Music Wrap: The Best of March
- Jack Jones
- Apr 8, 2019
- 4 min read
In a turn of events shocking to nobody including myself, this blog has devolved into a monthly shilling of my music taste. Shut up. It's a long-term project. Whether anyone actually reads it is beside the point. As you will likely be able to tell, the writing in these posts gets weaker and lazier every month. Shut up. We already know February was a great month for music. Now we know March was also great. Here's what was great about March:
Albums
The Comet is Coming – Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery
I was completely and utterly shocked by this album’s space aesthetic. You would think the album title or even the name of the group would give something away, but here we are. This is a killer, futuristic record from the London jazz fusion trio. With my complete and utter lack of knowledge about contemporary jazz, I think I’m in as strong a position as anyone to suggest saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings is one of the current MVPs of the entire genre right now with his work on here and Makaya McCraven’s Universal Beings, and in Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors. Controversial and ignorant statements aside, this album is one of the best 2019 has to offer thus far.
Billy Woods & Kenny Segal – Hiding Places
One of hip hop’s best lyricists, it’s no surprise Billy Woods’ new LP is as strong as it is. Unsurprisingly it’s an album that takes multiple repeat listens to fully appreciate, quite similar to the album from Billy Woods and Elucid (Armand Hammer) last year. This is an unsurprisingly dark and depressing project complemented by virtually flawless production from Segal. I don’t really have the capacity to go into too much detail about this album without making this blog post any needlessly longer than it already will be, so if you want to find out more, either give it a listen, or check out this quality review. I am well aware of how big a cop out this is, so I’ll make a big (but also not really that big) statement to compensate: strong early front-runner for hip-hop album of the year.
Mdou Moctar – Ilana (The Creator)
After a number of listens to Niger singer and guitarist Mdou Moctar’s first album featuring a full band, I’ve resolved that it’s actually a pretty straightforward psychedelic rock album without Moctar’s Tuareg guitar. Regardless, I’ve heard very few crossovers between traditional African sounds and Western rock tropes that are as strong as this one. This was my first introduction to Moctar’s work, and the person I immediately likened him to was another desert guitarist in Ali Farka Toure, which is a huge compliment. I hope the apparently highly political lyrics will eventually be translated and unpacked so the themes of this record can be fully matched to its urgency.
Quelle Chris – Guns
Quelle Chris has been one of the most reliable underground hip-hop artists of the last few years. He’s particularly carved out a strong reputation with his abstract hip-hop over the last few years after a pretty lengthy stint in the underground. His new albums Guns likens the weapon to rhetoric, skin colour and other themes, like fear. With flawless production from front to back, and Chris’ ever reliable writing, this is another very strong release from him.
Uranium Club – The Cosmo Cleaners
There is a lot of charm to the metamodernist approach Minneapolis punk band Uranium Club take to their music, which at times will probably drive listeners mad. The fact that an album which brands itself as “punk” has more than one fifth of its entirety devoted to a spoken word piece says it all. The Cosmo Cleaners is a wonderful amalgamation of angst, wry humour and sarcasm. Sonically the album is like a weird hybrid of Minutemen and James Chance. Then you factor in songwriting and it’s like if that hybrid met David Byrne. Confused and scared? Me too.
Little Simz – GREY Area
It seems like you can’t read a Little Simz review without her potential being mentioned, so here’s is the obligatory mention of her absurd potential in this mini review. GREY Area after a few listens admittedly feels like the really, really good album before the GREAT album, but that being said, with mostly strong production choices, and outstanding song-writing from the British emcee, this is an exciting release.
The Snakes: ST
Melbourne band The Snakes describe their brand of music as “reptile rock” and I couldn’t really think of a more apt description. This punchy mini-LP is a great debut release filled with overdrive, wailing vocals and delightfully lo-fi keys.
Songs
Kedr Livanskiy – New Day
The Russian leftfield pop artist’s upcoming album Your Need is one of my most anticipated albums right now. The breakbeat electronics and luminous atmosphere on this single is a nice step away from her drearier previous works.
Kirin J Callinan – The Whole of the Moon
The latest offering from Kirin J Callinan is an outstanding cover of The Waterboys’ 1985 track ‘The Whole of the Moon’. The vocal melodies on here carry the song, with this being easily one of the most passionate vocal performances of the year thus far.
Private Function – Talking to Myself
The latest offering from Melbourne punk rockers Private Function once again affirms their status as one of the country’s most exciting punk bands right now. Even though that’s 90% down to their Facebook page, the 10% that is music would be enough to get them there itself.
Low Life – 92
Until I discovered Sydney band Low Life’s debut 2012 record Dogging I had no idea what death rock was. To be honest, I still don’t. Anyway, that album is one of the best underground Australian punk albums ever. Finally, in March they released their follow-up Downer Edn on which they opted for a more post-punk direction. The track '92' offers some biting, honest, and relevant lyrics about abuse at the hands of a male authority figure.
The Ocean Party – Model Sheep
After the tragic passing of bandmate Zac Denton last year, one of Australia’s best indie pop bands, The Ocean Party, sadly, but understandably, announced they would be disbanding. As a touching tribute, they released Nothing Grows in March, an EP full of songs that had been written by Zac but never released. The EP is full of well-written tracks and Ocean Party’s atypical homely instrumentation, and my favourite cut was ‘Model Sheep’.
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