25 for 25: an alternative hip-hop retrospective
December 17, 2025
Matt Oliver’s Choice Hip-Hop Releases of 2025
Armand Hammer & The Alchemist ‘Mercy’ (Backwoodz Studioz)
Armand Hammer = uncommon carnage and luxuriously slow violence, where “everything justified when you’re starving, right?” Challenging Alchemist time signatures give the MPC twisted blood, finding the unfazed ELUCID and billy woods counteracting with formidable, structurally-dismissive street riddles and artisan rambling from beyond off-the-top. In a game of who’ll blink first, a band of drizzly soft rock head nodders (‘Peshawar’ and ‘Calypso Gene’ reflecting ALC’s work on Evidence’s ‘Unlearning Vol.2’), turn the page in a surreal, open-ended world filtering between pure, “aura matte black” menace, Alchemist looping on his merry way and a kind of spectral connection/disconnect (‘Nil By Mouth’ and the magnificently dead of night ‘Crisis Phone’), as if ELUCID and billy woods are occupying disembodied mid-regeneration. Riding designer gangsterisms into town with bulletooth brainteasers where “every story tell a story that’s already been told” and barely allowing any breathing space, Mercy is a tour de force, probably reaching unexpected new levels of notoriety.
Batsauce ‘Echolocation’ (Full Plate)
Apollo Brown ‘Elevator Music’ (Escapism)
Lord Finesse ‘The SP 1200 Project: Sounds & Frequencies in Technicolor’ (Coalmine)
Leading the instrumental set this year, classy head nods and hip-hop time-outs from Florida’s bespoke Mexico-crossing beat director Batsauce red-carpets an instrumental set waiting for a soundtrack call-up. Echolocation darts between suited-and-booted scenarios, that even with the wind in its hair and its cufflinks checked, like the casting of a retro Bond who wants a Blaxploitation assignment via some folky replenishment, doesn’t forget the requisite thump of the breaks.
‘Elevator Music’ doesn’t do the creamy, calming creations of Apollo Brown any disservice; it’s his long established craftsmanship and detail, politely shushing vocals (few would be worthy of having the mic passed to them anyway – Bronze Nazareth a worthy accomplice on July’s collaborative LP ‘Funeral for a Dream’). Summoning the fading of summer with autumn leaves paving the way, whispered realisations of it being better to have loved and lost than not at all, and palm tree flutters found in finessed keys, this is a resplendently solemn, Michigan state of mind.
Legendary Bronx boardsmith and Diggin in the Crates PhD Lord Finesse keeps the boom bap simple and uncluttered with his weapon of choice, not forgetting the omnipotent sleigh-bell and horn stab combo that any emcee worth their salt sought out in the 90s. The SP1200 Project lets its warm elements breathe in the fresh air of the streets, creating smooth joints and vibes that cliques will want to huddle around and call their own, and whose exclamation points snap on instrumentals for cold calculations and dramatic entrances. Both a preservation and cracking open of a boom bap time capsule.
BlackLiq & Dub Sonata ‘Much Given Much Tested’ (Dub Sonata)
Blackliq has got prime previous with Monolith Cocktail after 2023’s Choice Is A Chance and The Lie, that mercilessly intelligent cackle-drawl from Virginia (‘I’m not a musician, I’m a conduit’) pulling New York’s Dub Sonata into his orbit. Production regularly resembles a marching orchestra bundled down the wrong side of the tracks, thrust down mystical rabbit holes. While ’10 Black Commandments’ is a smart re-up of Biggie’s classic shopping list to live by, the key here is the ferocity of rhymes that are comfortable in loosening the armour. ‘Traumatized’, ‘Me Too’ and ‘The Ride’ put everyone on an even footing, and ‘Rockwood’, with a combustible mixture of pride, defiance and bitterness, reminisces on the crest of sweeping black & white movie strings. Rugged, ruthless (the title track issues the mother of all bruises) and with rich trains of thought, Blackliq going for self ends up as catharsis everyone can tap into.
Black Milk & Fat Ray ‘Food of the Gods’ (Computer Ugly)
Detroit dream team business overdue a re-up after 2008’s The Set Up, Food of the Gods is ripe for metaphors about being a feast of beats and rhymes. And rightly so, with that Fat Ray stare down, fuck-around-and-find-out flow, and Black Milk’s production that’s customarily funk & soul-rich. An anxious patina runs through the LP’s early stages, before the Gods open the throttle (literally, on the road-ready ‘CANE’) and pop the cork so that swirls of colour mingle with record crate dust catching the light. Milk’s expressiveness and Ray’s staunch stance, elevated further (while inversely feeling looser) during the album’s latter stages, brokers a laser-like focus, as if every 16 is a business deal, reflected in the short 11-track time. Therefore, there’s no need for overcooking – just know the recipe and let it set, with Guilty Simpson, Danny Brown and Bruiser Wolf passing through a prize pick-me-up for your palette.
Buck 65 ‘Keep Moving’ (Bandcamp)
Packing 31 tracks into 50 minutes, prolific Canadian vet Buck 65 acts as someone whose thumb is constantly hovering above the pause button in the hope his mixtape can become local currency. Dressed in old skool garb (more a Beastie Boys tracksuit than a gold chain and fat laces) and where keeping it real reflects the joy of receiving a Bandcamp payment – also seeing his leftfield standing way off into the distance – it’s no problem that some of the samples and breaks you’d have heard umpteen times before. The craft of Buck’s transitions is twofold: there’s the undeniable funkiness of his sub two-minutes throwdowns, and his unphased, Ugly Duckling-meets-Paul Barman nerdiness (“hip but I’m not pelvic…I’m Robin Hood giving the nerds their lunch money back”), knowing when rhymes need a natural full stop and pause for thought after racking up rat-a-tat word associations. Always engaging, Keep Moving does indeed make you wonder where’s he gonna turn next.
Cappo ‘Houses’ (Plague)
Cappo’s subtle advancement of the art continues. In the aftermath of STARVE and Canon, Houses has Nottingham’s elite kitchen sink dramatist rhyming, daft as it sounds, more from A to B (though no less expressively or bloody-mindedly, as he does on the bit-between-teeth follow-up ‘ITO’), rather than going off on name-dropping tangents. Understandably so perhaps, given the gravity of the subject matter in this ode to domesticity and its surrounding killjoys. Sleepless nights, debt collectors, personal loss, striving to defeat stacked odds, provider’s pride and just ‘being’, and where the overlapping of all of these activates the closing in of walls – the ghosts seem to talk back on the greasily uneasy ‘Will We’. Ultimately, the need to have backbone and staying power to see things through is never in doubt, over suitably pensive, wary production. Coupled with some excellent HMRC-themed packaging and promo from Plague, Cappo continues to preserve his national treasure status.
