Hello, and welcome to edition 39 of Laughing Stock, your friendly neighbourhood part time music newsletter blog social media thing. This week our contributors highlight a few things they’ve enjoyed from the first half of 2023, without a Carragher, Souness, or Keane in sight.
What a start to the year of our Lord 2023. There has been so much good new stuff released these past 6 months, so many brilliant live performances, so many thrilling club nights. We are lucky to live in a time of such abundant quality, embrace it. Here’s a mere 5 things I’ve loved; there could have been 30.
Wednesday - your new favourite band
When North Carolina band Wednesday released ‘Bull Believer’ back in September last year, it was clear that they’d taken a significant step forward. An 8 min opus that collapses into singer Karly Hartzman’s anguished wails and screams of ‘finish him’ (a neat reference to Mortal Kombat which features earlier in the song), it was an astonishing show of power from one of the very best bands in operation at the moment. Rat Saw God, the album Bull Believer features on was released in April and absolutely lives up to that early promise. Hartzman is a gifted storyteller (see the rambling ‘Chosen to Deserve’, up there with the best tracks of the year so far), and possesses a voice that can be both tender and aggressive, sometimes within the same song. Backed by an exceptional band including MJ Lenderman, who himself released a brilliant album last year in Boat Songs, they are a potent indie rock potion. Seeing them live this month in the tiny Yes basement was another revelation, the sheer power reverberating through a crowd revelling in the best kind of indie rock that only bands from America can do.
Oliver Coates’ Aftersun OST hits hard
Music was a huge part of the success of Charlotte Wells’ beautiful, brutally emotional debut film Aftersun. From the time setting, nostalgia inducing needle drops of tracks like ‘Road Rage’, ‘Drinking in LA’, and ‘Tender’, to the scene stealing fuck up of ‘Under Pressure’, it added another emotional layer to an already heavy film. However, the real star of the soundtrack was Oliver Coates’ stunning original music, accompanying some of the most gut-punching scenes peppered throughout. ‘The Last Dance’ which underpins that Under Pressure remix is an astonishing emotive piece of music when isolated, and that scene and that song will stay with me for a very long time. A soundtrack that can be appreciated as a standalone LP, but one that resonates a hundred times more if you’ve seen the film.
Lil Yachty delivers the pop album of the year
My surprise of this half year is a sharp left turn from a Soundcloud rapper I didn’t know much about beyond a couple of bigger viral hits. It turns out that Lil Yachty’s Let’s Start Here. is the best pop album of the year so far. Yachty has delivered a sprawling psychedelic-pop masterpiece that has pissed off just about everyone who held him dear for his mumble rap years, seemingly stemmed by his listening party statement where he declared “I really wanted to be taken seriously as an artist, not just some SoundCloud rapper or some mumble rapper” (see the hilariously sour Pitchfork review that seems to just be the writer’s own prejudice against a rapper delivering something that he doesn’t expect from him, grounded in a claim that Yachty is trying to make music solely to be accepted by some mythical music establishment). Produced by the likes of Jam City and Justin Raisen, the album is a thrill a minute joy ride through psych-rock, rnb, space jams and much more. If artists making something different from what you expect from them upsets you, fine, move along, but where would we be without thrilling experiments from people who you least expect it from?
Finally I got to see Dawuna
We tweeted in July last year asking if someone could bring Dawuna to the UK, and almost a year later our calls were answered by the Promoter Gods. Performing at The White Hotel, surely his spiritual home (definitely, if his eulogising about Manchester is anything to go by, he now wants to move here), it was a mesmerising set drawing on his exceptional album Glass Lit Dream and beyond, with the opening half hour a delightful, impressionistic atmosphere setting fug of samples, crackling electronics, and his fogged out voice. Giving way to tracks like ‘The General’ and ‘The Lighthouse’, it was a masterclass in generating a sonic mise-en-scene that encapsulated everything brilliant about his records - not always an easy feat.
Rat Heart Ensemble delivers again
I’m not sure when the Manchester/Salford set sleep. Albums keep tumbling out of the likes of Michael J Blood, Sockethead, and most prolifically, Rat Heart, and there never seems to be even a slight dip in quality. I adore the Michael J Blood x Rat Heart album Nite Mode Vol. 2, but it’s Rat Heart Ensemble's Northern Luv Songs 4 Wen Ur Life’s A Mess that’s really captured my heart this half year. Along with the stunning new Romance album, it’s an emotional heavyweight where the fuzz and the fog and the ‘atmospheric clag’ (™ Boomkat) weigh deep. The astonishing ‘I’ll Be All Day’ might be the track of the year, an eight and a half min sonic masterpiece that never fails to moisten my eyes. I lamented the lack of ‘mainstream’ coverage for the unbelievable music coming out of Manchester and Salford’s electronic scene at the moment; more people need MJB, Rat Heart, Sockethead, Rainy Miller, aya and all the others in their lives. Take it to the people, they deserve it.
The quickest year to date, right? Where has time gone? Where has money gone? There have been some incredible releases this year already. Along with dipping in and out of old favourites, I have been able to concentrate more on new releases. Here’s the best two things I have enjoyed the most so far.
Theo Parrish at NTS
Few friends who went mentioned they weren’t really feeling it. Maybe it was the open air stage, a tent no doubt would have been better for both Theo and the audience. That said however, as we reviewed here, to hear an opera song being played when at a fairly late time for a daytime was a magical experience. I think the only thing that has been similar was when Ben UFO played a Dozzy Bee Mask remix during peak time at Dekmantel. There is something wonderful to me in breaking up the rhythm completely and have people questioning, ‘what the fuck is going on?’
Bar Italia
An indie resurgence? Who knows but I haven’t stopped listening to this since it was released. Remembering the northern streets, the house parties, the VHF drinks, the Fred Perry slip ons. Yeah, yeah, you get me. That said, I would definitely file this alongside Romance and Joanne Robertson, both in my half year list here, and much enjoy listening to this than Fred Again. Maybe there’s the answer. Fred Again and the fans who just really love electronic music have peaked the peak, and everyone is sick of their cheesiness and their love of Four Tet. Must add, Italia’s videos in and around Soho are nice, plus one of their albums released on Dean Blunt’s World Music is listed as Britpop. It’s all tongue and cheek, but good.
“IT’S BIIIIIIIG, FUCKIN’, MIKE.”
MIKE’s Beware of the Monkey is not a revolution but an evolution in his sound. It’s this incremental development, record-on-record, that I think makes MIKE so special. 2021’s Disco! was the last time we saw a full length from the New York rapper, the immaculate self-production and gorgeous soul samples from that record remain, but there’s also Jazz, RnB and Dancehall (“Stop Worry!” with the legendary Sister Nancy is a highlight). As always with his particular vanguard of the New York underground, there’s openness, emotion, and vulnerability. There’s inspection of self, there’s stop off points, such as the rare 3+ minute “What Do I Do”, where he slows everything right down to a pool of rich baritone and off-kilter radio ambiance. You simply want to swim in it.
A note on Genius
Supergroups are strange things, they seem an almost outdated faux pas or a relic of the 70s. For every Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, there’s an Asia or an Audioslave. Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers are very much in and above the former. The joy in The Record is while everyone gets their shine, the three heavyweights are one perfectly balanced organism. The album feels like a beloved tapestry, with each artist’s songwriting enriching the other, building to a deep affinity and intimacy by its conclusion. It didn’t take long for me to be able to recite the lyrics of “Not Strong Enough” and “Cool About It” off by heart when the connection with the listener runs this deep. Super they bloody well are.
