Julio Bashmore – ‘Simple Love’

Chris Kelly: A definite improvement over the last few singles, with the entrancing quality that made ‘Battle For Middle You’ such a hit. (6)

Joe Muggs: Great beat, great bass, great hook, great chords, makes you feel nice – simple in principle, hard to get right, but he has. (8)

Angus Finlayson: More in the vein of Bashmore’s earlier work, meaning it won’t earn him any points for innovation, but the hook’s a good’un. What am I supposed to do with all of my casual scorn now? (6)

John Twells: Four points for being a fellow ginger. (4)

6

Flying Lotus feat. Kendrick Lamar – ‘Never Catch Me’

Angus Finlayson: A childhood friend of mine once ingested a load of salt (don’t ask) and ended up vomiting neapolitan ice cream all over my patio. Sometimes I wish I’d put my squeamishness to one side and enjoyed the event on a purely aesthetic level. (8)

Joe Muggs: I dunno. I’m a FlyLo fan, and I liked the last two albums best, so am fully into his indulgences, but this sounds like about six different unconnected indulgences at once.  And it’s a weirdly muffled sound too.  It says quite a bit that I prefer the bass solo to Kendrick’s rapping… (4)

Chris Kelly: Prototypical FlyLo in both his sound and his tendency to overload his songs with ideas: what starts off sounding like Good Kid’s most interesting B-side dabbles with footwork (interesting) before breaking into a jazz fusion bass solo (less interesting). At least Kendrick is showing better judgment with his guest spots. (6)

John Twells: I remember when I got a promo of Flying Lotus’s first record. “Potential,” we all thought, and come Reset, we all felt quite smug. Then he seemed to trip head-first into a smelly mire of bargain-bin fusion and prog-funk. I might have to listen to the whole album and I’m not looking forward to it. (2)

5

Cut Hands – ‘The Claw’

Angus Finlayson: The track’s quite good; shame about the dodgy politics. (6)

Joe Muggs: Don’t want to admit it because the guy’s such a pillock, but this is pretty good. It’s classic “silly old ’80s industrial goth trying to make techno and not quite getting it right” but that’s no bad genre to be part of… (7)

John Twells: Bennet’s been surprisingly reliable with his Cut Hands output, and while the last time I saw him live it sounded more like sitting in the toilets having a bad club experience than we all wanted it to, he seems to have pulled it all back for ‘The Claw’. Harsh, pounding stuff – the long tail of Downwards is satisfyingly hardy. (6)

6.4

2562 – ‘Utopia’

Angus Finlayson: Sooner or later, most producers shed their wanderlust; Dave Huismans’ seems to be getting worse. Part of me wishes the Dutch producer was still exploring technoid flex and swing, as in his killer run of AMUS twelves circa 2010, or 2011’s Fever LP. But ‘Utopia’ – which seems concerned less with groove than with heft and smoky texture – demands a different set of ears. I’m not quite there yet, but I will be. (7)

Joe Muggs: Dramatic! Probably requires complete sensory deprivation, strobes, smoke and heavy drugs for full effect, but it’s an impressive step onwards for Huismann. He never rests on his laurels does he? (7)

John Twells: Assured, crunchy gloom from 2562 here, and ‘Utopia’ is a killer example of the excellent forthcoming full-length The New Today. Straight in the box, no questions asked. (7)

7

Aphex Twin – ‘minipops 67’

Angus Finlayson: I’m glad we can all agree that IDM fans are the worst people in the world. Forum pedants, embittered armchair clubgoers, neckbeard Beliebers; they are the tedious Trojan horse by which rockist values ransacked dance music. The evergreen careers enjoyed by many of the genre’s founders are well-deserved, but each comeback album and rediscovered gem has the unfortunate side-effect of reminding us that these people still exist – nay, that they are more numerous than ever. Credit to RDJ: at least he’s managed to confine his silly press campaign to a few brief weeks (I’ll never forgive you Boards of Canada). But, judging by this track, the album won’t be half-bad. Why must you insist on giving these people what they want? (7)

Chris Kelly: Returns after so long away are usually not returns to form, but RDJ pulls it off: a years-in-the-making sequel (of sorts) to ‘Windowlicker’ that never gets lost in its details and diversions. A song that was going to get replayed regardless makes it worth each listen; unpacking it is half the fun. (10)

John Twells: I still remember the disappointment of Druqks so well it could have been yesterday. I was (and in many ways still am) a paid-up member of the Aphex fan club – fuck I’d spent long enough ripping the guy off – and to hear that scrappy collection of half-finished tracks and twos-up cynicism was just irritating. It wasn’t cheap either. This feels like exactly what I wanted to hear 13 years ago – assured, confident and weird, but fucking listenable and enjoyable too. If you’d just bought Come To Daddy and Windowlicker, it would make sense if this came next. (8)

Joe Muggs: Lovely, just lovely. Not breaking any ground, not messing with anyones’ heads (apart from those people who expect him to mess with everyone’s heads), but just flexing his musical skills and letting a set of ideas unfold at their own pace. Feels like he’s not trying to prove anything, just drawing for the tracks that are most enjoyable to listen to. (8)

Mr. Beatnick: Really really love it, mainly because it gets me really excited to hear the rest of the album. Sounds like it could well have been lifted from the same batch of sessions as ‘Windowlicker’ – similar drum programming, similar experimental approach to the vocals. There’s less in common with subsequent work such as Analord for example – and also the focus here, as with ‘Windowlicker’, appears to be subverting the structure and formulae of the pop song, which it succeeds in doing in a typically silly, witty, and sonically novel way.  I suppose some will say – or have been saying – that it sounds a bit passé in places but perhaps that’s the point – this is classic Aphex is all senses, the only thing that has really dated are our faded memories of the last time his music made us feel this way. Finally, my friends, an album this year which truly merits the colossal hype attached to it. (10)

8.6

Final scores:

Aphex Twin – ‘minipops 67’ (8.6)
2562 – ‘Utopia’ (7)
Cut Hands – ‘The Claw’ (6.4)
Julio Bashmore – ‘Simple Love’ (6)
Flying Lotus feat. Kendrick Lamar – ‘Never Catch Me’ (5)