After a lil’ spring break, we’re back back back with edition 28, a stock take of stuff we’ve enjoyed in the first half of the year 2022….enjoy
For the first couple of months I seemed to have regressed to 2002 uni-me, listening exclusively to lads with guitars, albeit slightly more challenging lads than The Libertines and The Strokes. Animal Collective, Deathcrash and Black Country, New Road all took up residency on my earphones and it was hard to dislodge them. Maybe it was comforting, a blanket to envelope myself in against the ills of the outside world. Or maybe it’s just because all three are thrilling examples of what can be done in a band.
Thankfully, Iceboy Violet violently jerked me out of my guitar funk with their Vanity Project EP, and slowly the world of electronic music began to open back up for me. But ultimately it’s been a half year of two things: my insatiable Black Country, New Road obsession, and my total embrace of all facets of ambient music, from Final’s oppressive soundscapes to Kaitlyn Auerilia Smith & Emile Mosseri’s gorgeous combo. That’s not to say we’ve not had our fair share of incredible bangerz leading up to the ‘summer’ months, of which I’m not sure Pariah’s unimpeachable ‘Caterpillar’ will be topped. A very decent start to 2022, all things considered.
Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
Not since being a tiny pimply teen pouring over the spectacular inlay of my Different Class cassette can I remember being as obsessed with all aspects of an album as much as this one. It’s proper regressed me to those teenage years, googling lyrics, references (is that about The Killers? Charli XCX? Billie Eilish? Henry VIII?), meanings (is it about depression? A relationship gone sour? The Band?), whilst being completely immersed in departed singer Isacc Wood’s peculiar yet relatable world. The final three track run of ‘The Place Where He Inserted The Blade’, ‘Snow Globes’ and ‘Basketball Shoes’ over a sprawling 28 mins is astonishing, a run that has hit me like no other for a long time. Little snippets like ‘your friend, the one that you loved, did you keep him on your side’ or ‘any time I try to make lunch for anyone else in my head I end up dreaming of you’ hit me like a tonne of bricks out of nowhere. If I was in sixth form, I’d have scrawled ‘you must let the clamp do what the clamp does best’ all over my pencil case, in an effort to be mysterious and cool. An emo tour de force.
That Rainy Miller Gig
There’s not much more I can say about it other than what I wrote here, but I still think about Rainy Miller’s White Hotel gig on an almost daily basis. Alongside Iceboy Violet’s incendiary launch for their Vanity Project EP, and the Fixed Abode night earlier this month, the artists circulating around each other (Miller produced and appears on Blackhaine’s thrilling new EP Armour II), and The White Hotel, feel simultaneously like they’re at the peak of their powers and only just getting going. Underground superstardom awaits, do not sleep on them. (See also: aya, BFTT, emma dj, Organ Tapes, Fuma)
Harry Styles - As It Was
It’s a constant accompaniment to my daily tasks in my head, that little riff living absolutely rent free, popping up out of the blue and staying there for hours on end. I don’t even think I hear it anywhere, but there it is, ‘do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do’, and all I can see is Styles whirring around the Barbican in a sparkly red jumpsuit. All power to the loveable scamp. (Also kudos to him at Radio 1’s Big Weekend where after singing ‘what kind of pills are you on’ he replies to himself, and what I assume is a very young crowd of impressionable teens, ‘the good ones’ #lad)
The Hunt for ‘Never Will I Change’
On the 11th April, Ben UFO teamed up with Four Tet for his regular Hessle show on Rinse FM. It’s genuinely one of the most enjoyable two hour mixes I’ve heard from either of them, which is quite something considering the general quality of their output, but this one seemed particularly crowd pleasing. Taking in Sugababes remixes, Pharrell and Gwen Stefani, huge unreleased tracks from Facta, Anthony Naples and Pariah (where I first heard the absolute monster that is ‘Caterpillar’ - just, fucking hell) and much more, it’s a front to back delight. However, nestled about 20 mins in was an incredible track lead by a female vocal singing ‘never will I change’, all chopped up, exquisite minimal RnB somewhere between Tirzah and cktrl, and I was obsessed. It didn’t surface on the Mixesdb list for the show, and it wasn’t introduced. Despite my quite incredible and forensic googling skills, I couldn’t for the life of me find it. I visited the Mixesdb page daily to see if someone had unearthed it, but alas it was indefinitely marked with a ? at the timestamp. Then, one hazy May morning, it was there: Duckett/Stranger ‘Never Will I Change’, just sitting on Bandcamp all undiscovered, and a daily listen later all was right with the world. Song of the half year.
The Ambient Monopoly on My Listening Continues Apace
It’s already been a vintage year for exceptional ambient/field recording/quiet albums from the likes of Claire Rousay, More Eaze, Whatever the Weather, Hinako Omori, Abul Mogard, Daughter, Ben Bondy, Final, Skee Mask and Kaitlyn Aurerila Smith & Emile Mosseri; they have quietly taken hostage of my ears, and I’m grateful for their constant companionship. Here’s to more exquisite stillness to come in H2.
