MUSIC | Records
ALBUM OF THE ISSUE
ELECTRONICA ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER Age of (Warp) ●●●●● With his eighth album as Oneohtrix Point Never, American producer Daniel Lopatin is seeking to define the Age Of . . . well, what exactly? Hearing the title track’s opening harpsichord notes, he may be trying to give birth to an evolution in electronic production, which fuses
chilly synthesised sonic experiments with the warmth of human voices to create a kind of transhuman hymnal. That harpsichord pops up amid the bubbling, bleeding interlude of ‘myriad.industries’ and echoes the minimalist, analogue emotional current of the piano line on ‘Manifold’. The player of the latter, Kelsey Lu, also returns on the closing ‘Last Known Image of a Song’, a welcome upbeat finale to a record which raises the bar for contemporary electronic music. In the interim, many heights are scaled, from the gorgeous and
stripped-back future hip-hop production on ‘Babylon’ to tracks ‘Warning’ and ‘Same’, all of which use Prurient’s voice almost as an instrument in itself, to more apocalyptic, industrial effect. There are a number of guests on the album, including Anohni who appears often in a non-lyrical form; for example as a disembodied yelp amid the fearsome, urgent ‘We’ll Take It’. Both this track and ‘Still Stuff that Doesn’t Happen’ form their own unlikely supergroup, with Lopatin’s production and Anohni’s spectral voice accompanied by the keyboard-playing of James Blake (who is also the album’s co-producer). That such talents should congregate around this record is unsurprising because amid its sonic ambiguity, big emotions unfold, and Lopatin’s muse appears to once more create a new vision of the future. (David Pollock) ■ Out Fri 1 Jun.
MELODIC GRIME PROC FISKAL Insula (Hyperdub) ●●●●●
‘I think I probably make tunes to get out emotions I don’t express in day-to- day life,’ Joe Powers aka Proc Fiskal has noted about his debut album. ‘I used clips of my friends talking, drunk folk, and general Scottish life to preserve and represent what my experience is like right now.’ It’s a theme that seeps all the way through Insula, in the asymmetric rhythms of lead single ‘Dish Washing’ or mechanical melody of ‘Dopamine’, as it builds into a richly textured instrumental. Bolstered by heavy synths, thick basslines and smatterings of skittish percussion, Powers’ debut is very much a record in sync with its environment, with surreal yet familiar voices, sounds, samples and edits forming the basis of his productions. ‘Hoax Nos Trinit’ has a weird and wonderful atmosphere, busy with ideas from start to finish, as does ‘Vaudeville’, with its restless rhythms balancing over more dulcet, warm synths. ‘Future Headache’ takes the record to more breezy territory as delicate chimes rest behind muffled chatter and mundane conversation. Elsewhere, the influence of video games, and their associated soundtracks, is undeniable, with tracks like ‘Apple Juice’ and ‘Kontinuance’ providing waves of futuristic sci-fi grime landscapes, while ‘Evil Spirits’ lends the album the short, snappy melodies of a classic game.
As a newer member of the Hyperdub family, Proc Fiskal has had no trouble finding a home at the legendary UK label for his fast, frenzied, 160bpm-driven take on grime. With his debut, Powers has stayed true to Hyperdub’s affinity for forward-thinking production and experimentation, releasing a record that remains within the realm of grime as we know it but with added personality and melodic idiosyncrasies. Having released his debut EP ‘The Highland Mob’ just last year, the Edinburgh-based producer may be considered a newcomer to many, but Insula would certainly make you think otherwise. (Arusa Qureshi) ■ Out Fri 8 Jun.
ORCHESTRAL POP GRUFF RHYS Babelsberg (Rough Trade Records) ●●●●● INDIE ROCK PETAL Magic Gone (Run for Cover) ●●●●●
Gruff Rhys didn’t sit on the fence in the build-up to Brexit. ‘You liberated me from pie and mash’ might not sound like an earnest paean to freedom of movement, but in ‘I Love EU’ he offered an impassioned defence of how Wales has benefited from a strong relationship with Europe. His fifth solo album, Babelsberg, picks up the thematic torch with Rhys exploring the myriad issues of modern times with trademark humour, enlisting the help of Swansea-based composer Stephen McNeff and the 72-piece National Orchestra of Wales to add both bombast and subtlety. The front half of Babelsberg contains one of the strongest run of songs on a Rhys album. Political themes are immediately apparent on the Glen Campbell country stylings of opener ‘Frontier Man’, in which a delusional male protagonist is ‘just a monument to times gone wrong’, and then again on ‘The Club’, where Rhys is betrayed and thrown from a place he ‘built with his own two hands’.
The frantic rhythm and blues of ‘Oh Dear!’ and the Beatles-esque ballad ‘Take That Call’ bookend ‘Limited Edition Heart’. This clear highlight pairs a great vocal melody with a stream of surreal lyrics that tackles the apocalypse and redemption, reaching a wonderful meta-peak when Rhys anticipates (and describes) the song’s instrumental breakdown.
These tunes would almost certainly have stood up in their stripped-back guises, having been recorded in a three-day period with Kliph Scurlock (ex- Flaming Lips drummer), and multi-instrumentalists Stephen Black (Sweet Baboo) and Osian Gwynedd. But McNeff’s arrangements elevate Babelsberg to a new level of greatness: ‘Oh Dear!’ possesses the urgency of Morricone’s Western compositions, while on closing track ‘Selfies in the Sunset’ (a duet with Lily Cole), the woodwind playfully engages in call and response with the keys as the two turn the end of days into an Instagram story. (Craig Angus) ■ Out Fri 1 Jun.
100 THE LIST 1 Feb–31 Mar 2018 100 THE LIST 1 Jun–31 Aug 2018
The only permanent member of Petal is Kiley Lotz, and this second album, much like the project’s previous effort Shame, is very much the sound of one person’s thoughts. Written as she reckoned with both her artistic career, and her sexuality, the album confronts the paranoia and anxiety that was taking a toll on Lotz. Whilst this focus is one of Magic Gone’s strengths, it can also make for an overwhelming listen that sadly lacks in variation. Many of the lyrics are confrontations, asking questions like: ‘who’s to say I
don’t care?’ and ‘when did it get so personal?’ Lotz is exorcising her demons by facing them and allowing the listener to join her and the music revels in this emotional journey, as Lotz often adds power through straining her soft falsetto. This is done most masterfully on the song ‘I’m Sorry’, which slowly builds over four minutes of yearning before exploding in the final act as the song’s title is shouted repeatedly over thunderous guitars. Magic Gone is split into two halves, with the first, ‘Tightrope Walker’, written before Lotz entered treatment, and the second, ‘Miracle Clinger’, penned from the other side. Unfortunately, this journey is not echoed in the album’s narrative arc, with many of the songs simply taking similarly sparse and / or quiet-loud approaches, making it hard to pick out an overall theme. This betrays the cumulative effect of Lotz’ lyrics, which are undoubtedly poetic and almost frighteningly confessional at times.
'"Tightrope Walker/Miracle Clinger" are the two worlds I was living in,' Lotz has said of the record. As separate diary entries, the songs on Magic Gone are small but well-formed lights that glow with the energy of a troubled soul. Yet the album does not take enough chances, asking the same questions and repeating the same musical tricks, making for a fleetingly gripping but never wholly absorbing listen. (Sean Greenhorn) ■ Out Fri 15 Jun.