You see your heart’s been tethered to a sinking stone

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's top 50 albums of 2023

#34 : Scaring The Hoes - JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown

The precursor to Danny Brown’s introspective Quaranta was made at the crunch point of his addictions – he was in rehab by the time it was released – and his full-length collab with Jpegmafia is hyperstimulated, like a domino effect of short circuits being blasted by too-strong currents. “Blacked out, can’t think no more / So ain’t no way we ’bout to take this slow,” he warns on opener Lean Beef Patty, sounding, as ever, like he’s rapping through molars clamped around a chew toy. There are glitches and breakbeats, the blare of cursed jazz ensembles and broken arcades, skeleton-rattling percussion and slippery samples of Kelis swimming through the whacked signal-to-noise mix. Jpeg’s production chews these sounds up as if between the teeth of a bin lorry crusher, organic source traces glinting amid the detritus and creating the record’s apocalyptic lure.

Danny is the first person we've met twice on the list this year.  I wasn't massively impressed last time, but (according to The Guardian at least) this sounds completely different - so I'm expecting to be unimpressed in a completely different way.

And yeah, that's pretty much where we are - it's certainly a lot more in your face than Quaranta and it's really not my sort of thing at all.  However, I do think it sounds like they've put the effort in here and so part of me can see why people think this is good - but that doesn't mean I enjoyed it.  But parts of it are weirdly impressive though in a kinda "how did they even think of doing this?" kinda way - if you like Outkast then this might well be up your street.

Wikipedia has a surprising amount on the album, but it's very low on content - it's impressive how someone has written so many sentences that contain so little.  The critics were very keen on it - they nearly all described it as unpredictable, which I think is a very fair comment.  And, unlike most albums we've seen so far, there's a reasonable amount of chart action to report on - it got to #82 here, #85 in the US, #50 in Lithuania and #32 in New Zealand.  I also had a chuckle at one of the tracks on the bonus version which was titled "No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!".

"Customers also listened to" Danny Brown, JPEGMAFIA (wow, huh?!?), Death Grips and Injury Reserve - as much as I'm aware of them, they're just not my thing really.  Which is also true for this album, but I can see why people might like it - but maybe not as many people as its position on the list would suggest.

#33 : Chaos For The Fly - Grian Chatten

Fontaines DC remain a going concern, but their frontman made this solo release feel anything but a between-albums diversion. There are forays into new sounds for him, such as the breezy Rat Pack backing of Bob’s Casino and cosmic trip-hop on East Coast Bed, but what remains the same is his strength as a lyricist: he tramps moodily towards misanthropy, but a deep love for humanity prevents him from ever quite getting there. Chatten writes the way a sketch artist draws, in deft, sure lines – whether describing New York’s freezing sidewalks getting salted (“the whole of the city was seasoned to taste”) or pinpointing toxic acquaintances (“they will celebrate the things that make you who you’re not”)

I've met Fontaines D.C. a couple of times and the first time I HATED Grian's voice but I found the second one surprisingly enjoyable - so who knows what we're getting here!

Hmmm - and having listened to it, I'm not exactly sure what we've got.  I think Jarvis Cocker is a definite touchpoint for the outlook and lyrical style, but the musical style varies between tracks in a somewhat diverting style (not unlike Jarvis again, I guess).  However, the music is all done well, so, despite my confusion, I didn't mind it at all (although I thought his voice worked better in some styles that others) and I suspect it could be a grower (particularly if I paid more attention to the lyrics).  It all feels like quite a mature album for someone of the tender age of 29.

Wikipedia amusingly tells us "the title is a reference to a quote by Morticia Addams" (as fine as any fictional character to quote, I guess).  The critics liked it and several made the point that these tracks wouldn't feel right on a Fontaines DC album and I certainly agree they're not as frenetic.  Once again, we have some serious chart action to report on - it reached the dizzy heights of #10 here and #9 in Ireland.

"Customers also listened to' Fontaines D.C., The Murder Capital, Nick Drake and PJ Harvey - a slightly peculiar mix.  And this is a slightly peculiar album, but not an unenjoyable one and I can see the people who got into it would have REALLY got into it.

An intriguing pair but only be tempted to revisit one of these albums - and even that feels like a bit of a stretch if I'm being honest.

#36/35 - A couple of missed opportunities
#32/31 - Two that miss the spot for me