Confucius MC & Bastien Keb ‘Songs for Lost Travellers’ (Native Tribe)
A definite hip-hop outlier in this list but all the better for it, a folky; lute-plucking, through-the-looking-glass rumination whose deep sighs and woodwind washes nullify outside noise while relaying being burdened and battered by it. Confucius MC’s always nice, levelheaded South London pen game allows the cradle-rocking narration of gentle lullabies (‘Little Man’) to become easily transferable to the grit of the screen-burnt real world (‘Fairytale’ finding itself “taught between the lines and the margins: life really is quite a sentence”; ‘Question Or Consume’ finding idylls pulled from under). Midlands Midas Bastien Keb sends you to catch Zs (‘It Would Speak’), his fantastical micro concertos and sub-Tolkien worlds conversely challenging you to a spiritual, danger-laden quest attached to “the burden of a heavy chain, the urgency of heavy shame”. The cocooned hush slowly develops into a more of a jazzy, beat-lead murmur, without the pretention of a poetry slam or coffee house special, as the pair craft a precious sonic compass.
Crimeapple & DJ Skizz ‘Rose Gold’ (Different Worlds Music Group)
After collaborative albums Wet Dirt and Breakfast In Hradec (both referenced on the track ‘Trifecta’), this latest, consummate gangster experience from Skizz and the never static Crimeapple is beautifully tailored as an NYC’s kingpin day-to-day – heads will roll, and stylishly so, with conviction always trumping the ostentatious. With the audacity to interpolate R Kelly (‘Taste Like Butter’) Lisa Stanfield-Notorious BIG (‘Congratulations’) and what we’re pretty sure is Skizz messing about with Wings’ ‘Jet’ on ’97 Tape Master’ – and steadfastly meaning it – Rose Gold represents cold-veined composure when there’s panic in the streets, but where there’s always time for a punchline for that extra chef’s kiss of respect. ‘Paradigms’ runs rampant, hook-less rhymes to destroy ciphers like drug rings, crystallising that subhuman/beyond emotion strand of focus that won’t stutter, but project the voice. As both promote the quiet storm ethic amidst the Blaxploitation resets, the pair then take it to the church on ‘The Pastor’s Whip’ as Rose Gold racks up the carats.
Defcee & Parallel Thought ‘Other Blues’ (Parallel Thought LTD)
One of the coolest sounding albums of 2025 – deferred from 2022 – Other Blues humbly never sets out to achieve such Holy Grail status of electric relaxation. New Jersey duo Parallel Thought achieve this by glossy funk and soul that learns to see past the red carpet light bulb flashes with reverent mastery of the MPC. The conversational grown man rhymes and down to earth done goodness of Illinois 9-to-5er Defcee (‘You Still Rap?’ downplaying status by being “not even Chicago famous”) develop into lore without ever yelling at any clouds, getting front rows straining to reach out in appreciation of his clarity and pragmatism. ‘Graduation Picture’ is a storytelling what-might-have-been highlight, while ‘Beasts’ emerges from the happy-to-be-here dwelling to apply a sabre prefix to being long in the tooth. A road trip of carefree origins before home truths start hanging heavier in the air (nothing realer than ‘Big Sisters’), Other Blues is everything that the beats-and-rhymes bedrock should be.
doseone & Steel Tipped Dove ‘All Portrait, No Chorus’ (Backwoodz Studioz)
2025’s grungiest, most super-villainous flow belongs to doseone; but those who know their Anticon archives will understand how these things work. Seemingly burying his hissing, cackle-cracked flow under bedcovers by torchlight and then capable of twisting his jowls double-time, in a Hanna-Barbera-meets-death metal fashion, doseone has long perfected the classic of sermons being at their most haywire when all seems hushed (‘Went Off’), bending the leftfield to his will (“semantics steadily setting these idiots free”) and leaving nothing to chance on the eye-popping ‘Inner Animal’, sustaining a Busta Rhymes-Sticky Fingaz hybrid. With the shakiness of a Blair Witch camcorder, Steel Tipped Dove’s production dares to dream, strikes out with forked teeth, holds its ground, and recognises every variable is fair game in keeping up with/goading doseone’s mindstates. The mad scientist writ large on ‘Epinephrine Pen’, it’s uneasy listening, but All Portrait, No Chorus will definitely prise ears open, by fair means or foul.
Farma G ‘How to Kill a Butterfly’ (High Focus)
Still posing one of the most potent, be-careful-what-you-wish-for flows, Task Force’s Farma G challenges himself on the mic after a prolonged spell producing underground heaters and artefacts, making a bold call for album of the year in January. How To Kill A Butterfly is an enjoyably bruising experience, the UK hip-hop legend shrouding himself in a fog weighing the world down which turns everything on the brink of lopsided, while muscle memory maintains the straight and narrow (‘Bearskin Coats’, ‘Classic Tech’). A technician, of the mould seemingly rubbing his eyes from slumber but whose survivor instinct never dulls, is always enlightening in staring down struggles and close-to-home tribulations (“the all consuming battle between happy and sad”). The likes of ‘Say It How You See It’ encompass Farma’s rounding up of weary troops to offer a sense of rain-lashed, underdog belonging; and his way of floating like a ‘Butterfly’ is to swarm opposition into suffocation.
Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals ‘A City Drowned in God’s Black Tears’ (Phantom Limb)
The axis of provocation and punishment – but then you shouldn’t expect anything else from a title screaming that this is not a drill. Maryland duo and Kneecap-supporters Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals are pourer of fuel on fire with the sort of rhymes that are done tolerating the world mark 2025 (“the death of one man is a tragedy, the death of a million – is a statistic”). Conspiracy quashing and intense namedrops are all part of the game, but their loose canon nature (“alcoholic househusband, I was made for that”) is actually heightened by genuine moments of calm, sometimes pastoral reflection/dysfunction. Quieten the vocals, and you’re subject to a warped, cut-n-shut jukebox of clppng-like static and metal blackouts, with glossy R&B, psychedelic Bond themes, OutKast-like groove and folk acoustics. Showing moments of universal appeal on the theoreticals of ‘Sometimes, Papi Chulo’, the pair pleasingly offers as much intrigue and complexity as the obvious DGAF shock value on display.
Jansport J ‘West Covina Prayer’ (All Attraction No Chasin)
Hard at work as ever through 2025 with ‘The Weight of the World’ and ‘Hard 2 Hate’ bookending this ode to California, the evergreen Jansport J pushes a local feelgood factor bathed in West Coast warmth and well, coasting, as only the Golden State knows. J’s mixboard smoothness, where cruise control supplants hydraulics, throws in a handful of 80s throwbacks stark (‘T-Top’), glossy (‘Brown Suga’) and with water pistols cocked (EDF running the cook-out of ‘$100 Soup’), and works with a juxtaposition of swaggy emcees that won’t retreat to the shade – the heat only makes them work harder (West Covina’s motto is “live, work, play”, so it checks out). It also comes with a touch of danger when the LA temperature turns slightly redder and mistier, exemplified by album highlight ‘It’s A Game’ featuring AJ Snow & Polyester The Saint. Just over half an hour long, but well worth the visit.
