In doing so he dodges the sentimentality that might otherwise overwhelm a record that proceeds with both palms held upright to the sky. These are hard messages for anyone inclined to self-criticism to hear – and DePlume (AKA Gus Fairbairn) counts himself among them, laying bare his struggle to remember his own worth. “Don’t forget you’re precious,” the Manchester jazz poet insists across Gold, one of the album’s many such mantras. One of the year’s most confronting albums didn’t deal in noise or aggression, but deeply insistent compassion. Instead he tackles them with all the guts, rage and euphoria of a young man with those evolutions and incarnations still ahead of him. It’s a nostalgic nook that many rock stars of his vintage find themselves in once they hit middle age – but unlike many rock stars of his vintage, Anderson bucks the expectation to frame these ruminations as a swan song. On Suede’s ninth album, Brett Anderson is in a reflective mood, contemplating the loss of his mother and his roles as a father, lover and performer, and how the latter cross paths with the younger versions of himself that populate his memories. As Jacklin whispers on Ignore Tenderness, with more than a tiny wink: “Go on, let it all out.” SD 43 Suede – Autofiction It’s not a live, laugh, love album as much as a reminder to let yourself off the hook every once in a while. Pre Pleasure is all pristine, gently loping arrangements and reminders to stay healthy, stay happy, have some fun. But Pre Pleasure is about picking yourself up, stepping over the strange entrails of truth you unearthed, and trying to remember who you are without the baggage and bad vibes. Julia Jacklin’s first two records are rooted in relentless, cathartic self-interrogation. It was a change that felt like a liberating step forward, learning to embrace the more playful side of punk, rather than a sellout move. Compared with their back catalogue of distorted guitars and industrial synthesis, Endure was notably more pop-aligned, with buoyant keys and groovy riffs wrestling against lead singer Alli Logout’s grizzled vocals and a chugging drum machine. Photograph: Daniel Boczarski/Getty ImagesĪfter six years on the DIY circuit, 2022 saw the New Orleans punk outfit head towards the mainstream. Playful punk … Alli Logout of Special Interest. The result is soulful and whip-smart, and makes good on the promise of their first outing together, the 2005 Dangerdoom track Mad Nice: Cheat Codes contains granite-solid bars, luxuriant and sample-heavy beats in one of the most perfect producer/MC pairings of the past 20 years. LS 46 Danger Mouse and Black Thought – Cheat Codesĭanger Mouse, the defining producer of the 2000s, and Roots MC Black Thought have been working together for years, but their long-mooted full-length collab didn’t properly materialise until this summer. It’s a beautiful example of Earl’s proclivity to defy expectations: on Sick!, the new father watches older members of his family die and reassesses his place in their lineage, past and future he grapples with pain, how to process it rather than let it “fester into hate”, and works to stay present, aware of how “life can change in the blink of an eye”. SD 47 Earl Sweatshirt – Sick!ĭuring a season of loss and introversion, an artist who made his name considering those states of being surprised listeners by expanding his purview, reaching outwards to forge connection – it’s there too in the warmth of the vintage soul-tinged production – and define some sense of freedom on his terms. Radical himself is the glue between Reasons to Smile’s warring sides, a grinning, gloriously charismatic guide through his universe. Its interplay of hip-hop grit and neo-soul smoothness is kinetic and hypnotic, like watching oil and vinegar try to emulsify. Kojey Radical’s debut album finally arrived this year and, while a lot of long-gestating debuts can fall flat on arrival, Reasons to Smile was worth the wait. Consequently Tove Lo is less of an eye-popping presence here than on her previous records, though her apparent recalcitrance makes her unusual anxiety and conflict around relationships and intensity all the more striking. It’s got Dua-style disco (thanks in part to sharing a collaborator in SG Lewis), Charli XCX’s death drive and one of those now-ubiquitous, infuriatingly catchy Y2K pop interpolations in 2 Die 4, which, quite bafflingly, samples Crazy Frog’s 2005 cover of Gershon Kingsley’s 1969 song Popcorn. The Swedish pop star’s fifth – and first independent – album works as a decent primer for anyone who hasn’t been paying attention to the past few years in pop.
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