SOUND JUDGEMENT
THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED
EBONY BONES FEAT. THE BEIJING PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA – NEPHILIM
EBONY Bones’ album is an emotionally driven argument about where life in the UK is currently failing. No Black In The Union Jack opens with the Rivers of Blood speech by Enoch Powell, on its 50th anniversary.
Tearing into the xenophobic tendencies of the Trump administration and the slow removal of the UK from the EU, Brixton’s Bones has turned anger into a bright and rounded track.
Her blend of punk-inspired lyrical poetry and big sound production blended with the majestic Beijing Philharmonic Orchestra creates a a dignified album questioning where hatred and misunderstanding of our fellow man has come from. Truly original.
POPCAAN – FOREVER
JAMAICAN DJ and singer-songwriter
Popcaan offers up a dancehall delight, his contemporary Caribbean approach as addictive as could be.
The 29-year-old musician, who has collaborated with the likes of Drake, Jamie xx and Gorillaz, has produced a record that defies you not to dance along.
More than a handful of the songs, including Naked, Foreign Love and Body So Good, focus on beautiful women, passionately and emphatically, and where things venture into perhaps edgier territory, such as on Lef My Gun, the music never flags in energy and peppiness.
Even if you’re not a seasoned devotee of the Caribbean genre, this album will strike a pleasing chord with listeners.
THE INTERNET – HIVE MIND
FANS of the Californian five-piece will be pleased their fourth album, Hive Mind, picks up exactly where Grammynominated breakout third record Ego Death left off – meandering bass noodles over funky guitar licks and percussion borrowed from the likes of Jurassic 5 and Aphex Twin.
The soothing, whisper-like vocal performance from frontwoman Syd Tha Kid offers the gloss to this funk-soul-pop-rock-hip-hop hybrid. No other act is doing it quite like The Internet – if only they could summon the creative talent to find a suitable end to their tracks instead of simply fading out...