Lee Reed ‘Pitchforks & Torches’ (Strange Famous)
“I don’t know who needs to hear this – but you’ve been warned”. Armed with the baying mob’s titular weapons of choice, veteran Canadian Lee Reed is the classic antagonist elect going against the world’s current negative, vegetative, corrupted and fat cat-rewarding state – from cost of living to the declaration that “this ain’t rap, this is class war” and then directing the placards on ‘This Economy’ – with an outlaw status sipping liquor neat and done taking no for an answer. The sound of vengeance from producer ripple-eh-hex is rock-n-roll brawl, bang-your-head ready with a little voodoo seeping in, and it’s easy to imagine Reed marching from town to town in a swirl of backwater dust and scorched vocals, pistols cocked and movement mobilised to the jangle of cowboy spurs. No pauses for thought or reflection, this is undiluted and unapologetic: just as the world likes it right now.
LMNO & D-Styles ‘Three Mimes & An Elephant’ (Perpetual Stew)
This starts with slightly American gothic/folky backwater production from Beat Junkies associate D-Styles, immediately putting this 10-track album down in the trenches. With an elephant’s turn of speed it then moves into funk delivered on the low, then into super catchy stripped back loopage, and then back again to tread on eggshells. Underground Cali stalwart and Visionaries alumni LMNO is the tale-teller whose solemn, soft-edged delivery doesn’t mean it should be taken lightly (‘Hip-Hop AF’ knows the ledge, issuing a notice to turn the screw). For when the backpack starts to weigh heavy – eyes of innocence or a thousand yard stare? – ‘Three Mimes’, featuring an appearance from the ubiquitous Blu, is an ideal after-hours soundtrack bursting into life and making the shadows dance. The lane drifts, continuing with ‘Bloody White Flags’, ‘Garlic Braid’ and its line of “diarrhoea of the mouth, it’s a vowel movement”, are unexpected sneak attacks beyond the first listen. Such more-than-meets-the-ear stage management creates an absolutely rock solid, cult listen for 2025 that’s “a masterpiece born out of catastrophe”.
miles cooke ‘ceci n’est pas un portrait’ (Rucksack Records)
2025’s slurpiest, most rottonous flow belongs to miles cooke; from the first bar the Brooklynite is great at plugging ears with cranky-to-put-it-mildly disdain on the Company Flow-themed ‘negus’, a flow baptised in dirty water or birthed in Oscar the Grouch’s trashcan. Beats get lighter and varied over the course of the LP, but cooke is not a horses for courses emcee, consequently creating a savage contradiction never skimping on syllables, as an antihero not in the business of sympathy (“just trying to keep the roof over my head daily”). The refusal to budge from his wallowing, worn down by his environs and American dreamisms so that his sneer becomes unadjustable, weaponise ‘sangria’ and ‘dismiss the fear of being you’ as two of 2025’s bleakest landscapes. It’s safe to say that you shouldn’t look at ‘…portrait’ the wrong way when cooke declares “I’m half altruistic, half horrible/but you won’t find me resting on my laurels”.
Mr Muthafuckin eXquire ‘Vol 2: The Y.O.UPrint’ (Old Soul Music)
While we’ll probably never get the sleeve to Kismet out of our head and some of the barbs on the self-titled 2019 album won’t ever be safe for work, Mr eXquire continues to quell the rage of moral panickers by continuing as an older and wiser Brooklyn headhunter. Not to say he’s downgraded to a PG13 status of adult situations, but as a leader (‘It IzwWhat it iZ’) rather than a pure troublemaker (living the most opulent gangster life on ‘Y.O.Utopia’), eXquire as ghetto Sherpa (‘The Magician’ might surprise you) hits upon one of the year’s most consistent albums in terms of no skips from first track to last. In a 43 minute ball of sweat, muscle and no little wit (the pure show and prove of ‘The Soloist’) over a funky clatter of beats from KRILL, MonkeyRad7, Griff Spex, Enoch and EV – with some bars still beyond pardoning – do as the man says: “if you want some understanding, then humbly, listen to me”.
Nacho Picasso & TELEVANGEL ‘Séance Musique’ (Last Epoch Records)
Put your hands together for Séance Musique’ Woozy with a capital ‘ooh’, Portland’s TELEVANGEL, who also came correct with Lord OLO on Demon Slayer 2 in 2025, absorbs the energy of irrepressible supersonic Nacho Picasso, whose husky wisps and horizontal, Lyrics Born-meets Mr Eon flow with a mouthful of munchies, delivers zingers by the dozen. Séance is cloud-sent, undoubtedly chill and will make your lights flicker, but through the smoke there are moments of vigilance (‘Skylar’), and Nacho’s snaking through the nooks and crannies with a preference for simple structures, is a stoner style you can still follow word for word despite sitting below the mix. ‘Toast to the Chaos’ typifies both Nacho working the axis of slack and locked on, and TELEVANGEL’s intelligent lacing of the psychedelic with sufficient anxiety. The burning of incense as a perilous pursuit is hammered home on the VHS imbalance of ‘Fly Ritchie’, featuring a surprising guest hook from Mayhem SAS.
PremRock ‘Did You Enjoy Your Time Here?’ (Backwoodz Studioz)
Of an arid drawl that barely looks up from the mic – engaging in eye contact is asking for a hiding to nothing lest he loom over you – New York’s PremRock would probably dismiss adjectives such as enigmatic and scoff at being labelled leftfield. Production from ELUCID, YUNGMORPHEUS, Blockhead, Controller 7 and more elevate their target, coming in off the beaten track with a degree of admiring lo-fi mystique smuggling a reserve of trip wires (‘Aim’s True’ sounds like Pandora’s Box being jacked open). PremRock perpetuates a recluse (“complicated man, simple needs” / “up Schitt’s creek without an either/or” / “hello darkness my old homie…you’re lucky I’m so low-key”) who won’t beckon you to come closer: so listen very carefully when he starts piling up syllables while barely giving himself a run-up (and usually within a three minute timeframe). The title may be rhetorical, but you’ll get lost in this one quickly as Backwoodz Studioz chalk up another victory.
R.A.P. Ferreira & Kenny Segal ‘The Night Green Side Of It’ (Ruby Yacht/Alpha Pup)
Aboard the good ship Ruby Yacht out of Nashville, Green represents the smoothness and disruption of jazz, a rash and a methodical finding of notes, partnered with chatting where the beats don’t go and the exacting precision of line and length. Segal’s clatter of free-jazz spitballing and the sheer fucking around of ‘Blood Quantum’, is embraced with a cocksure rebuttal of “can you find the difficulty in this style?” – the atonal and off-kilter deserving of Ferreira’s acute turns of phrase (“I emailed God once, reply came back from a Mailer-Daemon”). Showing-and-proving between feeling himself and look-what-I-can-rhyme-over, Ferreira owns the double bass dope of ‘Dazzle on the Casual’ and thoroughbred jazz hop of ‘Defense Attorney’, and has the underground pluck to chronicle the ultimate triumph in adversity of ‘The Night Dreamer’s Flu Game’. All shades of green are game when he poses conundrums and reveals fleeting vulnerability, detailing that “I’ve been everything from a poet to a punching bag, an inspiration to a coulda-had” on ‘Credentials’.
