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sinceileftyoublog · 7 months

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Run The Jewels Live Show Review: 9/28, The Salt Shed, Chicago

Run The Jewels (El-P & Killer Mike)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Over the past several years, Run The Jewels albums have seemed primed for the time they came out. Run The Jewels 3 was released digitally in between the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election and Donald Trump's subsequent inauguration, El-P and Killer Mike's penchant for grand political statements and even cheeky conspiracy theories nestled alongside their statements of self-triumph. RTJ4 was released in 2020, two days earlier than planned in response to the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests of police brutality and institutional racism all over the world. Songs like "Just", featuring the unforgettable line, "Look at all these slavemasters posin' on yo' dollar," were both timely and ever-relevant. Reflecting, though, it's always been Run The Jewels 2 that's the duo's crowning achievement, where it felt like the potential of the collaboration reached its full potential. In 2012, El-P lent his dystopian production to Mike's southern fried R.A.P. Music, Mike a verse to Cancer 4 Cure standout "Tougher Colder Killer". 2013 saw the two realize the group for the first time with a self-titled album, which at the time was a welcome surprise and perhaps a victory lap. Turns out, it was just a warm-up.

Run The Jewels (Killer Mike & El-P)

That is, Run the Jewels 2 showcased everything you love about hip hop: MCs with distinct, but complementary flows and styles, unique production, and social awareness combined with a firecracker sense of humor, the potential to burn it all down, and unmistakably horny braggadocio. It was my obvious choice when deciding which of four nights to see RTJ perform an album in full, also knowing they'd cherry pick highlights from their back catalog in a second set. On stage at The Salt Shed last Thursday, Mike and El sounded as clear as ever without losing their bruising momentum, shouting words to a crowd who replied back every single one. (The two joked that playing this album in full was a bad idea, considering the amount of mushrooms they consumed when making it, fearing they wouldn't be able to remember their lines.) Trackstar the DJ rattled the stereo-busting bass of "Oh My Darling Don't Cry" and "Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)" as the crowd jumped up and down and moshed. Mike likened himself to William "Refrigerator" Perry during "Blockbuster Night Part 1", successfully pandering to those members of the crowd who were fans of the Chicago Bears, aka didn't travel from all over the Midwest to see the show.

Killer Mike

Though the first four RTJ2 songs are all-timers, it was the back half that shone brightest. Before RTJ performed nihilist anthem "Lie, Cheat, Steal", El-P remarked, based on the younger age of the crowd, that they'd have "a front row seat to the apocalypse," which put into perspective for a lot of us why we gravitated towards their magnum opus in the first place. When it came out 9 years ago, it foreshadowed the shit that would truly hit the fan a couple years later, providing a worthwhile soundtrack to said gradually looming apocalypse, all without being self-serious. The magic of the record is that a song like "Early", which Mike introduced by dedicating it to anybody who has been terrorized by the police and declaring that "the state should fear the people" as opposed to the other way around, is immediately followed by, in the duo's words, "two of the most ignorant songs we've ever written." By "ignorant," they really meant sexually charged tunes that provide necessary moments of levity. Specifically, when performing "Love Again (Akinyele Back)", the duo let the raunchy verse from the late, great Gangsta Boo, play uninterrupted, cementing her as the most important spirit in the room at that moment.

Mr. Len

It's no secret that Run the Jewels in general have a diverse fanbase. Folks I spoke with in the crowd ranged from hardcore kids to hip-hop heads, as expected from the type of group that has Pharrell Williams rub elbows with Zach De La Rocha. For the old school fans, an unexpected gift was in store: an opening DJ set from Mr. Len of Company Flow, the hip hop trio where El-P cut his teeth before going solo. (According to El, Bigg Jus was also in the house, though he never came out on stage.) Mr. Len treated us to tracks from Company Flow, El-P produced tunes from Cannibal Ox, and classics from Goodie Mob, Gang Starr, and A Tribe Called Quest. Though it was a callback to a bygone era, I couldn't help but think how Run the Jewels--along with the Backwoodz Studioz and Griselda crew--are this generation's possible forebears to whatever comes next, whether that's 20 years of RTJ or something else.

