Last Updated on 05/07/2020
June, in the UK at least, has been a mixed bag of sweltering sun and torrential rain as the nation remains largely confined to their homes and places of work – not necessarily the most fun month. New music releases have been stellar though, providing interest aplenty to carry us until the relative freedom that the later months of the summer seem to promise. Here are our Top 5.
5. Weight of the World, MIKE.
Founder of the New York hip-hop collective ‘sLUms’ and frequent collaborator of Earl Sweatshirt, rapper MIKE gifts us a beautiful selection of thoughtful musings heavy with grief for his late mother.
His lyrics are dexterously constructed, meditative poems that are as thought provoking, and occasionally tear jerking (“You think I did it for figures, it was all for her”), as they are soothing. Sinking sluggishly through the sweet, looped instrumentals into your consciousness, his slurred and gently lurching delivery clearly expresses his weariness with the world.
The glowing highlight has to be MIKE’s production though. Gently rising and falling in sleepy swells, his signature lo-fi beats are a comforting brain massage here. Stimulated is a mouth-watering flavour of haze and melancholy that is a perfect primer for reflection.
It is the quintessential soundtrack for your contemplative, rainy summer’s day.
4. Women in Music pt. III, Haim.
With a finger up in the title to music journalists who have stuck them in a box, the L.A. trio bring their best album yet, full of indie-pop goodness.
Variety is the word that springs to mind with this project. Across its 16 tracks the three sisters transform themselves over and over, casting shades of g-funk (“3AM”), folk and even UK garage (“I Know Alone”) across their glittering soft-rock. Topical variation is also abundant as they cover everything from the charmingly anecdotal to the touchingly thoughtful.
It resolutely sticks together through, drenched in a smooth, honey gold warmth that emanates from every hook, harmony and guitar lick across the project. And, shining gorgeously atop all this are brilliantly sunny melodies that sustain one of the most consistently buoyant listens of the year thus far. It is further testament to their melodic songwriting strength that all three promotional singles are included as mere ‘bonus’ tracks, which act simply as a sweet swansong for a fantastic album.
3. Tangram, Material Girl.
Much like its enigmatic cover art, this plunderphonics record, the Philadelphia based artist’s debut, is a richly textured, artful and angular tessellation of diverse influences. Displaying elements of house, hiphop, jazz and ambience, a unique and cohesive atmosphere is curated. It is one full of subtle glimmers of life in a fashion reminiscent of a GAS composition, but also one that can groove like a KAYTRANADA banger (“Flood (ft. City Light Mosaic”)).
Its samples seem to slide perpendicularly to one another, yet the overall picture retains harmony such that the beauty of each is accentuated. Navigating temperamentally emotional waters, with instrumentals evoking everything from stress, anger and confusion to awe, euphoria and contentment, this is a real voyage of an album.
2. Deep Down Happy, Sports Team.
On Sports Team’s debut outing the aesthetic leans heavily on the nostalgic, but its perspective has its feet very firmly in the present.
The English indie rock band borrows copiously from the history of the genre, sounding like they would perhaps have been more at home in the noughties or nineties with moments reminiscent of The Cribs, Jarvis Cocker and even Carter USM. Yet they breathe new energy into the ‘catchy riffs-big chorus’ style with barely a stale moment and some of the year’s biggest anthems in “Camel Crew” and “Here it Comes Again”.
This is because, much like the English Indie Rock heroes mentioned above, they have something to say, and entertain thoroughly as they do so. Only unlike Jarvis Cocker, with his quirky tales of the average Brit, this group of Cambridge Uni kids are sardonically critiquing stagnant middle England from a decidedly middle-class perspective, all wrapped up in the crinkled brown paper of boisterous indie rock. Quite simple but bitterly cutting is their commentary. “He’ll never buy you a drink, but he’ll let you know he can”, quips frontman Alex Rice on “The Races”, an apparent reference to his experience of some of their attendees, while the ‘un-avant-gardeness’ of the avant-garde, who all “Go to Goldsmiths and dye their fringes” is lamented derisively on “Camel Crew“.
