Bonobo - Migration
Previous albums Black Sands and 2013's North Borders opened many casual listeners' ears to the likeable Simon Green, garnering rave reviews and, in the latter's case, a much-needed jump in sales. It had taken over a decade to steer people in his direction but finally he seems to have 'made it'. Whatever 'it' is. Migration sees something of a leap forward both musically and emotionally, with global influences ever more prevelant than before. Elements of down-beat and nu-soul abound of course but, as with Outlier, Bambro Koyo Ganda and the textural Kerala, there's something of the tropics, the heat and the dust about this album. Closer to home, 7th Sevens and No Reason recall mid-'00s chillwave and the opening title-track eminates softly with cyclical pulses and widescreen keyboards that yearn for a long tall drink and a beach. A pity then that another portion of Migration merely retreads what Green has trodden before or fleetingly reminds this listener of an all too common homogenous blend of electronica. In short (and in hindsight) perhaps it could have been, well, shorter. 7/10
The Flaming Lips - Oczy Mlody
There's no doubting the quirks, strangeness and charm of the wonderful world of Wayne Coyne's charges and things don't look like abating anytime soon. For their third Bella Union release, the psychedelic-o-meter has been cranked up to 11 and trippiness given priority over pop hits. Times have changed since The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi folks - you'd better get used to it (you've had fifteen years or so already). Oczy Mlody begins in kaleidoscopic technicolor with the bubbling ambient-psych of the title-track, the potty-mouthed How??, the instantly likeable There Should Be Unicorns and the wide-eyed Sunrise (Eyes of the Young), all of which would have made a pin-sharp thematic EP of sorts. However, Coyne saw fit to expand these ideas into a lengthy, patchy album that after a while sounds rather samey. There's a great riff on Nigdy Nie, playful childish synths on the portentous One Night While Hunting For Faeries and Witches and the not-so-unlikely appearance of Miley Cyrus on We A Famly (given the Lips' involvement with her last album). But tellingly, half a dozen top-end tracks do not a great album make and one wishes the older wiser Yoshimi had returned with some of the previous magic. 5/10
Sohn - Rennen
We are nearly three years on from Tremors, the debut 4AD album from one Christopher Taylor, but one wonders if his Sohn nom-de-plume has been held in cryogenic stasis. Rennen boasts the same electronic backdrop, similar chest-clutching blue-soul histrionics and a mirror-image icy atmosphere. One big change however is the curtailment of electronically-treated stuttering, stammering vocals, now replaced by something a little more human if not a great deal more exciting. Bordering on gospel blues, Hard Liquor kicks opens the album's doors like a well-worn shoe with its tale of hardship and sorrow, Conrad continues the theme for another four minutes and isn't until Rennen's title-track pops up mid-album that Sohn remembers his strength in melody. But overall, it's all a bit Sam Smith for me with little but sad-face scraps to sift through and the closing track Harbour an admittedly stirring finale. 5/10
The xx - I See You
Winners of the Mercury Prize in 2010, The xx are highly likely to make the shortlist for this eagerly-anticipated third album, regardless of its content or quality. As it is, I See You carries all the hallmarks of previous albums xx and Coexist - the easy-on-the-ears, mid-tempo, middle-of-the-road indie-pop dramatics of yore and occasional nods to their London clubbing roots. Opener Dangerous doesn't exactly live up to its title but it skips along pleasantly enough before a dearth in humour, or anything vaguely resembling excitement for that matter, trudges wearily into earshot in the form of Say Something Loving, Lips and A Violent Noise. It's like walking down any high street in Britain. The same shops, the same benches with the same drunks on them and the same crying babies coughing up their last meal into the laps of the same mothers or fathers. I arrive at Brave For You and it could have been written by or for Celine Dion or Cheryl Cole or Mariah Carey or Jennifer Rush - it really is that derivative. And therein lies the problem with I See You - it's predictable, slick and so safe, it comes with its own riot shield. 3/10
Sundara Karma - Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect
Taking their name from the Sanskrit for beautiful, Sundara Karma's karma is firmly rooted in straight-edged emotional power-pop that recalls Catfish and the Bottlemen, The Joy Formidable, Cherry Ghost, Delays and Springsteen in varying degrees. Unashamedly fist-pumping on tracks like Loveblood and the opening A Young Understanding, Sundara Karma aren't afraid to get a bit 'stadium' on our asses with driving melodic chiming guitars soaring through the chords like excitable starlings at feeding time. Olympia vaguely resembles The Boss's Dancing in the Dark and the long-forgotten Screaming Lights (ah, there was a fine band), while Happy Family has festival-favourite chiselled all over it and Lose The Feeling kinda encompasses all these things and more. They won't break the mould with Youth... but as a stand-alone long-player it passes muster before becoming a bit of a drag towards the end. 6/10
A Projection - Framework
Album number two for Stockholm's dark-wavers, Framework follows 2015's somewhat generic Exit with something of a bigger musical statement. The band make no apologies for mining a well-worn post-punk seam - comparisons to Joy Division, The Sound, The Cure (early), Editors, Classix Nouveaux, The Chameleons, Modern English (early), Red Lorry Yellow Lorry et al seem inevitable, given the gritty guitar riffs, ankle-deep basslines and arena-sized synth hooks. Transition, Breach and Dark City best demonstrate the influences on show here while the funereal Sensible Ends emulates New Order circa Movement. It's all naval-gazingly gloomy and some of you out there will love it. A Projection are a tribute band without a band to pay tribute to - they just chose an entire era to worship. 6/10
