Album of the Week: The Essential Lockdown List
Album of the Week has been on hold for a little while. But we’re back! Here’s our list of the best albums that have come out of lockdown. Featuring under-the-radar picks as well as a plethora of bigger names, you won’t want to miss this.
Ultraísta — Sister
Arriving a mere week before the start of lockdown, Ultraísta’s sophomore LP is something truly special. The project is a collaboration between Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Beck drummer Joey Waronker and musician Laura Bettinson, better known as the pseudonym FEMME. Their debut, now eight years old, was promising — as you’d expect from a group with such multifarious talents. However, their new record Sister takes Ultraísta’s sound to the next level. From the blistering opener ‘Tin King’ to the climactic ballad ‘Bumblebees’, the trio consistently bust out catchy tunes with unique grooves and stellar production. Their sound takes from synthpop, afrobeat, trip-hop and many genres of dance music but builds a niche entirely of its own. As you’d perhaps expect from Godrich (the man who made OK Computer), the ordering of the tracks is perfect too. Whether turning their hand to percussive onslaughts (‘Ordinary Boy’) or subdued slow jams (‘Mariella’), the group never miss!
Waronker’s drumming occupies a liminal space between human and machine, creating beats that sound like nothing else. Bettinson’s vocals are powerfully delivered and the lyrics, while not the centre of attention, never fail to enhance the moods and melodies. Godrich provides some killer basslines and crafts every sound to perfection. This LP has quietly become a favourite of mine. There isn’t a dud track here. As the last album I listened to in York, in my first year, it will always capture the memory of that strange pre-lockdown moment, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. — Joe Waters
9/10
Tom Misch x Yussef Dayes — What Kinda Music
To put it conservatively, Tom Misch’s What Kinda Music shies away from the soulful jazz sound central to Tom Misch’s discography — in fact, What Kinda Music ditches contemporary sounds for psychedelic instruments, experimental strings, and absurdly hypnotic drum-lines courtesy of Yussef Dayes. However, the album remains accessible and entirely listenable; any apprehensions about it will be easily remedied by chucking on the title track. You will, undoubtedly, find yourself binging the entire track-list after experiencing the shift from dissonant, ascending string arpeggios to Coubo-influenced EDM, which Misch’s vocals and Dayes’ drums float meticulously over.
Like a Life-of-Pi-esque voyage, Misch and Davies carry listeners from gorgeous sunsets to high tide to crashing waves. On one hand, listeners are met with the anticipatory ‘Festival’; moments later they are met with the smooth, calming sounds of ‘Nightrider’, and, shortly after, undergo an emotional ‘Tidal Wave’ (a personal favourite of mine) through deliciously understated guitar riffs. The Hokusai and Murakami influenced cover art could not be more fitting for the epic sail of sonic, introspective, and environmental chaos which occurs on What Kinda Music.
Like on previous albums, though, Tom Misch engages with other genres, especially the hip hop community. While Misch has been known to previously collaborate with Loyle Carner and GoldLink, here Misch subs in Freddie Gibbs, the infamous Madlib collaborator, for a smooth, ethereal verse on ‘Nightrider’. Smaller names also freckle the tracklist; the frankly unbelievable closing cut, ‘Storm Before The Calm’, features a lead saxophone line courtesy of Kaidi Akinnibi, while Rocco Palladino jams out on ‘Lift Off’. It’s these measured decisions that compound What Kinda Music into (what I consider) the best album released this year. — Connor Flashman-Wells
10/10
JPEGMAFIA — BALD! / COVERED IN MONEY! / BODYGUARD! / CUTIE PIE! / THE BENDS!
After his last record, All of My Heroes Are Cornballs, JPEGMAFIA announced that he was done with the album format entirely. One year on, he has certainly kept his word. Starting in February and continuing into the lockdown period, the experimental rapper-producer has been putting out a steady stream of crazy tunes: each one is a fantastic single in its own right.
The syncopated rubbish-dump groove of ‘COVERED IN MONEY!’ makes for one of the kookiest JPEG joints yet. ‘BODYGUARD!’, meanwhile, is a slinky slice of RnB, with Peggy showcasing his newfound talent for sensual songcraft. ‘CUTIE PIE!’ feels like a sonic representation of its video’s desert location, with whispered bars, a skeletal beat (featuring ghostly snatches of Thundercat-style bass) and a spacey, vocodered outro. This slew of singles really has been a lockdown-video-making masterclass. Each track is made even more pleasurable by its quirky DIY visuals; in one moment, Peggy is sticking actual money to his head, and ‘THE BENDS!’, his latest bluesy cut, has JPEG rocking up in full beekeeper costume to layout a devastating takedown of Donald Trump.
However, the biggest banger of the bunch is undoubtedly ‘BALD!’, with its uber-catchy 90s video-game sample. While at points the original dissolves into the sound collage, the remix, with insane verses from Denzel Curry, is pure fire. This is what rap should be in 2020 — shamelessly experimental but utterly infectious. — Joe Waters
[Not-actually-an-album]/10
100 gecs — 1000 gecs and the Tree of Clues
Remix albums tend to be somewhat lazy affairs, oftentimes feeling like rehashings of previous material in a desperate attempt to rekindle a little more interest before having to actually write some new songs. Tree of Clues, by contrast, feels like a victory lap — a triumphant celebration of the phenomenon that is 100 gecs. This record is a steroidal upgrade to the songs that made the duo hit big. Loved by zoomers, hated by confused gen-x-ers, the gecs’ music embodies the emerging currents of popular modernism in 21st-century pop, a brew only strengthened by these collaborators.