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hiphopscriptures · 2 years

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Company Flow's Funcrusher Plus Album Anniversary

Founding members El-P and Mr. Len met when the latter was hired to perform as a DJ at the former's 18th birthday party. The two quickly became friends and formed Company Flow in 1993. They released their first vinyl single, "Juvenile Techniques". After El-P was introduced to Bigg Jus by underground rapper and indie label owner ANTTEX, the trio then released their follow-up, "8 Steps to Perfection" and then their debut EP, Funcrusher (Official Recordings), in 1996. Subject to a major label bidding war on Libra Records, Company Flow waited until they could get a contract on their own terms. They eventually signed to Rawkus, and helped revitalize underground rap with labelmates like Mos Def. Their full-length debut album Funcrusher Plus was released in 1997 on Rawkus. In 2015, it was chosen by Fact as number 4 on the 100 Best Indie Hip-Hop Records of All Time.

#company flow #funcrusher plus #bigg jus #el p #mr len

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k-star-holic · 8 months

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Ju-seung Lee, Kumho Tire Accident...Bigg Boss

#Bigg Boss #Accident #Ju-seung Lee #Kumho Tire #Bose Corporation

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smallishimps · 18 days

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Mmmmmmm

Fellin litl betr....bigg frhijjdj

Thing

Still gots do...msms jus wann drwaw ans...hamng ot wiff frwens...

No bigg works...

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dabisbratz · 5 months

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hi darlin' have u seen the new trailer for ffvii rebirth??? sooo excited (we get to go on a date w cloud and biggs is like 10x hotter im so)

eeee jus watched it !!! s’so nice tsee cloud n zack n sephiroth again !! n vincent looks . . . really good ૮꒰ྀི ⸝⸝⸝⁰⃚⃙̴ ༝ ⁰⃚⃙̴ ྀིა mso excited!!!

#𐂯 ! ⊹ 𝓉𝑜𝓎𝒷𝑜𝓍 — ᵎᵎ ₊˚

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windy-trickster · 5 days

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Nothing particularly like, super important I guess? But Anahit, what do you usually do when you aren't working and all that. Also, how often do you work, or is it just whenever something comes up?? :O

"I mainly jus↓ relax when I have no↓hing ↓o do. ↓ha↓ or s↓udy up on some medical prac↓ices and procedures." "Or I see if my ma↓espri↓e can come over. Or I unfor↓una↓ely have ↓o deal wi↓h ↓he bigges↓ annoyance ↓ha↓'s ever graced my presence."

#anahit response #jaded daydream #morbid-tea #romantic chemistry

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crissiebaby · 10 months

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The Padded Palace Act III: Chapter 12

DISCLAIMER: This story contains diaper usage, crossdressing, language, humiliation, masturbation/diaper sex, and other ABDL themes. Be sure to check out the link in the description if you need to start all the way back from the first chapter in Act I! I hope you enjoy!

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“Chus go firs!”

“Nuh-uh! Chus go firs!”

Standing at the top of the big slide that was at the heart of CrissCon, Skye and Missy were engaged in a small spat over which of them would brave the steep incline first. “Dis ish toopid! Jus go awweady,” scoffed Skye, trying to make it seem like Missy was being a baby for delaying her turn.

“Oh, I-I gonna go,” responded Missy, refusing to let her male pride take any sort of damage no matter how many frills she was wearing, “Unwike chus! Chus jus a chicken! Does baby chick need a hug fwom Mommy?” She giggled along with her taunts, which only served to build on Skye’s already boiling rage.

Scrunching up her face, Skye fell for Missy’s taunting easily, believing she now had to go first to prove she was better. “Nod a chicken an I’ww pwove it! Da bigges sood go firs anyway,” she said, stepping up to the edge of the slide and instantly feeling her nerve dissolving.

Unfortunately, Skye’s final comment may have worked a tad too well, as Missy realized that she would be ceding who was bigger to Skye. “Nuh! I gossa go firs now,” she said, flipping her decision-making entirely as she rushed toward the mouth of the slide. In her haste, she ended up bumping into Skye and tripping over her, sending the two of them hurling down the slide at the same time. When they finally reached the bottom, the con staff who were standing around for assistance looked less than pleased with them for this but they didn’t care. They were too busy giggling while flopped over each other and having the time of their lives.

