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FROM THE ARCHIVE: Oliver Tree - Alien Boy EP (REVIEW)

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California’s overtly eccentric Oliver Tree’s genre of music is flexile and honestly hard to pigeonhole. Just as Tree’s style and online ‘brand’ mixes elements of comedy, art and originality, with his trademark 90s elephant jeans and bowl cut, as well as his scooter skills, so too does his musical endeavours with his new release the ‘Alien Boy EP’ which features a mere 6 infectious songs. Tree’s over-the-top approach isn’t for everybody. A self-confessed “extraordinary specimen”, his humour is very millennial and internet-meme-centric, but his corniness does offer an uplifting, feel-good experience when accompanied with his music. I think Oliver Tree’s music clicked for me whilst watching the producer’s debut video for two of the EPs tracks “All That” and the opener, “Alien Boy”. His music, like his comedic visual approach, is carefree, funny, catchy and most notably, it doesn’t take itself seriously. It sounds cliché, but the strengths of Oliver Tree’s music is that it’s not meant to b...
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FROM THE ARCHIVE: Death Grips - Bottomless Pit (REVIEW)

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After announcing their break up over social media via a photo of a hand scrawled note upon toilet paper in 2014, the future of Sacramento-based hip-hop infused cyberpunk trio Death Grips was more than uncertain. A year later, however, the band released the second half of their double album ‘The Powers That B’ along with the enigmatic promise that they “might make some more”. Fast forward to 2016, the band had toured pretty much the whole world and released their fifth studio album ‘Bottomless Pit’; a chaotic collection of glitchy and overwhelmingly loud industrial hip hop anthems which earns its place as one of Death Grips best releases to date and one of the best releases of the year. Tracks like ‘Hot Head’ and ‘Giving Bad People Good Ideas’ compile abrasive noise and frontman MC Ride’s signature manic delivery, assaulting the eardrums with themes of corruption in art and the disposable nature of the modern internet age. Other tracks like ‘Bubbles Buried in This Jungle’ and ‘Eh’ featu...
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FROM THE ARCHIVE: Code Orange - Forever (REVIEW)

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Pittsburgh hardcore troop Code Orange have been forerunners now in crafting a modern approach to the genre. Their 2014 release ‘I Am King’ holds its place as one of my favourite and most played records, so with the bands signing to the massive, traditionally ‘straight up metal’ label Roadrunner Records, I was both eager and sceptical to see how their next release would sound.  The record opens with the title track – Forever – a start as we mean to go on type of song that introduces the sheer brutality of what is to come. The listener is guided through a labyrinth of riffs before reaching the climactic breakdown signalled by a bloodcurdling declaration that “Code Orange is forever”. The second track of the record, Kill The Creator, introduces a new scope the band have adopted on the record – gritty abrasiveness blended with electronic breaks and unique, often otherworldly song structuring. In true Code Orange style, the track slows to a punishing barrage of aggression that grips the...
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FROM THE ARCHIVE: Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love! (REVIEW)

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Childish Gambino - musical persona of the swiss army knife of talent Donald Glover – has long been an artist who I have sceptically appreciated as an extremely talented rapper and singer. His previous releases including Because the Internet and STN MTN / Kauai feature an impressive combination of stellar production and wit-filled, memorable flows ranging in style from straight up modern hip hop and rap tracks to full on infectious pop songs; however, despite Gambino’s undisputed talent, the rapper has never really released anything that has cemented him as unique or progressive in the genre.  His new release, “Awaken, My Love!” (speculated to be dedicated to his new born child), sees Gambino adopt a new style entirely, marking the artist’s departure from hip hop with a psychedelic blend of soul, funk and R&B. As opposed to other hip hop artists who have adopted elements this of funk in modern times (such as Kendrick Lamar on “To Pimp a Butterfly” and Anderson .Paak on “Malibu”)...
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FROM THE ARCHIVE: Jonwayne - Rap Album Two (REVIEW)

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Following Jonwayne’s first full length rap effort, ‘Rap Album One’, the producer-rapper-poet extraordinaire’s future was somewhat ambiguous. Dropping from his label, cancelling tour dates and distancing himself from the scene completely all stemmed from the rapper’s battle with alcoholism, worsened by the harshness of his new lifestyle and complemented further by a limiting fear of flying.  Fast forward to February 2017, “Rap Album Two”, Jonwayne’s second full-length rap project focuses on these struggles, acting both as an introspective view of Jonwayne’s fragility through self-critique, but also as a sobering view of the frailty of “the rap celebrity” in general. 

Rap Album Two is an existential masterpiece, and sees Jonwayne asking himself if a career in rap, although he knows he is good at it, is even worth it, expressed through the documentation of his own crises. Unlike Rap Album One, where the producer’s rapping serves no real narrative purpose (rather just a loop of bragga...
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FROM THE ARCHIVE: Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes Live Review (The Fleece, Bristol, 08/11/16)

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It seems nothing, not even the typically British weather, could dampen the atmosphere of a 450 capacity sold out show at The Fleece. That’s because tonight’s headliners, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes have become synonymous with an unmissable assault of a live show that has become a staple for any self-respecting fan of British punk rock. As the lights dim, the band take place on stage to play the opening of the track ‘Trouble’, almost in ritualistic fashion as if to summon the eponymous frontman to the stage as the crowd whips up into a manic frenzy. Rapturous applause welcomes the tattooed, Gucci-suit-wearing frontman as he shuffles his way with the swagger of a mobster to the centre of the stage before eyeing up his audience with an intimidating glare and bellowing out the first lines of the song and sending the crowd into further chaos.   No time is spared before the band deliver their first single ‘Fangs’, to which the crowd sing the lyrics back at a volume that take...
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