FEATURE:
Record Highs
IN THIS PHOTO: Nadine Shah
My Ten Favourite Albums of 2020 (So Far)
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ALTHOUGH this year has hit the music industry…
IN THIS PHOTO: Moses Boyd/PHOTO CREDIT: Dan Medhurst
pretty hard, and it has been a bad one for us all, some positives have come out. I think the standard of music has been higher than ever, and some of the best albums of the past decade have been released this year! It has been a very good and busy year for albums, but there are some that stand out from the rest. I have really loved what has come through and, as we are near the end of the year, I am going to put my favourite albums out there. I know it is risky given the fact that there is a couple of months left, but I will do another feature in January just to update things. Here are the albums that, to me, have made a pretty dark year…
IN THIS PHOTO: Haim/PHOTO CREDIT: Daria Kobayashi Ritch for Rolling Stone
QUITE a bit brighter.
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Róisín Murphy - Róisín Machine
Release Date: 2nd October
Labels: Skint/BMG
Producer: Richard Barratt
Standout Tracks: Something More/Incapable/Murphy's Law
Buy: https://roisinmurphy.tmstor.es/cart/product.php?id=71260
Key Cut: Murphy’s Law
Review:
“It only makes sense to start the album with the beginning of their long-simmering partnership: eight years later, "Simulation" remains as stunning as when it first appeared, with reflections upon reflections of Murphy's voice unfolding over its steady beat and pulsing synths. Though the track sets the tone for what follows, Róisín Machine never feels predictable. More than on some of her previous releases, Murphy winks at the playful artificiality that has been her trademark since the Moloko days. She's often seemed like she could be an android with her shape-shifting vocals and unexpected songwriting choices; only she would name a sultry track "Shellfish Mademoiselle," and only she could get away with it. Fortunately, this more straightforward approach doesn't detract from the power of her illusions. The gradual smoothing of her style that started on Overpowered and made Hairless Toys so gorgeously sophisticated attains a fittingly mechanical perfection on Róisín Machine. It's as seamless as a mix album, with a haziness that calls to mind the magic of the dancefloor on tracks like the ghostly "Game Changer." With Barratt's help, Murphy dives deeper than ever before into the disco and house roots that make up the foundations of her solo career, but even with a narrower focus, she finds a wide range of expression. On "Kingdom of Ends," she ascends to her rightful position as the empress of dance music on steeply rising synth strings that feel infinite. On "Narcissus," those strings become a nervy, restless loop as Murphy riffs on Greek mythology, one of many moments on Róisín Machine where she melds fantasies and club culture into songs that are as artful as they are kinetic. She's never sounded as velvety as she does on "Murphy's Law," her version of the classic disco trope of dancing through heartache, while the emotional complexity she brings to "Incapable" and "Jealousy" works with their driving beats, not against them. From start to finish, Róisín Machine is cohesive and spellbinding. Murphy truly is a machine in her consistent creativity, and this is a particularly well-oiled example of her brilliance” – AllMusic
Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Release Date: 17th April
Labels: Epic/Clean Slate
Producers: Fiona Apple/Amy Aileen Wood/Sebastian Steinberg/Davíd Garza
Standout Tracks: Shameika/Newspaper/Ladies
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/fiona-apple/fetch-the-bolt-cutters
Key Cut: Under the Table
Review:
“She calls men out for refusing to show weakness, for treating their wives badly, for needing women to clean up their messes. Where The Idler Wheel explored a form of self-interrogation—“I’m too hard to know,” she crooned—on Fetch the Bolt Cutters, she unapologetically indicts the world around her. And she rejects its oppressive logic in every note. The very sound of Fetch the Bolt Cutters dismantles patriarchal ideas: professionalism, smoothness, competition, perfection—aesthetic standards that are tools of capitalism, used to warp our senses of self. Where someone else might erase a mistake—“Oh fuck it!” she chuckles on “On I Go”—she leaves it in. Where someone might put a bridge, she puts clatter. Where she once sang, “Hunger hurts but starving works,” here, in the devouring chorus of “Heavy Balloon,” she screams: “I spread like strawberries/I climb like peas and beans.” There is nothing top-down about the sound of Fetch the Bolt Cutters. “She wanted to start from the ground,” her guitarist David Garza told The New Yorker. “For her, the ground is rhythm.”