Watching from up on the balcony of the Bigs Only Bar, Mother Elma and Latasha laughed as they watched the scene unfold, delighted by how well their Littles were getting along. “See, I told you they’d get along. Skye’s not as Little as you think,” she said with a hint of tipsiness creeping into her voice as she talked up Skye like a doting pageant mom.

“Alright, alright. I’ll admit when I’m wrong. They do appear to be having fun together,” said Elma, rolling her eyes playfully at Latasha’s know-it-all attitude. She played with the rim of her half-full drink, nursing her beverage far longer than Latasha was, “Speaking of fun together, let’s jump back to the subject of your new boy toy. You were just getting into his sissy tendencies and I, for one, refuse to let the conversation die before you get to the juicy stuff.”

Giggling like a gossiping schoolgirl, Latasha slammed down the rest of her drink before diving back in with Elma. “I gotta say, it’s been adorable to watch him come into his own with ABDL. It’s not every day that you get to help someone explore kink from the ground up,” she said, unaware of how inflated her ego was, “Like, I initially hired him in hopes of finding someone who wouldn’t be as constantly horny as his predecessor. I didn’t expect him to end up making me horny in return.”

Raising her glass to Latasha’s empty one, Elma clinked glasses with her former protege while wearing a knowing smile. “Sounds to me like your Mommy Dom senses were tingling and you acted on it. You’re doing precisely what I taught you to,” she said, taking the smallest of sips before returning her glass to the square napkin it was resting on.

“Nuh-uh, I don’t think I’d go that far. It was mostly a series of unfortunate events that led to him being diapered in the first place,” said Latasha, dismissing Elma’s assertion outright. She raised her hand to get the bartender’s attention, continuing her statement without looking at Elma and her slowly faltering expression, “Trust me, Connor’s a lot timider than you might expect. Besides myself, Carol, and now you, no one else knows about his secret new fetish and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”

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“Eeeeeek! Why are your hands so cold and sticky?” remarked Connor, trying to keep his mind occupied on anything else as he lay against the padded changing table with Ellie peeling away his slightly moistened pull-up. His face only grew redder as the damp undergarment was yanked out from under him, leaving him naked from the waist down. Several giggles chirped away at his expense, causing him to shift his hands southward to cover his exposed genitalia, “You’re enjoying this way too much.”

Wearing the biggest smile Connor had ever seen, Ellie couldn’t have possibly been happier if she tried as she flattened out the wide, thick diaper and slid it under Connor’s slightly raised butt. “Uh-huh! How cood I not?!” she said, sounding even more Little despite the power position she found herself in. Swatting away Connor’s shy hands, she lifted the nearby bottle of baby powder and began to dump copious amounts of white dust all over her caretaker’s crotch. This created a massive cloud of powder all around the changing table, forcing Connor to cough softly.

“Go easy on him! We don’t wanna overdo it on his first time!” shouted Riri from the sidelines, anxiety dripping from every word she said. If possible, she would’ve been physically barricading the changing table with her body until Ellie calmed down.

Sadly, Stacy was holding Riri back from holding Ellie back, ensuring Connor would get the blushy diapering that he’s had coming to him for a long time. “Calm down, Riri. Connor made his choice. If he wanted to get off that changing table, there’s nothing Ellie could do to stop him,” she asserted, her surprisingly reasonable argument getting Riri to back down from her protests.

As the cloud of dusty powder finally settled, Connor’s hands once again shot down to cover his junk, this time for a far more embarrassing reason. “Don make me smack dose hans agin or I’ww- …oh…hehehe…” snickered Ellie as she pried Connor’s weakened limbs away, revealing a throbbing hard-on underneath, “...maybe I sood tuck a buzzy toy into chus diapee if chus gonsa get dis escited! I even goss one wite hewe.” She held up a tiny, egg vibrator for Connor to see.

Turning so red that he was threatening to burst a blood vessel in his cheeks. Connor meekly shook his head. “I-I-I don’t think that’s necessary,” he said, uncertain if he wanted Ellie to listen to him or not.

