Music Wrap: The Best of May
- Jack Jones
- Jun 23, 2019
- 4 min read
At Thought Dumpster, we're all for breaking new ground. That's why we're breaking our own record of lateness for a monthly music wrap. To follow this up, you can expect to hear about June's best releases in August. I use the word "we're" to try to shirk responsibility even though this is a one man job. I've also stopped covering singles because shut up this is my website.
Slowthai – Nothing Great About Britain
I’ve seen this quite regularly referred to as the Never Mind the Bollocks of grime, but I don’t think that’s a strong comparison – Slowthai is way more authentic than The Sex Pistols. This album is the statement we needed in response to the wave of nationalism which has well and truly engulfed much of the world, and Slowthai, with his backstory, infectious attitude, and the way he’s turned his speech impediment into a tool, it’s just great to see doing well. Accordingly, I often find myself questioning whether this album is as good as I make it out to be. But that just raises more questions: how relevant is context to the quality of an album? Do external factors influencing enjoyment even matter? All probably questions for another post, but this album is uncompromising, funny, gloomy, and surprisingly diverse, and hopefully represents, to some extent, the shape of grime to come.
Dury Dava – S/T
At a marathon-length 70-minutes, Dury Dava’s debut album is a captivating mission statement from the Greek experimental rock band. I was drawn in as soon as the African drum piano intro kicked in on the first track, and my interest didn’t wane at all throughout. The influences on this record range from krautrock, early psychedelic and progressive rock, and traditions from the eastern Mediterranean. With enthralling experimentation, an epic vocal performance from front-man Dimitris Kouloglou, and an immersive, gripping atmosphere throughout, it’s hard to remember the last debut release from a rock band as impressive as this.
Injury Reserve – S/T
Injury Reserve arguably have one of the most distinctive sounds in hip-hop today. Despite being around for most of this decade, and a number of releases under their belt, this is their first full-length album, and label release. The experimental, glitchy production from Parker Corey has arguably gone to another level, while the lyricism from MCs Stepa J Gross and Ritchie With a T ranges from introspective to braggadocious to laugh-out-loud funny. For such a concise release, it manages to pack in hard-hitting bangers, comedy tracks, downright depressing cuts, and one of the most gratifying closing tracks of the year. This stands up with their already great mixtapes, and within their already strong catalogue, there’s probably something for all hip-hop fans.
Tyler The Creator – IGOR
Stylistically, Tyler The Creator has to be one of the most unpredictable artists in the mainstream today. It’s not that he’s trying to be experimental or innovative, or anything like that, he just currently seems to be ahead of the curve without necessarily bringing anything new to the table – and that’s not a bad thing. On 2017’s Flower Boy, he impressively fused elements of soul, funk, R&B, and even indie rock into one of the best hip-hop releases in a number of years. Interestingly, on his new project IGOR, he’s drifted so far into neo-soul, that you only really find traces of hip-hop within. And with such smooth production, increasingly mature song-writing, and strong features, this album is as strong, futuristic and polished as you’d expect a Frank Ocean album to be.
Pinch Points – Moving Parts
“I’m not a human being / I’m part of the machine / And that’s alright with me” Pinch Points proclaimed at the climax of their debut 2018 EP Mechanical Injury. The Melbourne band’s brand of geeky Devo-core angular post-punk screams Minneapolis’ Uranium Club, and the early works of The Fall. At points Moving Parts revisits the themes from the debut EP but taken as a whole this album feels more like a rallying cry for acceptance and unity. With great chemistry – particularly in the guitar work, and the shared vocal duties, accompanied by their sardonic vocal delivery, makes for one of the more memorable Australian indie rock albums of the last few years.
Phineus II – Meridian Response
Another April release I felt obliged to cover this month. This is one of the clear stand-out electronic releases of the year thus far for me. This is an insanely addictive jungle record from the British producer. For an album that sounds so cutting edge, I was surprised to read that Phineus II uses hardware and computers from the early 90s to create his music. Lush, textured pads, fierce breaks, and atmospheric samples which give the album a real living, breathing environment vibe make for a pretty magical listening experience.
Wilma Vrita – Burd
This came out in April, but I forgot to cover it, and wanted to give it a shout-out after returning to it last month. Wilma Vritra is a collaboration between Odd Futrue’s Pyramid Vritra and producer Wilma Archer. On their debut abstract hip-hop collaborative album Burd, Archer brings out the best in Vritra. With glitchy, inspired production – a number of the album’s best cuts are, in fact, instrumentals – and some quality song-writing from a dark place, this is an exciting release from the duo. It does leave me hoping for a more refined project in the future, but Burd is certainly a more than worthwhile release to check out.
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