From the start, AG Cook’s remix of their breakout hit ‘money machine’ takes the tune even further to its extremes; it is, by turns, more chilled, ambient, harsher, and noisier than the original. Meanwhile, the remix of ‘ringtone’ is graced with a plethora of features — from Charli XCX delivering the chorus, to an uwu-inducing rap verse from Sarah Bonito and an autotuned Rico Nasty going hard on the beat. It’s an uproarious blend.
Guest spots throughout come both from the duo’s artistic contemporaries (Black Dresses, Dorian Electra et al.) and a few famous faces (Fall Out Boy!!). The gecs even bring out some new material; ‘toothless’ features one of their hardest breakdowns yet, while ‘came to my show’ is a tender moment of gratitude and sincerity. All in all, this is the Avengers Endgame of futurist pop: a glorious coming together of the hottest producers and artists right now, giving their dues to a seminal album in the catalogue. — Joe Waters
8/10
Yves Tumor — Heaven to a Tortured Mind
Yves Tumor (he/him or they/them) hails from the experimental music scene and his first few records had their fair share of found sounds, ambience and post-industrial noise. However, his more recent albums have taken forays into bonafide hitmaking. As a fan of his work, I began to find that it was these skewed attempts at pop (‘The Feeling When You Walk Away’; ‘Noid’) that captured my attention the most. Thus, I was incredibly excited to listen to this new album, in the hope that Yves would embrace this sonic palette.
He totally pulls it off. This collection of twelve succinct tunes is a perfect slice of retro-futurist soul — whether channelling Prince, TV on the Radio or My Bloody Valentine, Yves imbues everything with his sexy, demonic persona. The arc of the record makes every strand of influence come together into a coherent whole. From the cacophonous but catchy fanfare of ‘Gospel for a New Century’ to the hard-rock intensity of ‘Kerosene’ and ‘Dream Palette’ and the melancholy bent of ‘Strawberry Privilege’, the album journeys into the eye of its romantic storm and then confronts the aftermath. I personally also love the percussive guitar stabs and gentle sub-bass on ‘Folie Imposée’ (on which Yves erratically murmurs the days of the week) and the gorgeous mellotron flourishes on ‘Hasdallen Lights’. It always seemed like Yves had a ten-out-of-ten in him and, I have to say, I think this is it. Heaven To A Tortured Mind is absolutely essential listening — in lockdown and beyond. — Joe Waters
10/10
Run The Jewels — RTJ4
And the crowd goes ‘R-T-J’, and the crowd goes ‘R-T-J’…
I first discovered hip hop duo Run The Jewels shortly before seeing them live at The Queens of the Stone Age and Friends day-fest in 2017. I was mesmerised by their aggressive production, featuring virtuosic, distorted guitar lines over which rappers El-P and Killer Mike competed to construct the most ludicrous rhymes possible. Tracks like ‘Legend Has It’, ‘Blockbuster Night, pt.1’ and ‘Oh Mama’ were on repeat, being the sorts of heavy-hitting bangers that evoked the same energy as a Royal Blood and A$AP Rocky collab. It should come as no surprise that RTJ4, which continues their trend of politically agitated messages and phenomenal verses, has become one of my many lockdown staples. Opener ‘yankee and the brave’ narrates chaotic altercations with the police, featuring gunshot snares to immerse listeners into the album’s apocalyptic sensibilities; follower ‘ooh la la’ makes superb use of DJ Premier’s production as the duo pass the mic back and forth over crooked verses.
But RTJ4 is incredibly potent, not least because MCs Killer Mike and El-P play into their usual blend of post-apocalyptic and industrial hip hop. No, RTJ4 is relevant on a disturbingly real level: just as Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly fuelled Black Lives Matter protests in 2016, RTJ4 is timely, given that the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd have reignited calls for the end of worldwide systemic racism. Back-to-back tracks ‘walking in the snow’ and ‘JU$T’ directly call out racially motivated violence, with Killer Mike referencing the illegal chokehold which killed Eric Garner in 2015, ‘I can’t breathe’. For those frustrated with the intricacies of systemic racism, and for those who enjoy the likes of JPEGMAFIA and Death Grips, RTJ4 is an album which you should not miss. — Connor Flashman-Wells
7/10
Car Seat Headrest — Making a Door Less Open
On his new LP Making a Door Less Open, Car Seat Headrest mixes anthemic rock with laptop experimentation, in a fashion not dissimilar to his early Bandcamp releases. Fans of his major-label output might be a little surprised by the eclectic collection of sounds here, but regardless, there’s a lot to love. The middle three songs are a fantastic centrepiece; ‘Hymn (Remix)’ is a crazy, propulsive blend of bro-step and surf rock. Following on is ‘Martin’ — a heartfelt acoustic ballad with some unique beat programming and a lovely trumpet solo. Finally, the climactic ‘Deadlines (Thoughtful)’ shows us what it would sound like if Will Toledo turned his hand to a cerebral EDM banger (spoilers: it slaps!!!). It would also be remiss of me not to mention the 7-minute epic ‘There Must Be More Than Blood’, complete with chills-inducing stream-of-conscious lyricism and a hook that I consider a modern classic — not to mention a brilliant guitar solo (Ethan Ives’ lead parts are stunning throughout the album).
All in all, MADLO is a wild ride that, while lacking in the conceptual heft often found in Car Seat albums, flows brilliantly from one song to the next. More than a dozen albums into his ten-year career, Will Toledo is still bringing the noise. Plus, as he has intimated in his acoustic live streams on Twitch, yet another album is on the way. In this new era of Car Seat Headrest, the party is only just beginning. — Joe Waters
9/10
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