The Alternative Album Chart: The best new indie albums this week
Is music heading towards an algorithmic grave or is AI an overblown fad that will soon be seamlessly incorporated as an embellishment to human art ala the synthesiser before it? That seems to be the precipice that we are approaching and a topic that has dominated music discussion this week with Sting saying he’s far from impressed with it and Billy Corgan claiming it will change music forever and while some will use it well, it will also flood the industry with more garbage than ever before.
Alas, for now, we are certainly safe from it and evidence for that comes from some of the most human releases of recent times this week. In fact, Tinariwen have pretty much made a mockery of the discussion with a record dripping in so much humanity that you almost feel ashamed for thinking about AI in the presence of such timeless artists. The same could be said for Peter One’s amazing effort last week and The Lemon Twigs before that.
We also have deeply personal efforts from the likes of Alex Lahey and Hannah Jadagu’s hit debut. With summer holidays approaching and BBQ playlists pleading to be made, these records are essential additions to your summer. However, we’ve also gone to the hassle of plucking out a record that you may want to avoid, especially if you’re a fan of The Fall. But the great news is, even that controversial effort has a quality that you can’t begrudge.
On that celebratory note, we’ve picked out the best new music for your consideration below in this week’s Far Out Albums Chart. Undoubtedly, there are records here that will certainly brighten up your summer and crave countless repeats. Enjoy…
The best new indie albums this week:
Amatssou – Tinariwen – 4.5/5
Reaching the lofty total of nine studio albums is a feat for any band, but for Tinariwen it is a god damn miracle, and for all us sinners listening on it is still a sweet godsend. With Amatssou, they once again breeze their way towards hopeful defiance with a strange wail of influences – banjos, fiddles, pedal steels and post-production flourishes from the legendary producer Daniel Lanois, all enter their mix – making for a singular swell of music that quenches the soul’s thirst for spiritualism in these hectic times like the first sip of a cold drink after ambling to a watering hole on a hot summer’s day. This collision of Saharan Blues and country represents one of the most pertinent albums of modern times.
Cultural collisions are set to be commonplace soon as one billion climate refugees are expected by 2050. Amatssou shows that we can, indeed, mix without leaving anything behind. This musical blossoming from the area hardest hit by geopolitical and climate enforced change shows that although cultures may be forced to transition, the tragedy can still be transfigured into something beautiful, empowering an identity that could otherwise be lost. Amatssou does that beautifully over 12 tracks that sound like nothing you’ve ever heard before, and yet remain as timeless as anything you’ve ever heard. It is a rare thing indeed that something that carries that much weight seems to float up from your turntable like the smell that follows summer rain.
I’ve Seen a Way – Mandy, Indiana – 4/5
Mandy, Indiana might have formed in Manchester, but they’re making music like nothing the city has ever produced before. After releasing a string of captivating tracks over the past few years, such as ‘Alien 3’ and ‘Bottle Episode’, the four-piece are now ready to share their debut album, I’ve Seen a Way, which is undoubtedly one of the most refreshing and innovative releases this year has to offer.
Mandy, Indiana’s I’ve Seen a Way is an impressive debut, demonstrating the singular vision of a band preoccupied with crafting their own unique world. Whether they’re creating disorientating, dystopian nightmares or floor-filling dance cuts, Mandy, Indiana maintain extreme precision as they take the listener on an apocalyptic journey that feels as relevant as ever. (Words by Aimee Ferrier – and yes, we do stuffily refuse to play ball with that silly lowercase aesthetic choice.)
Tracey Denim – Bar Italia – 4/5
Mixed by the Grammy-nominated Marta Salogni (Björk, Black Midi, Porridge Radio), the LP blends together a number of influences, from post-punk to slowcore to britpop. It has all the assured coolness of modern peers like Sorry, but it’s much softer, borrowing from 90s dreampop and triphop to create a real collage of sound. Throughout it relishes in its fuzziness, picked guitar melodies, and conversational interplay between vocals.
Tracey Denim supplies a breath of fresh air in underground indie. It’s cool but still accessible, taking influence from a myriad of genres while remaining undoubtedly sure of itself. Combining the revived interest in overlooked genres like shoegaze, dream-pop and trip-hop with their unique layered vocals and intriguingly enigmatic presence, it seems Bar Italia have hit the sweet spot in guaranteeing the approval of current indie kids. Tracey Denim is an instant underground classic. (Word by Elle Palmer)
Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day? – Galen & Paul – 4/5
Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day? is an album brimming with continental refinement and a slosh of cockney swagger and that proves to be an utterly charming combination. For the album, Paul Simonon (of The Clash fame) and Galen Ayers welcome an all-star cast of support with Damon Albarn helping out, alongside Simon Tong and Seb Rochford while Tony Visconti produces.
This classy assortment makes for a classy record. It blends styles like a Michelin starred fusion restaurant and forever twists your ear with its tantalisingly interesting palette. But above all, it effortlessly beguiles. It has movie star charisma that it delightfully positions by some vine-clad taverna where it talks you through its tales and observations from life with a joyously linen relaxed quirkiness.
