ok, so a few weeks have gone by since my last update, and nothing much has changed! ok, thanks for reading! no, i joke, i’ve experienced an abundance of joy at a few gigs, including seeing my favourite band at the moment fontaines d.c at ally pally in london a few weeks ago, with some of my sweetest friends. they were simply incredible live, tracks like death kink, sundowner, starburster, roman holiday, i love you among more. definitely check out their last album romance, it is some exceptional post-punk from dublin, by some of the most talented musicians working today.
i saw the incredible kneecap the day before, they brought incredible energy. it’s free palestine all day every day. what incredible unity was felt, though it was absolutely packed and we couldn’t even move properly. i saw lex amor with another very close friend and had the time of my life. her album forward, ever is officially my most listened to album this year, and i’m sure this will rank very high in my end of year lists. playing tracks from government tropicana too, she created that intimacy i’ve come to love from her, especially remembering a few gigs i went to a few years ago. anyways, chef’s kiss. as for other music, i’ve been listening to the new pa salieu album afrikan alien. sooo good! some incredible production along with super catchy hooks and beautiful and empowering messaging. “belly” and “dece (heavy)” i’ve had on repeat.
otherwise, there’s the new last nubian of course, i think it’s incredible! mary in the junkyard, an alt rock band from london that released a cool 4-track ep titled this old house. it’s haunting and beautiful, melodic, and the closer “teeth” is a such an incredibly intense and riveting moment.
the new moin album you never end is also fantastic. it’s a guitar-heavy album with immersive and hypnotic moments throughout that have grown on me with each and every listen. i’m really excited about the experimental scene here in london, there are so many exciting new artists making timeless music, and i have so much to catch up on.
steven julien’s new dj-kicks is fantastic, his remix of the shungu and dreamcastmoe produced “pray 4 my friends” is so good, the drums just just hit. it’s a proper groove, but do listen to it in its entirety.
r.i.p. by actress was still a blind spot for me in his discography, finally listened to it and was blown away. just some beautiful textures but there’s a kick and groove to it that is just entrancing at times. oh, and he’s also released an album titled дарен дж. каннінгем (his name in cyrillic). an hour of spaceous, electronic soundscapes that feel immersive, cold and quite heavy at times. but it’s worth the listen, especially on an autumn evening. i’ve also realised that it’s released on smalltown supersound, a label i’m not familiar with but seem to have some great ambient, electronic music, so that’s an area i may explore, musically.
ok, shall we talk about kendrick? so he dropped a few weeks ago now i think. i had no idea it dropped on the friday and only realised after waking up late on a saturday. he’s been one of my favourites since he released section.80. but since to pimp a butterfly, i’ve never really had the same excitement about his music. yes, mr. morale & the big steppers was a great album and one of his most complete to date in my opinion, but i didn’t have that initial excitement to want to listen to it, and while it’s in my favourites on apple music, i barely return to it these days. anyways, gnx came out, hooray, music fans are happy. and it’s a good album, i like it! some of the production is truly exceptional. from the eerie tone of “wacced out murals” to the incredible funk and house groove of “squabble up”, the album is full of incredible moments. i’m not as crazy about “reincarnated” as the general consensus i’m getting from people. i’m tired of the whole tupac comparison and theme. like, we get it, you’re one of the greatest of all time, but why are you obsessed with comparing your legacy with his when you can carve a unique one for yourself? and the hating energy, oh my god. it started from the whole drake beef – i’ve stayed away from conversations because i don’t care enough to argue about celebrities, but generally fuck drake, seemingly weird character with, as of quite a few years now garbage copy and paste music. “meet the grahams” was fucking evil, and have been turned off by that kind of energy on this album. like him being annoyed at snoop for posting “taylor made” like is your life this disinteresting that you have to mention a tweet and get upset by it? a grown man. but don’t get me wrong, i get that this is hip-hop, he has all the right to brag about being one of the greatest hip-hop artists at all time, but i also feel like he wants to fight everybody when nobody’s really done anything to him. commercial hip-hop music as a whole has been disinteresting for quite a while now, so i don’t really know why all this energy is going into complaining about the lack of emcees. or maybe, thinking now, this could be a drake diss album? i don’t know, but still some very cool production and catchy moments. “dodger blue” is funky, “heart pt.6” is actually phenomenal and the clear standout for me. it’s proper prime storytelling kendrick rapping effortlessly over this lush, jazzy beat. the sza tracks are also pretty good, “luther” and “gloria”. overall a compelling album, for reasons i don’t quite relate to. apparently there’s more to come, so we’ll see. anyways, listen below, and if you disagree with anything i’ve written about it and wanna start shit, argue with the air.
steve spacek has re-released his 2005 classic spaceshift and it is sounding incredible! the funky, groovy energy of it is just so soulful, the drums hit so hard, it’s such a joy to listen to it. he’s go such catchy melodies throughout that are just so beautiful and captivating.
reading-wise, i finished the 1924 mikhail bulgakov novel heart of a dog, a satirical bolshevik-era story about a dog that goes through this experimental operation that renders him half human and turns into a marxist. the story itself was super interesting and loved the humour and general observations about life in the soviet union in that era. the master and margerita next.
finally, i got my new record player setup, so i will be playing quite a lot of my old record collection. expect some posts here in the coming months. one of the surprise favourites so far has been this italian album called le canzoni del mare by santo & johnny. it sounds like spring, some beautiful, immersive jazzy compositions. discogs link here.
i think that’s it for this week! i haven’t been watching much, but will share some cool film and tv recommendations next time. peaceee x
In Search Of Media 