Roscoe Mitchell has produced a flurry of incredible records this year. Mind-blowing, envelope pushing works of majesty. Mantana Roberts returned with a record that rivals Yeezus in pure pleasure and trumps it in clarity of thought, beauty, and intelligence. Kanye who has made an inspired albeit slippery turn, has been outmaneuvered by an artist with a greater fidelity to the art form.
There have been three French acts who are killing it at the moment: Celeste, High Wolf and Félicia Atkinson. The French music industry is one of the most fucked up in Western Europe in terms of inaccessibility for emerging acts both inside and out l’hexagone. A socio-political system that strangles creativity in favour of conservative mediocrity.
Desire Path Recordings released two formidable records by Mary Lattimore and Frederico Durand. Both are better known amongst musicians than audiences, both have got their shit together. Mary’s record is a lethal deconstruction of sound and song.
Good God! Apocryphal Hymns totally spoke to my Catholic upbringing. Stoned and skewed prayers to the Lord without a blemish on the whole record. Another great comp was The Crying Princess: 78rpm Records from Burma employed tuning I’ve never previously come across, with a fantastic aesthetic concept and a brilliant backstory.
Dean Blunt released one great record and one that’s best not talking about. But in the vein of Lady Gaga and Kanye, Blunt is an artist happy to put things out and be judged. Every track needn’t be a hit. Mixed critical acclaim doesn’t scare them, and they are all the better for it. His antithetical operator is Julia Holter who continues to put out refined, focused works that are cripplingly accessible. It took me ages to get my head around how perfectly balanced her songwriting is. With each record the mixing engineer seems to understand her more, and her records are all the better for it. Also on the up is Grouper, who released the offcuts and b-sides to a previous record, that sounds even better. Flabbergasting.
I spent a great deal of time listening to Eliane Radigue and Bernard Parmigiani. I spent September listening to nothing but Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (mixed: he’s at his best when he presents a real alternative, rather than just subverting the more traditional sounds: ‘Superwolf’ and ‘Get On Jolly’). And 808s and Heartbreaks is still one of the finest records I own.
The new Clams Casino tape makes a late entry to this list. I’ve only had it for a week now, but it’s gorgeous. Hopefully it’ll stand up after another 10 plays, and another 10 after that. The DJ Rashad record is great, really great. And the Cassie tape is the only one that’s stuck with me.
Holly Herndon was the best live show I caught, Mariah featuring Miguel was my most played track, and Jamal Moss was the best DJ set, mainly because he spent 6 hours mixing like a novice, before he decided to get going proper. Hilarious. Lastly, here’s a couple of tracks that have got me dancing Africaine 808 ‘Tummy Tummy’, Justin Timberlake ‘Suit & Tie (Four Tet remix)’, Jordan GCZ ‘Crybaby J (dub mix)’, Greg Beato ‘Respect The 78’, Ste Spandex ‘Low Frequency Orgone’, Baaz & Iron Curtis ‘K.M.S’, Cruise Family ‘Be Part Of It (Club Mix)’, DJ F ‘Transformación’, and Ike Yard ‘Half a God (Powell Remix)’.
That list in full:
Roscoe Mitchell ‘Duets With Tyshawn Sorey And Special Guest Hugh Ragin’ [Wild Hive]
Roscoe Mitchell, Tony Marsh, John Edwards ‘Improvisations’ [Otoroku]
Yusef Lateef, Roscoe Mitchell, Adam Rudolph, Douglas R. Ewart ‘Voice Prints’ [Meta]
Mantana Roberts ‘Coin Coin 2: Mississippi Moonchile [Constellation]
Kanye West ‘Yeezus’ [Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam]
Celeste ‘Animale(s)’ [Denovali]
High Wolf ‘Kairos: Chronos’ [Not Not Fun]
Félicia Atkinson ‘Visions/Voices’ [Umor Rex]
Mary Lattimore ‘The Withdrawing Room’ [Desire Path]
Frederico Durand ‘El idioma de las luciérnagas’ [Desire Path]
Various ‘Good God! Apocryphal Hymns’ [Numero]
Various ‘The Crying Princess: 78rpm Records from Burma’ [Sublime Frequencies]
Dean Blunt ‘The Redeemer’ [Hippos in Tanks]
Grouper ‘The Man Who Died in his Boat’ [Kranky]
Julia Holter ‘Loud City Song’ [Domino]
Clams Casino ‘Instrumentals pt.3’ [self-released]
DJ Rashad ‘Double Cup’ [Hyperdub]
Cassie ‘RockaByeBaby’ [self-released]
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