Animal Collective Are Good Again?
Look, I’m not saying some elements of Animal Collective haven’t been good since Merriweather Post Pavilion; most of Panda Bear’s output has been superb and I adore Deakin’s Sleep Cycle, but as a band I’d all but lost faith in them after vast diminishing returns starting with the much maligned Centipede Hz. Then out of nowhere came Prester John, their best song since maybe ‘What Would I Want? Sky’, and cautious optimism started creeping in. Time Skiffs, it turns out, is AC’s best collection since MPP, the first time all four members have worked on a new album since then, and lo and behold the actual ‘Collective’ have pulled it out the bag and made an ageing peak 2000’s kid very, very happy. Welcome back good Animal Collective, it’s been a while. (See also: the unexpectedly brilliant return of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs).
Jeen-Yuhs: or ‘How I Finally Realised I Miss the Old Kanye’
6 hours of :( as the rise and imperial phase of Kanye was played out against his ongoing present day fall. How thrilling to see footage of him in the studio with Pharrell, his astonished reaction at ‘Through the Wire’; of Donda’s calming, delightful presence; of his absolute belief that he was the best in the business despite knock back after knock back, channelling his energy into proving a whole industry wrong. Annoyingly skipping over his best years around 808s, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Yeezus, it then showed us the descent: the final episode, a sad 2 hours of a man in the grasp of a mental illness that others seem all too happy to exploit, culminating in the parallel present day shit show of Donda 2 and his continued affiliation with abusers. I fucking loved Kanye. I still do, to an extent. But it took this intimate portrayal of the man to make me finally realise: I miss the old Kanye.
Finn - Everything Is Alright
The most joyous 42 mins of the year so far. Stick it on and marvel at how expertly put together these uplifting summer dance bangerz are. HIs B2B 3.5hr set with OK Williams from Soup in May is similarly excellent. Let Finn soundtrack your summer (and beyond), and all will be right with the world. (see also: Haai, ELLES, Axel Bowman)
It has been a funny old year so far. I’ve kind of struggled to listen to much new music with what has been happening in the world. Found myself continually going back to songs of comfort (not necessarily to say comfortable songs). But the list below has brought some joy with future classics and a well-established new Liverpool anthem.
Huerco S - Plonk
A truly phenomenal album. Huerco S’s stuff has always been a cut above. From his early dance works to the move into whatever we are calling this ambient noise these days. Plonk seems to bridge everything together. Particularly Huerco’s great EP, A Parade, In the Place… and his first ambient style record, Colonial Patterns. It all sounds hazer and hazer but still something you can understand. The track featuring Sir E.U. is one of the best dancefloor songs released this year and hopefully someone plays it out, somewhere. I remember when a curator once said, truly great artists have their style engrained in everything they do. You instantly know who the artist is but are still excited by the work and it feels new. Huerco is one of those artists. (This interview is great too for more info on the record.)
Dawuna - Glass Lit Dream
I know it came out last year but you know it was sold to me this year. It’s the album you always want to hear. One of those records that are released every few years to capture the times. A cross between sedative R&B and electronica voiced by Prince. Something to play in the car when driving with people who might say they don’t really like music of certain styles then suddenly ask you, ‘what’s this?’.
Back listening to Ben on Rinse and R1
Maybe this is the comfort part I mentioned earlier, but I’ve been listening to Ben’s show again more regularly on Rinse and also the residency he did on R1. What can you say, stole gems again, being reminded he never fails to preempt what you like. Well worth listening back to the shows this year here.
Carolee Schneemann soundtrack to videoworks shown at Cafe Oto
Ahead of a forthcoming retrospective at the Barbican, videoworks of Schneemann were shown at Cafe Oto accompanied by a recreation of one of her performance works. I’ve always thought about the sound which accompanies video artworks and often pay more attention to it when watching pieces. There have been a few releases of soundtracks in the past - see Leckey and KWC (there are probably more), plus work from James Richards which has never been released - and probably loads sitting there waiting to be heard like Scheeemann’s, which you’ll hear in the summer if you visit the show.
The queue for Dean Blunt and The Rebel on Rye Lane
Yeah, we headed down at about 6pm and the queue was the length of Rye Lane. Rookie mistake. Ended up in Yada’s. A dealer insisted I take his number. Heard a new name for a cigarette for which I’ve forgotten. Life goes on.
Jamal Moss - Thanks 4 The Tracks U Lost
Jamal Moss on Modern Love was always going to be something to pay attention to. Actually, Moss himself is always someone to pay attention to. This is a future classic. A beautiful record of house head-nodders with emotive chords. One for the summer. And, back to Modern Love, if you’re reading this before Saturday 18 June, head to their showcase at TWH featuring Moss and others 👀.
Kiki Kudo - Profile Eterna
Hard to describe but a must listen. 26 minutes. Two tracks. Enjoy.
Liverpool fans singing Dua Lipa
Now a Liverpool anthem. While it might be, ‘well you didn’t win this, you didn’t win that’. What we did win was the heart of Dua Lipa. Onwards…
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