Music of the Week – 14th December, 2022

The Playlist

Big Subwoofer

Artist: Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40 & Too $hort

MOUNT WESTMORE is rap’s biggest supergroup’s latest offering. You’ve got more than a century of experience on this record, but is it any good? Well, yes, yes it is.

The track Big Subwoofer is a great way to get into this and it showcases the brilliance of the musicians and how much more than the sum of their combined parts they can be too.

Listen to it here.

Miss My Dawgs

Artist: YG & Lil Wayne 

Miss My Dawgs is the first song off the new collaborative effort from YG & Lil Wayne (release date, yet unknown) and it might well be the rap single of the year.

It’s a tribute to Slim 400, who was shot to death a year ago, and it draws on the artist’s combined experience to deliver a rock solid number that really brings an emotive payoff by the end. Excellent work.

Listen to it here.

Kill Bill

Artist: SZA

S.O.S is the latest record from SZA and it’s somewhat too ambitious to result in a fantastic payoff but there are some great moments on this album and that includes the “I hate my ex” song Kill Bill which has the line; “I might kill my ex/Not the best idea”.

This isn’t going to be anybody’s album of the year but the highlights are worth the musical journey.

Listen to it here.

Glass Moon

Artist: Leland Whitty

Anyhow is an extraordinary jazz album from a man that’s as comfortable on the hip hop circuit as the jazz one.

This is a solid fusion of easy listening and jazz that hits all the right notes as we head into the festive season.

Glass Moon’s freefalling arrangement is something we particularly liked, but there’s no filler here, this is a record worth listening to.

Listen to it here.

Fat Chance

Artist: We Were Promised Jetpacks

A Complete One-Eighty is the latest EP from the Scottish-Indie Rock wonders We Were Promised Jetpacks.

It’s their first record as a 3-piece and their signature sound is still intact even if they are taking it in new directions.

The reworking of Fat Chance is a great example of this, with the original urgency replaced with a more mellow but anthem-like feel.

Listen to it here.

Life On Mars (Demo)

Artist: David Bowie

Hunky Dory has been reissued in what may be the best Bowie box set of all time. Given how good this album is, all the box set can do is add context and it’s the demo version of Life on Mars that really captured our attention.

It’s like a sketch of the massive track that it would eventually become, still brilliant but lyrical chances like “simple but small affair” to “God-awful small affair” were definitely needed to make it a hit.

Listen to it here.

Time’s Running Out

Artist: Taken By Trees

Another Year is an EP of covers. This probably won’t come as any major surprise given that Victoria Bergsman first came to our attention for her piano cover of Sweet Child O’Mine.

However, the choices here are rather more obscure and given Bergsman’s talent for making a song uniquely her own, our pick, Time’s Running Out almost feels like an original.

Listen to it here.

Oceans And Roads

Artist: Lostboycrow

Indie Pop is an album with a lot to say and to get there it meanders through various musical styles and ideas.

We love the casual conversational tone of this record and we’re really caught by our top track, Oceans and Roads which is the kind of soft crooning love song that school discos should be made of.

Listen to it here.

The Left Hand Path

Artist: Dead Meadow

Force Form Free is the eighth full length release from Dead Meadow and these titans of the USA psychedelic rock scene have almost reinvented themselves here.

There’s much less of the bluesy undertones of previous releases and songs like The Left Hand Path draw on more Eastern musical influences. This is a great record that will be getting plenty of repeat listens in the months to come.

Listen to it here.

White Privilege

Artist: Idles

It’s not Christmas yet, as Five Years Of Brutalism, one of the most angry records of the year, is keen to let us know.

There’s nothing subtle about this in your face, rant and yet, it still works and songs like White Privilege may make you laugh or cry but they will help you connect to the artists. Don’t miss this one.

Listen to it here.