Hiphopish, glitchy, brainfeederish, ninjatuney. Not foreground music, not dancefloor music. Background thing but not at all elevator music.
Letherette – Where Have All The People Gone?
Moodymann – DJ-Kicks
Hugely satisfying and absolutely relaxed mix of tracks through the hiphop-soul-groovy-nujazz axis. This is why I listen to good selections like the DJ Kicks or Late Night Tales releases in the first place. I mean not the specific genre but the top-notch selection.
Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition
This is insanely good hiphop. And this album is probably the best hiphop record I heard so far this year. And the track Tell Me What I Don’t Know is a super smash hit. Straightforward sentences, true things.
Nery – 33
Soulful, hiphop tempo, some bass, some singing. Sounds like hailing from those best days when glitchy hiphop and dubstep started rediscovering its triphop roots. I really like this record, have been listening to it for some time now.
DJ Shadow – The Mountain Will Fall
This is totally surprising from Shadow. I haven’t expected much from him anymore, which does not mean he cannot set up a great DJ set or even a cool (and mostly nostalgic) live session. But any new material that I would find truly fascinating – not something on my bucket list.
And yet, here it is. An album that I have already listened to quite a few times and like to hear any next time. Nobody Speak is a huge smash that I instantly saved to my hiphop playlist. Depth Charge is some deep and dark triphop tune that crawls under your skin. (Also its main hook resembles much the track Conquercrete from the Hungarian live triphop band Realistic Crew.) Than there is Bergschrund written with Nils Frahm and which is an amazing collaborator find, if this was a movie I would call it casting quite nailed. But actually all the tracks are truly great even to the very end where Suicide Pact holds some memory sparks for me coming from the brutal and brutally graphical video game Hotline Miami – same atmosphere.
Anyway. Shadow did it again. And I like it a lot that he did.
DJ Krush – Butterfly Effect
The new Krush record is out, and there is not much to add except there’s no disappointment whatsoever. It is a perfect record with the beautiful moody triphop he can offer, and not one single track out of tune or style. I will see him play live just a week from now and I am quite excited about that, especially after this album. I sincerely hope that he brings along a bunch of vinyls so that I can have this little beauty shelved.
Kutmah – Closure
Amazing atmospheres, moody stuff, probably not for the joyful of souls. Kept me stick for the full length and worth some replays.
Fun fact: after the last track here Rdio continued the auto-play with Four Tet – And They All Look Broken Hearted. Spot on.
dälek – Absence
Got back to this epic one from 2005. Tells a lot.
Until the Ribbon Breaks – A Lesson Unlearnt
This is pop music from Britain and on top of its game. Awesome quality music production and nice hooks without the usual annoyances of mainstream pop. And this one’s a debut album so double the surprise.
Janelle Monáe – The Electric Lady
I listen to a very little amount of pop music so it’s no surprise that I am a late comer to take a bow for this album that was released in 2013. However I just cannot not put this one up here and note that this is what exceptional pop music sounds like. All those r&b “superstars” should stand in line to learn some tricks here. Featuring of Prince and Erykah Badu is powerful of course, but the record as a whole is way more that that, and with many faces of many genres beyond r&b.