For all the great albums that grab the music media spotlight, there’s many more that slip by the warm glow of recognition. It’s not always for lack of quality either, given the huge array of ways we listen to music these days, both online and off, as well as the speed at which we all consume, it’s little wonder that many great releases slip through the cracks. So much music, so little time.
But here’s the chance to take a little pause for breath and reflect at the month that’s been, picking over the best releases that may have missed the love they deserve when first landing. Maybe they were overshadowed by a major label blockbuster, unnecessarily overlooked or misunderstood, perhaps suffered a case of bad timing. No matter the reason for them slipping under the radar, we’ve switched on our musical sonar to help you discover and explore a raft of releases you may well have missed the first time round.
Iceage – Plowing Into The Field Of Love
Having bashed around the clattering sonics of high octane punk on their debut New Brigade and delving deeper into the cataclysmic abyss that was their post-hardcore You’re Nothing sophomore release, Copenhagen’s doom and gloomers Iceage have at last found their sound, lurking somewhere in the bleak shadows of post-punk, country and punk.
The first single ‘The Lord’s Favorite’ released by the Danish four-piece shocked the music world and divided fans. The track is a unique country jam that pertains to a more ‘Get Rhythm’ or ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ typed beat, whilst the mysterious frontman Elias Rønnenfelt brings everyone back down to the cold earth as he teases “part of me wants to hurt you/tear you in the hair” before reassuring “I don’t do that now” providing a new found sense of humour, albeit dark, to their otherwise austere aesthetic.
Plowing Into The Field Of Love is an onslaught of harrowing post-punk madness that unlike any other release, draw upon broader sonic arrangements. Personal favourite ‘Pissing Against The Moon’ features strings and piano accordions, the solemn sonics matching Rønnenfelt’s tearful vocals, creating a level of reachable emotion with the frontman.
‘Forever’ is reminiscent of the band’s frequented tag of Joy Division, Rønnenfelt’s suave, baritone far cleaner as he progressively builds to the universal eruption of brass and flurried guitars.
The great Iggy Pop confessed his love of Iceage to Triple J last year stating they are “the only current punk band I can think of that sounds really dangerous”, with an accolade that, we needn’t say another word. (Joe Harris)
Godflesh – A World Lit Only by Fire (Planet Records)
For the band that spent most of their career being repeatedly labelled as one of the most “unforgiving” and “punishing” exponents of industrial metal — a dubious term when applied to the singular Birmingham outfit — it’s only right that their first album in 13 years be one of their sternest castigations yet. Put it this way, if Ministry are the delinquents at the back of the class firing spitballs at the ceiling fan, Godflesh are the mentally disturbed black sheep whom everyone secretly fears will one day unleash tragedy on the entire school.
That isn’t to say that it’s a departure from their previous output, not at all. In fact, just as they promised, the Soundwave-bound duo have delivered another tome of crusty bass, mechanised drum beats, and mighty walls of guitars that follow on almost directly from their 1989 debut album.
While relative poseurs like Einstürzende Neubauten are still busy mincing about with jackhammers and fracking equipment, Godflesh set themselves apart by generating the same horsepower and sinister soundscapes with nothing but a guitar-bass-drum machine triumvirate. A World Lit Only by Fire will take you by the throat, and we highly recommend you let it. (Greg Moskovitch)
Zola Jesus – Taiga (Create/Control / Mute)
It’s to Nika Danilova’s credit that, as far as modern beats go, hers are some of the least regressive. That isn’t to say she’s breaking any boundaries, but she’s content to create music that draws comparisons to contemporaries like SBTRKT, Golden Features, and even Kanye West (check the horns on ‘Hunger’), and not the synth-tweakers and downtempo heroes of the past. What’s more, she’s got a voice that would knock the best of them — old and new — for six.
