TOP PICKS
TOM MORELLO
The Atlas Underground (Sony)
A breakneck-paced roller-coaster ride through waves of anomalous hip-hop, dance and bass music flavours, with prodigies Knife Party, Gary Clark Jr. and Vic Mensa lending their idiosyncratic talents. Despite wrangling in artists from diametric genres, it’s remarkably coherent. The frenetic energy of meshes beautifully with the thumping sleaze of , and though the fretwork is always recognisable as Morello’s, the anarchist axe-lord is unfailingly and see him use grimy, down-tuned plucks and whistling solos in place of bass drops with unpredicted piquancy; has his signature ripping, arena-sized crunch play second fiddle to warbling synth lines. For those with broader palates, there are plenty of weird and wacky gems to sink your teeth into.
