Monday, May 20, 2019

Albums of The Decade - 94. Blanck Mass - World Eater

94. BLANCK MASS - WORLD EATER 

R̶a̶r̶e̶l̶y̶,̶ ̶s̶e̶l̶d̶o̶m̶,̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶t̶e̶n̶,̶ ̶o̶c̶c̶a̶s̶i̶o̶n̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶r̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶e̶n̶t̶r̶y̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶L̶P̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶s̶t̶e̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶i̶t̶.̶ ̶

Well, I just broke that rule and put on the LP. I was listening to my favourite radio show - The Gilles Peterson show https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01fm4ss, whilst actually making Spaghetti Bolognese, and it was so soft compared to the intensity of this journey of a grizzle. It's the same old shizzle over here - reckoning that this should be higher up the list, but still, it's warranted. Shit, it was on Spotify shuffle. Shoulda played it through front to back.

While I lament the fact that the days of The Chemical Brothers, Underworld and The Prodigy are over - not to mention Leftfield (editor)  - 20 years on there are glimmers of hope with beats - and this is all on that. I wrote in 2017 "Relentless, unassuming, sputtering, splattering electronica that derives from Fuck Buttons." on this blog and that sums up the style and the origin of Ben Power, the solo-guy in this project. What a way to conclude this entry - let it sputter, as your heart flutters - mine certainly is. Fuck.





Saturday, May 4, 2019

Albums Of The Decade - 95. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

95. PJ HARVEY - LET ENGLAND SHAKE

As concepts album go - it doesn't get much better than this. Polly Jean Harvey has been on my hit radio since about 2000 when I got into her with Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, but it was 2007's White Chalk that indeed made the #54 cut on last decade's century on this blog.  At times as sparse as White Chalk and at times as full-bodied as, say, Stories From the City, yet Let England Shake is still woven from its own historical cloth. Yarns spun from fractured voices, soldiers wounded - it's written in such a measured way, and still sounds hysterical and muddled.

Tonight I made a fish soup for the first time in a decade - and the winter vegetables, alongside leek and potatoes, coupled with the lemon drenched hake made for a tranquil backdrop for this ace piece of work. However, my mood isn't to pull aces out of my sleeve tonight, as I've just finished a very tough jog after a bout of flu this week. I'm not gonna head into Saturday night and make my system shake - but I'll be eternally grateful to Polly for giving me a much-needed break. Back once again.