The Cool Kids ‘Hi Top Fade’ (Fool’s Gold)
Generational retro from Midwest MySpace graduates Chuck Inglish and Sir Michael Rocks. From the on-point sleeve to the title to their resumption of redressing low-rider music that they’ve been doing since 2008’s The Bake Sale, the pair still have the skills to back the B-boy stances. Drum machines locked in with monster kicks for your hydraulics (the unavoidably catchy ‘Rockbox’ – an open house party invite), interplays over jazzy recliners (‘We Got Clips’, the great ‘Cinnamon Pt.2’ flipping 50 Cent), and with more than a little mining of peak era Neptunes (‘Foil Bass’), their pick-up-and-rhyme styles bearing a slight Clipse equivalency, don’t always feel they have to lock together to form a single mouthpiece. Slick and willing to knock out frauds in a second, but also in it for a summery good time with a touch of 80s electro-fied flossing, ‘Hi Top Fade’ will cause a spike in ghettoblaster sales – “this not for airpods, you gonna need good speakers”.
The Expert ‘Vivid Visions’ (Rucksack Records)
This year’s one producer-extends-invite to underground emcee roster package belongs to Ireland’s The Expert, encouraging the everyman for himself ethos while attempting to sneak a unifying headswim through each track. From humbly funky beginnings, highlights are the prescription posse cut ‘Take A Trip’, the downright nasty, leather jacketed boom bap of Buck 65’s gangster geekin’ ‘What It Looks Like’, and the cop chase ‘Acid Test’ with its scraping, TikTok-ready percussion. It’s an 18 track whole or 18 individual stand outs without a weak moment to be found, subsequently leaving you poring over the back catalogues of the album’s contributors. Playlisters can separate from the psychedelic and the flat out, the long-gamers will revel in the back and forth of the full on and easing back. ‘Running’ provides the bridge, a slide guitar loop ridden by Andrew & Defcee, who then provides a closing, slightly more caustic commentary on ‘In The Style of Bigg Juss’. A vast yet compact collection, big on discipline and the disciplines.
Von Pea & The Other Guys ‘Putcha Weight On It’ (HiPNOTT)
A collaboration well versed in hip-hop fundamentals (see 2017’s The Fiasco), there’s much to appreciate about the quality and calibration of the loops laid down by DC’s The Other Guys – on the surface there’s nothing complicated about the funk, but then there shouldn’t be with the best snare-snapping, soul/jazz refitting boom-bap. This’ll sort stiff necks immediately in one chiropractor-sacking 32 minute appointment such is their complete measure of the MPC. Von Pea’s lyrical demeanour over this rugged luxury gambols down the street, passing through (and owning) as many street corner ciphers as possible, with a little singsong in his voice (‘Slide Off With Her Homie’) and call and response prompts at all the right points adding to his too-cool-for-school knowledge (“does music even exist without wi-fi?”) that packs a deceptive amount of heft (“don’t confuse my energy with meek, I’m making chess moves as we speak”). Add spots from Che Noir, Skyzoo, Oddisee and Tanya Morgan teammate Donwill and ‘…Weight…’ represents cracking pound for pound value.
Honourable mentions:
Open Mike Eagle – Neighborhood Gods Unlimited
TELEVANGEL & Lord OLO – Demon Slayer 2
J Littles & Kong the Artisan – Furthermore
Aupheus – High Artifice
Da Fly Hooligan – Nocturnal Hooli 2.0/3
sleepingdogs – Dogstoevsky
Brother Ali – Satisfied Soul
OldBoy Rhymes – Curly Head
Verbz & Mr Slipz – The Way FWD
Jesse The Tree – Worm in Heaven
Oh No – Nodega
Extras: Matt’s essential hip-hop soundtrack to 2025; 108 tracks that represent the last year in rap.
Matt Oliver
Our Monthly Playlist selection of choice music and Choice Releases list from the last month.
We decided at the start of the year to change things a little with a reminder of not only our favourite tracks from the last month but also a list of choice albums too. This list includes both those releases we managed to feature and review on the site and those we just didn’t get the room for – time restraints and the sheer volume of submissions each month mean there are always those records that miss out on receiving a full review, and so we have added a number of these to both our playlist and releases list.
All entries in the Choice Releases list are displayed alphabetically. Meanwhile, our Monthly Playlist continues as normal with all the choice tracks from October, taken either from reviews and pieces written by me – that’s Dominic Valvona – and Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea. Our resident Hip-Hop expert Matt Oliver has also put forward a smattering of crucial and highlighted tracks from the rap arena.
CHOICE RELEASES FROM THE LAST MONTH OR SO:
Bedd ‘Do Not Be Afraid’
Review
Joel Cusumano ‘Waxworld’
(Dandyboy Records) Review
Peter Evans’ Being & Becoming ‘Ars Ludicra’
(More Is More Records) Review
Will Glaser ‘Music of The Terrazoku, Ethnographic Recordings From An Imagined Future’
(Not Applicable) Review
Amira Kheir ‘Black Diamonds’
(Sterns Music/Contro Culture Music) Review
The Legendary Ten Seconds ‘Ricardian Churchward’
Review
NiCKY ‘with’
(PRAH Recordings) Review
Picniclunch ‘snaxbandwitches’
Review
Cosimo Querci ‘Rimane’
(Quindi Records) Review
Širom ‘In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper’
(Glitterbeat Records)
Striped Bananas ‘Eternity Forest’
Review
Sum of R ‘Spectral’
Tortoise ‘Touch’
(International Anthem X Nonesuch Records) Review
Vexations ‘A Dream Unhealthy’
(Cruel Nature Records) Review
Violet Nox ‘Silvae’
(Somewherecold Records) Review
THE PLAYLIST::
Howling Bells ‘Heavy Lifting’
Melody’s Echo Chamber ‘Eyes Closed’
Arcigrandone & Sone Institute ‘Ancide Sol La Morte’
Pray-Pax ‘Can’t’
Peter Evans Being & Becoming ‘Pulsar’
Petter Eldh Ft. Savannah Harris ‘MIDSUM BREW’
Myka 9, Blu & Mono En Stereo ‘Battle’
Jesse the Tree & Sage Francis ‘A Bad MFer’
Verb T & Vic Grimes ‘Distraction’
Elsio Mancusco & Berto Pisano ‘Nude per l’assassino’
Joker Starr Ft. AnyWay Tha God & Jazz T ‘Don’t Try to Test’
Summers Sons Ft. Ben B.C ‘Promises’
Sebastian Rojas ‘Pulmon Del Tropico’
Amira Kheir ‘Rabie Aljamal (Spring of Wonder)’
Oswald Slain ‘Cranberry Juice’
NiCKY ‘I Saw You’
The Legendary Ten Seconds ‘Bones in the River’
Edward Rogers ‘Astor Place’
Joel Cusumano ‘Death-Wax Girl’
The Stripped Bananas ‘Vampire of Mine’
Bedd ‘Paulie’s a Bum’
Legless Trials ‘American Russ Never Sleeps’
Vexations ‘Let Me In’
OvO ‘Gemma’
Sum of R ‘Violate’
GRABENFUSSS ‘Broken Kingdoms’
Cosimo Querci ‘Rimanemai’
Valley Voice ‘As Though I Knew’
Samara Cyn ‘vitamins n minerals’
The Strange Neighbour ‘No Mans Land’
Truth by Design ‘Stray Shots’
The Cool Kids, Sir Michael Rocks & Chuck Inglish ‘We Got Clips’
Dillion & Paten Locke ‘Always Never’
Sol Messiah & Connect The Dots Movement ‘Small axe wins the battle’
Tortoise ‘Works and Days’
Sirom ‘For You, This Eve, the Wolves Will Be Enchantingly Forsaken’
Violet Nox ‘Whisper’
Liz Cooper ‘New Day’
Sweeney ‘Silent J’
RULES ‘Run Boy’
Tinariwen ‘Chaghaybou – Adalan’
For the last 15 years both me and the MC team have featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world: ones 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 or interest in. 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 say thanks or show support, than you can now buy us a coffee or donate via https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail
Our Monthly Playlist selection of choice music and Choice Releases list from the last month.