Mercifully, for the sake of Connor’s sanity, Ellie set the vibrator aside. Though, she also made sure that Connor knew that while it had been set aside, it could just as easily be picked back up. “I’ww jus weave dis hewe fo now an chus can wet me know when just wans it,” she said, intentionally using “when” and not “if'' in her sentence. With a touch more powder on his backside, she rested Connor’s butt back down on the cushy padding and folded the plush diaper front over his stiffy, making sure to brush against it as often as she could as she placed the four tapes on the landing pad.

Sitting up in his new diaper, Connor was instantly blown away by how much thicker it was than his pull-ups as the pink pamper instantly puffed up with air, which made it feel like he was sitting in a fluffy bubble. Other than a handful of occasions, he hadn’t worn real diapers much since his first play session with Latasha and wasn’t used to how much bulkier they were. Though, given the number of hungry eyes that were staring at him, the diaper somehow seemed even bigger than when he wore in his Mommy’s presence.

“What do you think?” said Riri, approaching the changing table to get a closer look now that Stacy was no longer preventing her. She placed a gentle hand on Connor’s right arm, wanting him to know that if things ever got too overwhelming, there was someone amongst the small group of Littles who had his best interest in mind.

Connor needn’t say much, though, with his pulsing cock saying more than enough from inside the cozy confines of his diaper. Still, he did his best to verbalize what he was feeling, “I-It’s definitely softer than the pull-ups,” he said, his voice trembling despite how cool he was trying to play off his reaction.

“If you think that’s soft, wait until we get you into this,” said Stacy, running up behind Ellie and Riri to show off a pink nightie with white lace trim that she had pulled from the nursery wardrobe. Connor instantly recognized the nightie as the one Skye changed into whenever she was put down for a nap, recalling how smooth and silky her satin nightie always felt as he put her into it. The fabric was thicker and far more expensive than the thinner nighties he wore to bed, making it all the more desirable for Connor to wear.

However, not all were as entranced by Stacy’s suggestion as Connor was. Snatching the silky pajamas from Stacy’s hand, Riri had allowed Ellie and especially Stacy to walk over herself and Connor for long enough. “I get that you’re having fun and are both super excited to bring out Connor’s sissy side but let’s not throw it all at him at once. Let’s consider his feelings for a second and let him decide how far he wants to go tonight,” she said with a fervent amount of passion in her voice.

Unfortunately, that passion was quickly disregarded by Stacy, who nudged Riri out of the way and stepped up to the changing table before reaching down and cupping the front of Connor’s pointed diaper. “Trust me, I think his feelings are speaking pretty loud and clear for themselves,” she scoffed, teasingly caressing her hand around Connor’s padded nob.

Gasping from the attention Stacy was showering him with, Connor was struggling to comprehend everything that was happening. It was as if a heavy fog was obstructing his mind, keeping it from responding to the world around him. All he could do was feel shockwaves of pleasure coursing through his veins with every twitch of Stacy’s hand, powerless to keep himself from growing more aroused as he gazed at the nightie in Riri’s hand. With what little brain power he still had, he was wholly surprised by the reaction he was having over being turned into a sissy baby at the hands of three of the most immature women he’d ever met in his life. Moreover, the most surprising thing of all was that, no matter how much his anxiety was trying to get him to put a stop to all this, he never wanted it to end.

“Will you two both stop? We get the chance to diaper our caregiver for a night and you two are acting like a pair of bitter old hags,” said Ellie, being the last of the Littles to shrug off her faux lisp, “There’s an easier way to decide this than by arguing about it. Connor, do you need us to slow down or do you want us to keep going?” Her question turned everyone’s attention to Connor as they awaited his answer with bated breath.

Glancing back and forth between the myriad of expressions that each of the three girls had on, Connor opened his mouth to answer but found that the words didn’t want to come out. It was as if the little male ego inside his body made one last effort to stop him from tipping past the point of no return before going silent entirely. He wanted this and he needed to find a way to admit that, both to the girls and to himself. In the end, all he could do was stare longingly at the satin nightie and nod his head, unable to verbalize his desires.

