Almost seventy of the finest tracks from the last month for your listening pleasure. Well I say last month but I’ve missed so much great music of late that a lot of this is just me catching up with the first three months of the year.
PLAYLISTS
There are three flavours of playlist (although some tracks aren’t available on Spotify & Soundcloud)
Subscribe to my weekly playlist on Spotify (Open in the app or your browser)
or listen to the monthlies on Whyd or Soundcloud.
Here’s some of the standouts from this month.
(If you like any of the tunes below please spread the word by showing some love tracks over on the Hype Machine):
WASTA – JAMES B SKIT
A little gem from a French beat tape that totally passed me by last year but popped onto my radar thanks to the always excellent 22tracks website. Wasta’s ‘Class Picture Day’ beat tape is available from Bandcamp as a pay what you like download and this skit based on James Brown’s legendary off his face appearance on CNN is one of the highlights.
If you’ve never seen it, here’s that interview in full jaw dropping glory.
THE KING BLUES – PURE FUCKING LOVE
I Fucking love you, ya dickhead
For a band that’s Punk, Leftwing and perhaps a little angry now might be a good time to find inspiration to stoke the fires of indignation? And so The King Blues return after a four year break with David Cameron’s decapitated head gracing their album sleeve.
The visceral rage of ‘Off With Their Heads’ is the perfect song to be coming out on this the 40th anniversary of Punk and it’s justifiably got much of the attention but album closer ‘Pure Fucking Love’ not only has a great title but also showcases the bands soft underbelly. If you like classic punk love ballads in the grand tradition of The Pogues, you’ll love this..
Nab the album from Speech Development or iTunes – always nice to support musicians who perhaps don’t have a vast inheritance from a Panamanian tax avoidance scheme to live off.
OTIENO TERRY – THERE IS NO MORE
Darkness is what we deserve
Sparse R’n’b at it’s best that had me hooked right from the weird off kilter wonky ‘synth’ opening. Seattle native Otieno’s brooding vocal wafts in and out of the minimal backing to great effect.
B.DOLAN Vs FLAWED LOGIC – STAY INSPIRED
Here’s another thing that passed me by at the turn of the year, a remix competition for ‘Stay Inspired’ from rapper B.Dolan’s 2015 opus ‘Kill The Wolf’. There were over 40 entires and you can hear some of the best over on the Strange Famous website.
BORA BORA – PASSARO
Chicago’s trilingual tropical space-folk group Bora Bora bring you an EP that their Facebook page says was inspired by Caetano Veloso, The Velvet Underground, Mazzy Star, Beach House, Galaxie 500, Neil Young, Dennis Brown, Linval Thompson, Greek mythology and of course, all forms of winged creatures.
BABYFATHER – GOD HOUR
Dean Blunt returns to Hyperdub with a new album under the Babyfather pseudonym with one of the standout tracks being this Mica Levi featuring diamond.
RADIOLA SERRA ALTA – COCO DE NOSSO SENHOR
The Coco rhythms of Northern Brazil meet modern electronic beats on Radiola Serra Alta’s contribution to Kafundó Records latest compilation album.
KOOL BANDITS – DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR (Libidopper Version)
Self described wizards of the Nu Disco, Kool Bandit get remixed by Libidopper into something a bit darker that reminds me of the early 90’s work of Finitribe.
THE GREAT SADNESS – VOMIT
Los Angeles Delta blues from duo Cathy Cooper and Stephen McNeely. Turning traditional music on it’s head and skinning it down to it’s most lovely and brutal essence.