Tomorrow’s Harvest.
Fifteen years and two albums after their debut, Music Has the Right to Children, Boards of Canada return with their fourth record, Tomorrow’s Harvest. The difference between these two albums is stark; while MHTRTC is nostalgic and feel good, Tomorrow’s Harvest is the soundtrack to a dark dystopian future where the British proletariat has been enslaved by a corrupt elitist ruling class, elected through a combination of misinformation and fascist ideologies, perpetuated through state controlled media. History is being erased, while anyone who disagrees with the all powerful rulers are quickly made an example of to maintain absolute conformity. Meanwhile the Soviet Union seeks to control the nations of the world through a campaign of cyber espionage, the Soviet associates ruling the UK do not disclose this to the public, at least not until after they have consolidated their power. Please remain indoors. A plague has devastated the world claiming countless lives, while further misinformation in the media causes large sections of the public to believe in far fetched conspiracy theories as to the disease’s origin, or its actual existence. Tomorrow’s Harvest is a depressing place to be.
Fetch.
Japanese noise-rock band Melt-Banana’s seventh album, Fetch, is so filled with infectious energy you can’t help but tap your feet or bop you head in time with their rhythm. The sound takes you back to your first gig experience as a teenager, where the lights blur in drunken adolescent eyes, the sweat pours down your face as you make heavy contact with people you’ve never met, you head for the smoking area and inhale lungfuls of cold air before returning to the people and the heat and the noise. Vocalist Yasuko Onuki’s falsetto style combined with the heavy, hardcore rock instrumentals, much like Private Joker’s helmet in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, makes something of a comment on the duality of man, but I could be over analysing. Fetch is an album full of noisy bangers.
Push the Sky Away.
Nick Cave is unobjectionably real, real cool. This is the first album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds I’ve listened to post-1986, making this the first that isn’t a brand of experimental punk, and it is beautiful. The sound is tuneful while maintaining Cave’s iconic poetic lyricism; the minimalist groovy rhythms of the album are a soundtrack to slow-dancing alone in your kitchen after a fifth, or was it sixth, double whiskey, while a lit cigarette precariously hangs from your mouth, dropping ash onto the floor. The highlight, though there are many, is the dark epic Higgs Boson Blues, where Cave’s somber writing combined with the subtle instrumentals produce a sonic masterpiece.
Doris.
Earl Sweatshirt’s debut album showcases musical ability well beyond the years of a 19 year-old. Collaborating with some huge names in the hip-hop industry, RZA and Tyler, The Creator to name a few, Earl has the the talent and potential to be the biggest rapper in the world. The songs on Doris cover a variety of themes, expressing his thoughts on his drug use on “Sunday”, while discussing his fathers absence during his childhood on “Knight”. The album is filled with complicated, complex rhyme patterns over mostly dark, heavy drum beats. Watch out Kendrick.
Trouble Will Find Me.
In 2012, The National first appeared on my radar and ever since I have wanted to listen to them but have constantly put it off. Until this week. Anticipation has the habit to set you up for disappointment, so did Trouble Will Find Me crumble under the weight of eight years of expectation? No. In fact I loved it so much that, with chaos theory and the butterfly effect in the forefront of my mind, I considered where my life would have led if I’d have listened to this album upon release in 2013, instead of playing AM on repeat for the majority of the year; what decisions would I have made differently with The National’s melancholic indie rock ringing in my ear holes. Trouble Will Find Me is a truly beautiful accomplishment, it’s just a shame I wasted so much time before hearing it. More of The National again soon please.
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