Bonobo – Fragments
I was a big fan of Bonobo after hearing Animal Magic sometime around 2002-2003, and while I still very much love those early pieces, it’s a very different beast to the glistening soulful electronica we have nowadays. The smooth, bassy rolls and percussive grooves are there still, but instead of sweetly detuned lo-fi melodies we get grand cinematic gestures and soaring soul backed up by some of the most renowned musicians in today’s musical landscape. Jamila Woods, Jordan Rakei, and Kadhja Bonet all make an appearance, as does Joji on personal album highlight, ‘From You. It’s a brilliantly smooth and gorgeous distillation of all the influences that have come before into a beautiful, enjoyable whole.
Silverbacks – Archive Material
Coming from the Dublin underground, you know Silverbacks are coming from a scene that is both fruitful and highly talent-filled. Despite its title, ‘Archive Material’ is in fact an entirely new studio album. There are moments of raucous garage percussion and snapping guitar riffs, but there are also more introspective moments of swooning melodicism and hypnotic Fugazi-indebted dissonance. ‘A Job Worth Something’ is possibly one of the most diverse cuts on the LP but is indicative of their undeniable range and ability to switch seamlessly between fiery post-punk and jangling avant-pop.
Approach Release – Drum Chums Volume 4
I’ve mentioned Talking Drums in this here article before, and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to do it again. Having started out as a series of 12”s by Talking Drums themselves (a shadowy cabal of producers who only 6 people in the whole world know about, maybe more) they’ve diversified into welcoming some of the hottest producers and DJ’s into the ranks, with Basso of Growing Bin, Plastic Bamboo and Neil Diablo all pulling out the stops for wonderful outings in the past. This time sees Approach Release sympathetically fitting in with the Drum Chums oeuvre while bringing his own particular brand of chugging, synth-heavy disco edits, and soaring boogie glitz. It’s a wonderfully exciting affair and perfectly produced as ever, showing the TD gang are only going from strength to strength.
Yard Act – The Overload
Post-punk has, without doubt, had a bit of a resurgence of late but it’s good to see the stylistically similar acts of the past giving way to genuine invention, resulting in a perfect mix of the old and new. There are reminders of the shouty vox of the Eccentronic Research council for example, with roaring monologues broken up with woozy guitar lines and grooving bassy plucks. Moments of noisy wall-of-sound garage rock, but moving into cleanly manicured jangling fuzzy indie business. If you liked Squid, or Blanketman, or any of the masters of post-punk of old, then you’ll find much to adore in Yard Act. ‘The Overload’ is a brilliantly dynamic and massively enjoyable listen.
Boris – W
As one of the most venerable voices in noise-drone-metal-rock (I could continue here with the genres, but won’t), it’s fascinating to hear how far Boris can stray from their roots and still sound like nobody else. The Japanese experimentalists have swept from icy ambiance and devastating drone to lighter moments of rocky groove, but ‘W’ really is one of their most diverse offerings yet, showing some of their more tectonic moments (Beyond Good And Evil) as well as a nod to more modern post-dubstep sounds (Icelina), and the scattered, bonkers jazz they’ve been known to dabble in (Drowning By Numbers). All-in, ‘W’ couldn’t be any more different from anything they’ve done, but absolutely glimmers with everything that made them so special in every one of their numerous stylistic guises.
Listen to all of the recommendations that Piccadilly Records have given us:
