A to Z
JEFFREY ALEXANDER & THE HEAVY LIDDERS
Jeffrey Alexander & The Heavy Lidders ARROWHAWK
7›10
Heady underground explorations from cast of collaborators
A longtime citizen of the New Weird America, Jeffrey Alexander has gathered an impressive cast of underground collaborators for his new Heavy Lidders project. Marissa Nadler shows up to duet on a woozy cover of the Dead’s “Black Peter”. Ace drummers Ryan Jewell (Ryley Walker, Mosses) and Scott Verrastro (Kohoutek) provide steady, sensitive pulses, while Rosali Middleman drops in with ghostly backing vocals. Best of all, Drew Gardner of the psych-folk duo Elkhorn sets off Neil Young-ish guitar fireworks on the jammed out “Audubon Trooper”. Throughout, Alexander revels in the wonderful sounds he and his friends make. More heady than heavy, but that’s no complaint. TYLERWILCOX
BABA ALI
Memory Device MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES
7›10
London-based American’s lockdown-penned debut
Produced by Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem polymath Al Doyle, this debut album from New-Yorker-in-east-London Babatunde Doherty often sounds like the work of those acts’ adopted nephew. Icy synth textures and gnarly nuggets of techno punctuate Doherty’s sometimes staccato, sometimes soulful vocals on the likes of “Thought Leader”, all hung on sharp pop hooks. You might feel you have heard the “round and round” chorus of “Black Wagon” in several songs before but it’s no less hypnotic for it, while the New Order-ish pulse and guitar twang of “Nature’s Curse” and the neurotic LCD-style techno-rock of “Temp Worker” suit his understated delivery just as well. JOHNNYSHARP
AQUASERGE
The Possibility Of A New Work For Aquaserge CRAMMED
8/10
French avant-rockers remix the giants of 20th-century musical modernism
Widely respected for their restlessly inventive jazz-rock experiments, Toulouse-based ensemble Aquaserge expand their lineup and musical horizons on this selection of homages, covers and reworkings of 20th-century modern classical icons including Morton Feldman, Edgar Varèse and György Ligeti. Horror-movie drones, atonal chord clusters and jarring textural shifts abound, but these Gallic eggheads mostly find a fruitful balance between intellectual rigour and off-kilter melodic beauty. Two versions of Feldman’s youthful composition “Only”, with lyrics by the German poet Rilke, provide soothing psych-pop relief between more challenging free-jazz eruptions like the honking, skronking, angular Varèse pastiche “1768°C” and the kinetic, propulsive, avant-funk improvisation “Comme Des Carrés De Feldman”. STEPHEN DALTON
AUDIOBOOKS
Astro Tough HEAVENLY
8/10
Odd couple’s eccentric and riveting take on synthpop
Audiobooks certainly made an impression with their difficult 2018 debut Now! (In A Minute), a cartoon collision of fruity electro and snooty sprechgesang. Luckily, Evangeline Ling and David Wrench have stuck to their guns and found comfort in the chaos of their collaboration for Astro Tough, smoothing out some of the kinks to produce their loveliest song, “First Move”, but also doubling down on the intensity so that nuttier numbers like “LaLaLa It’s The Good Life” and “Driven By Beef” evoke The Knife and Sparks. And as peculiar as “The Doll” and “Blue Tits” are, at heart this is thrilling, possibly visionary pop. PIERSMARTIN
BADBADNOTGOOD
Talk Memory XL
8/10
In with the old(er) on Toronto trio’s terrific sixth
Having met on a college jazz programme, BBNG made a name for themselves via an adventurous side move – reworking tracks by Tyler, The Creator. They went on to collaborate with Ghostface Killah for their fourth LP, which also featured MF Doom, but have now returned to their base in an all-instrumental set of improvised studio performances as lyrical and soulful as they are virtuosic and energised. A guestlist including Laraaji, Arthur Verocai and harpist Brandee Younger helps summon the greats (Coltrane, Evans, Dolphy…), but Talk Memory is no straight homage, as acid-splashed epic “Signal From The Noise” and the Sun Ra-ish “Open Channels” attest. SHARON O’CONNELL
BLACK METEORIC STAR
NYC Beat Boxx VOLUMINOUS ARTS
6/10
Lo-fi drum workouts from LCD Soundsystem’s chief synthesist
Her elaborate, technically adept take on modular synth music earned Gavilán Rayna Russom the nickname “The Wizard”. But recovering from Covid-19 in early 2020, Russom felt unable to do much more than tinker with the settings on an analogue drum machine. Serendipitously, this opened up an avenue that led to : a collection of rhythm-led tracks that harks back to the stripped-back pulse of ’80s house music. In moments such
