To make this whole thing  quicker here’s the Spotifty link to all the tracks mentioned

 

 

 

Albums

Idles – Brutalism – A rhythm section to die for. Like Sleaford Mods but you could actually handle a whole gig. Bizarrely supported Foo Fighters. Some puzzled looks I’ll bet. The track Stendhal Syndrome contains the genius lyric – “Did you see that selfie what Francis Bacon did? Don’t look nothing like him, what a fucking div”

Oh Sees – Orc – Fast becoming my favourite band. Pointless denying their genius

Red Axes – The Beach Goths. Killing it both on the house and indie scene and they’re from Tel Aviv. What’s not to like?

Run The Jewels – 3 – Legend Has it and Don’t get Captured  straight off the bat as singles but as a whole it’s like a techno cut up masterclass with the greatest MCs over the top  This is just fucking amazing music. They smashed it at Field Day

Orb – Natrality. Amazing psyche with a spot of early Wolfmother vibe. Brave to choose a name with that much competition on Spotify

Tyler the Creator – Flower Boy. Some one has been listening to Magical Mystery Tour and this is the result. A beautiful, woozy hip hop LP. I missed it this summer but there’s always next year…..

Rone – Mirapolis. Brilliant if patchy (some of the spoken word/vocal bits don’t work) French Masterpiece. It has that flowing theme that I like where it’s the sum of it’s parts but Origami is the standout track here

Logan Lucky OST – This fairly average Steven Soderbergh film has a cracking David Holmes composed/compiled soundtrack. Standouts are The Groundhogs boogie-prog 3744 James Road and Lord Such’s Flashing Lights

Blade Runner OST – This was easily my favourite film of the year and Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch build on Vangelis’s legacy whilst adding a brooding layer of soundscape techno

I got bored of albums so here’s…..

 

Tracks

Fucked Up Year of the Snake/Passacaglia – A welcome, epic return to form. The former is 23 minutes long so you’ve been warned

Orb – Man in the Sand/You are Right – Just so much bouncy swag!

Shame -Concrete. Indie’s great white hope. Live they are a joyous mash of new wave, Happy Mondays bagginess with a dash of The Fall for good measure. Can’t wait for an album

The Horrors – Press Enter to Exit. Sounding almost identical to a slowed down version of Happy Mondyas Rave on (Club Mix obvs nerds!) this is an amazing bit of ambient, baggy pop. It’s all about the end so stick with it

Pangea – Router. Slinky, eastern tinged atmospheric dub step. Amazing!

Tyler the Creator – Garden Shed. Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream. Surprising Mellowness from the man that gave us “Yonkers”

Falling Acid – Tin Man. Repeat listens especially depressurising on the way home from work just confirmed this as an epic ambient acid piece

DJ Shadow – Corridors. After the challenging “The Mountain will Fall” album this is a welcome return for a hummable tune and the sheer scope of the epicness involved is impressive. If it didn’t have the skidding beat the ending would be all over Blue Planet

Emperor Machine – Ready Begin. Like Lalo Schifrin meets Shaft in a synth dungeon

Oh Sees – The Static God. If I needed to get out of the house in 3.5 seconds, this is the track I’d put on

Jagwar Ma – Give me a reason – Weatherall Meets Jonnie Two Heaters Uptown Pt1. After a disappointing second album Weatherall flexes the same muscles for Jagwar Ma that propelled Primal Scream towards the Sun

Beck- Dreams/Colors. The album is too current pop for my likeing but these 2 singles are sublime. Dream edges it for the crazy break down. Great for a sunny morning

Bicep – Opal/Glue. I wasn’t too sure about the album on first listen but it’s a real grower. These are 2 standouts from the House dons

Childish Gambino – Riot. Everyone else goes for Redbone – Idiots! The album has a great Funkadelic “Maggot Brain” feel. Impressive

Pond – Colder than Ice/ Someone sweep me off my feet. You’ve got to make space for this album as it’s an epic 80′s synth prog clusterfuck in all the best ways. So ambitious there’s even an 80′s sax thrown in there. I’d best describe it as like a soundtrack for a cartoon version of Barbarella if that existed

Black Spuma – Orme/No Cube. International Feel’s Black Spuma continue to make music like it’s 1991 with a perfect blend of house, breakbeat and Baleric chill as demonstrated on these 2 beauties

Mike Shannon – Sunrise (Original Mix). lf you’re going to watch the sunrise anytime soon this should be the track!

The Black Madonna – He s the voice I hear. Is this a classic a la Strings of Life or French Kiss? It feels like it and  every time I’ve played this out this year it’s got  terrific response

Tom Trago – Use Me again. Not only is this a banging disco thumper of a tune but I think it has the most wonderful manipulation of a sample that I’ve ever heard. So simple but breathtaking. You need to hear the original by Millie Jackson (from the track “We got to hit it off”) to grasp it’s evil genius

Happy 2018 from the Antiswarm