In youth I lay awake to the colourless man on my TV

   

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's top 50 albums of 2022. 

#46 : Cheat Codes - Danger Mouse & Black Thought

Danger Mouse, the defining producer of the 2000s, and Roots MC Black Thought have been working together for years, but their long-mooted full-length collab didn’t properly materialise until this summer. The result is soulful and whip-smart, and makes good on the promise of their first outing together, the 2005 Dangerdoom track Mad Nice: Cheat Codes contains granite-solid bars, luxuriant and sample-heavy beats in one of the most perfect producer/MC pairings of the past 20 years.

I've listened to some Danger Mouse a few times before and always thought I should like it more than I did - happy to try again though!

And to my surprise, I quite liked it.  It's the sort of thing that I go either way on without really knowing why and in this instance, it's a "yes".  It reminds me of good Kanye - no, no wait.  There really used to be such a thing.  Honest!  It's got good beats, good samples and some fine vocals - which are understandable, whilst having enough depth to be worth further study (I think, at first listen).  It feels like it needs a few listens to really appreciate it - whether I give it the chance remains to be seen.  I like the album cover as well.

It got to #28 in the charts - higher than I was expecting and it managed a whole TWO weeks on the chart as well.  Wikipedia tells me that Black Thought co-founded The Roots with Questlove and he first worked with Danger Mouse in 2005 and this album was started in 2018, but was unfortunately delayed by some of the stuff that happening in the intervening years.  One of the critics quoted liked it a lot - "the crisp if soot-coated drums, smeared strings, moaning organs, and gnarled guitars are all very compatible with Thought, who scythes through it all with unparalleled wordplay delivered with surgical precision".

"Customers also listened to" Your Old Droog, Czarface and Statik Selektah - all of whom, it will not surprise you in the slightest to hear, I've absolutely no idea about.  This is very much not my area - all of which makes my enjoyment a surprise.  But who doesn't like a nice surprise!?!

#45 : Endure - Special Interest

After six years on the DIY circuit, 2022 saw the New Orleans punk outfit head towards the mainstream. Compared with their back catalogue of distorted guitars and industrial synthesis, Endure was notably more pop-aligned, with buoyant keys and groovy riffs wrestling against lead singer Alli Logout’s grizzled vocals and a chugging drum machine. It was a change that felt like a liberating step forward, learning to embrace the more playful side of punk, rather than a sellout move.

Never heard of this lot - I'm not as up to speed on the New Orleans DIY circuit as I should be.    I'm looking forward to this "liberating step forward" though.

Yeah, I really quite liked this.  For some odd reason, I was remind of 80s or 00s indie - but definitely not 90s indie, obviously.  The backing tracks are quite LCD Soundsystem-ish - pretty tight with indeed, some groovy riffs.  But Alli on vocals is the main attraction - she's a lively thing who brings to mind different people at various times, with hints of Kate Bush, Florence Shaw (from Dry Cleaning), Miki Berenyi and Lizzo appearing at various times.  "LA Blues" with its excellent chorus ("And if you don’t like it you can fuck right off") and "Kurdish Radio" jumped out at me, but I liked all of them except for the one that was slightly too shouty.  I don't think they blew the budget on the album cover design though.

I struggle to imagine this one has charted - nope, but it does have a Wikipedia entry.  Which says absolutely nothing other than it exists and the critics liked it.  Amusingly it has its genre entry as "dance-punk/electronic/industrial/disco/house" - and you thought I was useless at describing these things!

"Customers also listened to" Okay Kaya, Eerie Wanda, Coby Sey and Kolb - and yes, I couldn't resist listening to some Eerie Wanda.  It was OK, quite Julee Cruise-ish so very chilled compared to Special Interest - I found their high levels of energy much more beneficial on a very chilly morning and might even listen to it again.  I imagine they're a lot of fun live - if they pop up at Glasto next year I'll be sure to head over.

A much better selection for me than last time - I even liked the one that wasn't really up my street and the other one bounced along nicely.

#48-47 - A dip in like for me
#44-43 - Our first previously met album