Rock / Indie / Folk / Metal / Punk / 50s / 60s Recommendations September 2016

Review: It's now been ten years since the world first became aware of Dev Hynes, yet through humble beginnings in Test Icicles and Lightspeed Champion, it seems very much like this last decade has been a journey in the direction of this moment. With 'Freetown Sound' he makes his mark firmly as a modern-day auteur whose co-ordinates can be found somewhere between the funk-pop midas touch of Prince and the firebrand iconoclasm of Kendrick Lamar. A dizzying array of styles can be found in the album's compelling meld of the personal and political, yet with as much melodic richness and musical invention to be found here as confrontational food-for-thought, this is a stridently modern and multi-faceted joy.

Review: John Dwyer is rapidly approaching the level of modern-day icon, after years of hammering out the jams in insalubrious basements with the likes of Coachwhips, The Hospitals, Yikes and around 467 other bands. Thee Oh Sees may remain his most accessible outfit to date, but on the evidence of 'A Weird Exits', there's no danger of him diluting his garage-fuelled attack any time soon - indeed, herein he can be found extrapolating the band's trademark fury via trips to the stratosphere awash with psychedelic abandon and krautrock radiance. All told, another triumph for a modern day master in the Spinal Tap-approved fine line between clever and stupid.

Review: Psychedelic serenades worthy of our attention can be tricky to track down in the here and now, yet it takes little time to work out that the work of Morgan Delt, a bedroom auteur with as much warped songcraft to offer as excursions into the wilderness. 'Phase Zero' maps out an interstellar constellation between the '60s world of The Byrds, the '70s bedlam of Jean-Pierre Massiera and the contemporary slant of recent Flaming Lips, yet at all times it boasts a widescreen sweep and wide-eyed wonderment to match its sonic playfulness and melodic sleight-of-hand, resulting in a gem for the third-eye and both ears alike.

Review: Having made their name as modern-day aesthetes with a series of records that meld the cerebral and the physical with style, 'Boy King' appears to be the point in which the Will Beasts allow their id to run rampant in a way befitting their name. Recorded in Dallas with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent) it shows them heading towards a notably more aggressive, electronic and masculine sound, at once influenced by the binary thump of Nine Inch Nails and the sonic brinksmanship of 'Yeezus' era Kanye West. Odder still, this gamble has more than paid off, and 'Boy King' is the sound of the band at their most vibrant and persuasive.

Review: In a manner perhaps exemplified by their very name, the Sheffield-birthed duo Slow Club have long been one of the best-kept-secrets in British music, their understated yet irresistible stylistics somehow remaining shy of the critical kudos and commercial hubris one might expect. Just like them then to compound this by making perhaps their most subtle and least bombastic record to date, and one no less charming for all that. Travelling to Virginia this time around to record with Matthew E. White, these two deliver a masterclass in elegant country-tinged indie-pop, with bittersweet breakup songs as ever a speciality and Rebecca Taylor's powerful voice to the fore.

Review: The Budos band might sound like they were from the '70s and hailed from Nigeria, but they're actually live and kicking these days around the Greater New York area. The majority of their music has come out thanks to Gabriel Roth's sublime Daptone Records, which also seen a vast number of incredible reissues land on its catalogue. "Maelstrom" is the lead tune on this fine 7", an instantly seductive psych track who electric guitar will have you shivering from head to toes from the very first verse - a total killer of a tune! "Avalanche", on the flip, isn't as visionary or grandiose in sound, but it is still perfectly capable of making you shed a tear thanks to its driving horns and hazy flutters of FX-laden guitar flying around like UFOs. Warmly tipped.

Review: Having made their name as modern-day aesthetes with a series of records that meld the cerebral and the physical with style, 'Boy King' appears to be the point in which the Will Beasts allow their id to run rampant in a way befitting their name. Recorded in Dallas with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent) it shows them heading towards a notably more aggressive, electronic and masculine sound, at once influenced by the binary thump of Nine Inch Nails and the sonic brinksmanship of 'Yeezus' era Kanye West. Odder still, this gamble has more than paid off, and 'Boy King' is the sound of the band at their most vibrant and persuasive.

Review: Ryley Walker started garnering attention a something of a jazz-folk influenced musician, inspired by the like of John Fahey and Jack Rose, yet the passing of time has shown him keener to explore a more songwriterly style that maintains a sprawling and freewheeling aspect whilst nodding more to modern rock and psychedelia. This follow-up to his acclaimed record 'Primrose Green' shows just why he's made fans of the lie of Robert Plant, displaying both the musical invention and dexterity of Tortoise and the dry and potent lyricism of Mark Kozelek, yet also an effortless charm and laid-back atmosphere even amidst dazzling and dizzying levels of invention.

Review: The San Diego-based square peg Sumach Ecks has always looked beyond traditional modes of expression in his experimental and decidedly rough-hewn style of experimental hip-hop, yet 'Callus' is the sound of this reliably gnarly aesthetic running rampant, with fiercely compelling results. Caned psychedelia - largely his stock-in-trade in days of yore - is usurped on 'Callus' by lo-fi garage aggro, creating an unflinchingly dystopian series of soundscapes not for the faint at heart, sitting somewhere amidst in an aesthetic scrapyard alongside Death Grips and a post-apocalyptic Tom Waits. A prescient and potent tonic for an increasingly confusing age.