There’s considerable power in how Apple entertains so many of these wild, inexhaustible impulses. “Don’t you, don’t you, don’t you, don’t you shush me!” she chips back on “Under the Table.” She will not be silenced. That’s patently clear from the start of Fetch the Bolt Cutters. In gnarled breaths on its opening song—feet on the ground and mind as her might—Apple articulates exactly what she wants: “Blast the music! Bang it! Bite it! Bruise it!” It’s not pretty. It’s free” – Pitchfork
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
Release Date: 18th June
Label: Dead Oceans
Producers: Tony Berg/Ethan Gruska/Phoebe Bridgers
Standout Tracks: Punisher/Chinese Satellite/I Know the End
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/phoebe-bridgers/punisher
Key Cut: Garden Song
Review:
“There are love songs, but they are as coarse as they are caressing. “You couldn’t have stuck your tongue down the throat of somebody who loves you more,” she sings on “Moon Song”, her weary falsetto accompanied by a few nylon guitar chords and the squeak of a finger sliding up and down a fret. “I’ll drive around again/ One hand on the wheel, one in your mouth,” goes “Savior Complex”, on which her voice lies on a soft bed of swirling strings. On “Chinese Satellite”, she recalls a lover “screaming at the evangelicals” about the non-existence of God. “But you know I’d stand on a corner embarrassed with a picket sign,” she confesses, “if it meant I would see you when I die.” Punisher is both poetic and prosaic, like a dusty drive along a dirt road.
“Kyoto” is what Bridgers calls a “resentment song” – though its chugging bass riff and extroverted eruptions of brass belie this – about how the dream of constant travel fails to match up with the reality, especially when you’re dogged by depression. She’s been touring almost constantly since her 2017 debut Strange in the Alps – a sombre indie-rock record that showed a similar knack for wry observation and emotional sucker punches – and so here, she craves home. There is an irony, of course, in yearning for comforting confinement now we’re all being told to stay indoors. In the lead up to this album’s release, Bridgers wasn’t supposed to have a day off for three months; instead, she’s been at home walking on her treadmill all day” – The Independent
Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways
Release Date: 19th June
Label: Columbia
Standout Tracks: I Contain Multitudes/Black Rider/Goodbye Jimmy Reed
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/bob-dylan/rough-and-rowdy-ways
Key Cut: False Prophet
Review:
“This is obviously humour of a dark hue: if Tempest’s prevalent mood was one of murderous fury, then here it’s brooding menace and imminent doom. It’s there in the music – the weird tension in Crossing the Rubicon’s muted R&B shuffle and the way the backing on Black Rider keeps lapsing into ominous silence. You lose count of the lyrical references to judgment day and Armageddon, of the mysterious characters that keep cropping up with malevolence on their minds: “I can feel the bones beneath my skin and they’re trembling with rage, I’ll make your wife a widow, you’ll never see middle age,” he sings on Crossing the Rubicon. Of course, grouchily informing the world that everything is turning to shit has been one of Dylan’s prevalent songwriting modes for a quarter of a century – it’s the thread that binds Not Dark Yet, Things Have Changed, Ain’t Talkin’ and Early Roman Kings, among others – but this time the message seems to have shifted slightly: if you think everything has turned to shit now, Rough and Rowdy Ways keeps insisting, just you wait.
This isn’t perhaps the most comforting communique to issue in the middle of a global pandemic, but then the man behind it has seldom dealt in soothing reassurance. And besides, it doesn’t matter. For all its bleakness, Rough and Rowdy Ways might well be Bob Dylan’s most consistently brilliant set of songs in years: the die-hards can spend months unravelling the knottier lyrics, but you don’t need a PhD in Dylanology to appreciate its singular quality and power” – The Guardian
Laura Marling – Song for Our Daughter
Release Date: 10th April
Labels: Chrysalis/Partisan
Producers: Laura Marling/Ethan Johns
Standout Tracks: Alexandra/Strange Girl/Fortune
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/laura-marling/song-for-our-daughter
Key Cut: Song for Our Daughter
Review:
“The title track plays out like a bedtime story and a life lesson. The patchwork of slow acoustics builds as strings come in, reflecting the swell of affection for another person. “You won’t be forgotten for what you had not done yet,” she sings; it’s a graceful ode to anyone making it out alive in a ruthless world. ‘Hope We Meet Again’ sees her reflect on the past while still walking bravely ahead. Some of the most stunning lines (“I tried to give you love and truth / But you’re acid-tongued, serpent-toothed’) interlace with the echoing twang of the pedal steel guitar and angelic backing vocals. This is masterful stuff.
