Cinnamon bun in the oven
Continuing my trip down The Guardian's top 50 albums of 2023
#42 : Homeless N*gga Pop Music - Jim Lexgacy
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Not only did the Lewisham producer-singer-rapper co-create the backing for the year’s biggest UK rap track, Dave and Central Cee’s Sprinter, he also put out this heartfelt solo album on which each brief song is instantly, inimitably his. Legxacy’s style is of earnest R&B singing about uncertain relationships, backed by cleanly plucked acoustic guitar lines, and with samples of drill, grime and other semi-vintage Black music playing in and out as if from a passing car window. The beats can be peppily high-tempo – the Jersey club of Old Place – but the mood always stays poignant, as if Legxacy is scrolling through memories of parties and loves gone by.
I've never heard of Jim, but I do quite like Sprinter so I've at least got some hope for this - but not loads, if I'm being honest.
But actually, I didn't mind it at all. It's kinda difficult to describe - I was reminded of Burial, but there's more acoustic guitar, beats and samples on it. And that's pretty much all I've got to say on it - but it was an interesting listen.
Wikipedia has nothing on the man or the album - the internet as a whole is very lacking in information on him, except for a few people saying he's one to watch.
"Customers also listened to" El Londo, Jeshi, Tay Jordan and Asher Kosher - it does not surprise me that I've never heard of any of them. But I'd never heard of Jim either and I thought he was OK - maybe even more than OK and he was certainly intriguing.
#41 : Radical Romantics - Fever Ray
Another trip through the back of the wardrobe into Fever Ray’s half-frozen, half-tropical sound-world. Karin Dreijer began developing it two decades ago with the Knife, their duo with their brother Olof, and by now it is populated with a thriving and very particular sonic ecology: bird calls, lupine howls and sudden lizard-wriggles of noise, with dancehall and techno their heartbeat. Dreijer is also one of the great enunciators in pop, luxuriating in the mouth-feel of their poetry: “Will you meet me, hocus-pocus? / On the other side of hyper focus?” (Meanwhile Olof’s own brilliant 12in release this year, Rosa Rugosa, took in the same scenery but from the very height of summer.)
I like The Knife and Fever Ray and probably caught most of this album when I saw her live at Glasto this year - it was a very chill set.
Yeah, I liked this one as well - and once again, it's tricky to describe. Bjork is probably the closest touchstone I can think of - but whatever it is, it's all very atmospheric. It was perfect sat on a hill late on a warm summer evening - what a long time ago that feels like now! That's quite some look she's rocking on the album cover though, isn't it?
Wikipedia tells us the album exists, Olof and Nine Inch Nails are involved in places and the critics liked it. It hasn't really done much commercially though, apart from here where it reached #12.
"Customers also listened to" The Knife (quelle surprise!), Yves Tumor, Ladytron (yeah, I can see this) and Seth Troxler (who?). This isn't an album for every occasion but for a chill listen, I think it's one of the best we've had so far.
All in all, an interesting pair of albums - which I have done a particularly rubbish job of describing. But they're both quite interesting and different listens - I don't think I'll be rushing back to Jim, but I still enjoyed him and I really liked Fever's offering.
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