Enter Taiga, which is not only a fiercely modern record, but easily Danilova’s most accessible effort yet, and one on which she’s able to freely stretch, flex, and even extend her considerable vocal muscle. She’s taken several great steps away from vanishing point and proving once again that serious artists are formed when good artists recognise their strengths and mobilise them. Whether this is Danilova’s ‘pop’ album is open for debate, but if for you, ‘pop’ means less intimacy, then you might be onto something. Of course, if it also means endearing tunes that demand repeated listens, you’re right about that too. (GM)
Mykki Blanco – Gay Dog Food (Independent)
With all the hullabaloo — certainly well-earned — surrounding Nas’ imperishable ’94 debut, Illmatic, lately, it bears remembering what New York Times columnist Jon Caramanica wrote of the album in his 2010 essay ‘Night Time is More Trife Than Ever’: The Many Misuses of Nas: “Illmatic is responsible for countless pointless ‘rap versus hip-hop debates,’ a shocking amount of hip-hop self-righteousness, the emergence of the backpack movement as something more than a regional curio, and the persistence of the idea that lyricism is the only standard great rap music should be held to.”
In particular, it’s important to remember the latter sentiment when listening to the latest dispatch from California native Mykki Blanco, because if you don’t, you might just miss out on one of the most enjoyable hip-hop releases of the year. And when we say enjoyable, we mean we defy you not to get your snarl on and start bumping your head to the halfway-to-industrial beats of ‘Moshin In The Front’. No, Blanco doesn’t have the all-important “bars”, and even his hooks can be a little starchy, but he makes up for it with a superb schtick and some infectious songcraft. (GM)
Scott Walker & Sunn O))) – Soused (4AD / Inertia)
Critic’s candy, if ever there was an album that could snare that descriptor. That is, unless the two critical darlings behind this brooding collection of musical ill-omens decide to hook up with Swans for their next dispatch. That said, all of the acclaim that was destined to be heaped upon this collaboration is well-deserved. Over the course of five tracks, the thundering walls of guitar that comprises the bread and butter of drone icons Sunn O))) bashes heads with the unsettling baritone of song noir progenitor Scott Walker and before you know it, the listener is left to decide what the hell just happened.
And that’s exactly what makes this album not only a unique and worthy listen, but an important one. As ominous, creeping, and obscure as a film by Lars von Trier or Michael Haneke, Soused will probably be more of an intellectual exercise for most listeners than a sensory one, and the fact that an album can illicit such conflict, particularly in this day and age, cements it as a genuine work of art, which, if you’ve been paying attention, is a rarity too. (GM)
Kindness – Otherness (Inertia)
Though it may be the bane of every working musician, songwriter, and industry professional’s existence, and, y’know, could well be the death knell of music altogether (if the mystics and statistics are to be believed and on the internet, everything is), if the internet has contributed one thing to music, besides the arguable democratisation and ease of distribution, it’s giving a whole generation of young talents the ability to feast on the best, the worst, and the most obscure of any genre that could possibly pique their interest.
Hence, Kindness’ latest full-length effort, Otherness, the follow-up to 2012’s World, You Need a Change of Mind, is a potpourri of everything you could hope to find in the tags sidebar of your favourite sound blog – jazz, electronica, funk, R&B, lounge, hip-hop, and the list goes on, getting more and more obscure as it does.
However, what sets Otherness apart from similar genre collages is project leader Adam Bainbridge’s skill for braiding disparate sounds around each other to make something that actually resembles a song. The investment of effort pays dividends and results in an album that’s somewhere between Breakbot’s By Your Side and Télépopmusik’s Generation World. (GM)
Les Sins – Michael (Mistletone)
With Anything in Return strongly hinting at the direction in which the bedroomiest of the bedroom production heroes, Chaz Bundick, a.k.a. Toro y Moi, wished to veer, it’s a wonder why christening a new project was so necessary. Regardless, while the aforementioned release hinted at his aptitude for creating groove-laden, classic-style house music, where each layer of percussion and synth sounds as though it’s opening a door into another room filled with revelry, Michael sees the still-young producer truly earning his spurs.
Opening with deep cut ‘Talk About’, which comes straight out of an Essential Mix circa 1996, Bundick flexes his production muscle with power and ease, bending a new genre to his will. Don’t fret, Michael is replete with all of Bundick’s beloved downtempo and chillwave hallmarks, with tracks like Toy featuring atonal synth pads and skittish oscillator tweaks. It’s just that he’s simply using them to accent each song, instead of characterise them. Rather than oversimplifying his music, the change provides listeners with a fresh and engaging set of tunes you’ll find easy to lose yourself in. (GM)
