James Pants – Seven Seals
Where his previous album Welcome, was perhaps a little to, er, welcoming, Seven Seals paints a hex above the door and invites you in at your peril. Taking his trademark spacey-funk, Pants steeps it in the screams and jangles of the occult and comes out with this juju covered collection of tracks, the pick of which is the put-a-hex-on-your-ex classic I Promise, I Lied.
Ritmo Especial e.p. – Daniel Maloso/ Rebolledo/ Matias Aguayo/ Christian S.
Remember when the Ed Banger crew turned up a few years ago and every daftie seemed to think they were the shit? How fucking annoying was that? The really stupid ones probably still listen to that pish. Next time one of them is all over your mirrors with some Justice or Busy P, hear them out them bombard them with this shit. The amigos Comeme are what Ed Banger and the brethren claimed to be and one listen to this Ritmo Especial will put their weak buzz to the sword. Guererro!
Ellen Allien – Pump
Given her last album sounded like the internal paranoia of an architect in the midst of a breakdown fuelled by troubled thoughts about the transferable abstraction of a system, it is safe to say I wasn’t too arsed about her forthcoming one. Suddenly, along comes this chugging techno nugget and I’m all like “when’s the new album out Ellen?” Listen here.
Hard Ton – Flawless e.p. + Selfish e.p.
Look at the cover to Selfish. Talk about laying down a challenge for yourself. I mean, what the fuck can possibly live up to the expectation set by the image of a considerable Italian chap, blacked-up in emulation of Grace Jones? I’ll tell you what, two e.p’s of Sylvester-esque, acid dipped, high NRG disco that jacks like early Chicago and outcamps the Communards. For an example, not on either of the above, check here.
Caribou – Swim
Too polite as Manitoba and too unashamedly retro on his last outing as Caribou, Dan Snaith has been someone whose work, for me, is easier admired than loved. That is until now. Embracing Matthew Dear’s druggy, melancholic future pop sensibilities, Snaith has not only found a world that suits his voice but his lyrical content. One of the year’s highlights. Opener here.
Matthew Herbert – One One
To be succeed by One Club (field recordings from Frankfurt’s Robert Johnson), then One Pig (the life and death of a pig), One One is dreamy starting point for the trilogy. Wistful, romantic, sexy, and somehow. both European and very, very English. – this is an album to make time for. A country stroll through modern life. Listen to Leipzig here.
Beech House – Teen Dream
Music so beautiful, so timeless they should be called the Beach Foxes. That is all.
QEK Junior – Ausverkauf
Oooft. Where did these guys spring from? Don’t remember downloading this, don’t remember being told about this, it was simply there one day, menacingly present on my itunes. To listen to Ausverkauf is to stalk the industrial wastelands of Dusseldorf, circa ’78, holding leather-gloved hands with DAF, all the time grinding towards a massive aircraft hanger from which the strains of Suicide’s Ghostrider are emanating live. Amazing stuff.
Pantha du Prince – Black Noise
I was wondering whether or not I should include this. My problem is that for all the undoubted charm and beauty it possesses, it can often feel excessively xylophonic and chime heavy, and I find it hard to shake the notion that Hare Krishna folk may be behind it. However, having got my mitts on the new Cold Cave Life Magazine 12″ with a Pantha remix, I was prompted to listen to Black Noise from beginning to end and didn’t once think of Hare Krishna.
The Knife – Tomorrow, In A Year.
When not moonlighting as Oni Ayhun and Fever Ray, and in between albums as the most exciting dark-pop act on the planet, The Knife do such things as go for walks, convalesce, sleep, oh, and make opera about the life and work of Charles Darwin, in collaboration with Planningtorock and Mount Sims. Epic in scope, deep in thought and though flawed, entirely deserving of several listens. Always interesting, frequently sublime. Variation of Birds here.
Hot Chip – One Life Stand
Ever the cynic, I wrote these guys off after the previous outing Made In The Dark. My feeling was that they would be pish forevermore. How wrong I was. Eight out of the ten tracks on One Life Stand are amazing, taking in influences as varied as piano house, 2-step, dubstep, calypso and of course, the ever present Arthur Russell. This is pop so sweet it feels like mainlining a bag of Skittles, except for the track Brothers which is like trying to snort an out-of-date piece of fudge – so bad is this track, my girlfriend has never gotten beyond it and has declared it the worst track of all-time; i cannot disagree. Download the rest and delete it.
Also, check this delightful oddity.
Oni Ayhun – OAR004
Bleeps, hisses, squelches, hi-hats, unknowable sounds of terror and an oppressive air of electronic malevolence wreak havoc with any sense of where this is heading, then five minutes in something, a force of some kind, tears the entire world apart. Yaaaas! And that’s just the A-side. Fuck minimal.
Padwantwo.
