Jagwar Ma – Howlin’
Jagwar Ma’s influences are not well hidden: “The Stones Roses” and “The Happy Mondays” and the rest of the Manc baggy scene of the late 80’s and early 90’s, early acid house music such “A Guy Called Gerald”, with plenty of 1960’s “The Beach Boys” style pop and psychedelica of mixed in as well. In short, people who took drugs to make music to take drugs too. But this debut manages to stay both true to its rather obvious influences and retain a strong personal identity that seems fresh and relevant in 2013, and all while living up the quality of the originals which inspired them. The album covers a wide music trajectory going from the poppy whimsy of “Come Save Me” to psychedelic kaleidoscope of “The Throw”, infusing it all with their sun kissed Aussie optimism. It’s great, and its reverb stained guitar and dance beats never fail to entertain and revitalise.
Daniel Avery – Drone Logic
Drone Logic is an excellent debut, and marks a welcome addition to UK Electronic music scene. It never really falls into one genre, taking bit and pieces from everywhere, and defining easy categorization. The attention to detail is incredible and the perfectly timed lines and beats shift exquisitely. It’s truly an experience to listen too as an overpoweringly aesthetic feel of ice cold cool flows throughout that makes you realise how much better it would be at 2.30 the morning on some basement dance floor; dancing your heart out with likeminded individuals. It passes up tiresome break beats for strong melodies, never quite falling into one genre and it’s all the better for it.
Speedy Ortiz – Major Arcana
Taking heavy inspiration from grunge and low fi bands of early 90’s such as Liz Phair and big names like “Hole” and “Soundgarden”, they manage to revive a genre of music that should never really have died. It transports you into a world of teenage angst, jocks, and cheerleaders and lonely tear filled nights. It has an insane sense of intimacy; you can almost picture the lead singer singing to you on the end of a bed, baring her personal sorrows. The album isn’t just a stylistic statement; the music is good enough to stand by itself. They never lose their sense of song, and perfect melodies and songs structures abound, and they seem to be one of the few bands in the current scene creating lyrics worth analysing. On “No Below”, the music builds from quiet whisper to a noisy explosion of emotion and it’s easily one of the most compelling things I’ve heard all year.
John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts
Unique is word that is passed around too easily these days, but John Grant truly deserves it. Its great music: mature, well written, experimental but most importantly, surprising and never weird for the sake of weird. The 45 year old man, suffering from aids and having a history of parental rejection and drug abuse, manages to inject his wealth of tragic life experience into his music. It’s by no means an easy listen, with it lasting over an hour, and most songs hitting the five or six minute mark, but it is hugely rewarding. It is a huge stylist turn from the soft rock of “Queen of Denmark”, working with producer Birgir Thórarinsson of Icelandic experimental electronic band “Gus Gus” he adds new electronic and disco influences to his sound. Though it might seem like a off turn for him, it pays off in droves ends up creating some of this year’s most interesting music.
Danny Brown – Old
“Hipster by heart but I can tell you how the hood feels”, raps the true outsider Danny Brown, defining this incredibly confusing yet interesting record. On the surface one might be surprised to see that this man, with his class clown persona and gap toothed crack head image, clad in skin-tight jeans and sporting a messy straightened fringe, managed to make easily one of the best rap albums of this year. But I’m not. Its Danny brown’s flaws that make it so interesting. He actually manages to make great use of the double album format, as opposed to Arcade Fire’s overstuffed and pretentious album “Reflektor “ .
The first half of the record is comprised mainly of slower songs, serious in nature and focusing on his past life and mental issues. Some of lyrics verge on legitimately disturbing, from his childhood memories of watching girls prostitute themselves for drug money and ignoring his daughter phone calls to get high, “Daddy I miss you”. But unlike most albums, which slow down, “Old” speeds up. The second half of the album takes a complete turn, with most the tracks verging on insanity. Danny Brown manages to take rap mainstays like weed and women and make them sound incredibly fresh and urgent. His eccentric poetry and nasal oddball delivery mixes with beats that redefine the sonic landscape of rap to make something strange and wonderful. On “DIP” he raps with terrifying conviction about excessive MDMA use, over a beat that sounds like German techno meets Jamaican ghetto. The subject matter of drug use and rampant misogyny may put some off, but the incredible self-assurance of his delivery makes it hard to turn your ears away. Hearing the things he’s been though makes hearing this glorified debauchery seem meaningful and manages to subvert rap music clichés, putting them into a new and eye opening light. It’s raw, self-contradictory, disturbing, joyous, experimental and clichéd at the same time – and that makes it one this year’s stand outs.