Thankfully, Connor had said all he needed to convince Stacy, who gleefully tugged the nightie free from Riri’s hands at Connor’s behest. “You see? Quit worrying so much and let’s give our widdwe sissy baby the best night of HER life,” she said, ripping off Connor’s t-shirt before stretching out the bottom hem of the nightie and tossing it over Connor’s head. The night may not have gone down how she’d planned it to, with her initial intention being to force Connor into a game of dress-up with the power of blackmail. However, while it was still a bummer that her biggest trump card in the Palace was now worthless, the result she had hoped for was still being achieved.

Drifting through the neverending sea of satin that surrounded him on all sides, Connor’s sissy clitty only grew harder in his padded confines as he swam toward the trio of small openings at the top. As his head and arms popped out of the nightie, he was swallowed up by the flustered feelings that were filling his heart with joy.

Before Connor could take in what was happening, he was being stood up and guided toward a mirror with Stacy preening over his nightie the whole way, guaranteeing there wasn’t a single crease by the time Connor was able to view his reflection. What he saw was perhaps the most magical sight he’d ever seen in his life. He wasn’t just wearing something girly as he did with Latasha. He truly looked like he belonged in this reflection, surrounded by pastel pinks, girly outfits, and baby stuff on all sides. He let out a girlish giggle as he twirled his skirt back and forth, unable to get enough of the sheer fabric brushing against his legs.

Connor was so transfixed by his reflection that he failed to notice Stacy, Riri, and Ellie gathering around him so that all four of them were visible in the mirror. “Now this is a party,” said Stacy, snickering as she padded Connor on the butt, causing his face to burn bright red as his mind returned to reality. She then lifted the make-up bag she had been playing with earlier into view, holding it next to Connor’s head to ensure he got a good, long look at it, “Well, almost a party. We still haven’t done our make-up yet.”

TO BE CONTINUED…

« PREVIOUS l FIRST l NEXT »

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Heyyo! Can't wait until next week for more Padded Palace!? Subscribe to my Patreon, where you can get early access to main series chapters like this one, as well as exclusive content you won't find anywhere else! Join my dollhouse at patreon.com/crissiebaby!

Edited by AllySmolShork

#diaper art #diaper stories #crissiebaby #little space #ab/dl #ab/dl stories #ab/dl art #ab/dl sissy #diaper sissy #sissybaby #diaper humiliation #md/lg #dirty diaper #diaper messy #wetting diaper #crissbabydiaperco #the padded palace #thepaddedpalace

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warhead · 1 year

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#company flow #el-p #lyrical punisher #bigg jus #lune tns #mr len #official recordings #ozone entertainment

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beatsforbrothels · 1 year

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Nephlim Modulation Systems - Invisible Oblivion

#Nephlim Modulation Systems #nms #bigg jus #orko the #Orko The Sycotik Alien #orko eloheim

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dustedmagazine · 4 months

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Andrew Forell 2023 End of Year

Robert Forster, photo by Stephen Booth

2023 buzzed by in a whirl of too much work and music. So many records and so many missed. I kept going down rabbit holes of genre and artists, chasing and never quite hauling in all the things I wanted to, or felt I should, listen to. In the end, music being so difficult to rank, here, in alphabetical order are the records I spent most time with a bunch of others I’ve been recommending to anyone who would listen.

The Feelies – Some Kinda Love (Bar/None)

2023 has been a good year for guitar music. New albums from Teenage Tom Petties, The Reds, Pinks and Purples, The Drin, The Tubs and The Murder Capital have been on high rotation here. So why a 2018 live tribute to a band who broke up in 1973 by a group in their fifth decade? First, these are songs are from The Velvet Underground, and second, simply, The Feelies. Joined by Richard Barone and Joey Maestro from The Bongos, they rip through a set that features the “hits” and some lesser-known songs with affection but not awe. Glenn Mercer and Bill Million’s guitars thrum in the style we are accustomed to, while Stanley Demeski, Dave Weckerman and Brenda Sauter provide rhythmic support which adds a dynamic swing to songs like “There She Goes Again,” “Head Held High” and “I’m Waiting For the Man.” Some Kinda Love is a pure dopamine hit of great songs played by a brilliant band. Joy and fun in equal measure.

