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B Y ADAM C O RNE R , J O S H U A NE V E T T, J O N C L A RK , D U NC A N H A RRI S O N, J A M E S B A L M O NT, A NNA T E H ABS I M, PH I L I P JAME S AL L E N, D AVI D R E E D , RI C H B I T T, T RE V O R C AV E L L

BABYSHAMBLES SEQUEL TO THE PREQUEL EMI CRASH OF RHINOS KNOTS Big Scary Monsters/Top Shelf/To Lose La Track

8/20 Ok, so once we’ve all recovered from the collective embarrassment of the noughties winklepicker-indie hangover, Up The Bracket might well be acknowledged as one of best British albums of that decade. But due to Doherty’s painful and very public descent, his style of doe-eyed romanticism and faux-Dickensian posturing has become a cringe-inducing prospect. We’ve ended up with a generation of twentysomethings haunted by memories of e-mail addresses like biloforever87@msn.com and constantly refreshing the libertines.org homepage in the hope that our Pete might invite everyone to an impromptu gig in a squat littered with taxidermy, dogeared Graham Greene novels and hypodermic needles. So who in their right mind listens to a new Babyshambles album in 2013? The record’s title is a stinker, and Damien Hirst’s woeful cover art suggests there’s more than one expired UK icon involved. But for ex-fanboys/girls, it’s worth a blast just for old time’s sake. There’s a naïve charm to Doherty’s enthusiasm on Maybelline, and the band do a cute job of playing around with The Velvet Underground’s Sweet Jane riff on Farmer’s Daughter. But once you’ve hit the unlistenable title track, followed by the cod-ska misfire Dr No, it’s hard not to be plagued by this record’s innate daftness. DR

16/20 Texas is the Reason have sold out venues in Scotland and Manchester, Braid have toured the UK and five dishevelled-looking chaps from Derby might just have made one of the best albums of its ilk to be released in 2013. It’s been a funny sort of year for 90s emo. Similar to the hugely underrated Wooderson (Bombed Out Records), Crash of Rhinos owe a large amount of their sound to their US counterparts (Dischord, mid-90s Revelation and Jade Tree Records to name a few), but there is something whole heartedly ‘UK’ about the sound they conjure; see the harmonies of Pylon, the riffs of Dugong and the intricacy of countless Boss Tuneage Records releases which all punctuate the record at various points. For those expecting Knots to reach a similarly level to their debut album, 2011’s Distal, there’s a surprise in store; the breadth of ideas that record showed has been bravely and powerfully realised, pushing them up to another level entirely. Whether you see them at a sweaty Derby pub, a festival, or a sold out London venue, Crash of Rhinos are pretty much the greatest thing to come out of Derby since Mart Poom. TC

JUICY J STAY TRIPPY Taylor Gang / Kemosabe / Columbia

FOREST SWORDS ENGRAVINGS Tri Angle

10/20

18/20

Stay Trippy is a one-hour expedition into the Juicy J of 2013; a character whose excessive lifestyle is the framework for his entire creative output. The former Three 6 Mafia man makes no apologies and shows no signs of stopping. Bandz a Make Her Dance is Juicy letting listeners know that women will dance at the strip club if they get money, which is something he has done loads of times. The Woods is a song about having sex in ‘the woods’. Scholarship is Juicy J offering cash for college fees, but you have to do the splits on a boat or something before he gives you any. But beneath the bravado there is the shadow of a man who was once part of a menacing Memphis hip-hop outfit and is now so devastatingly committed to trippiness that his credibility is waning. There are many spritely young things capable of making stripper-friendly bangers which would allow Juicy J to take some time off. He could see Asia, learn to cook or get a pet or something. Devastating as it is compelling, Stay Trippy is far from a triumph. It is a shallow exposé of a man who is victim to his own recklessness in the least rock ‘n’ roll way possible. DH

Engravings is beset with a chasmic atmosphere reminiscent of one of the opening passages of Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. Lost of her parents, the terrified Chihiro finds herself stranded on the dark island bath house, awestruck and rendered woozy with fear by the blinding light of the approaching paddle steamer and the grotesquely elegant spirits disembarking from it. Matthew Barnes’ music places the listener in the same druggedly blurry headspace. Descriptions of his work have been consistently affixed with lists of genre signifiers, from stripped techno through drone, krautrock and dub, though it’s his woodsy appropriation of the very latter which feels like an anchor to this record. Rhythmically, tracks stumble rather than lurch, occasionally locking into moments of propulsion but more often than not providing a skittering base for eerie instrumentation. Though the record is aesthetically consistent, each track’s idiosyncratically treated parts mean endless sonic highlights, be they the simple analogue loops of Anneka’s Battle, or Thor’s Stone’s blistered pipe sample, laid over a ghostly vocal and minimal kick drum. The record’s strongest track is The Weight of Gold; its gorgeous main riff cutting sharp trebles through insistent clatter, buried dub and something of an actual vocal line. Engravings is a hugely haunting and genuinely idiosyncratic piece of work. TH

JESSY LANZA PULL MY HAIR BACK Hyperdub

SUMMER CAMP SUMMER CAMP Moshi Moshi

16/20

15/20

Demanding some serious attention prior to its release, the glory of this LP sits gently between clean production and intimate hues. Produced jointly with Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys, Lanza’s training in jazz performance and classical piano lends to the accomplished melodies and crisp precision that become embroiled in, and wholly carried by, her distinct coos. Her vocals are warm and understated, as on title track Pull My Hair Back, where breathy whispers interplay flatly suggestive lyricism through delicately demure tones. Intro track Giddy disorientates with acidic textures, whilst upbeat album midpoint Keep Moving is a more danceable affair, where vocal influences Melba Moore and Evelyn Champagne King shine through, ultimately offset by the haunting flutters of synths and arpeggiated bass that form the basis of the album’s tangible richness. Intended as an R&B full length, Pull My Hair Back’s transcendental nature allows it to be interpreted in many ways. Jessy Lanza’s debut album for Hyperdub is a glistening exemplar of what electronic pop can, and should, be. Inheriting subtle but discernible hip-hop and 80s influences, Pull My Hair Back is fundamentally driven by impeccable simplicity; haunting R&B from the gloomy bedroom, for the gloomy bedroom. AT

Many descriptions are banded around about Jeremy Warmsey and Elizabeth Sankey’s Summer Camp, but what their new self-titled LP shows is that they are un-prefix-able. The most effective way to categorise them is as pop. By no means the negative epithet it once was, the pop on display here is buoyant and infectious. It celebrates positive and negative emotion in equal measure, ladling on melodrama to create idealised notions of life – no real departure, then, from 2011’s Welcome To Condale in terms of subject matter. Sankey’s lyrics compliment Warmsey’s musicianship excellently. Tracks like Two Chords, The End and Fresh show a new beat-heavy side of the band; where their earlier records were led by guitar and synth, this one is merely bolstered by them, they are better placed and far more subtly used. The only real issue is Crazy, where the hesitant beat and melody of the verse fails to live up to the excitement of the introduction. All told, an excellent pop record from a band who seem to have nailed everything about pop music apart from the popular bit. It’s rooted firmly in nostalgia and is frankly all the better for it; we won’t see them twerking any time soon. JC