When you’ve dearly departed
There will be all those broken-hearted
But I’ll have a smile painted on my face
There’s a spot in the grass
Waiting for you at Whispering Glades
This month is all about the real start of autumn, the cluster-fucked vaccine rollout, and a lot of great acoustic female vocals – Molly Lewis making use of an underutilised instrument (the human whistle), Natalie Bergman and Nicole Dollanganger bringing folksy tunes straight out of yesteryear, and LDR serving a solid album of fantastic tracks on Chemtrails. It’s folksier, more stripped back and consistent and less attention-seeking than her last few – and better for it. The mixing is fantastic too – every distinct detail of those vocals blows gently across the peach fuzz gracing your ear lobe.
Meanwhile, the original Gorillaz self-titled album turned 20 this month. I revisited it and reflected on just how unique and fresh it was – and, aside from two main singles, seems to remain unknown to many to this day (despite the enormous success of the two albums which followed). It’s spooky, quirky, unusual, genre-hopping and thumping, with plenty of fun and bizarre lyrical moments. It was an album that really made an impression on me. I’ve added one of the lesser-known tracks.
The Voidz also finally released TET 2.0 to streaming platforms, which cross-pollinates with The Adults Are Talking. I’ve paired it next to the Gorillaz track – The Voidz are to The Strokes what Gorillaz is to Blur (right down to the COOL Z) – I love all of the above but the more adventurous latter creations speak to me far more than the originals.