Previous albums Black Sands and 2013's North Borders opened many casual listeners' ears to the likeable Simon Green, garnering rave reviews and, in the latter's case, a much-needed jump in sales. It had taken over a decade to steer people in his direction but finally he seems to have 'made it'. Whatever 'it' is. Migration sees something of a leap forward both musically and emotionally, with global influences ever more prevelant than before. Elements of down-beat and nu-soul abound of course but, as with Outlier, Bambro Koyo Ganda and the textural Kerala, there's something of the tropics, the heat and the dust about this album. Closer to home, 7th Sevens and No Reason recall mid-'00s chillwave and the opening title-track eminates softly with cyclical pulses and widescreen keyboards that yearn for a long tall drink and a beach. A pity then that another portion of Migration merely retreads what Green has trodden before or fleetingly reminds this listener of an all too common homogenous blend of electronica. In short (and in hindsight) perhaps it could have been, well, shorter. 7/10
The Flaming Lips - Oczy Mlody
There's no doubting the quirks, strangeness and charm of the wonderful world of Wayne Coyne's charges and things don't look like abating anytime soon. For their third Bella Union release, the psychedelic-o-meter has been cranked up to 11 and trippiness given priority over pop hits. Times have changed since The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi folks - you'd better get used to it (you've had fifteen years or so already). Oczy Mlody begins in kaleidoscopic technicolor with the bubbling ambient-psych of the title-track, the potty-mouthed How??, the instantly likeable There Should Be Unicorns and the wide-eyed Sunrise (Eyes of the Young), all of which would have made a pin-sharp thematic EP of sorts. However, Coyne saw fit to expand these ideas into a lengthy, patchy album that after a while sounds rather samey. There's a great riff on Nigdy Nie, playful childish synths on the portentous One Night While Hunting For Faeries and Witches and the not-so-unlikely appearance of Miley Cyrus on We A Famly (given the Lips' involvement with her last album). But tellingly, half a dozen top-end tracks do not a great album make and one wishes the older wiser Yoshimi had returned with some of the previous magic. 5/10
Sohn - Rennen
We are nearly three years on from Tremors, the debut 4AD album from one Christopher Taylor, but one wonders if his Sohn nom-de-plume has been held in cryogenic stasis. Rennen boasts the same electronic backdrop, similar chest-clutching blue-soul histrionics and a mirror-image icy atmosphere. One big change however is the curtailment of electronically-treated stuttering, stammering vocals, now replaced by something a little more human if not a great deal more exciting. Bordering on gospel blues, Hard Liquor kicks opens the album's doors like a well-worn shoe with its tale of hardship and sorrow, Conrad continues the theme for another four minutes and isn't until Rennen's title-track pops up mid-album that Sohn remembers his strength in melody. But overall, it's all a bit Sam Smith for me with little but sad-face scraps to sift through and the closing track Harbour an admittedly stirring finale. 5/10
The xx - I See You
Winners of the Mercury Prize in 2010, The xx are highly likely to make the shortlist for this eagerly-anticipated third album, regardless of its content or quality. As it is, I See You carries all the hallmarks of previous albums xx and Coexist - the easy-on-the-ears, mid-tempo, middle-of-the-road indie-pop dramatics of yore and occasional nods to their London clubbing roots. Opener Dangerous doesn't exactly live up to its title but it skips along pleasantly enough before a dearth in humour, or anything vaguely resembling excitement for that matter, trudges wearily into earshot in the form of Say Something Loving, Lips and A Violent Noise. It's like walking down any high street in Britain. The same shops, the same benches with the same drunks on them and the same crying babies coughing up their last meal into the laps of the same mothers or fathers. I arrive at Brave For You and it could have been written by or for Celine Dion or Cheryl Cole or Mariah Carey or Jennifer Rush - it really is that derivative. And therein lies the problem with I See You - it's predictable, slick and so safe, it comes with its own riot shield. 3/10
Sundara Karma - Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect
Taking their name from the Sanskrit for beautiful, Sundara Karma's karma is firmly rooted in straight-edged emotional power-pop that recalls Catfish and the Bottlemen, The Joy Formidable, Cherry Ghost, Delays and Springsteen in varying degrees. Unashamedly fist-pumping on tracks like Loveblood and the opening A Young Understanding, Sundara Karma aren't afraid to get a bit 'stadium' on our asses with driving melodic chiming guitars soaring through the chords like excitable starlings at feeding time. Olympia vaguely resembles The Boss's Dancing in the Dark and the long-forgotten Screaming Lights (ah, there was a fine band), while Happy Family has festival-favourite chiselled all over it and Lose The Feeling kinda encompasses all these things and more. They won't break the mould with Youth... but as a stand-alone long-player it passes muster before becoming a bit of a drag towards the end. 6/10
A Projection - Framework
Album number two for Stockholm's dark-wavers, Framework follows 2015's somewhat generic Exit with something of a bigger musical statement. The band make no apologies for mining a well-worn post-punk seam - comparisons to Joy Division, The Sound, The Cure (early), Editors, Classix Nouveaux, The Chameleons, Modern English (early), Red Lorry Yellow Lorry et al seem inevitable, given the gritty guitar riffs, ankle-deep basslines and arena-sized synth hooks. Transition, Breach and Dark City best demonstrate the influences on show here while the funereal Sensible Ends emulates New Order circa Movement. It's all naval-gazingly gloomy and some of you out there will love it. A Projection are a tribute band without a band to pay tribute to - they just chose an entire era to worship. 6/10