Sunday 19 July 2015

The Week's Playlist, Vol. 1- 19/7/2015


Featured Image Credit: Johanna Bocher flickr

A three and a half week trip to Thailand has found me completely out of the new music loop since late June (everybody will most likely have heard Foals' 'What Went Down' by now), but I decided to rejuvenate this old feature of the site to share some of the music I was obsessing over during the course of the trip and some great new stuff I've found in the couple of days I've been back on home soil. Next week's segment will most likely feature more new music, especially that which has been featured on the site previously in a review, or in a review I plan to do over the next coming days (see here Rolo Tomassi, for example). As always, my greatest hope is that you'll check some of these gems out and hear something you like. 

Many cheers, and enjoy. 

LCD Soundsystem- All My Friends

James Murphy & Co.'s 7-minute looped piano epic has become resoundingly poignant in my life of late as I've just graduated university and am now about to be pummelled into submission by real life. His funny, sad and deliriously hopeful ruminations on the relationship between partying and ageing are likely to strike a chord with probably most people feeling the post-being-able-to-do-largely-what-ever-the-fuck-you-want blues.

A$AP Rocky ft. Schoolboy Q- Electric Body

High brow sociological rhetoric a la EL-P this ain't, but this robust, smooth and dark banger from two of mainstream Hip-Hop's most sought-after MCs is one of the many highlights on A$AP Rocky's latest full-length At. Long. Last. A$AP. You can read my review of the whole album here: http://therivieraworld.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/aap-rocky-at-long-last-aap.html

Rolo Tomassi- Stage Knives

British screamo/noise/art-rock etc etc quintet Rolo Tomassi are back with their new full-length Grievances. This typically chameleon-esque track runs its course in a whirlwind of glistening, spiky melody, calm, glacial meditation as well as intense stabs of violence and poetry. Read my review of Grievances here: http://therivieraworld.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/rolo-tomassi-grievances.html

Killing Joke- Eighties

This classic from the post-punk legends finds Jaz Coleman struggling his way through the Thatcher dominated '80s, and its hard not to find prevalence in those assertions in context of today's government. As tight, aggressive and righteous as ever.

British Sea Power- A Lovely Day Tomorrow

One of the B-sides included with the recent reissue of Brit rockers British Sea Power stellar debut album The Decline of British Sea Power, this lovely, lo-fi and catchy understated anthem encaptures almost everything that the band have always done so well. You can read my retrospective/ review of the re-issued masterpiece here: http://therivieraworld.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/the-triumph-of-british-sea-power-their.html

Foals- What Went Down

First previewed on Annie Mac's BBC Radio 1 show in early June, 'What Went Down' immediately struck as probably the most menacing, predatory and most rip-roaring rock 'n'roll track Oxford indie darlings Foals have ever written. Crisply produced and unrelenting in its energy and sinister glow, front man Yannis Philippakis sounds positively possessed as he yelps his way through a series of Nick Cave-esque narrative plot lines. The album of the same name is expected to be released on the 28th August.

Touche Amore & Self Defense Family- Low Beams

One of the tracks featured on this split EP entitled Self Love issued by Deathwish records back in March, 'Low Beams' is as eerie as it is characteristically fierce and grandiose. Both bands combine their rigid Hardcore credentials to create an ambidextrous 3 minutes of bleak commentary and oozing heft.

Leon Bridges- Smooth Sailin' 

Texas based singer-songwriter Leon Bridges' debut full-length LP Coming Home has quite rightly been lauded as a jubilant and irresistibly smooth exercise in retro, organic soul. 'Smooth Sailin'' is impossibly simple and illustrious at the same time, Bridges' vocals riding the dusty but crystal clear and catchy music beautifully. Expect a review of Coming Home on the site soon.

Stellar Om Source- Polarity

Christelle Gualdi's sonic explorations are among some of the most hypnotic being created today, and her hallowed track 'Polarity' is perhaps a pinnacle of this. It starts off like the soundtrack to a scuba diving session whilst stoned and stumbling across a patch of coral that looks like Atlantis, before becoming a glorious myriad of fizzing, twinkling synths that wouldn't be out of place on the soundtrack to travelling through the Dubai skyline at night.




Listen to all the tracks in this week's playlist via the spotify playlist below. 

https://open.spotify.com/user/1129682861/playlist/2eRUyVWXCAdi85pDfW9hsy





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