We decided at the start of the year to change things a little with a reminder of not only our favourite tracks from the last month but also a list of choice albums too. This list includes both those releases we managed to feature and review on the site and those we just didn’t get the room for – time restraints and the sheer volume of submissions each month mean there are always those records that miss out on receiving a full review, and so we have added a number of these to both our playlist and releases list.
All entries in the Choice Releases list are displayed alphabetically. Meanwhile, our Monthly Playlist continues as normal with all the choice tracks from July taken either from reviews and pieces written by me – that’s Dominic Valvona – and Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea. Our resident Hip-Hop expert Matt Oliver has also put forward a smattering of crucial and highlighted tracks from the rap arena.
CHOICE RELEASES FROM THE LAST MONTH OR SO:
Alien Eyelid ‘Vinegar Hill’
(Tall Texan) Review
Darko The Super ‘Then I Turned Into A Perfect Smile’
Eamon The Destroyer ‘The Maker’s Quilt’
(Bearsuit Records) Review
Ike Goldman ‘Kiki Goldman In How I Learned To Sing For Statler And Waldorf’
The Good Ones ‘Rwanda Sings With Strings’
(Glitterbeat Records) Review
Headless Kross/Poundland ‘Split Album’
(Cruel Nature Records) Review
John Johanna ‘New Moon Pangs’
(Faith & Industry) Review
The Last Of The Lovely Days ‘No Public House Talk’
(Gare du Nord) Review
Lt. Headtrip & Steel Tipped Dove ‘Hostile Engineering’
(Fused Arrow Records) Review
Pharoah Sanders ‘Love Is Here – The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings’
(Transcendence Sounds)
SCHØØL ‘I Think My Life Has Been OK’
(GEOGRAPHIE) Review
Tom Skinner ‘Kaleidoscopic Visions’
(Brownswood/International Anthem) Review
Theravada ‘The Years We Have’
Ujif_notfound ‘Postulate’
(I Shall Sing Until My Country Is Free) Review
Visible Light ‘Songs For Eventide’
(Permaculture Media) Review
THE PLAYLIST::
Star Feminine Band ‘Mom’lo Siwaju’
A-F-R-O, Napoleon Da Legend, PULSE REACTION ‘Mr Fantastic’
Pharoah Sanders ‘Love Is Here (Part 1) (Live)’
Tom Skinner ‘Margaret Anne’
Holly Palmer & Jeff Parker ‘Metamorphosis (Capes Up!)’
Matt Bachmann ‘TIAGDTD’
Darko the Super, Andrew ‘The Bounce Back (Heaven Bound)’
Verb T, Vic Grimes ‘Anti-Stress’
Cymarshall Law, Ramson Badbonez ‘Emerald Tablet’
Datkid, Mylo Stone, BVA, Frenic ‘Poundland’
Verbz, Mr Slipz ‘What You Reckon?’
Theravada ‘Doobie’
The Expert, Buck 65 ‘What It Looks Like’
Lt Headtrip, Steel Tipped Dove ‘0 Days Since Last Accident’
Ujif Notfound ‘Postril’
Lael Neale ‘Some Bright Morning’
Alien Eyelid ‘Flys’
John Johanna ‘Justine’
Ike Goldman ‘Land Of Tomorrow’
Ananya Ashok ‘Little Voice’
Rezo ‘Nothing Else’
Howling Bells ‘Unbroken’
The Good Ones ‘Kirisitiyana Runs Around’
Jacqueline Tucci ‘Burning Out’
Dyr Faser ‘Control Of Us’
The Last Of The Lovely Days ‘Runaway’
Frog ‘SPANISH ARMANDA VAR. XV’
The Bordellos ‘The Village People In Disguise’
The Jack Rubies ‘Are We Being Recorded?’
The Beths ‘Ark Of The Covenant’
SCHOOL ‘N.S.M.L.Y.D’
Neon Kittens ‘Own Supply High’
ASSASSUN ‘The Sons Of The United Plague’
Pelts ‘Don’t Have To Look’
Visible Light ‘Purple Light’
Wayku ‘Suchiche’
Here’s the message bit we hate, but crucially need:
If you’ve enjoyed this selection, the writing, or been led down a rabbit hole into new musical terrains of aural pleasure, and if you able, then you can now show your appreciation by keeping the Monolith Cocktail afloat through the Ko-Fi donation site.
For the last 15 years both me and the MC team have featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world: ones 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 or interest in. 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 say thanks or show support, than you can now buy us a coffee or donate via https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail
Our Monthly Playlist selection of choice music and Choice Releases list from the last month.
We decided at the start of the year to change things a little with a reminder of not only our favourite tracks from the last month, but also a list of choice albums too. This list includes both those releases we managed to feature and review on the site and those we just didn’t get the time or room for – time restraints and the sheer volume of submissions each month mean there are always those releases that miss out on receiving a full review, and so we have added a number to both our playlist and list.
All entries in the Choice Releases list are displayed alphabetically. Meanwhile, our Monthly Playlist continues as normal with all the choice tracks from July taken either from reviews and pieces written by me – that’s Dominic Valvona – , Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea, and this month, Kalporz writer Samuel Conficoni. Our resident Hip-Hop expert Matt Oliver has also put forward a smattering of crucial and highlighted tracks from the rap arena.
