Sometimes artists are in a bit of a “damned if you do damned if you don’t” situation with their audiences. Artists who are creatively stagnant and release carbon copies of the same thing repeatedly will rightfully be heavily criticised. Inga Copeland (now going by the moniker copeland) hasn’t done this at all, although with such a consistently creative musician I doubt many were in fear of copeland running out of ideas. Instead she brings some very fresh ideas to the table on her debut solo album BECAUSE I’M WORTH IT, yet I find myself yearning for something more at home with her back catalogue. BECAUSE I’M WORTH IT finds copeland taking a leaf out of Ninja Tune label-mate Actress’ “difficult”-music-making book. The opening track ‘Faith OG X’ ends in a defiant ringing noise that evokes tinnitus more than any enjoyable music and sets the attention-seeking tone for the rest of the album. Actress himself then appears on the second track ‘advice to young girls’ on which we hear either a vocal sample or an incredibly dry Copeland herself, tell what starts as a meandering and somewhat depressing tale of escapism. The music however sounds as rigid as the person whose voice tells us the tale even if it is a fascinating one lyrically. One must question what role humour plays in the album, although that has always been true of Copeland back to her days in the duo Hype Williams (with Dean Blunt). For starters the album is named BECAUSE I’M WORTH IT and the last track is called ‘l’oreal’. I think there might also be a reference to Wu Tang Clan in the form of “cash rules everything around me” on here, which I think might be meant to be a joke. In a “haha Inga Copeland referenced Wu Tang, those artists are so different kind of way”. I don’t know, I didn’t really laugh, but if this album’s aim was to confuse, it has certainly succeeded with me. The album does improve significantly in its second half however, making music that whilst not a replica of Copeland’s early work doesn’t feel the need to be so difficult. ‘Fit 1’ that starts the second half of the album is the best showing of Copeland’s considerable talent as a vocalist, which she seems to be hiding from on far too many of the tracks here. In the end, Inga Copeland has to be admired for her fearlessness to chart new territory that will definitely alienate some fans, but whether she had to do it in such a musically attention-seeking way is questionable.
Django Django have achieved what seems to be the impossible – telling you exactly what it was that you wanted to listen to without you really knowing what it is that’s being played to you. Their Late Night Tales mix is an extraordinary combination of the nostalgic and the new. Although some tracks, like TNGHT’s ‘Bugg’n’, don’t fit so comfortably amongst the nineties nostalgia, these are only momentary lapses from the rest, which seem at the same time both revolutionary and yet obvious choices. The mix fits, like so many other Late Night Tales releases, perfectly into that particular mood slot which is the last drink before bed, the resistance of sleep and sitting up for one last album. The sound of 3am when the clock has been forgotten is inevitably of nostalgia and the comfort of the vaguely familiar. The presence of the curator is strong here, with the second track coming from their tour support, Gulp and with most tracks resonating with the familiar electronic sounds of Django Django. The penultimate track is the pinnacle of the neonostalgia feel that is reached for (and achieved) through the whole album with a refreshing yet faithful cover of The Monkee’s ‘Porpoise Song’ with vocalist Vincent Neff crooning “goodbye, goodbye”. Django Django perfectly capture that small hours sound with their plaintive and unlikely combination of songs, rounded off with the Late Night Tales signature spoken word track. Benedict Cumberbatch’s fourth installation of the poem ‘Flat of Angels’ is an appropriately calming end to an album which carries you along in what seems like the most natural progression of tracks possible. ALICE MILLER
SHEEZUS
copeland
I feel as though compilation albums, on the whole, receive more criticism than they necessarily deserve. When artists continually release mixes on platforms like SoundCloud, is there any point in spending money on what is essentially a glorified playlist? There is an artistry to the mix tape that we miss now that playlists are so easy to compile ourselves. But there is a difference between a quickly pushed together playlist and a curated mix album. It is this difference that the Late Night Tales series champions. It is through the intimate choices of Django Django, that we become privy to the nuance that wedges a Primal Scream song between The Beach Boys and Massive Attack.
LILY ALLEN
A recent change to copyright law made ripping CDs to a personal computer legal (I know, I wasn’t aware this was illegal either). In addition to this new legislation was a further amendment, which allowed “use of other people’s copyright for caricature, parody or pastiche”. As Sheezus has almost no originality in its genesis, it therefore falls under the category of parody or pastiche and as such should be judged as a joke. Opening track ‘Sheezus’ has none of the innovative techniques employed in Kanye West’s album Yeezus. Lily does use the words “bitch”, “fuck” and “period” which makes her edgy because no one has ever used cuss words in a song before. Kids! Mum and Dad will not approve of these explicit lyrics! Rebellion! Lily uses fashionable text speak in the title ‘L8 CMMR’. She also rhymes the phrases “see his face” with “win the race” – Lily the lyrical genius is truly at work. The middle of the album is forgettable until ‘As Long As I Got You’ which led me to believe this album is one big exercise in trolling. It’s a country ballad (given up on the whole Yeezus/Sheezus thing) with the line “You saved me from myself/ As long as I’ve got you and we can be together and forever just you and me that’s swell”. That “strong independent woman” theme lasted all of 10 minutes. A record executive one day heard that Lorde was doing well with a song about slagging off rappers and saw dollar signs so decided to do the same thing with Lily Allen. Enough has been said about the racist implications of the video for ‘Hard Out Here’ without actually saying much about the track which is pretty much just the word ‘bitch’ and some lines about women in the music industry (which Nicki Minaj contradicts in almost every one of her verses ever). ‘URL Badman’ is a song about trolls which in the context of this album is meta as fuck. The track has a dubstep breakdown, which proves either that the producers are committed to making a joke album or they genuinely think that dubstep is still relevant. The album mercifully ends on her awful bonus track cover of Keane’s ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ in the same way Yeezus finished with Kanye covering ‘Everybody’s Changing’.
LATE NIGHT TALES
BECAUSE I’M WORTH IT
RECENT RELEASES
DJANGO DJANGO
It’s a shame that the change in law means Lily will be able to make money from this abomination as it isn’t a funny joke and can’t be classified as music. JONI ROOME
HARRY ROSEHILL
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