BUGZY MALONE — THE RESURRECTION
Last year Bugzy Malone wN CFo,es as seriously injured after crashing his bike in his native Manchester. A recreation of that scene appears on the cover of his aptly named second album, The Resurrection. This is a good idea of what to expect: Autobiography and brutal honesty.
The Resurrection is equal parts posturing and despair. The self-titled opener addresses his troubled upbringing while the third part of his ongoing MEN series sees him turning his crash into a moment of pure swagger.
“Now I’m supposed to feel weak?” he raps. “For some reason though I feel like Wolverine. Like I smashed the side of the car up with my physique, and left a big boy dent in the concrete.”
Biblical references abound. Tracks are accented with angelic choruses, heavenly strings and colossal-sounding drums. After 15 tracks, this sound palette wears a little thin, although Malone’s lyricism keeps things interesting. The Resurrection proves why he remains one of UK rap’s most important figures. 7/10 (Review by Alex Green)
THE AVALANCHES — SINCE I LEFT YOU (20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION)
Phoenix-like, Avalanches rose from the ashes of the two big revivals of the 90s, lounge music and disco. Showing their complete command of both of these genres, their 2001 breakthrough album Since I Left You established them as hippest of hip crate-diggers, sounding like a wildly eclectic Fat Boy Slim, or a less po-faced DJ Shadow.
This 20th anniversary remix is a timely reminder that they were as capable as matching either in selecting beats that felt simultaneously authentic and bone-tinglingly cool. The squelchy groove of Electricity (Original Avalanches Demo) will put the listener in mind of Uptown Funk, while Thank You Caroline pairs gritty retro synth lines with a drum pattern that is undeniably phat.
As would be expected for an album of remixes, the rhythm is foregrounded here, even on the country-influenced So Why So Sad, which in Sean Penn’s hands becomes a sonic slab of West Coast sunshine if ever there was one.
The album builds to a mesmerising climax in Sinkane’s remix of Radio, as the album moves away from its more introspective material to dancefloor-oriented vibes. 8/10 (Review by Rachel Farrow)
WOLF ALICE — BLUE WEEKEND
The follow-up to 2018 Mercury Prize winner Visions Of A Life, Blue Weekend finds Wolf Alice picking up in prime form.
A mostly understated musical palette is spiked with occasional bursts, on Play The Greatest Hits and Smile, of the scuzzy speak-shout grunge style of earlier favourites You’re A Germ and Yuk Foo while Ellie Rowsell’s lyrics show a maturity and a hard-won confidence.
Admitting that she was nervous about the emotional vulnerability of much of the album — and in particular the intimate nature of Feeling Myself — she drew inspiration from other female artists — citing St Vincent specifically — in not holding back and the result is perhaps the band’s best and most complete album to date, highlighted by the mid-album pairing of Safe From Heartbreak (if you never fall in love) and How Can I Make It OK. 8/10 (Review by Tom White)
JAPANESE BREAKFAST — JUBILEE
Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner is ready to usher in a new decade of hope with her latest album Jubilee. The third album by the Seoul-born, Oregon-raised artist explores fighting for happiness through joyful noise.
It moves from 80s-inspired pop pieces like Be Sweet, to mellow tones building to an intense guitar-riff crescendo in Posing For Cars. It is an evolution from her 2016 debut album Psychopomp and 2017’s Soft Sounds From Another Planet which grappled with anguish and loss during her mother’s cancer treatment, and later her death.
“I want to be good — I want to navigate this hate in my heart somewhere better,” she sings. It is this aspiration for new beginnings which makes this a joyful album for a post-pandemic world. 8/10 (Review by Naomi Clarke)
FRANK TURNER — ENGLAND KEEP MY BONES (10TH ANNIVERSARY)
A decade on from the album that changed everything for Frank Turner, and England Keep My Bones gets the full reissue treatment. Before this record he was a cult folk-punk hero, but within a year he’d be playing three of the tracks at the London Olympics Ceremony pre-show to a vast audience and selling out Wembley Arena.
The title comes from Shakespeare and Turner set out to make an album about English national identity and his own roots, explained in Wessex Boy as “when I’m here I’m home”.
English Curse, about the death of William II in a hunting accident in the New Forest, is Turner’s voice alone, while in Rivers he sings “the only place that I’ll lay my hat down is by an English riverside”. These songs prefigure the debates over English identify later played out during Brexit and seemingly endless culture wars since.
The brief opener Eulogy is about the importance of trying and persevering, while Turner’s reliable backing band The Sleeping Souls took their name from a lyric in I Am Disappeared. Standout track and live favourite I Still Believe is on his eternal theme of the redemptive power of music, with its chorus “now who’d have thought that after all, something as simple as rock ‘n’ roll would save us all”.
This expanded edition has demos of seven of the album tracks and three other bonus songs, and 15 solo acoustic takes, and while Turner is never too polished, these rawer versions suit his music well. The full 37 tracks might be only for Turner completists but England Keep My Bones has stood the test of time to remain one of his best albums. 8/10 (Review by Matthew George).