CHOICE RELEASES FROM THE LAST MONTH OR SO:
Blanco Teta ‘‘La Debacle las Divas’
(Bongo Joe) Review
Lukas Cresswell-Rost ‘Weight Away’
(Wayside & Woodland Recordings) Review
Theon Cross ‘Affirmations: Live at Blue Note New York’
(New Soil) Review
Cumsleg Borenail ‘10mg Citalopram’
(Cruel Nature Recordings) Review
Exploding Star Orchestra ‘Holy Mountains’
Fortunato Durutti Marinetti ‘Bitter Sweet, Sweet Bitter’
(Quindi Records/We Are Time) Review
Tony Jay ‘Faithless’
Review
Freh Khodja ‘Ken Andi Habib’
(WEWANTSOUNDS) Review
The Lancashire Hustlers ‘Here But Not Here’
(Steep Hill) Review
Kevin Robertson ‘Yellow Painted Moon’
Review
Maria Elena Silva ‘Wise Men Never Try’
Review
Sol Messiah ‘War of the Gods’
THE PLAYLIST::
Blanco Teta ‘Subiduki’
Scotch Funeral ‘Weak at the Knees’
Freh Khodja ‘Aich Sar Bina Koulili’
Brickwork Lizards ‘All the We Are – Reworked by Sebastian Reynolds’
Natural Information Society ‘Sound Talisman’
Sol Messiah Ft. Sa-Roc ‘Auset’
Raekwon Ft. Ghostface Killah & Method Man ‘600 School’
Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire ‘Y.O.Utopia’
Open Mike Eagle ‘ok but I’m the phone screen’
Nicholas Craven & Boldy James Ft. C Dell & Nick Bruno ‘At&T’
Clipse, Pusha T & Malice Ft. Ab Liva ‘Inglorious Bastards’
Estee Nack & V Don Ft. Al-Doe ‘EZBRED’
Rachel Eckroth ‘Yin Yang’
Theon Cross Ft. Isaiah Collier, Nikos Ziarkas & James Russel Sims ‘We Go Again – Live at the Blue Note, NYC’
Peter Evans (Being & Becoming) ‘Malibu’
Homeboy Sandman & Sonnyjim ‘Can’t Stop Me’
Apollo Brown & Bronze Nazareth ‘Wheel Of Misfortune’
Ramson Badbonez & Leaf Dog ‘Celestial Bodies’
Max Schreiber ‘Layla Mistakel’
The Conspiracy ‘Salisbury Road’
SUO ‘Big Star’
Fortunato Durutti Marinetti ‘Beware’
Jeff Tweedy ‘Out in the Dark’
Kevin Robertson ‘Yellow Painted Moon’
Soft Hearted Scientists ‘Hello Hello’
Whitney ‘Dandelions’
The Lancashire Hustlers ‘Perhaps’
Ali Murray ‘ Toby’
Alex G ‘June Guitar’
Spotless Souls ‘In the Heart’
The Noisy ‘Twos’
Wolfgang Perez ‘So Ouco’
Eve Goodman & SERA ‘Blodyn Gwylly’
Joe Harvey-Whyte & Paul Cousins ‘lift’
Sirom ‘For You, This Eve, the Wolves Will Be Enchantingly Forsaken’
Austistici & Jacek Doroszenko ‘After Water Formed A Shape’
Cumsleg Borenail ‘You Mean Something To Me’
Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley ‘Encore 1’
Exploding Star Orchestra ‘Afterburn (Parable 400)’.
If you’ve enjoyed this selection, the writing, or been led down a rabbit hole into new musical terrains of aural pleasure, and if you can, then you can now show your appreciation by keeping the Monolith Cocktail afloat by donating via Ko-Fi.
For the last 15 years both me and the MC team have featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world: ones 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 or interest in. 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 say thanks or show support, than you can now buy us a coffee or donate via https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail
Our Monthly Playlist selection of choice music and Choice Releases list from the last month.
We decided at the start of the year to change things a little with a reminder of not only our favourite tracks from the last month, but also a list of choice albums too. This list includes both those releases we managed to feature and review on the site and those we just didn’t get the time or room for – time restraints and the sheer volume of submissions each month mean there are always those releases that miss out on receiving a full review, and so we have added a number to both our playlist and list.
All entries in the Choice Releases list are displayed alphabetically.
Meanwhile, our Monthly Playlist continues as normal, with all the choice tracks from June taken either from reviews and pieces written by me – that’s Dominic Valvona – or Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea. Our resident Hip-Hop expert Matt Oliver has also put forward a smattering of crucial and highlighted tracks from the rap arena.
CHOICE RELEASES FROM THE LAST MONTH OR SO:
Armstrong ‘Handicrafts’
Review
Audio Obscura ‘As Long As Gravity Persists On Holding Me to This Earth’
Review
Francis Bebey ‘The African Seven Edits’
Jeff Bird ‘Ordo Virtutum: Jeff Bird Plays Hildegard von Bingen, Vol 2’
(Six Degrees Records) Review
Che`Noir ‘The Color Chocolate 2’
Dave Clarkson ‘Was Life Sweeter?’
(Cavendish House) Review
Half Naked Shrunken Heads ‘Let’s Build A Boy’
(Metal Postcard Records) Review
Novelistme ‘Fabulous Nonsense’
Review
Nowaah The Flood ‘Mergers And Acquisitions’
Luiz Ser Eu ‘Sarja’
(Phantom Limb)
Various ‘TUROŇ/AHUIZOTL’
(Swine Records w/ Fayuca Retumba) Review
Voodoo Drummer ‘HELLaS SPELL’
Review
The Wants ‘Bastard’
(STTT) Review
Warda ‘We Malo’
(WEWANTSOUNDS) Review
THE PLAYLIST
Bedd ‘Messed up Your Head’
Dragged Up ‘Clachan Dubh’
John Johanna ‘Seven Hunters’
Vlimmer ‘Gleichbau’
Heavenly ‘Portland Town’
Novelistme ‘I Want You Here’
Half Naked Shrunken Heads ‘Let’s Build A boy’
Juppe ‘Woozy’
Noura Mint Seymali ‘Guereh’
Francis Bebey ‘Agatha – Voilaaa Remix’
Anton de Bruin & Fanni Zahar ‘Running On Slippers’
Chairman Maf ‘Wild Turkey’
Lord Olo & TELEVANGEL ‘BEAT EM!”
Masta Killa Ft. Raekwon & Cappadonna ‘Eagle Claw’
Aesop Rock ‘Movie Night’
Oddisee ‘Natural Selection’
Nowaah The Flood ‘Protocol’
Ello Sun ‘River’
Luiz Ser Eu ‘O Sol Nas Suas Pestanas, Adora’
Elena Baklava ‘Kamber’
Jason van Wyk ‘Remnants’
Mary Sue & Clementi Sound Appreciation Club ‘Horse Acupuncture’
Evidence ‘Different Phases’
Vesna Pisarovic ft. Noël Akchoté, Tony Buck, Greg Cohen, Axel Dörner ‘Vrbas vodo, što se često mutiš?’
