Iggy Pop – Every Loser

Imagine taking a time-machine back to the very early 1970s and catching an Iggy and the Stooges show, perhaps at a university or town hall someplace, and you get them on one of those nights where Iggy’s fighting dudes from the audience and crawling through broken glass, writhing on the stage covered in blood and grease. Maybe launches himself into a crowd dive at one point. Then zip back to the present time and consider how that bloke covered in blood and filth with needle tracks on his arms (or did that come later?) would age more gracefully into his own 70s than pretty much any other joker of his generation. It’s an astonishing thing to behold. But then old mate Iggy has always been a man to embrace a good contradiction. With Every Loser, he’s kept up his excellent output since the turn of the millennium. It’s hard rocking but with moments of poetic weirdness like Ig’s so good at. Andrew Watt produces but thankfully the various 90s alt-rock guests keep things tasteful. There’s a little bit of everything here as the great man is given room to experiment with his various shirtless guises. Strung Out Johnny is an absolute stonker of a tune. Morning Show, Comments, and The Regency are all bangers. Iggy Pop, mate. He’s a mythological hero.

Death Valley Girls – Islands in the Sky

New tunes from DVG, a Los Angeles garage rock group of vaguely occultish aesthetics who know how to find a groove and stick with it. This new collections is a bit different though. Less of the punky stuff, much more vibey as they stretch things out with woozy psych swirlers. The production is lovely. The vocal harmonies and the layered instruments and all that. And there’s still guitar fuzz, don’t worry, just not as prominent as it has been on previous albums. There’s also less of an intention to serve up stomping bangers so there is tendency for the album to all sorta flow on together without any major tonal shifts – although that’s kinda the whole point so it’s not a criticism. Especially when it’s slower tracks like Sunday, Journey To Dog Star, and Say It Too where the album shines most. Iggy Pop once called this group a gift to the world and he’s a bloke who tends to know what he’s talking about (see above for proof).

Lil Yachty – Let’s Start Here

Terrible album art, terrible album title... fascinating music. Georgia-native Yachty’s been on the scene for a few years serving up what he terms his “bubblegum trap”, a cheerful and vaguely cheesy variation on the popular chart hip hop sounds of the day. Then all of a sudden, sweet jeezus, the bloke pops up with a psychedelic rock album. It’s a bonkers project full of lush production, autotuned vocals, woozy instrumentals, heavy bass lines, and general obligatory trippiness. Tame Impala, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, maybe a bit of Frank Ocean/neo-soul influence in there too. UMO’s bassist is actually in the house band. Great get. There are some really cool moments in here, such as the BLACK seminole, the ride-, IVE OFFICIALLY LOST ViSiON!!!, sAy sOMETHINg, and REACH THE SUNSHINE. Moments where things get proper funky, moving into fresh territory. Alas, there are also too many songs where the wooziness of the tunes comes at the expense of structure and hooks. It really didn’t need to be 14 tracks and 57 minutes, that’s for sure. But you have to respect a bloke for going all in and there are definitely tracks in here where the audaciousness pays off in thrilling ways. Also bonus credit for the Bob Ross sample.

The C.I.A – Surgery Channel

Second album from this lot, one of the many side projects of Ty Segall. Here he’s joined by wife Denée, who kinda runs the show as lead vocalist (the cover art shows as much), and old buddy Emmett Kelly. Their first effort was a low-key experimental noise-punk album that came out at the end of 2018 - a year in which Segall had six different albums released across his various guises, this being probably the least heralded of the lot. Album two feels much more fully realised and as such has been given plenty of prominence in the release calendar. A bit more melodic and with stronger tunes (reminiscent of the leap from Fuzz I to Fuzz II), it really feels like The C.I.A knows what it’s trying to achieve now. This is a menacing punk album with a snarling bestial edge (Denée is fantastic) and a bit of cheeky social commentary in there. The music churns with an industrial edge that occasionally dips into krautrock territory. Ty himself goes hard in a way that he hasn’t really done for several albums (mostly with a distorted bass). Surgery Channel is a ripper of an album.

Lucero – Should’ve Learned By Now

Lucero don’t quite have the same quantity of jams as the Drive-By Truckers but as far as southern fried rock music goes over the past couple decades they’re the next in line. With a little more grunge in their sound (and no small dose of Westerberg) to go with the inimitable talents of singer-songwriter Ben Nichols. This is their 12th album since emerging outta Memphis in the very late-90s and it’s a proper shredder. Back to the rock and roll basics, as they’ve told it in interviews – whipping out all the thumpers that they’ve written in recent years that didn’t fit onto their recent more darkened synth-tinged efforts. And it’s great, man. It’s fantastic. Barstool bangers and broken ballads from top to bottom, with that familiar Stones stomp and Nichols’ gruff Waitsian vocals. Get this one into ya and then dip back into an excellent back catalogue too.

John Cale – MERCY

This hombre just turned 81 years old but the Velvet Underground icon is not only still delivering fine music but he’s delivering very modern music. He’s got the likes of Laurel Halo, Weyes Blood, Sylvan Esso, and Animal Collective all featuring on tracks (as well as several without any guests) but the sleek synthy sound on offer here is so consistent that you can’t credit the guests for that. More like a bunch of younger acolytes are lining up to collaborate with a master. At times the album is a bit too dark and neon-tinged. But we take what we get. There are songs that pay tribute to Nico and to David Bowie. Another is called ‘Marilyn Monroe’s Legs’. The best of them is Story of Blood with Natalie Meyring (aka Weyes Blood) featuring. I Know You’re Happy with Tei Shi is handy too as it dabbles in some R&B moods. Definitely a late night listen.

Justin Hurwitz – Babylon OST

Damian Chazelle’s Old Hollywood epic Bablyon got slammed by most critics when it came out around the time of the change in calendars. Excessive and indulgent and obscene and ridiculous... those were the kinda words that got used. But in amongst the upturned noses emerged a proud club of film fans who realised that was exactly what the movie was going for and love it for that. Every big budget auteur film seems to get slaughtered these days and none of them make their money back so each and every one is a modern miracle. Babylon’s reassessment is coming and it shall be glorious. This was a stunner of a film... backed by a truly unique and fascinating soundtrack masterminded by Justin Hurwitz. And here it is in all its jump-jazz voodoo-brass skin-slapping magnificence. It’s a thrillingly propulsive set of themes. All that’s missing is a Brad Pitt solo verse on Singin’ In The Rain. Fantastic and misunderstood film. Outstanding and rightfully recognised soundtrack.

Margo Price – Strays

Don’t be confused by the title, this isn’t an outtake set from outlaw songstress Margo Price. It’s her fourth full length album and it sizzles with the usual blend of incisive lyricism and country-rock funk. Equal parts Tammy Wynette and Tom Petty (Petty’s legendary guitarist Mike Campbell guests on Light Me Up). Jonathan Wilson provides production with his usual Lauren Canyon lushness, following on from his outstanding work on Angel Olsen’s last record. Curiously, Price wrote this album as she also wrote her autobiography although in a funny way it kinda feels like this album is less self-reflective than previous efforts, leaning a bit more into character studies instead. Doesn’t matter, she’s an elite song-writer either way. It’s an eclectic batch of tunes without anything that stands above the rest but everything’s a solid 8/10 so that’s not such a problem. Nah, you can always trust Margo to serve up the goodness.

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