It all feels in stark contrast to other prevalent voices in British Indie rock today – unlike bands like Idles, they have no intention of bodying the foremost social and political issues head on. Really, they are far more in the vein of Pulp, who Jarvis Cocker formerly fronted, presenting the familiar, everyday moans and groans, here of the British middle-class youth. Along with their flair for writing a catchy anthem, this is what makes them (like Pulp) feel vital, and has drawn such a devoted fan, albeit of a slightly different demographic.
1. RTJ4, Run The Jewels
Run The Jewels, a hip-hop duo composed of Killer Mike and El-P, have always made immediate hip-hop music – in their prior three projects the punchlines have been laugh-out-loud funny, the futuristic, pounding beats have made you screw your face in rage or joy and the messaging has been no nonsense. They have embodied the need for radical social change through often comically violent imagery, with El-P suggesting on “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry”(RTJ2) that their adversaries can ‘run naked backwards through a field of dicks’ (or get fucked, basically) . But this project feels not just immediate, but vitally so – there is a sense of vulnerable urgency that creeps into the aggressive performances on here, and rarely has it been quite so obvious exactly why.
RTJ4 was released for free download two days prior to its scheduled release date with a message of ‘Fuck it why wait’ – a great mercy to fans who have waited four years since their last project. But, with Mike and El at their peak sonically here it was well worth it. The smoother, seductive sound of RTJ3 has been refined to host some of their most pleasing beats yet without sacrificing the raw, primal and mechanical energy of EL-P’s signature production style. The sound is that of two big-cat automatons, sleek and majestic, rippling with the brutal, turning gears hidden under their fur and as ready to tear your head off as they are to playfight; the beat on “out of sight” with 2 Chainz perfectly embodies this.
Lyrically El-P is as proficient and impressive as ever, dexterously twirling intelligent bars around his fingers as he shunts around the heavy beats. Killing his two verses on “holy calamafuck”, he blends sci-fi imagery with political commentary flawlessly – “From another timeline where monsters eat truth/ Physicists say the dough I get’s proof”. While El is, and has always been, the more technical performer, Mike captivates with his supremely passionate and bombastic delivery, stealing the show with his best performances yet and some powerfully frank lyricism.
This is exemplified most memorably on “walking in the snow”, the centerpiece of the album. Mike’s second verse bursts with rage against state police brutality towards minority ethnic groups, specifically referencing the 2014 case of Eric Garner’s strangulation to death by a police officer following his detainment for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. Mike’s lyrics are chilling, horrifying and desperate, and in the wake of George Floyd’s appalling murder, serve as a vital reminder that this was an important issue before it hit international headlines in 2020 and will continue to be after it leaves them – listen for yourself to one of the most crucial and evocative tracks of the year.
This album’s astute social commentary ranges far beyond this though, with the following track “JU$T” serving as another highlight of their ability to distil important issues into songs. Aided by Pharrell Williams and Rage Against the Machine’s Zac de la Rocha, Jamie and Mike point to the “slave masters posing on your dollar” as a standing example of western society’s entrenched racism today; regardless of whether the the odds of economic and social discrimination can be circumstantially beaten to achieve ‘success’, ethnic minority groups remain subject to hateful views and systems that still permeate our culture.
Although not quite boasting as many bangers as Run The Jewels 2, this project is stacked full of aggressive, catchy tracks and is an exceptionally fun listen. Only this time more than ever, Mike and El want you to know that the messaging behind each should be taken with the utmost seriousness, ending the opening track with an appropriate mission statement for their comically violent political messaging – “we don’t mean no harm/ but we truly mean all the disrespect” – and very well they should.
Listen to some taster tracks from our Top 5 in the playlist below (or on soundcloud in the case of Tangram)!