The album closes humbly, with a demo recorded and performed by Marling and her partner. “I thank God I‘ve never met, never loved, never wanted,” she sings. The track reaches out to a higher power, imploring that we’ll all be OK.
“An album, stripped of everything that modernity and ownership does to it, is essentially a piece of me, and I’d like for you to have it,” Marling has said of ‘Song to My Daughter’. Album seven is a piece of a person we are familiar with. It might be less folky than her previous work, more guided by vital words than percussive rhythm, but it still feels cohesive and like a safe haven. The album is a balm, Marling a lifeline – and a source of stability. We’re lucky to have her” – NME
Rina Sawayama – SAWAYAMA
Release Date: 17th April
Label: Dirty Hit
Producers: Clarence Clarity/Chris Lyon/Valley Girl/Bram Inscore/Danny L Harle/Rina Sawayama/Jonathan Gilmore/Kyle Shearer
Standout Tracks: XS/Comme des Garçons (Like the Boys)/Chosen Family
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/rina-sawayama/sawayama
Key Cut: STFU!
Review:
“Rina’s vocal presence is just as impressive as the album's genre span. Across the 13 track span of 'Sawayama' you’ll hear the powerful tones of a woman whose passion and fierceness is undeniable - never more than in uplifting tracks such as ‘Love Me 4 Me’ and ‘Chosen Family’.
The tracks ‘Akasaka Sad’ and ‘Paradisin’ specifically explore those memories of growing up between two places (for Rina, Japan and the UK) and the conflicting emotions that must come with that challenge, the first being about feeling displaced wherever in the world, and ‘Paradisin’ honing in on rebelling against authority, AKA… mum.
Although ‘Sawayama’ is a deeply personal album, the range of emotions portrayed throughout can be felt and personalised by anyone. The use of heavy metal, theatrics, synth and pop each have their hand in portraying so many varied emotions - from anger to guilt, confusion to elation. Each of these layers add to the melting pot, and these tough emotions have ultimately contributed to the creation of a flawless pop record.
Raw artistry paired with rich heritage makes for a magnificent, spine-tingling first album for Rina Sawayama” – CLASH
Moses Boyd – Dark Matter
Release Date: 14th February
Label: Exodus
Producers: Moses Boyd (exec.)/Koyejo Oloko (also exec.)
Standout Tracks: Stranger Than Fiction/Dancing in the Dark/Nommos Descent
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/moses-boyd/dark-matter
Key Cut: Y.O.Y.O.
Review:
“At its darkest, Dark Matter descends into brooding electro more akin to tech house than hard bop. Electronic drum grooves meld with synth baselines and Theon Cross’ throbbing tuba. It seems Cross’ 808-like sub-harmonic tones have become a ubiquitous part of the London jazz scene. RIP bassists.
However, though the record is by and large a collection of dense, stoic grooves, there is one outlier. The single “Shades of You” featuring vocalist Poppy Ajudha sits strangely bright alongside the rest of the track listing. While the album as a whole evokes images of sweaty dance floors and caustic youth, this poppy, upbeat single jerks the listener out of the reverie. I feel like I’ve been suddenly transported into a third wave coffee shop, where I find myself ordering a $5 latte.
