@@@ J Hus: Common Sense (Butter World, 2017) An African MC in London combines African music and UK grime. I like his accent but I must say I much prefer American hip hop beats. This second track is funkier with a bouncy bass line. I wish the arrangements were less synth heavy. I got to this via the Guardian top 50 of the year and frankly these non-Americans should stay out of the rap game. Maybe some Nigerian cats can match American hip hop funk but it’s a tough hill.
@@@ Wolf Alice: Visions of a Life (RCA, 2017) Another UK outfit off the Guardian top 50 of the year and I tend to find the records that are lower on the list are better than the ones near the top where the music publicists are vying to get their big money records fellated as much as possible. This is #12 on the list so publicists are looking for head for sure. If you’re up for some highly produced, strongly flavored of shoegaze indie with a female singer then you’re in luck! I find the guitars here to be very satisfying but the production cuts down the whirlwind and the noise and the female singer pretties it up a bit. They have a go at uptempo punk business on the second track Yuk Foo, and it’s all right but it could use some more mess. It’s a tad too packaged a mess but that’s the point here. Somewhat unfortunately. It’s an all right record but music to me is about passion and the production constrains and packages the passion. Smells like passion for those who don’t like a shitty mess.
YTD recordings listened to: 784
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 423
Not good music: 323
Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding, Les Amazones D’Afrique
Deep In the Music 