Itchy-O ‘Phenex’
Tom Caruana Ft. Dynas ‘Aisle 9’
C-Red & Agent M ‘Godspeed’
Scienze & NappyHIGH Ft. Benny The Butcher and Elaquent ‘Capt. Kirk’
Charles Edison ‘No Love Lost’
Parallel Thought & Defcee ‘Graduation Picture’
Fashawn & Marc Spano Ft. Blu ‘No Comply’
Che Noir ‘Blink Twice’
Saadi ‘Homo sapiens’
Charlie Hannah ‘St. Gregor the Good’
HighSchool ‘149’
Swansea Sound ‘Oasis v Blur’
The Wants ‘Data Tumor’
Tigray Tears ‘Wishing for Peaceful Times to Return’
Jeff Bird ‘Shining White Lillies’
The Good Ones ‘Agnes Dreams of Being an Artist’
Briana Marela ‘Value’
The Still Brothers & Vermin the Villain ‘Alright’
LMNO & D-Styles ‘Best to Lay Low’
The High & Mighty Ft. Breeze Brewin ‘Super Sound’
Slick Rick & Nas ‘Documents’
If you’ve enjoyed this selection, the writing, or been led down a rabbit hole into new musical terrains of aural pleasure, and if you can, then you can now show your appreciation by keeping the Monolith Cocktail afloat by donating via Ko-Fi.
For the last 15 years both me and the MC team have featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world: ones 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 or interest in. 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 say thanks or show support, than you can now buy us a coffee or donate via https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail
The Monthly Playlist selection of choice music, plus our Choice Albums list from the last month.
We decided at the start of the year to change things a little with a reminder of not only our favourite tracks from the last month, but also a list of choice albums too. This list includes both those releases we managed to feature and review on the site and those we just didn’t get the time or room for.
All entries are displayed alphabetically.
Meanwhile, our Monthly Playlist continues as normal, with all the choice tracks from May selected by Dominic Valvona, Matt Oliver and Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea.
CHOICE RELEASES FROM THE LAST MONTH OR SO:
A Single Ocean ‘S-T’
Review
The Balloonist ‘Dreamland’
(Wayside & Woodland) Review/Piece
Black Liq & Dub Sonata ‘Much Given, Much Tested’
The Bordellos ‘Liam Gallagher’
(Metal Postcard)
Cumsleg Borenail ‘It’s Your Collagen Not Your Conversation I Desire, My Pretty’
Famo Mountain ‘For Those Left Behind’ – This month’s cover art
Fir Cone Children ‘Gearshifting’
(Blackjack Illuminist Records) Review
LIUN + The Science Fiction Band ‘Does It Make You Love Your Life?’
(Heartcore Records) Review
Neon Crabs ‘Make Things Better’
(Half Edge Records) Review
SAD MAN ‘Art’
(Cruel Nature Records) Review
Staraya Derevyna ‘Garden Window Escape’
(Ramble Records/Avris Media) Review
Tomo-Nakaguchi ‘Out Of The Blue’
(Audiobulb Records) Review
Zavoloka ‘ISTYNA’
AND NOW, THE MONTHLY PLAYLIST::
LIUN + The Science Fiction Band ‘SPEAK TO ME’
SISTER WIVES ‘YnCanu’
Neon Crabs ‘J Spaceman’s Blues’
Fir Cone Children ‘Madness!’
A Single Ocean ‘White Bright Light’
Your 33 Black Angels ‘Your Sickness Solution’
Dabbla, Ghosttown, Dubbledge ‘Karate Good’
Black Liq & Dub Sonata ’10 Black Commandments’
Homeboy Sandman & Brand The Builder ‘Infinite Pockets’
Milena Casado ‘Yet I Can See’
Wildchild ‘Change For 2 Cents’
The Strange Neighbour & L One ‘625’
Pan Amsterdam & Leron Thomas ‘Evening Drive’
Famo Mountain ‘My Struggle To Survive’
Orain ‘Tangerine’
Smashing Red ‘Dark Eyed Girl’
Meggie Lennon ‘Running Away’
Dyr Faser ‘Sinister Dialogue’
Battle Elf ‘Stops Pretty Places’
Violet Nox ‘Strange Remix by Jonathan Santarelli’
Tomo-Nakaguchi ‘Indigo Line’
Tom O C Wilson ‘Better Off’
The Mining Co. ‘Treasure in Spain’
Oliver Earnest ‘Directionless’
The Bordellos ‘Cabbage Patch Doll Kiss’
Mama Oh No ‘Samba De Janeiro’
Zavoloka ‘Vesnianka’
Cumsleg Borenail ‘Signus Vectors’
OvO ‘Scavo’
Fatboi Sharif & Driveby ‘Swim Team Audible Function’
Cosmic Ear ‘Father and Son’
Staraya Derevnya ‘Tight-Lipped Thief’
Operation Keep The monolith Cocktail Afloat:
Hi, my name is Dominic Valvona and I’m the Founder of the music/culture blog monolithcocktail.com For the last 15 years both me and the MC team have featured and supported music, musicians and labels we love across genres from around the world: ones 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 or interest in. 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 say thanks or show support, than you can now buy us a coffee or donate via https://ko-fi.com/monolithcocktail
The End of the Month Revue: Playlist & Choice Album Releases
January 30, 2025
THE MONTHLY PLAYLIST SELECTION PLUS A NEW FEATURE IN WHICH WE CHOOSE OUR CHOICE ALBUMS FROM THE LAST MONTH.
Something a little different for 2025: a monthly review of all the best music plus a selection of the Monolith Cocktail team’s choice albums. Chosen this month by Dominic Valvona and Matt Oliver from January’s post.