Robert Forster – The Candle and the Flame (Tapete)

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On The Candle and the Flame Robert Forster produces some of the most emotionally direct and effecting songs of his career. Recorded in the shadow of his wife, Karen Bäumer’s diagnosis of, and treatment for ovarian cancer, Forster writes with grace about family, friendship, love and the past. The only song written in direct response to the illness “She’s A Fighter” contains only six words but the propulsive tension of the music expresses everything Forster doesn’t attempt to say. It’s an extraordinarily powerful performance, a cathartic blast, and for me, one of the songs of the year. “Tender Years,, “The Roads” and “When I Was A Young Man” are also up there. As I said in my review “few (songwriters) imbue the quotidian joys of domestic life and the power of memory with such poetry.”

Iceboy Violet – Not a Dream But a Controlled Explosion (Fixed Abode)

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On their self-produced album Not a Dream But A Controlled Explosion Iceboy Violet mixes rap, grime and swathes of liminal ambience into an emotionally purgative chronicle of identity, desire and fantasy which flows with a dreamlike intensity. Over deep pulses of sub-bass, taiko influenced percussion and concrete noise, their voice shifts in and out of focus, here a background whisper, there an urgent Northern accented boom. The music, like the vocals, is in constant flux, slipping between hard club beats and eerie ambience. At just 17 minutes, the eight tracks here stay with you for far longer.

The Inward Circles – Before We Lie Down in Darknesse (Stone Corbel Press)

Scottish composer Richard Skelton manipulates a six second fragment of Baroque recorder music taken from the run-out groove of a battered 50-year-old vinyl recording into haunted soundscapes that to tap into something primordial and elemental within layers built like geological strata. This is music to lose yourself in. Obsidian and glacial, Skelton’s work captures and preserves trace elements of melody and rhythm so imperceptible that you feel as much as hear them. Before We Lie Down in Darkness is a beautiful, timeless voyage andhas often eased me from insomniac anxiety to sleep in the last few months.

King Vision Ultra – Shook World (hosted by Algiers)

Using musical stems from Algiers’ Shook, found sound and collaborations with artists including ELUCID, Matana Roberts, DJ Haram, Dis Fig and Bigg Jus, King Vision Ultra’s self-styled mixtape is a companion piece and conversation with its source rather than a remix. A shifting sound collage that explores and interrogates race, class, gentrification, violence, love and community, Shook World digs into the core of New York City. Recordings of subway announcements, overheard conversations and confrontations lend a bracing realism and more than once Shook World has merged with the noise and incident of daily trips on the 1 train. A brilliant, often disorientating and abrasive sound portrait of NYC from some of its most interesting musicians.

Kofi Flexxx – Flowers in the Dark (Native Rebel)

Native Rebel founder Shabaka Hutchings has been in the vanguard of the English jazz scene with his bands Sons of Kemet, Shabaka & The Ancestors and The Comet Is Coming and as a cross-genre collaborator with artists on three continents. Posited as a “creative principle” rather than a band, Kofi Flexxx, Hutchings acts as guide and producer. Flowers in the Dark is anchored by pianist Alex Hawkins, flautist Ross Harris and a dynamite rhythm section of bassist Daisy George and drummer Jas Kayser. Backing guest vocalists including rappers billy woods and ELUCID, singers Siyabonga Mthembu from South Africa and Tamil born Ganavye and poet Anthony Joseph on album highlight “By Now (Accused of Magic)”, the quartet provide a fulcrum that draws together the strands of black music into sinuous unity. The instrumental tracks are equally good. “It Was All a Dream” has the rhythmic power of Sons Of Kemet with Hawkins’ percussive piano and George’s bass bounding along ahead of a wall of horns and Harris flying above them while managing to find a gritty rasp the bottom end of the flute. “Fire” is a bluesy spiritual jazz with George and Harris both prominent. An album that exemplifies Hutchings’ holistic approach to music.

