana Man’ DV
Premiere

Dana Gavanski ‘When it Comes’ (Full Time Hobby / Flemish Eye) GD
Review

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

Healing Force Project ‘Drifted Entities Vol. 1’ (Beat Machine Records) DV
Review

Sven Helbig ‘Skills’ (Modern Recordings) DV
Review

Houseplants ‘II’ (Win Big Records) DV
Review

John Howard ‘From The Far Side Of A Miss’ (Kool Kat) DV
Review

Kamikaze Palm Tree ‘Mint Chip’ (Drag City) BBS
Review

Kick ‘Light Figures’ (Anomic Records/Dischi Sottoernnei/Sour Grapes) DV
Review

Evan Kertman ‘Rancho Shalom’ (Perpetual Doom) BBS
Review

Labelle ‘Éclat’ (Infiné) DV
Review

The Legless Crabs ‘Always Your Boy’ (Metal Postcard Records) BBS
Review

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

PLAYLIST
Dominic Valvona/Brian Shea/Matt Oliver