KANYE WEST – Jesus Is King
What the fuck is this shit. (4)
KINKY FRIEDMAN – Resurrection
Kinky’s a hell of a guy. He’s also a country singer/songwriter who, just like his pal Willie Nelson, can make you LOL with one song and cry with the next one, as this album (probably his best one) demonstrates. (8)
LITURGY – H.A.Q.Q.
Surprise release by controversial Brooklyn black metal band is an interesting experiment in genre-hopping cacophony that works more often than it doesn’t. The Autechre-like “CD skipping” effect is really annoying, but almost everything they do is annoying to a lot of people anyway so that’s OK. (7)
LOREENA McKENNITT – Live at the Royal Albert Hall
You either love McKennitt in which case you’ll enjoy this live album immensely, or you think she’s just new age horseshit in which case you can go back to drawing animal figures on the walls of your cave or hunting mammoths or whatever it is you Neanderthals do. (8)
MAVERICKS – Play The Hits
One of the best party bands on the planet, these Latino country rockers celebrate their 30th anniversary with a great covers album of songs originally by Waylon Jennings, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley etc. given the royal Mavericks treatment. (8)
MIRANDA LAMBERT – Wildcard
Lambert keeps getting better with every album and on “Wildcard”, without cutting off her country roots, she clearly ventures into rock territory. Great songwriting on par with peak-career Sheryl Crow, great lyrics, great everything. (8)
NILE – Vile Nilotic Rites
Another slab of Middle Eastern-flavored sonic violence from Morbid Angel’s top disciples. It’s been promoted as a comeback and a return to form but, really, if you like one Nile album you like them all. (8)
SCHAMMASCH – Hearts of No Light
What started out as a competent yet straightforward black/death metal band a-la Behemoth has now completed its transformation into a totally unpredictable prog-avant monster which, in 2019, will probably be as divisive as their compatriots Celtic Frost were back in 1987. And that’s a very, very good thing. (8)
SUDAN ARCHIVES – Athena
Somewhere between Solange, whom I love, and FKA Twigs, whom I don’t get, but a bit more Afrocentric. (7)
TINDERSTICKS – No Treasure But Hope
Moving to Ithaca, Greece must have had some serious effects on Tindersticks mainman Stuart Staples' state of mind – a couple of songs on their new album, including first single “Pinky In The Daylight”, sound more like Manos Hatzidakis than like Tindersticks. (7)
VARIOUS ARTISTS – I'm A Freak 2 Baby: A Further Journey Through The British Heavy Psych And Hard Rock Underground Scene 1968-73
A sequel to a great compilation released three years ago, this 3-CD collection with the self-explanatory title includes a few names you’ll recognize (Budgie, Jeff Beck, The Move, Atomic Rooster, Edgar Broughton Band, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown...), a lot of total unknown proto-metal acts you’ll be thrilled to discover, and more cowbell than a 100-acre pasture on the Swiss Alps. (10)
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