Jazz fusion records (and let’s face it, that’s what this is), have a tendency to lean on zeitgeist-y tropes and production techniques to distance themselves from their stiff-collared traditionalist brethren. What the gated drums and FM synths were to the 80s, the trap hi hats and side chain are to our epoch. Hip today, dated tomorrow. Current trends pop up again here on Dark Matter. This album is not a timeless classic, it is a du jour album that showcases a drummer and producer’s talent at capturing the sound of the times. It should be enjoyed as such: a testament to young musicians blending tradition and modernity in exciting new ways” – The Line of Best Fit
Nadine Shah – Kitchen Sink
Release Date: 26th June
Label: Infectious
Producer: Ben Hillier
Standout Tracks: Ladies for Babies (Goats for Love)/Trad/Prayer Mat
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/nadine-shah/kitchen-sink
Key Cut: Club Cougar
Review:
“The fourth long-player from the spell-casting English singer/songwriter, Kitchen Sink is aptly named, as Nadine Shah and longtime collaborator/producer Ben Hillier have crafted a wily and inventive collection of songs that pair astute social commentary with crisp, cosmopolitan arrangements drawing from a deep and intuitive arsenal of styles. The follow-up to Shah's Mercury Prize-nominated Holiday Destination, the 11-track set commences with the airy and funky "Club Cougar." Like its predecessor, the scathing "Ladies for Babies (Goats for Love)" is awash in wiggly beats, staccato horns, and flourishes of Tropicalia, with Shah's evocative lyrics and stately, confidant voice wryly and vividly parsing the relationship between sexism and fertility. Exploring the notion of what it means to be both a woman in your thirties and an outsider (Shah was born of Pakistani and Norwegian parentage), the sinewy title track's clanging guitars and strident piano mirror the narrator's insistence on combating cognitive bias with confidence -- it's a strut, not a sprint. There are echoes of Shah's bluesy, noir-pop past peppered throughout Kitchen Sink, most notably on the cinematic "Kite" and the sumptuous closer "Prayer Mat," but the overall vibe is as playful as it is rooted in emotional and societal discord. Like her sonic contemporaries PJ Harvey, Cate Le Bon, and Fiona Apple, Shah presents as a mystery wrapped in an enigma, when in reality she's just innately talented and resolute in her convictions. Unsurprisingly, the mesmerizing Kitchen Sink distills those two predilections into something that's both compelling and otherworldly” – AllMusic
Haim – Women in Music Pt. III
Release Date: 26th June
Label: Columbia
Producers: Danielle Haim/Rostam Batmanglij/Ariel Rechtshaid
Standout Tracks: Los Angeles/Gasoline/Man from the Magazine
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/haim/women-in-music-pt-iii
Key Cut: 3 AM
Review:
“Melancholy and aimlessness are a change in pace for three sisters known for their vivid Fleetwood Mac homages, taut pop rhythms and arresting demands for clarity. Danielle, bassist Este and guitarist Alana all experienced depression while writing Women in Music Pt III, which they once might have sublimated with euphoric pop. Instead, they translate desolation into richly searching music, putting familiar sounds through their distinctive filter: fluttering G-funk (3am), homages to Walk on the Wild Side (Summer Girl) and Joni Mitchell at her most seething (Man from the Magazine, an acoustic riposte to a leering journalist), and Led Zep bounce (Up From a Dream).
They subvert pastiche with explosive yet contained production – agitated rhythms, corroded riffs, unexpected celluloid-melt transitions – that suggests Danielle bristling against her own limitations, yet never inhibits a massive chorus. The Steps turns a petulant stomp into an anthem of frustration, while a cathartic scream crests through the hook of All That Ever Mattered. The familiar becomes bracing. The album is also their first real foray into detailed emotional songwriting, Danielle outlining a visceral sense of disconnect from signs in dreams that nobody can read, strangers’ beds and estranged lovers’ clothes. By leaning into the lows, Haim open up bold frontiers” – The Guardian
Bruce Springsteen – Letter to You
Release Date: 23rd October
Label: Columbia
Producers: Ron Aniello/Bruce Springsteen
Standout Tracks: Letter to You/Janey Needs a Shooter/If I Was the Priest
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/bruce-springsteen/letter-to-you
Key Cut: I’ll See You in My Dreams
Review:
“But above all, there’s the songs. The title track is classic Springsteen rock, an old-school rambling groove with a hopeful message about our best efforts being worth it, regardless of the result. “The Power Of Prayer” finds the Boss delivering a simple descending melody paired to a celebration of the most important things sometimes being right where you need them. “House Of A Thousand Guitars” stands out as a highlight, an exhortation to find support in each other through music—despite being written before the pandemic, as was the rest of the album, its clarion cry to bring people together promises eventual light at the end of the tunnel.
Even the likely anti-Trump song “Rainmaker” avoids cheap indictments, instead dwelling on how life’s miseries unfortunately mean “Sometimes folks need to believe in something so bad / so bad, so bad.” (It’s definitely about Trump.) By the time “Song For Orphans” finds Springsteen in full-on Dylan mode (“The multitude assembled and tried to make the noise / The black blind poet generals and restless loud white boys”), the record has coalesced into a singular document of tension and release, nostalgia and regret, loss and salvation, these opposing pairs flip sides of the same coin of a life, if not always well-lived, then certainly defiantly lived. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have created a musical testament to survival—the toll it exacts, the struggle it requires, but also the beauty to be found in the very cracks that give shape to our damaged souls. It’s one for the ages, and apparently Springsteen is finally the perfect age to deliver it” – The A.V. Club