Staff Picks for July 2021
July 31, 2021
A stylistic left turn for Peter Hammill, this raucous, messy, rock platter was often cited as an influence by the first wave of punks in England. While essentially proving himself incapable of writing three-minute, three-chord rock & roll numbers, Hammill (taking on the guise of Rikki Nadir, i.e. dumb garage rocker) lays into his guitar with a vengeance, screaming out lyrics that are often unintelligible while Guy Evans, Nic Potter, David Jackson, and Hugh Banton thrash along behind him. Hammill would never let himself be this wild and hairy again.
July 30, 2021
The 2006 debut from Zach Condon's Beirut project simultaneously enhanced and defined the specific phase of indie rock it resided in. Condon brought Eastern European folk influences and instrumentation into his mysterious and romantic tunes, but included moments like the softly qwirky ukulele-led ballad "Postcards from Italy" to anchor the wilder sounds to more familiar song structures.
July 29, 2021
Celebrating the 25th birthday of "Wannabe," it's time to dust off this '90s pop/R&B classic and realize just how timeless and well-executed it really is. Aside from the iconic singles like "Say You'll Be There" (which has aged like a fine wine), deep cuts such as the disco-funked "Who Do You Think You Are" and the "Humpty Dance"-sampling "If U Can't Dance" are better than much of the contemporary fluff on the radio today.
July 28, 2021
The sophomore long-player from cosmic country innovator James Wallace's Skyway Man project, World Only Ends When You Die is a ramshackle road trip billed as a "psych-folk opera" that evokes a Muscle Shoals-backed Grateful Dead piloting a boogie van into the Greek underworld. A
July 27, 2021
Various Artists
The second of two Strut compilations gathering material from the daunting back catalog of Chicago house label Dance Mania, Ghetto Madness is equally filled with freaky sex jams and trippy computer madness. Includes classics from Steve Poindexter, Jammin Gerald, DJ Funk, and Paul Johnson.
July 26, 2021
Accomplished jazz trumpeter Justin Walter wandered into ambient territory with his first release on vaunted indie label Kranky. Relying largely on laid-back drum loops and sounds made on an electronic wind instrument, Walter's compositions are stormy and beautiful, falling into a strange grey area between jazz inclinations and meditative atmospherics.
July 25, 2021
The Cold Chillin' class clown debuted with one of the most amusing sets of productions and performances of anyone during hip-hop's golden age. Markie was an oversized teenager with lyrical talents (if not finesse) far beyond his years, and material opposed to most every rapper around -- trading in nightclubs for the mall and striking a pose for picking your nose. Yes, the rhymes were often rudimentary or obvious, but infectious optimism and winning flair (plus the masterful production of Marley Marl) carried Biz Markie far beyond the status of a novelty act.
July 24, 2021
New Orleans was known as the City That Care Forgot, but while Lee Dorsey was one of the Crescent City's few R&B heroes, who could sing about the stuff of adult lives, even if he made it sound sly, funny, and sexy when he complained about his job, his car, and the neighborhood gossip. And few songs can sound sweet and abjectly lonely at once like "Holy Cow."
July 23, 2021
Legendary house duo Masters at Work's most ambitious, accomplished work encompasses all of their influences, including hip-hop, Latin jazz, soul, and disco, with guest stars including Roy Ayers, George Benson, Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Jocelyn Brown, and Jazzy Jeff. Far from the crowded, overproduced mess it could've been, it sounds natural, exuberant, and full of love and spirit. A timeless classic.
July 22, 2021
Along with more recognized post-punk records like Public Image Limited's Metal Box, the Pop Group's Y, and less-recognized fare like the Ruts DC and Mad Professor's Rhythm Collision Dub, Cut displayed a love affair with the style of reggae that honed in on deep throbs, pulses, and disorienting effects, providing little focus on anything other than that and periodic scrapes from guitarist Viv Albertine. But more importantly, Cut placed the Slits along with the Raincoats and Lydia Lunch as major figureheads of unbridled female expression in the post-punk era.
