It’s springtime woohoo! That fresh time of the year when lambs are born, Jesus is resurrected and you throw out loads of stuff from your house in an attempt to make room for the summer.
In the spirit of new beginnings, a bunch of great music has been (or is about to be) dropped this month. Here are our faves.
I don’t like shit, I don’t go outside by Earl Sweatshirt
Doris was one of my favourite albums of 2013 and Earl’s latest delivery seems every bit as dark, raw and introspective as that laconic record. I don’t like shit kind of draws you in with all the language of LA club music but pulls the party rug from under your feet. Lines like, ‘I was making waves, you was surfing in ‘em,’ get a standing ovation.
To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick’s highly anticipated follow-up to good kid, m.A.A.d city is a weird, jazzy collection of songs that features field recordings and guests – from Flying Lotus collaborator Thundercat to Snoop Dogg – in an ingenious and unsettling way. It half makes you want to dance and half makes you feel like you have motion sickness.
Strangers to Ourselves by Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse’s first album in eight years is a return to the familiar jangly indie-rock one might expect but as a concept album with an overarching mission to address man’s mistreatment of the planet, Strangers to Ourselves has the added benefit of acting as an audio book with bells.
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett
The title made me cringe but if you can get past that Australian grunge revivalist Courtney Barnett and her debut album Sit is a refreshing narrative album that is pretty sweet in its emotional sincerity. Good to put on for the sitting and thinking, and just for the sitting too.
Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens
On his seventh album Carrie & Lowell, Sufjan Stevens explores the terrible loss he felt at the death of his mother. In this Guardian article he talks to Dave Eggers about how difficult it was to make, his dysfunctional childhood and how playing the songs live will be a joyful relief.
Kintsugi by Death Cab for a Cutie
His marriage to Zooey Deschanel is over, his bandmate Chris Walla has left him, Ben Gibbard from Death Cab has never had more reasons to feel sad. Which actually makes for a great Death Cab album. And actually first listens to Kintsugi, the band’s ninth album, sound more hopeful than despairing. Death Cab experience all the feelings so we don’t have to.
The Powers That B by Death Grips
I can’t really keep up with what’s happening here. Didn’t Death Grips split up via a napkin that almost #broketheinternet last year? Whatever, this album, due to drop March 31, is one to watch. This track ‘On GP’ is like Fucked Up meets Ratking and that’s just about the tightest combo we could hope for.
You might like
Green Man is more than a music festival
Planting roots — For nearly a quarter century, the fiercely independent weekender has been flying the flag for Welsh arts and music. As an ecosystem now bubbles around it, Anna Stafford meets the people who keep the fire burning.
Written by: Anna Stafford
Julian Cashwan Pratt: “We fought security until the cops showed up”
Hard Feelings — The lead singer of Show Me the Body joins Rob Kazandjian’s column on fatherhood and masculinity to talk about mentors, scrapping Zionists at shows, and finally making his father proud.
Written by: Robert Kazandjian
Lost photos from the heyday of punk and new wave
Crash Bang — DB Burkeman’s latest photobook unearths photographs from his younger years as an aspiring music photographer, which sat undeveloped in his family home for decades.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Analogue Appreciation: Xmunashe
Make Yourself At Home — In an ever more digital, online world, we ask our favourite artists about their most cherished pieces of physical culture. Today, it’s elusive freeform explorer Xmunashe.
Written by: xmunashe
Grainy, yearning memories of Europe’s ’90s free rave heyday
Never Alone — A new photobook from Cheyenne Clementi and Valentina Morandi presents pictures they made over seven years while touring the continent as part of the Tekno Mobil Squad soundsystem crew. It archives parties, people and a lifestyle largely consigned to the past.
Written by: Isaac Muk
As Hanoi’s nightlife faces raids & repression, its underground scene modulates
Spaces Between the Beats — Tensions between nightlife and authorities have grown in recent times, as police target venues and their patrons with increasingly frequent drug testing and searches. With clubs becoming hostile spaces as a result, Hanoi’s electronic music community is finding new spaces and forms of expression, reports Martin Guttridge-Hewitt.
Written by: Martin Guttridge-Hewitt
