Second day of December, still one twelfth of the year to go, surely way too early to be thinking about the albums of the year. Well maybe time to start thinking about it, certainly not time to publish a list. And yes, we all love a list, maybe it might be the time to start thinking about a list of our favourite end of year lists. We are starting to think about the albums of this year, looking back at the albums of last year, wondering what Aunty Rayzor has been doing, not heard from her label for months, Hakuna Kulala, a label based in Kampala, Uganda continued to come up with musical treats in 2023, not hear much from them in 2024, better go check. Of course when it does come to the list, we’ll be nowhere near able to claim we’ve listen to everything, we have tried to listen to as much as we can. What have they been doing over at Hakuna Kulala? Last thing we heard was that Nsasi album earlier in the year…
Net Gala Galapaggot (Hakuna Kulala) – And this from Net Gala is indeed a positively rewarding “twisted web of diverse musical references and puzzling ambiguities”, Net Gala’s debut full-length is, we are right told, is “either a noise album that’s aimed squarely at the dancefloor or a future-proofed club transmission that’s been muddled and obscured by incomprehensible distortions” Yes, maybe it’s both, it is more that that though and not so obvious. Apparently the title has been on the South Korean producer’s mind since 2020, a tongue-in-cheek reference not just to the Korean-English (Konglish) pronunciation of Galápagos and Net Gala’s queer identity, but to “Galápagos Syndrome”, a term to describe isolated, localized developments within global businesses. It is instrumental noise, not just for the sake of it and not too much, the hybrid sound is rather pleasant actually, I guess beauty in the eye of the beholder (and I do have broken eyes), there is some kind of beauty in this sometimes harsh noise, there is something in the pointed bits, the bites, the lashes, the grace of it all, a refined set of musical statement (or maybe one whole statement, this is very much a proper album, a body of work, a whole), The mood swings are (at times) beautiful, the quiet enhancing the more forthright moments…
Violence Gratuite – Baleine à Boss (Hakuna Kulala) – You see, this is why this label appeals so much, to these ears they just offer different things, other things, obviously from another place but there’s something more than that and once again Hakuna Kulala have delivered here. Violence Gratuite, as the artist is known for the purpose of this her debut album, has come up with something rich and rather exotic, something subtle and exciting, something colour is a rather rewarding way…
“A multidisciplinary artist and curator, Violaine Morgan Le Fur (aka Violence Gratuite) has spent the last few years sharpening her creative perspective, developing documentaries, producing exhibitions, and directing music videos and short films. Baleine à Boss isn’t just her debut album, but her first venture into music production; Le Fur had only begun to experiment with music software a few weeks before dubbing the record, a fact that makes this unique set only more bewildering. Singing and vocalizing candidly and producing each track alone, she sounds profoundly polished, invoking a beguiling haze of chanson, rap, no wave and experimental electronics that hovers around the margins of pop and the avant-garde”
Baleine à Boss, or Boss Whale if the translator is to be trusted, is at times beautifully stripped down, moody, grime-y, laced with colourful detail, hard, soft, rubbery, exotic and at times compelling “Le Fur grew up in Paris’s sprawling suburbs, and was provided with a diverse coterie of influences by her Breton mother and Cameroonian father. She’s channelled her ancestry into her work before, splicing material from her mother’s film archives with her own footage recorded in Bamiléké land to develop the autobiographical documentary ‘À L’ouest’ back in 2017. As Violence Gratuite, Le Fur thinks more cryptically, considering the vast forests of western Cameroon, lands ravaged by generations of bloodthirsty men and looping pulsing techno rhythms with fractured trap and the ghosts of French pop.” – As immediate as some of it is, this is clearly an album and an artist to slowly absorb and explore…
Saint Sadrill – Frater Crater (Dur Et Doux) – Another album we really really need to catch up on before it really is too late, released back in September on another label always worth keeping a keen eye on, these are beautifully quiet exquisitely detailed pieces of gentle musical art. Deliciously warmhearted songs full of all kinds of colour, laced with undercurrents of something progressively rewarding and all brought to you by a tight tight band. Glorious songs underpinned by wonderful musical details, details that glow, that tingle, that shine and swell, crafted songs driven by its atypical instrumentarium and a band who, as it always seems to be the way with Dur Et Doux releases, a band who put it all together with what feels like a genuine pleasure as well as a desire to be just a little bit different. This is clearly music made by people who sound like they really enjoy playing together together and these are really beautifully crafted songs that you need to spend time with. The opening seven minutes of colourful restraint that is The Soil From The Hill gives way to a pebble offered that you really should take in your hand, do take it, it really is something else. I Look At The White Balconies is otherworldly as you wait for those new roses, everything about Frater Crater is just right, it really is something you need to really take the time to dig into it, that isn’t going to be a big problem though, it is an album you will want to dig into, album that really is a pleasure to dig deeply into
Best Joke [The First Of April] starts off with what could be field sound before it starts to tingle, before a keyboard or some kind of synth or something timelessly like a detail from a Genesis album from their best days but really nothing like that and the grass is high and needs to be cut and count one two three and jump from the tree and what was that? Seven songs, all delightful, all rather unique, all beautiful detailed, sung in English, all very French, oh that bit is gorgeous, that bit in This Morning In The Ring and the brightness coming for the traffic lights and yes I know that should have been written about back when it came out in September and that there bit will make you tingle and the best things come to those who wait and better late than never and this really really is a treat. This is fresh cut grass, this is sun reflecting off the lake in just the right way, this is special. Empty Chair Vs Lonely Seat is nine and a half minutes of delicate thought and slow build up until the fireworks of the drums (are they drums?) and Seven Days Minus One Week makes for a beautifully low key ending to what really is a beautifully detailed delight of an album. A fine fine album, don’t let it pass you by, we almost did.
THE ORGAN 