Listening Clark :: Class Of 2023 :: Module Three
Hello Again!
Firstly, Happy International Women’s Day; I actually put a little special something on my Mixcloud to commemorate the day last week, so please feel free to have a listen below:
Well, no time like the present to sift through the last fifty albums of 2023 and deliver some nice words about the better releases. So, let’s get to it…
Listening Clark :: Class Of 2023 :: Module Three
Abri Cyclonique – Polobi & The Gwo Ka Masters
Hailing from the Caribbean archipelago of Guadeloupe, musician Polobi has been a key proponent of the national musical genre Gwoka and its centuries-old heritage for decades, though it is only now that the veteran finds his music output reaching a wider international audience via a collaboration with percussionist Klod Kiavué and producer Doctor L. The resulting album is an intoxicating sojourn into the region, as much weathered by the volatile climate as it is the tempestuous history of colonisation, with Polobi holding centre stage fiercely as his soulful cries provide a stirring core to the splashes of modern jazz and dub affectations that abound throughout.
Cluster I – Mioclono
A collaborative effort that has taken in over six years of overdubbing from both of its progenitors, Cluster I is electronic music producers John Talabot and Arnau Odiols’ first collection under the shared Mioclono moniker, a name reached by the musician’s shared diagnosis of epilepsy, which must be a marvellous malady to suffer from as prolific dance music DJs. The album finds the Catalan beatmasters rendering a foreboding-yet-percolative mix of ambient house and techno, and whilst its being just shy of eighty minutes definitely qualifies the album as “a long sit”, that does not make either of the songs here any less diverting, beguiling and transportive as either artist’s earlier works.
Cracker Island – Gorillaz
Bestowed with an even more contemporarily glamorous roster of leftfield pop guests than usual, not least the presence of megastar producer Greg Kurstin helping to steer the helm, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s virtual pop group project continues to tap generously into the creative whims of its creators to deliver yet another bundle of curiously funky alt-pop. Salvaged from material that was to be used for a since-cancelled movie, Island may feel a little less fulsome in vision than its predecessors at times but is nevertheless still backed up with more boppage than most pop acts working today can muster within the album format.
Dogsbody – Model/Actriz
Don’t let their art-school credits turn you off, as this Brooklyn-based art-noise-rock outfit have delivered a collection of fine, tortured industrial rabble that inhabits a space that is one misplaced lighter away from turning a raucously good time into an excoriating deluge of neuroses. A miasma of frenetic alt-pop that finds a cornerstone between techno rave, performance art and indie punk to chicane across, Dogsbody would be merely enjoyably all-over-the-place if not for the frontman at its centre, vocalist Cole Haden’s mercurial charm providing a crucial sticking point with which to navigate through the noise of one of 2023’s finer debut albums.
Eslabon EP – Santa Muerte
Their first release on the perma-hip label Hyperdub, DJ/producers Sines and Panchitron possess a dark take on electronic music that traverses trap, grime, dembow and perreo, one more characteristic of the cultural melting pot that their city of Houston is despite its home state’s reputation for all things… well, Fox News-ey. A perfect twelve-minute set that takes in reggaeton rhythms and futuristic ambience amongst a formidable bevy of other musical footnotes, it is a calling card that provides an important stepping stone for their next long-form project, which here’s hoping doesn’t take that much longer to see the light of day, or more appropriately the dark of night.
Follow The Cyborg – Miss Grit
Essaying the relationship between a cyborg and its human master via the former’s burgeoning sense of self-actualisation, Margaret Sohn’s debut album counters the lofty sci-fi musings with enough pop hooks and song writing mettle to ground any sense of wary pretension that such themes of self-identity and purpose have elicited by less subtle or more inscrutable artists. With their progressive themes of non-binary identities trying to find solace and connection within a world that seems to negate their very existence, Sohn manages to perform the trick of making music that is by design intricate and intellectual, yet remembers to imbue itself with enough emotion to deliver a worthy prestige.
Optical Delusion – Orbital
Firmly ensconced in their third wind after reforming again in 2017, Phil and Paul Hartnoll further lengthen their lineage as British electronic music stalwarts with album number ten in their fourth decade of rave-making. Staying true to the formula that has steered their course well since the late 1980s, Optical Delusion may swing the nostalgia pendulum towards 90s acid-techno too hard for some, but there’s still plenty of impishly cheeky, end-times-appropriate fun to be had in the Brothers Hartnoll’s wares, especially when taking into consideration the contributions made by guests like Anna B Savage and especially the anti-establishment rally incurred by Sleaford Mods.
Shook – Algiers
The genre-defying transatlantic soul-punk-hip-hop group returns to the frayed fold in typically iconoclastic style, this time around accruing an esteemed cache of guest stars including Future Islands’ Sam T. Herring and the inimitable Zack De La Rocha. Though the equal parts fearful and hopeful modus operandi that is characteristic of the outfit’s previous work is somewhat diluted here via extended interludes and skits, when they are called upon to summon the body-peeling sturm-und-drang drenched in a bracing mix of modern dissonance and American Gothic splendour, no other band hits quite as convincingly and devastatingly as these guys.
Travel – The Necks
As soothing as it is portentous, the nineteenth album from the Australian avant-garde jazz trio is a bountiful showcase for their perennially sharp improvisational skills, all the more impressive considering the bulk of these compositions was born from early morning twenty-minute jams, coming the very closest in the studio environment to how the trio perform their live shows, minus a few light overdubs and edits. I mean, to have that kind of virtuosic skill is one thing, but to also be able to add “Morning Person” to your resume too is just showing off really, especially when the resulting work is this generously gorgeous.
٣ (Trois) – Acid Arab
And to close us out, we have the third long-form offering from French electronic duo Guido Minisky and Hervé Carvalho, whose mix of house disco with Eastern music tropes and signatures has yielded some of the more galvanising dance tracks of the past few years. It’s an excellent primer to listen to ahead of the incoming summer months, and much cannot really be said for how toe-tappingly groovy these tracks are when you can just take a listen for yourself…
And that is it for the third part of my trawl through 2023; if you agree with these highlights or want to let me know about anything I may have missed out, please let me know in the comments below.
Until next time, xxxo
