My music on heavy rotation from 25 April to 16 May
For the past three weeks my sanity has been partially scaffolded by the following wonderful records.
Frank Zappa - ‘Francesco Zappa’ When Frank Zappa discovered the existence of a namesake Italian baroque composer it was immediately obvious that he needed to perform his work with his Synclavier, an early sequencer/sampler/FM synthesiser/sound module that cost as much as a house. The result is… synthetic, yes, but timbrally complex, and very satisfying in the way that only baroque music can be.
Little Barrie - ‘King Of The Waves’ Another release from the lovely Tummy Touch Records, this is an album of ballsy, driving garage-pop, with a distinctly 60s surf vibe, and very noisy guitars. Skilled, unpretentious playing, infectious melodies, and a huge dollop of rock ’n’ roll charisma.
Project Trio - ‘Random Roads Collection’ Also on Tummy Touch. Unfeasibly excellent musicianship that brings an unlikely ensemble texture (cello, double bass and flute) to a set of very approachable material, taking in blues, jazz, country, bluegrass, Americana, rock and chamber music. Sheer brilliance.
Napalm Death - ‘Scum’ This isn’t the best Napalm Death album, and its two halves are basically by two completely different bands, but it is the first, and it comes correct with balls-out, swivel-eyed lunacy, which is always a good thing. Noise, speed and brutality, of legendary intensity.
pje - ‘Thought Process’ Beautifully gentle ambiences, produced through electronics, acoustic guitars and whatever else came to hand. It’s far from completely invertebrate, and has many house-like or strummy moments, but it’s basically a warm comfortable bed to lie in. Released on Crazy Language.
Also big in my ear-world have been superb shorter releases from Henry Fool (creamy psych-prog), Hawk Eyes (crunchy avant-rock), Drunken Forest (absurdist avant-rock), Tamara and the Martyrs (passionate avant-rock) and Birds of Hell (dark seasonal despair).