Album Review:

Hudson Mohawke
Butter
Release Date: 26/10/2009


Hudson Mohawke built his musical career on his reputation as an artful turntablist, which might come as no surprise given the sense of augmented reality permeating his latest release on Warp records, Butter. Now, turntablist no more, Glaswegian Hud Mo (Ross Birchard) offers a unique blend of acid-soul-jazz-glitch-funk-electro-hop-step, where no beat is served straight-up. The sterile precision so often offered by electronic instrumentation is absent here; instead we receive broken organic swing rhythms and textures digital, analogue and acoustic all blended together into one satisfying aqua-crunk smoothie.

Schizophrenic sometimes and psychedelic always, this is one dynamic album; and with his distinct style, Mohawke naturally evades convention, making for refreshing if sometimes difficult listening. Mohawke is at his best when he is exploring the limits of this style, though it is also apparent that this album was composed with a careful ear. Acoustic and electronic morsels here are equally subject to whimsical modification and timbral amendments, creating previously unheard audial mechanisms to pique your pleasure. Human vocal sounds are used throughout the album, though most are either synthetically produced or presented in brief samples chipped to bits and used as instruments in their own right. Melody, texture and cadence converge and separate, disorienting the listener all the while placing your perception in a delicately crafted soundscape of intelligent design.

This album falls within the present musical movement bulldozing the boundaries that establish genres through distinct definitions of instrumentation, arrangement and cultural reference. A manifestation of our modern age, this music finds a metaphor in the inherent interconnectedness of information, breaking down our illusion of separation. That being said, this is unlike anything you've ever heard.

8/10

By Raymond Muehlman

Album Review:

Animal Collective
Fall Be Kind EP
Release Date: 14/12/2009


You have to hand it to Animal Collective. Having crafted one of the most highly critically acclaimed albums of the year should be enough for any band, but the Baltimore trio seem more than keen to keep churning out new work. With a feature length film debuting at next month's Sundance festival and now this EP, it's been a prolific twelve months for a band that seems incapable of sitting still.

Notably, Fall Be Kind is far from simply Merriweather Post Pavilion: The Deleted Scenes. Rather, we are presented with a record yet more sprawling, more experimental and more genre-bending than its predecessor. The three highlights of the EP – 'Graze', 'What Would I Want? Sky', and 'I Think I Can' – are all distinguishable by their dichotomous structures; ambience and dream-like noise in the tracks’ first/second halves stands in contrast with melodic, catchy and often downright cute moments in the opposing halves to powerful effect (the pan flute loop in 'Graze' is enough to melt even the iciest of cynics’ hearts). It's a wonderful juxtaposition, and the other two tracks on the EP seem less memorable for their conventional linearness. They are by no means filler though; the brooding, reverb-laden 'On a Highway', suggests that Animal Collective have the potential to evolve yet again from their current state into something altogether darker.

A strong EP is a special and rare thing, even more so when it can be viewed as a separate entity to the album that preceded it: Fall Be Kind is just that. Animal Collective have successfully untethered themselves from their less accessible past but this EP proves that they remain a fearless and unique creative force in modern music.

9/10

By Thom Matthews

Album Review:

Johnny Flynn
Sweet William EP
Release date: 30/11/2009


Nearly two years have passed since the release of A Larum, Johnny Flynn’s critically acclaimed debut album that left woolly-jumper-wearing-types nationwide, myself included, thirsty for more.

In those two years we have seen some dramatic changes within the music industry. Folk-influenced bands such as Mumford and Sons and Broken Records have quite quickly moved their way into a section of the mainstream, and their success has opened a window of opportunity for followers. With expectations high, Sweet William is Johnny Flynn’s first chance to see if he can still hold his own amongst this new wave of Folk.

‘The Mountain is burning’ starts the EP on familiar territory. Flynn’s distinctive voice and clever guitar work combine charmingly as always although, aided by an impressive new string and brass accompaniment, Flynn has developed a more elegant, layered sound, deeper than any of his work prior.

Despite the warming familiarity of the EP (which will be very appealing for the cold winter nights to come), it offers little signs of advances musically. Kept neatly in his comfort zone and with the Folk music scene steadily gaining momentum, I was left questioning whether Johnny Flynn is kicking leaves from a forgotten time.

5/10

By Andy Farrington