Seablite – Lemon Lights (Mt St Mtn)

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San Francisco band Seablite’s second album Lemon Lights delves deeper into their love for 1990s English sounds. The quartet of vocalist/guitarist Lauren Matsui, vocalist/bassist Galine Tumasyan (bass), guitarist Jen Mundy and drummer Andy Pastalaniec channel the lush end of 1990s British indie. Ride guitarist Mark Gardener mastered Lemon Lights and the result is an album of shoegaze adjacent songs which incorporate the jangling sound of Seablite’s Bay Area contemporaries. It’s a deeply satisfying combination elevated by vocal harmonies, serpentine bass lines and Pastalaniec’s driving percussion. Lead single “Melancholy Molly” has the rollicking rhythm of Ride’s “Leave Them All Behind” overlaid with Matsui and Tumasyan’s lush harmonies and the twin guitars sparking from the mix. The sound is dense but melodic, allowing the guitars to chime and shimmer than rather fuzz and the melancholic edge to tracks like “Pot of Boiling Water” and the dreamy closer “Orbiting My Sleep” make Lemon Lights resonate.

Sinaïve – Répétition (Antimatière)

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When Sinaïve released Répétition in April, I had a cursory listen, filed it away and promptly forgot about it for several weeks. My mistake. On second listen, their combination of Gallic cool, psychedelic pyrotechnics, VU drone and the distant echoes of Ye-Ye and the French underground was irresistible. The Strasbourg trio - Calvin Keller on vocals/guitar/keys, Alicia Lovich drums /vocals/organ and bassist Alaoui O - make a wholly satisfying racket. On the 11 plus minutes of “Citadelle/Bis Repetita”, Sinaïve ride Lovich’s robotic rockabilly beat and Alaoui’s throbbing bass though a suite that sounds among other things like “Ghost Rider”, “Sister Ray” and Love at their wiggiest before Keller’s freight train riffs entangle themselves as if on a lock groove. It’s a terrific piece of sonic détournement. “Les Diaboliques” finds Keller crooning over a squalling guitar and molasses bass line before guest singer Raphaëlle Albane enters, an earthbound angel amidst the feedback. Albane appears again on “Cela ne Fait que Commencer” to close the album duetting with Keller over a quiet pulsing beat, organ and strummed guitar.

99Letters – Makafushigi (Disciples)

Osaka producer Takahiro Kinoshita’s Makafushigi (Mystery Tape)is built on samples of the instruments and vocal styles used in Japanese Imperial Court music. As 99Letters, Kinoshita fuses these ancient sounds with modern electronic music in ways that are as malevolent as the demons of mythology and as sinister as the organized crime and ultranationalism in contemporary Japan. The tracks on Makafushigi are washed in a seamy mix of grit and clamor, a grim, grimy world of back alleys, dingy bars and low-tech manufacturing. On discovering this I went on to a deep dive into 99Letters’ back catalogue and emerged when Kinoshita put out his most recent album Zigoku on Phantom Limb in November. He is the artist I’ve been most thrilled to discover this year.

The Others:

Algiers – Shook (Matador

Armand Hammer – We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (Fat Possum)

jaimie branch – Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)

John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy – Evenings At the Village Gate (Impulse)

Comet Gain – The Misfit Jukebox (Tapete)

The Drin – Today My Friend You Drunk The Venom (Drunken Sailor)

Euglossine – Bug Planet is the Current Timeline (Hausu Mountain)

Asher Gamedze – Turbulence and Pulse (international Anthem)

Gods Gift – Turn All the Lights Out (Play Loud!)

Laurel Halo – Atlas (Awe)

The Reverend Michael Kristen Hayter – SAVED! (Perpetual Flame Ministries)

Irreversible Entanglements – Protect Your Light (Impulse)

Life Strike – Peak Dystopia (Bobo Integral)

Kevin Richard Martin – Black (Intercranial)

OXBOW – Love’s Holiday (Ipecac)

Purelink – Signs (Peak Oil)

Quicksails – Surface (Hausu Mountain)

Rainy Miller x Space Africa – A Grissaille Wedding (Fixed Abode)

Speaker Music – Techxodus (Planet Mu)

Strategy – Graffiti in Space (Constellation Tatsu)

The Tubs – Dead Meat (Trouble In Mind)

billy woods & Kenny Segal – Maps (Backwoodz Studioz)

99Letters – Zigoku (Phantom Limb)

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