Eyes of Others – Eyes of Others – 4/5
Eyes of Others is an audacious debut venture packed with exciting twists and turns and an engaging style blend. For those who collect vinyl and want a record to play through in a sustained mood without skipping tracks, fear not; the album carries a relatively consistent tone. Side one is well suited to those who enjoy dreamy and distant dance beats from a reclined position, while side two adds a little spice to the recipe for a more club-worthy trance excursion.
Eyes Of Others is a vibrantly uncompromising sonic odyssey with virtues many and vices few. Bryden has stretched his legs into several musical styles binding the package with a psychedelic ribbon emblemised by the technicolour cover cow. The music on this album shows just how far music has evolved over the past 50 years with the hippy nostalgia of ‘New Hair New Me’ and its more contemporary post-club musings. Where lyrical depth fails to penetrate, entrancing composition and comprehensive texture prevail. (Words by Jordan Potter)
The Answer Is Always Yes – Alex Lahey – 3.5/5
Melbourne indie hero Alex Lahey arrives with her third studio album, The Answer Is Always Yes, this Friday. Undoubtedly her finest offering to date, it’s a robust body of work encompassing almost every human emotion. It ranges from the unfettered happiness of the lockdown lifted in her hometown to the profound realisation that people continue with their lives, no matter how significant you might once have been to the story.
Alex Lahey is starting to realise her full potential as a musician, able to seamlessly bounce between emotions, no doubt facilitated by her decision to branch out and collaborate with others who, in turn, have extracted refinement. She’s also one we recommend catching live. With growing confidence, the album wanders into uncharted territory for Lahey, but it always finds interesting results in these unfamiliar realms of jagged guitar excursion. (Words by Arun Starkey)
Aperture – Hannah Jadagu – 3.5/5
Sub Pop have themselves a new superstar in Texan singer-songwriter Hannah Jadagu. She gets it. It is as simple as that. Her full-length debut is an accomplished offering of hooks above all. For all the innovative mixing of genres, the singular triumph here is in Jadagu’s understanding of what makes a track catchy. That is not to diminish the substance beneath these efforts, it is just rare to hear someone race out of the traps with such uniform compositional understanding.
This makes for a record resplendent with singles. And in having such poppy potential, it also allows Jadagu to subvert her sound with elements of hip hop, alt-rock and even shades of country, all of which bring a freshness to a debut brimming with potential. The next successor of the indie pop saga has arrived.
Fools – Dan Croll – 3.5/5
Dan Croll makes songwriting sound easy on Fools in the best possible way. His efforts here are seamless. Paul Simon once sang, “And the song I was writing is left undone / I don’t know why I spend my time / Writing songs I can’t believe / With words that tear and strain to rhyme,” what Croll achieves sounds like the polar opposite, as though the songs came out as a whole polished piece.
While the record might still be too poppy and comfortable for some, he does, indeed, throw in a few disco and psychedelic flourishes to mix things up a bit along the way. But the true elevation of these sweet tunes comes from the bitter input of his wryly comical lyrics. Croll laughs at himself throughout the album and it feels very humanised and relatable as a result.
Party Gator Purgatory – Temps – 2/5
Party Gator Purgatory is the sound of someone so determined to defy expectations that they end up making a random soup that never congeals. If you add every ingredient possible into your soup, it doesn’t end up tasting like much of anything at all. That’s how Party Gator Purgatory ends up: a mishmash of hip-hop, techno, jazz, electronica, noise, and experimentalism that is so anti-genre that it ends up being everything and nothing at the same time.
At its best, Party Gator Purgatory has shades of artists that do this way better: Black Midi, 100 Gecs, Madlib, and even Animal Collective. The idea that music doesn’t have to have a specific throughline to it is a quietly radical idea, but the execution has to be damn near flawless for anyone to pull it off. Acaster’s myriad of mayhem is certainly packed to the gills with left turns and bizarre moves, but his inability to pull it all together into anything cohesive dooms Party Gator Purgatory from the outset. (Words by Tyler Golsen)
House of All – House of All – 2/5
What is The Fall without Mark E. Smith other than your granny on bongos? While the frontman’s wildly reductive view of his very own band might be crushingly harsh on some of the supreme talents he had behind him, the sentiment is inescapable when thinking of a Fall album without him. That is essentially the concept of The Fall ‘supergroup’ House of All. However, sadly, their album feels more like a tribute band.
Alas, despite what many vitriolic Fall fans would like to tell you, it isn’t terrible either; far from it, in fact. The band capture very creditable riffs with ‘Aynebite’ and the album is always of brooding interest. However, that objective praise simply can’t override the flawed concept that pulls your mind away from the music throughout. In an era where more bands are taking inspiration from Mark E. Smith than ever before, do we really need people seemingly literally pretending to be him? Thus, House of All is hoisted by its own petard in that it sounds too much like a modernised The Fall for any modernised The Fall fan to actually enjoy.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out New Music Newsletter
All the latest New Music from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.