July 21, 2021
There were Brazilian jazz-funk records before Azymuth's 1975 self-titled offering, but none of them engaged with post-tropicalia, psychedelia, MPB, samba, and disco the way this one does. Even the band referred to their style as "samba doido" ("crazy samba”). Whether it’s the dreamy, trippy, Rhodes-driven ballad "Linha do Horizonte," the oft-sampled, burning dancefloor funk of Melô Dos Dois Bicudos" and "Estrada Dos Deuses,” or "Morning" (later wonderfully remixed by Peanut Butter Wolf), this is an infectious series of grooves that stand the test of time.
July 20, 2021
One of rock's most underrated workhorses, Jimmy Gnecco has been slogging along for decades, serving a small but dedicated fanbase who have stuck around since his band's early '00s flirtation with mainstream success. Astonishingly, twenty years after their debut, he's created the best album in Ours' catalog. Absolutely worth a spin for fans of '90s-styled rock with a dramatic, soaring vocal range recalling Jeff Buckley, Matt Bellamy, and Bono.
July 19, 2021
On their Too Pure debut, Electrelane upholds the traditions of messy, angular, decidedly British art-punk bands, but also makes them fresh. As they draw inspiration from Spanish sonnets, borrow lines from Nietzsche, and fold choirs into their songs, the band brings new perspectives to post-punk that make the album thrilling from start to finish.
July 18, 2021
The pairing of Daniel Johnston's songs and Jason Falkner's production is nothing short of inspired and the result is the most warped power pop album ever. Featuring DJ at his sweetest ("Queenie the Dog") and most spiteful ("Fake Records of Rock & Roll") and Falkner at his most direct and unfussy, the album is a career highlight for both.
July 17, 2021
No one knew 1993's Anodyne was going to be Uncle Tupelo's breakup album when it first came out, though in retrospect the signs are so clear it's a wonder no one noticed. It's the work of two minds going in different directions but circling back to one another just enough to create one last statement, perhaps not harmonious but with a collective purpose that made this band sound heroic even on their last legs.
July 16, 2021
The Bay Area thrash legends' 13th studio effort is awash in immaculate guitarmonies, blast furnace-forged double-kick drum, and taut, palm-muted riffage. Co-produced by the band and Juan Urteaga (Cattle Decapitation, Machine Head), Titans of Creation is as savage as it is meticulously rendered; born of the wisdom of age and rage
July 15, 2021
The Jam's fifth album represented a return to the basics following the slick approach of its immediate predecessor Setting Sons. Paul Weller reached his songwriting peak here with streamlined amalgamations of punk immediacy, Motown-influenced pop songcraft, and personal reflections on society and relationships that were all his own.
July 14, 2021
The third album from the project of songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Erik Hall delivers further on the allure of his prior releases by offering even richer textures. It's an immersive sound that brings to mind bands like Talk Talk and the War on Drugs while remaining just as distinct. Throughout, distorted timbres contrast with pure acoustic ones and smoother electronic tones, while tracks juxtapose irregular rhythms and simple, steady ones. It's all part of a reliably off-balance design, as are wistful melodies and lyrics that seem to long for clarity and connection.
July 13, 2021
From the gorgeous refrains of "The Neighbor" to the closing title track, the Clientele continue to burnish their already sterling reputation as masters of sublime English indie pop.
July 12, 2021
The Fleetwood Mac ex-pat's fifth solo effort, Gift of Screws proves that Buckingham is not only still relevant, but he's also a pioneer in terms of craft, execution, and production, and has plenty to teach the current generation about making excellent records and never resting on your laurels. Gift of Screws is a standout even in his catalog
July 11, 2021
Titled to reflect the big drum sound they developed with producer Steve Lillywhite and engineer Hugh Padgham for the album, as well as the addition of inventive second guitarist Dave Gregory ("the wires"), the band's third album centers on the tension between the two. The results make for some truly inspired, nervy pop. Colin Moulding also comes into his own here as a songwriter, penning their first substantial hit, the new wave classic "Making Plans for Nigel."