Ambient selections
I’m a sucker for the quieter things in life. My top picks from 2023 so far include:
Gia Margaret’s thoughtful piano scrapbook Romantic Piano caught my ears and is the perfect accompaniment for lying down in the park and drifting off.
Following up from his soundtrack for Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool, the electronic veteran Tim Hecker released No Highs, another twinkly, pulsating and often eerie soundscape.
Brendan Eder Endsemble’s Therapy is therapy. The cinematic influence of Philip Glass is evident throughout but the joy is in the whimsical, soothing rhythms of its contemporary jazz influence. Lovely listening.
Nourished By Time - Daddy
Artist/producer Marcus Brown’s debut album Erotic Probiotic 2 is a glorious threading together of genre, from house and 80’s hip-hop to breakbeat and new wave. Under the alias Nourished By Time, his jubilant gem of a single “Daddy” is my track of the year so far. It veers in and out of throbbing drums and Steve Lacy-style guitar, but at its heart it’s a banging dance-cum-disco-cum-rap track, replete with housey piano keys. The rest of the album moves in different moods (though no less exciting or refreshing), but Brown nonchalantly chiming out “I say I love you, you say whatever” is its audacious peak. Proper sound of the summer vibes.
Other highlights: Billy Woods’ Mapsmight be album of the year, the new look Black Country New Road’s raucous, joyful live album, Kara Jackson’s “Dickhead Blues”, Navy Blue going a little sunnier on Ways of Knowing and King Krule doing an understated, weirdly-perfect-for-an-afters album.
Time gets obliterated this time of year doesn’t it? Hopefully you’re otherwise occupied with all things fun and fulfilling, here’s a couple of things that have done that job on my ears this 2023 so far
7EBRA
A nice circumstantial one. But for the record label connections of my housemate I’d likely still have no idea who 7ebra are, streaming algorithms clearly not putting a shift in. As it happened the Swedish twin sister duo were swapping Malmo for Manchester in April and needed a place to stay for their gig at Academy 2, his room was vacant for the night. A guestlist ticket was thus sorted my way, ‘‘yeah might go along, will give em a listen’’. Listen I did, hooked I was. Their debut album Bird Hour realised a matter of days later but the singles already had me in a spiral of delight. Indie rock distilled with a playful intimacy. The lyrics are frank, candid and bordering on indifferent but there’s a cryptic heft to be found. ‘Done with the Day’ is a hypnotic track and their ability to super charge that ‘bedroom pop’ sound with rousing guitar solos on ‘I Have a Lot to Say’ and ‘Lighter Better’ was a joy to watch live. Yeah I’m probably bias now, but they’re going to be bloody great for years to come.
Nabihah Iqbal
In a period where firm favourites Avalon Emerson and Jayda G dropped new records, it was the return of Nabihah Iqbal from a 5 year release hiatus with Dreamer that took the crown. The metaphorical DJ album spring release one, that I’m now assigning her. There’s loads going on. Borrowed from all sorts of genre it’s a properly accessible electronic sound. Gazing, melancholy and raw but there’s enough pulsating tracks to prick up your ears. Ethereal vocals to match. Artist, curator, broadcaster, lecturer and now approved Laughing Stock’er.
Yves Tumor (finally) wins me over
Despite the efforts of editor in chief Rich Walker to impress on me their brilliance, I could only get on board with a few, admittedly brilliant, Yves Tumor tunes. See Kerosene, Noid and Licking an Orchid. The rest just felt too much like hard work. But the experimental alchemy they’ve been hitting upon felt consistent and complete with Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume (marks down for the length of that title, and I’ve redacted it). Nowhere is this more underlined than the triumph that is Meteora Blues. Cue a slightly smug look from Rich.
So there you have it, our definitive analysis of H1 23. Tune-in in 6 months time for the real deal, the end of year business, probably posted 2 weeks after the rest of the world so you know we’ve really taken our time to consider the best of the best (and not just, you know, forgetting to post it).
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Thank you lads, such great insights and discoveries