As lockdown season carries over to the dawn of 2021, Sleaford Mods kick off the year with their usual witty banter and snide remarks involving politics and misfortunes on a daily basis. The electronic elements from Eton Alive carry over to this album, but we get traces of their mid-2010’s work on songs like “Shortcummings”, where the bass guitar takes us back to the Divide And Exit days. The bit about independent venues on “Elocution” amused me.

Fave Tracks: ... read more

1966 was a year where pop groups of the early 60's began experimenting beyond the usual arrangements of guitra trio and drum kit. The Beatles did it with Revolver, The Rolling Stones did it with Aftermath, and The Beach Boys did it too with Pet Sounds. The accordion, tambourine organ and harpsichord show up a lot on this LP, adding thicker textures to the band's music. The lead guitar doesn't seem to appear in any of the cuts, further adding to the instrumental experimentation of this ... read more

MF Doom's debut has more of the samples from R&B, soul and jazz of the 70's and 80's than on the Madlib collab that would come five years later. I like how dialogue snippets from an episode of the 1960's Fantastic Four cartoon are integrated throughout this album. They show how Dr. Doom was created and end with him being defeated, leading to a interesting debate on what makes a hero and what makes a villain.

Fave Tracks: "Tick, Tick..."; "Doomsday"; "Rhymes Like ... read more

On their only collaborative project together, MF Doom and Madlib experiment with samples from 20th century TV shows and movies, while Doom brings in an impressive rhyme scheme throughout, even with the relatively short lengths of the tracks. He also makes the occasional cartoon reference with the likes of Wacky Races and GI Joe near the beginning of the album.

Fave Tracks: "America's Most Blunted"; "Money Folder"; "Shadows of Tomorrow"; "Figaro"; ... read more