Orbital - Monsters Exist
Their first album since 2012's Wonky and their break-up two years later, Monsters Exist is a music amalgamation of pretty much all that has gone before. Elements of the duo's previous work abounds throughout what is a varied, if somewhat dark album, with political commentary and social observations dressed up in a cloak of jackhammer beats and layered synths designed to nod heads and tap feet.
The opening title-track is as forboding as Orbital can be - a gutsy instrumental that wouldn't be out of place soundtracking a Wes Craven film or the post-Brexit landscape (if we still have one). P.H.U.K. (Please Help UK) is gnarly tech-house with a brusing sub-message while Professor Brian Cox's commentary on the closing There Will Come a Time is no more cheery with its downside (though unarguable) summary of the future. "One thing is certain, we will all die" opines Cox, matter-of-factly.
Elsewhere though, the Hartnolls bring themselves to the party with jolly brass stabs on Hoo Hoo Ha Ha guaranteed to bring a wry curve to the mouth, while Buried Deep Within and Vision One continue the brothers' propensity for nifty beats and widescreen melodies. Worth seeking out is the bonus disc edition which houses unreleased mixes and new tracks such as the busy Kaiju and soaring Dressing Up In Other People's Clothes.
7.5/10
Camera - Emotional Detox
For the Berlin Krautrock outfit's fourth outing, the line-up expands into a five piece and the soundscapes turn into something of a crossbreed of the epic and the intense. As the band's strapline states in the PR notes, "It's not repetition, it's discipline", although this could be argued on the insistent Patrouille which is disciplined repetition at its very best.
Ciao Cacao also draws on motorik influences but with multi-layered synths and persistent beats while Himmelhilf is a dense wash of synths straight out of Jan Hammer's cupboard. Pacific One recalls similar excursions by Public Service Broadcasting with big synths and nagging melody and by the final throes of the album, Emotional Detox ends up being Camera's most sustainable and enjoyable work so far.
7/10
The Gasman - Controlled Hallucination
Portsmouth-based techtronica maverick The Gasman returns with a second album for his current label stable Onomatopoeia, following on from 2016's Aeriform. Not dissimilar to Rustie or Zomby, the former Planet Mu artist fuses '80s pomp, '90s floor-filling and today's minimalist approach without compromising on providing a tune or two.
It's hands to the lazers on early tracks New Chair and Rotorn, while subtlety is the name of the game on Flash 6 and Torse before delivering a string of thunderous and portentous imaginary soundtracks such as Cessation and Ufoluta. On Wizards Sleeve (sic), our man creates a piano-driven cadenza that hints at the likes of Andrew Poppy and Wim Mertens before throwing in layers of twinkling arpeggios and discordant rhythms.
Things even get a touch ecclesiastical during Spark 7 and Sil 2 with cathedral-sized swathes of organ and layered vocals. The Gasman is something of a mathematician when it comes to composition, making Controlled Hallucination greater than the sum of its parts.
7/10
Rattle - Sequence
On paper, Nottingham rhythmatists Rattle may be mining a somewhat restricted seam with only drums to keep the listener company. Yet the duo's inventive, sporadic and somewhat involving Sequence is a tour-de-force of rumbling, rolling tribal drums, cymbals and percussion that defies definition and categorizing.
Second track Disco even adds in vocal harmonies while minimal lyrics weave in and out of Signal's funereal canter before things bed in with ad-hoc rides and crashes. Essentially, Sequence is four lengthy passages that won't sell out stadiums anytime soon but might just fill a few intimate venues and arthouse installations near you. Katharine Eira Brown and Theresa Wrigley have defied the rule-makers by embarking on a journey fuelled by little more than drums and latent power - and for that, they deserve your attention.
7/10
Skinny Girl Diet - Ideal Woman
North London's raucous, raw and informed sisters, formerly a trio, return after bawling out and calling out on debut blast Heavyflow. For Ideal Woman, the duo continue scaring the fuck out of all and sundry with the likes of La Sirena, Witch of the Waste and Shed Your Skin, all of which recall Hole, Lunachicks and Drenge without detracting too much from SGD's own USP which is sheer unadulterated riffs and power-rock.
The fuzz-pedal gets a thorough hammering throughout the album, particularly on the visceral title-track and the inflammatory Starfucker, while Warrior Queens doesn't hold back on the pair's modus operandi of not holding back. Also, check out the cheeky adaptation of a well-known rap hit on the album's must-hear slammer White Man.
Anyone who thinks Savages are loud and proud and the future of rock n roll, needs to put aside 30 minutes to absorb what Skinny Girl Diet are creating right now.
