The month’s beat science, wrecking ball jazz and orch-pop.
1 JULIANA HATFIELD DON’T BRING ME DOWN
From a whole LP of ELO covers (!), the former Blake Baby plies her cool, airy vocal to one of Jeff Lynne’s fabbest, driving grooves, perfect for the underlit dancefloor. Grüß!
Find it: streaming services
2 JOHN COLTRANE WITH ERIC DOLPHY IMPRESSIONS
Two radical titans taking a wrecking ball to jazz orthodoxy, live in NYC in 1961. Full 80-mins set to come! Find it: streaming services
3 KIERAN HEBDEN & WILLIAM TYLER DARKNESS, DARKNESS
Four Tet teams up with guitar master Tyler on an epic rework of 1969 Gloria Loring side. Psychedelic beat science in the DJ Shadow vein. Find it: Bandcamp
4 BLAKE MILLS SKELETON IS WALKING
Fresh from shifts with Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, the first-call guitarist/producer returns to his own songs; intimate, insidious, as if possessed by Elliott Smith’s ghost.
Find it: YouTube
5 FATHER JOHN MISTY THE OLD MAN’S BACK AGAIN
Josh Tillman at the Barbican with an orchestra and Siberian chorus channels Scott Walker’s song of neo-Stalinist invasion. Chilling. Find it: YouTube
6 BOBBY RUSH I’M THE ONE
With admirable chutzpah and lashings of rye whiskey, the Chicago blues elder tells us his life story and declares that only he can put the funk in the blues.
Find it: SoundCloud
MANTRA OF THE COSMOS GORILLA GUERILLA
Shaun Ryder teams up with Zak Starkey and Andy Bell, makes mouth music over swishy dub rock. And, on cosmic mantra vibes, Bez! Find it: streaming services
8 THE CORAL FT. JOHN SIMM DRIFTER’S PRAYER
Noted thesp eulogises the carny life over Wirral spacemen’s banjo and steel guitar as he views Earth from five miles up. From September’s Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show.
Find it: streaming services
9 RHIANNON GIDDENS YOU LOUISIANA MAN
Fresh from winning a Pulitzer Prize, Giddens returns with a rip-roaring Cajun dance number.
Find it: streaming services
10 CLARK FT. THOM YORKE MEDICINE
Producer Clark falsettos among fragmented rhythms, like a bleed-out from Radiohead’s sad computer breakdowns. Enter Thom… Find it: streaming services