The 32 tunes for January 2025:
Noémi Büchi ‘Gesticulate Elastically’
Cumsleg Borenail ‘Topological Hausdorff Emotional Open Sets’
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets ‘March on for Pax Ramona’
Hifiklub & Brianna Tong ‘Angelfood’
Divorce ‘Pill’
Trinka ‘Navega’
Gnonnas Pedro and His Dadjes Band ‘Tu Es Tout Seul’
Rezo ‘Molotov – The Sebastian Reynolds Remix’
The Winter Journey ‘Words First’
Saba Alizadeh ‘Plain of the Free’
Miles Cooke & Defcee ‘zugzwang’
Eric the Red & Leaf Dog ‘Duck and Dive’
Harry Shotta ‘It Wasn’t Easy’
Kid Acne, Spectacular Diagnostics & King Kashmere ‘AHEAD OF THE CURVE’
Damon Locks ‘Holding the Dawn in Place (Beyond Part 2)’
Talib Kweli & J. Rawls ‘Native Sons’
Emily Mikesell & Kate Campbell Strauss ‘Recipes’
Ghazi Faisal Al-Mulaifi & Boom.Diwan ‘Utviklingssang – Live’
Nyron Higor ‘Me Vestir De Voce’
Ike Goldman ‘Bowling Green’
Elea Calvet ‘Filthy Lucre’
Expose ‘Glue’
Neon Kittens ‘Enough of You’
Occult Character ‘Tech Hype’
Dyr Faser ‘Physical Saver’
Russ Spence ‘Phase Myself’
The Penrose Web ‘Hexapod Scene’
Park Jiha ‘Water Moon’
Robert Farrugia ‘Ballottra’
Memory Scale ‘Afternoon’s Echoes’
Joona Toivanen Trio ‘Horizons’
Timo Lassy Trio ‘Moves – Live’
Choice Albums, thus far in 2025
So, for an age I’ve been uneasy with the site’s end of year lists: our choice albums of the entire year posts, which usually take up two or three posts worth, such is the abundance of releases we cover in a year. I’ve decided to pretty much scrape them going forward. Instead, each month I will pick out several albums we’ve raved about, plus those we didn’t get time to review but think you should take as granted approved by the Monolith Cocktail team. Some of these will not be included in the above playlist. Each album is listed alphabetically as I hate those numerical voting validation lists that our rivals put out.
Cindy ‘Saw It All Demos’ (Paisley Shirt Records)
Reviewed by Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea here
Cumsleg Borenail ‘A Divorced 46 Year old DJ From Scunthorpe’
Picked by Dominic Valvona
Dyr Faser ‘Falling Stereos’
Picked by Dominic Valvona
Expose ‘ETC’ (Qunidi)
Reviewed by BBS here
Farrugia, Robert ‘Natura Maltija’ (Phantom Limb/Kewn Records)
Reviewed by DV here
Kweli, Talib & J Rawls ‘The Confidence Of Knowing’
Picked by Matt Oliver & DV
Locks, Damon ‘List Of Demands’ (International Anthem)
Reviewed by DV here
Mikesell, Emily & Kate Campbell Strauss ‘Give Way’ (Ears & Eyes Records)
Reviewed by DV here
Occult Character ‘Next Year’s Model’ (Metal Postcard Records)
Picked by DV
Philips Arts Foundation, Lucy ‘I’m Not A Fucking Metronome’
Reviewed by BBS here
Toivanen Trio, Joona ‘Gravity’ (We Jazz)
Reviewed by DV here
Winter Journey, The ‘Graceful Consolations’ (Turning Circle)
Reviewed by DV here
ZD Grafters ‘Three Little Birds’
Reviewed by DV here – technically released digitally the end of last year, but vinyl arriving sometime in February
For those that can or wish to, the Monolith Cocktail has a Ko-fi account: the micro-donation site. I hate to ask, but if you do appreciate what the Monolith Cocktail does then you can shout us a coffee or two through this platform.
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 2nd 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 (1st & 15th)
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.
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’
The Monthly Playlist for October 2024
October 31, 2024
CHOICE MUSIC FROM THE LAST MONTH ON THE MONOLITH COCKTAIL: TEAM EFFORT
The Monthly Revue for October 2024: Sixty choice tracks from the last month, chosen by Dominic Valvona, Matt ‘Rap Control’ Oliver and Brian ‘Bordello’ Shea. Features a real shake up and mix of tracks we’ve both covered in our review columns and articles over the last month.
We’ve also added a smattering of tracks that we either didn’t get the room to feature or missed 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
Anna Butterss ‘Bishop’
Peter Evans w/ Petter Eldh and Jim Black ‘Fully Born’
Juga-Naut ‘Two Thousand’
Mark Ski & Katiah One ‘I’m A Gamer’
Hemlock Ernst & Icky Reels ‘Break Time/In The Factory’
The Eurosuite ‘Bagman’
Not My Good Arm ‘Let em burn’
TRAINNING + Ruth Goller ‘lineage’
SCHØØL ‘The End’
Cosmopaark ‘Olive Tree’
Sassyhiya ‘Boat Called Predator’
Paten Locke & Dillon ‘JustRockin’
Sadistik & Alla S. ‘Figure with Meat’
Philmore Greene ‘Money Over Vegas Story’
Habitat 617 & DJ Severe ‘Soundclash’
Mr Slipz, Vitamin G, Jehst & Farma G ‘The Internet’
Rev. Eddie James and Family ‘Jesus Will Fix It’
Khalab ‘I Need A Modem (Nihiloxica Remix)’
Distropical ‘Independent Cricket League’
Greentea Peng ‘TARDIS (hardest)’
Che Noir & Rapsody ‘Black Girl’
Exterior ‘Boreal (Edit)’
Elea Calvet ‘Don’t make me go’
Juanita Stein ‘Mother Natures Scorn’
The Tearless Life ‘Beyond the Thread the Spinners Span’
Newburg Radio Chorus ‘Stand Up for Jesus’
Donald Beaman ‘Old Universe’
Groupe Derhane ‘IIkmge Tillnam’
The Poppermost ‘I Don’t Want To Know’
The Armoires ‘Ridley & Me After the Apocalypse’
Mike Chillingworth ‘Friday The Thirteenth’
Rachel Eckroth & John Hadfield ‘Saturn’
Niwel Tsumbu ‘Afrique Moderne’
Annarella and Django ‘Aduna Ak Asaman’
Alex Stolze ‘Tumult’
Violet Nox ‘Umbre’
Rhombus Index ‘Giiflora’
freddie Murphy & Chiara Lee ‘Terra Nova Part II’
Suumhow ‘E’
Cumsleg Borenail ‘Words Formed Around Swollen Gums Then Puked’
Yellow6 ‘Restart’
Max Jaffe ‘The Droopy’
Kungfoolish ‘Guns Down’
Skuff ‘Doozie’
Habitat 617, Lee Ramsay & Scorzayzee ‘The Settlement’
Sonnyjim, Giallo Point & Farma G ‘Exotic Cough’
Wish Master & Sonnyjim ‘Crème de la Crème’
Aidan Baker & Stefan Christhoff ‘Januar Pt.4’
Ex Norwegian & John Howard ‘What Are We Doing Here?’
The Junipers ‘While You Preside’
The Smashing Times ‘Mrs. Ladyships and The Cleanerhouse Boys’
Yaryu ‘Gandhara’
The Bordellos ‘I’m A Man’
Farma G & Jazz T ‘In Between The Lines’
The Expert & NAHreally ‘Sports!’
Wish Master, Kong The Artisan & Datkid ‘Masterpiece’
Jabee & Marv Won ‘Money Ain’t Everything’
Sparkz & Pitch 92 ‘Start And Show’
Clbrks & NickyDiesel ‘ADIOS’
Newburg Radio Chorus ‘Calvary’
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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