SOUND JUDGEMENT
The latest album releases reviewed
MAGIC NAS HHHHH
Nas has released his third album produced by Hit-Boy, continuing an exciting partnership that earned him his first Grammy award in 2020. Unexpectedly landing on Christmas Eve, the quality rivals his three decades of work, though the mood is darker.
The Queens rapper kicks off with one of the best tracks on the album, Speechless, before turning ominous on Meet Joe Black, The Truth and album closer Dedication.
Hollywood Gangsta and Wu For The Children are tracks that invoke nostalgia, appropriate for a 48-year-old who is 15 albums deep.
Who knows where Nas will take us next?
TOY:BOX DAVID BOWIE HHHHI
This expanded version of Bowie’s “lost” album provides yet another reminder of how far ahead of his time he was.
It imbues songs from the 60s and early 70s with contemporary triumphant energy and what’s more, Bowie intended it as a surprise album drop, some years before such a strategy became feasible and widespread.
Toy:Box emerges days after a deal selling his back catalogue to Warner Chappell Music and a day before what would have been his 75th birthday.
Hole In The Ground and single You’ve Got A Way Of Leaving stand out but the most impressive feat may be the closing title track which repurposes elements of opener I Dig Everything into a new song to bookend a set which is a worthy entry into the Bowie canon.
DEVIL KIDS DEERHOOF HHHHI
Deerhoof have made nearly 20 albums since forming in mid-90s San Francisco, ensuring their legacy will be one of relentless experimentalism.
Recorded in November, Devil Kids captures one of their first performances together after being separated by the pandemic.
This is a career-spanning set including songs from recent albums recorded during quarantine, such as the thrilling Actually, You Can.
Fans will enjoy the intimacy of these recordings made in the “comically cramped” basement of guitarist Ed Rodriguez’s house and brief snippets of laughter and conversation add pleasing colour to proceedings.
Deerhoof have remained steadfast in their weirdness, and this is a fine document of that.