Vince Staples - Vince Staples

Having offered a wide variety of sounds in previous projects, the fourth album from Vince Staples tightens everything up. Kenny Beats handles the bulk of the production on the 10 track project and this provides a consistently light and simple foundation from which Staples tells gritty Long Beach stories. This starts right out of the gate with 'Are You With That' and the funky lo-fi study type beat is juxtaposed with Staples taking himself and the listener back to his younger years; violence, crimes and relationships among violence and crime.

Don't let the fresh production fool you or in the same way let Staples' kinda ruthless poetry fool you into thinking that you won't be noddin' along. This album is packed with slammers to ride to, especially given Staples' ability to wiggle between bars and bridge over the production with what must be 'melodies' without taking away from the ruthless vibe. Fans of Staples will welcome the simple yet precise delivery, as well as Staples heading back to the streets where he is clearly still tapped in as a member of his community but with years of success other artists would have struggled to get back in that space. Staples ticks all these boxes wonderfully and these jams serve just as well setting a funky vibe as they do blasting loud in a car trip.

Rejjie Snow - Baw Baw Black Sheep

Rejjie Snow has quietly emerged on my playlist as one of the funkier hip-hoppers and after seeing him feature on other songs, his latest project Baw Baw Black Sheep served as my first chance to really dive into a full Rejjie project. Hailing from Dublin and through USA, Rejjie Snow's overall sound is refreshing and BBBS is 14 tracks revolving around cute love stories with all sorts of different sounds and delivery spicing the vibe up. Cam O'bi makes a bunch of appearances (six of 14 tracks to be precise) and that may be via his production but seems to be fluffy moments of melody starting with the third track 'Cookie Chips' also featuring the one and only MF DOOM.

Most of these jams are they type that you can play with your partner and as long as the vibe is mellow, you'll both enjoy the tunes. There is a clear thread of narrative throughout the project, aided by interludes and this works extremely well when listening from start to finish. 'Relax' ft. grouptherapy and Cam O'bi feels like the best summary track for me, providing the funkiest sound fitting into the project's theme and forms a middle stanza of BBBS that may have you dancing. The last three songs wrap up the project nicely and leave the listener with a sense of comfort knowing that Rejjie Snow will be alright.

Rose City Band – Earth Trip

Ripley Johnson doesn’t slip. Whether it’s the sunny psych of Wooden Shjips or the electro-grooves of Moon Duo or his more country-tinged efforts of Rose City Band he’s always serving up the goods. This is the third RCB album and it glitters, man. It glitters. You’ve got Ripley’s buzzy guitar work and his friendly reverbed vocals but you’ve also got a secret weapon in the stunning pedal steel supplied by Barry Walker. Ripley = guaranteed grooves regardless of the project and this one’s stacked with them, alongside a reverence for the wonders of the natural world. Wide open spaces. Feeling love for the lonely places. Rustic gold spinning around and around. This one’ll be in heavy rotation come summer time.

Torres - Thirstier

There’s been such a clear line of progression through the Torres albums. Mackenzie Scott started out as more of an indie folkster but has gained more confidence – and more rock and roll bombast - as she’s gone along. Thirstier the least inhibited thing she’s ever done. It’s lustful and lush, heavy yet assured. Upbeat, even. The music’s been described as grunge-pop which is pretty accurate as the synths lay it down throughout while Torres certainly enjoys a loud guitar. Arguably the songs aren’t quite as sharp across the board as on Three Futures or Silver Tongue but this is another winning effort for sure.

Isaiah Rashad - The House Is Burning

For those who have been on the Isaiah Rashad journey, The House Is Burning is the perfect on-ramp for Rashad's guidance. Guidance and wisdom comes from the lived experience and fans of Rashad were probably brought into his work for Cilvia Demo or The Sun's Tirade to feel the suffering laid out by Rashad, now The House is Burning provides a similar tone albeit updated. That is to say don't expect too much different from previous Rashad projects, yet at the same time there is more than enough to within THIB to provide new wrinkles.