July 10, 2021
Before becoming an expatriate in 1965 and eventually settling in Munich, pianist Mal Waldron cut several stateside hard bop albums full of his idiosyncratic and Monk-ish piano work, and featuring choice contributions by some of the music's finest. For this 1957 date, Waldron worked with a stellar sextet interchangeably manned by John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Idrees Sulieman, Art Taylor, and others. Bookended by the pianist's ebullient "Potpourri" and the avant-noir blues "One by One," the set also includes a fetching cover of Cole Porter's "From This Moment On" and a beautifully complex arrangement of Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain."
July 9, 2021
The Adverts were one of the first British punk bands to hit the charts in the U.K. They were also one of the first to become powerfully disillusioned with where punk was heading, and their 1978 debut album, Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts, was a great punk album and also a ruthless dissection of the rot that was setting into the scene. Who knows what he must have thought when the Exploited came around.
July 8, 2021
Largely overlooked 1987 debut by this Scottish jangle pop group was adjacent to trends in U.S. college rock at the time, but was also adjacent to the psychedelic undertones of the paisley underground and the melancholic rural pop of New Zealand's Flying Nun scene. Standout single "I Kiss The Flowers In Bloom" is a hit that never happened, setting the scene for waves of indie pop that followed while standing head and shoulders with any of the band's peers that rose above obscurity.
July 7, 2021
Second album under his own name from the very prolific musician (Rat Columns, Total Control, etc) is his most focused and impressive to date, drawing on T. Rex-ian grooves and indie pop warmth to deliver a batch of songs that's perfect for introspective solo trips to the beach or wherever people go in the summer these days..
July 6, 2021
The grandchildren of the nu-metal generation, Atlanta-bred quartet Tetrarch pays homage to the early eras of Korn, Slipknot, Mudvayne, and Linkin Park with such technical proficiency that one might think they rose in the ranks alongside their late '90s/early 2000s forebears. This breakthrough sophomore set is explosive and nostalgic, an ideal fit for anyone hankering for that cocktail of youthful angst, rage, and pain.
July 5, 2021
While trumpeter Webster Young pays tribute to Billie Holiday on this, his only studio date as a leader, the set is equally a tribute to Young's musical role model, Miles Davis. Young has Miles' soft-focus tone from the early to mid-'50s and, according to Ira Gitler's liner notes, he is actually playing Miles' cornet on the date. The similarities between the two players make this 1957 session a satisfying companion to Miles' work circa 1951-1953.
July 4, 2021
On his third album, John Grant couples his always incisive, insightful songwriting with increasingly adventurous sounds. Building on the electronics of his previous albums with blobby synths and taut funk and new wave underpinnings, Grant is caught between existential humor and terror, youth's lingering ambitions and the disappointments of age on some of his angriest, saddest, and funniest songs.
July 3, 2021
Dubstar flourished during the Britpop era, and they stood out with a hybrid sound influenced by trip-hop and dance music as well as jangly indie pop. Their only American release to date shares its name with their second album, but like most international editions of the Cardigans' Life, it actually combined tracks from their first two records, including the still-astounding "Stars," their biggest hit. They've been active again lately, and their second reunion album is on its way.
July 2, 2021
In 1989, the Mekons found themselves with a major label deal in the United States for the first time, and how better to appeal to the American record buyer than making a record about rock & roll? Of course, in the Mekons' world, rock & roll can signify cheap grandstanding, prostitution, cultural blindness, and furious desperation as often as good times, but that doesn't change the fact it's also one of their most raucous and enjoyable albums.
July 1, 2021
Made with little more than a bass guitar and drum machine, Sneaks' marvelous 2016 debut is a brief but compelling wonder of lo-fi minimalism and subversive wit.