Published on
September 20, 2024
Category
News
Essential weekend listening.
This week’s rundown is by VF’s Kelly Doherty and contributors Annabelle Van Dort, Emily Hill and James Hammond.
Jamie xx
In Waves
(Young)
Jamie xx’s long-awaited second solo album In Waves sees The xx member continue to successfully straddle the line between accessibility and the UK underground. As to be expected, In Waves is immaculately produced – a polished exercise in dancefloor euphoria and genre-diving. More concerned with the club than its predecessor In Colour, this latest record is faster and deeper, crossing over into heavy banger territory. In Waves may be polished but its a record that is clearly passionate about the genres it dabbles in – a surefire soundtracks for dancefloors across the country. – KD
Katy J Pearson
Someday, Now
(Heavenly)
The Bristol-based singer elevates her sound into shimmering, technicolour realms on this remarkable third album. Her collaboration with avant-pop producer Bullion, aka Nathan Jenkins, results in a tasteful blend of earthy, introspective songwriting refracted through electronic prismatic layers — full of cascading synths and glistening textures that fuse harmoniously with Pearson’s ethereal twang. Yearnful and self-reflective, Pearson displays a striking inner inquisitiveness, translating into incisive hooks and deeply impactful songcraft. – AVD
Izumi “Mimi” Kobayashi
Choice Cuts 1978-83
(Time Capsule)
Cherry-picking from five Izumi Kobayashi LPs from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, this collection embraces fusion as it freewheels its way through musical styles with Kobayashi’s voice at the centre. With her love of electronic instruments and pop sounds as a guiding force, these tracks seem to float from one to another on a breeze of their own making, at once funky and smooth but with the quirky touches and left turns that exemplify Kobayashi’s work. – JH
Black Artist Group
For Peace And Liberty, In Paris dec 1972
(WEWANTSOUNDS)
Unheard for fifty years, Wewantsounds unearth a long-lost live recording by the Black Artist Group, recorded at the Maison de l’ORTF in Paris, in 1972. Capturing a mind-altering concoction of daring free improvisation and deep spiritual jazz—whilst maintaining an undercurrent of funk — For Peace and Liberty is a fascinating nugget of jazz history from some of St Louis’s finest. – AVD
Guided by Voices
Tonics and Twisted Chasers
(Superior Viaduct)
The Guided by Voices discography is a vast one and whilst the 1996 fan-club-only Tonics and Twisted Chasers might not be the obvious place to start, it stands as one of Robert Pollard’s finest collections of to-the-point lo-fi songcraft. With an air of informality throughout, few tracks here push the two-minute mark as Pollard and guitarist Tobin Sprout get to a rough-hewn essence of the GBV sound and knock out a host of alluring hooks and personal accounts. A first-time reissue on vinyl and a fine place for the unfamiliar to acquaint themselves. – JH
Roots Manuva
Brand New Second Hand
(Big Dada)
Roots Manuva’s debut album, Brand New Second Hand, originally released in 1999, is a testament to British hip-hop history. Released on Ninja Tune offshoot Big Dada, it gets the reissue treatment to celebrate the 25th anniversary. The conscientious political lyrical vibrancy behind Manuuva’s wordplay against a backdrop of traditional hip-hop beats – sparse but weighty, balanced with bass. This double LP is true collector’s item, commemorating an essential album that helped redefine the possibilities of the UK’s political landscape. – EH
Bright Eyes
Five Dice, All Threes
(Dead Oceans)
It’s been four years since Bright Eyes made their triumphant orchestral comeback with Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was and the band, led by Conor Oberst, is returning to its chaotic roots. Five Dice, All Threes is a blast through the traits that have defined Bright Eyes’ earlier years – the trio perform loudly and loosely, like a mountain of instruments balanced inexactly on a speeding vehicle. Oberst’s wordy poetics examine the darkness and our inevitable charge towards death with each line dripping in a last-chance urgency. Five Dice, All Threes may not be to everyone’s tastes but for the established fans and the relentlessly neurotic amongst us, it’s a fine example of what makes a Bright Eyes album such a thrill almost three decades into their career. – KD
Suzanne Kraft
What You Do To Me
(Soft Rock For Hard Times)
A very special limited edition US import 7″ from the Amsterdam-based producer Suzanne Kraft. “What You Do To Me” is a soft rock cover of obscure band Sugarcane that sparks joyful post-summer melancholy. The A side perfectly captures the original, released in 1980 as a limited 45, and featured on WDVE’s Pittsburgh Rocks compilation Veteran LA-based producer Secret Circuit gives the cover a dubbed-out rework on the B side with SK’s forward-thinking approach to percussion balanced with psychedelic waves of delay. – EH
