Last Updated on 11/12/2020
And…welcome back to the monthly round up. Not much new to introduce given this is the fourth installment now, so we’ll dive straight in. Here are the best releases from the last month – the final month of freedom before lockdown 2.0 as it turned out..
5. File Under UK Metaplasm, Rian Treanor
Listening to this album feels like accidentally being sucked into the guts of a machine that manufactures dance music. The contraption is clinical and carefully put together- all shiny white, pitch black rubber and matte steel. Yet as you are whisked through it out of control, rapidly propelled from chamber to chamber, ricocheting unpredictably – jerkily – through techno, uk bass, jungle, acid, dancehall, this perception of it breaks apart. The solid structures and steady progressions are perplexingly deconstructed into a jolting, rocking, prickling frenzy of dance music. And it is brilliant.
With this release, Treanor has certainly chucked his name towards the pantheon of South Yorkshire, electronic-music greats.
4. SAVAGE MODE II, 21 Savage and Metro Boomin
This is straight up one of the best trap projects of the year.
Now certifiable veterans, 21 Savage and Metro Boomin bring little other than their A game to this new album. Metro adds a touch soul to his extravagant trap orchestrations in a production masterclass here, creating some genuinely classy moments that complement the contemplative interludes (narrated fantastically by none other than THE Morgan Freeman) beautifully.
And while Savage has never been the most gifted technical rapper in the world, he sounds cold. His down-beat drawl slices through the darkly luxurious beats, with the rapid fire of the ad libs he spits backing him up. The hooks are so sticky and the lyrics about the street life and code are widely engaging.
The duo have outputted an album of premium quality – in sound, feel and substance.
3. My Agenda, Dorian Electra
On this record, Electra’s hyper-pop is seasoned overpoweringly with flavours of modern music’s most divisive subgenres. Some of the tackiest elements of genres such as Brostep, Metal and Hardcore EDM are transplanted into the track list in a way that could easily be interpreted as awkward pastiche. They perfectly colour the background as Electra plays Incel (see “Edgelord” and “M’Lady”) or Bigoted Metalhead (“Iron Fist”); so well in fact, that it makes you cringe at points. But, I think all these influences acquiesce to form more than just a collage using bubble-gum bass adhesive. After a couple of listens the blend feels oddly smooth.
This unusual sensation is mirrored thematically too. Many of the tracks (often indirectly) champion expression of identity and sexuality, as well as highlighting some of the political sensitivities around this (“My Agenda” and “Ram it Down” particularly). The rapid pace of the track listing serves to blur these ideas into the aforementioned hyper-masculine satire and, like a flick book illusion, Dorian Electra’s idiosyncratic, non-binary likeness appears, only now jauntily sporting a fedora.
This surprising result is as thought provoking as it is smile-inducing, serving to point out that the blatant parody Electra employs may not be present for the exact reason you likely assumed.
2. Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, Gorillaz
Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez is Gorillaz’s seventh studio album and one that has arguably changed the face of music. Swapping singles with episodes and albums for series, it fully makes use of this globalised planet’s tight-knit connectivity to bring together tastes and sounds from each corner of the globe. Just by looking at the list of features on the album (including the likes of Elton John, Tony Allen – RIP, and JPEGMAFIA), it is clear that it shows both the quality of Damon Albarn’s music taste, as well as the clout he has to draw in such an A-list group of stars.
However, don’t be fooled into thinking that Damon has taken an unimaginative, ‘dream team’ approach to tying Song Machine together. The album’s main strength is its production and the artistry with which Damon blends the voices and sounds of his guests. Elton’s piano, for instance, brilliantly supports 6LACK’s R&B/hip hop flow on “The Pink Phantom”, Tony’s Afrobeat drumming links up perfectly with Skepta on “How Far?” and JPEG’s dark experimental sound has a welcomed upbeat makeover for his feature alongside Japanese rock band Chai on “MLS”. There are some great electronic tracks here too, with help from EARTHGANG and Moonchild Sanelly on “Opium” and “With Love To An Ex” respectively. Add in some Beck, ScHoolboy Q, St. Vincent, Peter Hook, Octabivian, Kano and many, many others and you have yourself a gorgeous album.
Virtual Gorillaz drummer Russel Hobbs says it best: “Song Machine is a whole new way of doing what we do, Gorillaz breaking the mould ‘cos the mould got old … World is moving faster than a supercharged particle, so we’ve gotta stay ready to drop. Song Machine feeds on the unknown, runs on pure chaos. Whatever the hell is coming, we’re primed and ready to produce like there’s no tomorrow.”
1.Visions of Bodies Being Burned, clipping.
Appropriately, October’s best release has a spoooooky theme. Inspired by the horror genre at large, trio clipping. bring some genuinely skin-crawling moments to experimental hip-hop.
Acting as a kind of thematic sequel to 2019’s There Existed An Addiction To Blood, a horrifying tale or unsettling subject is fleshed out into bloody reality on each track – every one of them densely referential to the classic horror cannon of film, music and folk-lore. It is far more than academic though. Rapper Daveed Diggs again shows himself to be an extremely talented and creative storywriter (and with his high voltage verses and scarily catchy hooks a great teller too!).
But, it is on the production end that this album most consistently sets itself ahead of its sibling release, employing far more interesting beat choices. While the horror soundtrack effects are at times undercut by more conventional hip-hop devices, like the funky baseline on track “Check the Lock” there are some pretty rouge instrumentals here. “Eaten Alive”‘s ghostly swamp-scape is fashioned awkwardly from a rickety and wildly swaying musical construction, forming a beat as bizarre as it is disquieting. Yet every unusual instrumental miraculously comes off fantastically, with each experiment landing as firmly as the last.
We are left with what is just an incredible set of tracks. Most likely one of the year’s best, definitely its spookiest.
Listen to some taster tracks from our best new album releases in the playlist below or read about last month’s highlights.
