Our favourite just-released records:
Four Tet - Three
(Text Records, 2024)
A complex but generous album, where the tracklist reveals the complexity of the influences and emotional manipulations to which the Four Tet discourse is anchored, always balanced between emotion and a "white glove" approach in dealing with the pieces of memory to be included in its constructions polished and anodized.
Devon Welsh - Come With Me If You Want To Live
(You Are Accepted, 2024)
This new work is a war cry. A tight and spare production, in the classic pop mold, if you can define it that way. The lyrics subtly criticise social systems, amplify close relationships, grapple with the costs of fame, and generally say what people think but are afraid to say.
Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones - New Monuments
(Human Endeavour / Ransom Note Records, 2024)
Amirtha Kidambi is a bomb. She's like a kraut rock Norma Winstone versus Henry Cow with the depth of Joe Harriott double Quintet's Indo-Jazz Suite.
Dubwiser - Free I EP
(s/r, 2024)
Utilising roots reggae and UK hip hop stylings Free I EP speaks of persecution and frustration contrasted with a deep sense of empowerment and hope and it further cements Dubwiser's standing as one of the great bands of the UK reggae scene.
DIM - Compendium Collection
(Out of Season, 2024)
Like The Lament Configuration (Hellraiser) and the Necromomicon (Evil Dead) are elusive objects that unlocks a living nightmare, the Compendium Collection is a time portal back to medieval times. We are in the golden time of fantasy dungeon synth music.
Dee Jay Park - The Dustronomist
(Orange Cut Records, 2024)
The Dustronomist is continuing the great tradition of turntablism-centric music. From trip-hop and boom-bap, from heavy drum breaks and atmospheric fragments, the scratches have a central stage here. Paying homage to the "Mo' Waxian" trip-hop era, Dee Jay Park is crafting a rich blend of influences, creating a special record.
Trio HLK - Anthropometricks
(Ubuntu Music, 2024)
What H, L and K create is contemporary classical music and free jazz. Their second album, Anthropometricks, reflects their evolution since "Standard Time," integrating jazz fragments into original compositions offering a diverse narrative through innovative rhythms and sonic illusions. So much complexity, and still so immediate.
Aroma Nice - Old Haunts
(YUKU, 2024)
In the mid-twentieth century, conceptual art emerged, rejecting excess for minimalist expression. This piece challenges viewers intellectually and spiritually, reflecting late-noughties culture. Moving itself from Venetian Snares best works, it disrupts conventions.
For a visceral experience, play it loud!