Newly released ‘Built On Glass’ is definitely my album of the month. Mr Faker is no longer to do the impossible of trying to impress absolutely everyone and as a result has managed to create a bliss array of music that everyone can find something to relate to. Vulnerability and rawness are definitely at the forefront of this album which, at the end of the day, is what we crave from singer songwriters, right? My favourite lyric in 1998 is, ‘we used to be inner circle’ as it also sounds like ‘in a circle’ – those two together paint a beautiful picture of someone who has lost not just one of their friends, but a special friend at that. I’ve just bought the album and you should too, just don’t bother with ‘A Lesson In Patience’ though – it’s incredibly self indulgent.
Hiatus Kaiyote – Nakamarra ft Q-Tip
A friend of mine played me Hiatus Kaiyote a while back now (the day Burial’s ‘Rival Dealer’ came out in fact). At the time, I understood that these guys had something special and were obviously incredibly talented musicians but I just couldn’t ‘get it’. I put this down to having too much music in one day that wasn’t ‘easy listening’. Nakamarra has re-opened my mind and bloody hell I’m blown away. Nai Palm’s vocals are intricate and fruitful and I just love the jazzy scales that we hear in this track! They describe themselves as music ‘for people who listen to Flying Lotus and J Dilla’ – I’m sold (and they’re Aussie so we have to love them)!
(Soundcloud won’t let me share this track on its own, see below with the rest of the playlist.)
William Onyeabor has recently gained mass popularity in the UK, due to Noisey’s documentary, ‘Fantastic Man’, named after the song. The album titled, ‘Who Is William Onyeabor?’ really does explain in a nutshell the fact that nobody knows who he is or what he’s done, apart from create an incredibly magnificent African funk album. Using synthesisers (which wasn’t the norm in African music in the late 70’s just yet) and eight, yes eight! microphones, Mr Onyeabor managed to self release eight albums that were all in their own right, referential and relative to what was taking place in Africa at the time. People still don’t know much about him, some say he was a taxi driver, some say he studied cinematography in Russia. I personally love the fact that we know nothing about him as it give us the ability to judge him solely on his music, which is just fantastic.
Four Tet (Percussions) – Ascii Bot (TEXT 030A)
Four Tet has released some new tracks under his other name, Percussions. They are great. You should listen to them. I just was incredibly disappointed by his all nighter in Brixton – perhaps because he played ‘Heartbroken’ AGAIN (he played it at Fabric the time before and it was a novelty, but twice?). I just want to say to him, ‘Four Tet, you’re making great music, we all know that. But the deep circles around your eyes and the fact that you’re playing the same shitty garage tune TWICE suggests that you should probably GO TO BED. The Percussion tracks are great though, definitely worth a listen.
Here’s the rest of what I’ve been listening to this week
Life Round Her 
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