7/10
Christian Kjellvander - Wild Hxmans
Lovers of Bill Callahan, Brendan Perry and David Sylvian could do worse than check out Swede Kjellvander's brand of atmospheric poetry - his ninth album Wild Hxmans is explorative and transcendental in the same way that say Sylvian's Dead Bees on a Cake is or Callahan's solo successfully aspired to be.
Armed with a resonating baritone, Christian Kjellvander crafts warm, soothing and engaging porchlight music for these cold times without compromising on story-telling. Curtain Maker is quite simply gorgeous, a sprawling epic slice of Scandi-Americana that truly confirms what we should already know - Kjellvander is a poet of our times, on a par with Young and Springsteen at their most effusive.
There isn't a duff track on the album - Wild Hxmans doesn't resort to 'hits', although The Thing Is and Halle Lay Lu Jah come closest to being radio tracks (as if he needs to write one). They riff and rock with the best of them and don't shirk from delivering insistence and clamour.
8/10
The opening title-track is as forboding as Orbital can be - a gutsy instrumental that wouldn't be out of place soundtracking a Wes Craven film or the post-Brexit landscape (if we still have one). P.H.U.K. (Please Help UK) is gnarly tech-house with a brusing sub-message while Professor Brian Cox's commentary on the closing There Will Come a Time is no more cheery with its downside (though unarguable) summary of the future. "One thing is certain, we will all die" opines Cox, matter-of-factly.
Elsewhere though, the Hartnolls bring themselves to the party with jolly brass stabs on Hoo Hoo Ha Ha guaranteed to bring a wry curve to the mouth, while Buried Deep Within and Vision One continue the brothers' propensity for nifty beats and widescreen melodies. Worth seeking out is the bonus disc edition which houses unreleased mixes and new tracks such as the busy Kaiju and soaring Dressing Up In Other People's Clothes.
7.5/10
Camera - Emotional Detox
Ciao Cacao also draws on motorik influences but with multi-layered synths and persistent beats while Himmelhilf is a dense wash of synths straight out of Jan Hammer's cupboard. Pacific One recalls similar excursions by Public Service Broadcasting with big synths and nagging melody and by the final throes of the album, Emotional Detox ends up being Camera's most sustainable and enjoyable work so far.
7/10
The Gasman - Controlled Hallucination
It's hands to the lazers on early tracks New Chair and Rotorn, while subtlety is the name of the game on Flash 6 and Torse before delivering a string of thunderous and portentous imaginary soundtracks such as Cessation and Ufoluta. On Wizards Sleeve (sic), our man creates a piano-driven cadenza that hints at the likes of Andrew Poppy and Wim Mertens before throwing in layers of twinkling arpeggios and discordant rhythms.
Things even get a touch ecclesiastical during Spark 7 and Sil 2 with cathedral-sized swathes of organ and layered vocals. The Gasman is something of a mathematician when it comes to composition, making Controlled Hallucination greater than the sum of its parts.
7/10
Rattle - Sequence
Second track Disco even adds in vocal harmonies while minimal lyrics weave in and out of Signal's funereal canter before things bed in with ad-hoc rides and crashes. Essentially, Sequence is four lengthy passages that won't sell out stadiums anytime soon but might just fill a few intimate venues and arthouse installations near you. Katharine Eira Brown and Theresa Wrigley have defied the rule-makers by embarking on a journey fuelled by little more than drums and latent power - and for that, they deserve your attention.
7/10
Skinny Girl Diet - Ideal Woman
The fuzz-pedal gets a thorough hammering throughout the album, particularly on the visceral title-track and the inflammatory Starfucker, while Warrior Queens doesn't hold back on the pair's modus operandi of not holding back. Also, check out the cheeky adaptation of a well-known rap hit on the album's must-hear slammer White Man.
Anyone who thinks Savages are loud and proud and the future of rock n roll, needs to put aside 30 minutes to absorb what Skinny Girl Diet are creating right now.
7/10
Christian Kjellvander - Wild Hxmans
Armed with a resonating baritone, Christian Kjellvander crafts warm, soothing and engaging porchlight music for these cold times without compromising on story-telling. Curtain Maker is quite simply gorgeous, a sprawling epic slice of Scandi-Americana that truly confirms what we should already know - Kjellvander is a poet of our times, on a par with Young and Springsteen at their most effusive.
There isn't a duff track on the album - Wild Hxmans doesn't resort to 'hits', although The Thing Is and Halle Lay Lu Jah come closest to being radio tracks (as if he needs to write one). They riff and rock with the best of them and don't shirk from delivering insistence and clamour.
8/10