New wrinkles such as an army of new producers working on this project or features suchs as Lil Uzi Vert, Smino, 6lack Jay Rock and Jay Worthy ('True Story' is a great jam). SZA is a frequent collaborator with Rashad and that's like a warm korowai cloak of comfort for those who have enjoyed Rashad's earlier work. There is still a distinctive Southern tone to THIB and Chattanooga's Rashad plays into the comforts of home, whether they be the slowed down drawl or getting Duke Deuce and YGTUT to feature as Rashad's southern homies. For all the pain, suffering and healing laid out by Rashad, he blends the Los Angeles/Top Dawg Entertainment angle with all that represents in nicely with his roots in the south and that alone offers a enticing sound.

Any Rashad work comes with vulnerability and that's why he has fans around the world chomping at any whsper of a new release. Those who resonate with Rashad's music in that way have all their needs met in THIB, while this album also stands alone as 16 tracks of funky tunes to take you away from whatever you're procrastinating.

"It’s like a scenario that you either can lay down with the flames or die from trying to hold on to material things and shit like that, or you can get out in a timely manner. And if it all burns down, you still going to try to figure it out, right? Because if not, you might as well just lay in that motherfucker. You got to start over. Shit, sometimes you got to start over two, three, four times, man. Five times, six times. It’s just that type of shit. That’s all it means. You got to have encouraged thinking."

Various Artists – May The Circle Remain Unbroken: A Tribute To Roky Erickson

Roky Erickson, of 13th Floor Elevators and solo fame, was one of the great cult figures of rock and roll music, a true psychedelic visionary with a uniquely distinctive style and a hero to the weird and wild everywhere. He passed away a couple years ago, now here’s a tribute album to stoke the flames which is stacked from start to finish with worthy disciples. From his old mates Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) and Lucinda Williams – who supply two of the only three 13th Floor tracks – to Jeff Tweedy, Mark Lanegan & Neko Case repping the next generation and then younger folks like Ty Segall, Chelsea Wolfe & Gary Clark Jr. filling out the roster. It’s a pretty amazing list of contributors cracking into a brilliant set of songs, can’t really go wrong there, with each giving those songs their own individual twist. Roky was one of one. There’s no imitating. Hence the quality of this set acts to highlight just how good the songs were that they’re able to thrive beyond his unique touch. Have a listen... then crank up the first two 13th Floor albums and Roky’s 1981 classic The Evil One to dive headfirst into an unparalleled experience.

Faye Webster – I Know I’m Funny Haha

There’s a late night feel to Faye Webster’s latest. Her songs sound like they were written in those moments after you get back from the party, from the dinner, from the gig. There’s a reflective thing going on. Slow tempo tunes anchored by a rythm section that refuses to let them fly away like butterflies. Because she’s from Georgia she gets lumped in the country-adjacent genres but this is a lot more Phoebe Bridgers than it is, like, Kacey Musgraves... although she does get the Nashville treatment with some of the session musicians who pop up. Webster’s lyrics and performances are superb but don’t overlook how good the backing tracks are, including some deceptively deep arrangements too. Tasteful is a word that springs to mind. Kind Of, Cheers, Half Of Me, Better Distractions and the title track are all standouts.

Maxine Funke - Seance

Gentle kiwi lo-fi here from Maxine Funke, an enchanting set of tunes built upon her dreamy almost whisper-clicking voice and some gorgeous fingerpicked acoustic guitar. Seance is a wonderfully evocative title for this 26-minute seven-song collection. You feel like you’re leaning in to witness something intimate yet almost elusive. Quiet Shore, which runs for more than a quarter of the total run time of the album, is the centrepiece. A brilliant extended soft reverie – but it’s so hard to ascertain, is it all in vain? There’s more than a hint here of Katherine Mansfield’s writing, finding moments of beauty and wistfulness in the cracks of everyday life (albeit with a whole lot more surrealism in the mix). This is a good one. Wrap your ears around it and close your eyes.

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few – Cosmic Traditions

Need more jazz. So here’s more jazz. This is a five-part suite recorded by Chicago sax player Isaiah Collier and his band in the very same room that John Coltrane recorded A Love Supreme. This one’s very much influenced by latter day ‘Trane as well as a bit of that good Sun Ra afrofuturist space voyaging. The planet of Mercury is a major theme. Combine all that and you’ve got Cosmic Traditions, a nod to the classics and a trip through the cosmos all in one. After close on five minutes of woozy invocations we bounce between chaos and melody, setting a tone that carries throughout the record – a record which flows on from start to finish without pause or hesitation. It’s very heady. At times it’s gorgeous. At others it’s frantic and punishing. Those contrasts raise each other up. This is good jazz.

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