The Berlin-based PAN has been slowly but surely building up one of the most consistently impressive back catalogues in experimental music. One of their latest entries is Niaiw Ot Vile, the enigmatic Chris Douglas' fourth release under the Dalglish moniker. The ten abstractions of track titles (and indeed the name of the record) are indicative of the music within, which sees Douglas explore the serene ("Set Nuin"), the dissonant ("Noscrlu"), and in the case of the album's centrepiece "Ciaradh", a crystalline amalgamation of both moods. Stream "Ciaradh" below, and read an interview with Dalglish here [via The Quietus].

Eminem Marshall Mathers LP 2 (Aftermath Entertainment)


I haven't a fucking clue how to open this review, so I shan't. Here's a (Facebook) dialogue of mine and Joe Sherwood's time with the Marshall Mathers LP 2:

Gilbey: My iTunes play count for MMLP2 currently stands at 18 and I still don't have the foggiest clue whether I love it or not. Thinking about it, its a hell of a lot better than Recovery although that isn't too hard I guess... yeah I love it.
Sherwood: tbf recovery was a pile of crap. this however... its much better than anything I thought a man of ems vintage could produce
Gilbey: I think his vintage has actually worked to his advantage on this is I'm honest. Most of the beats that he and Rubin worked on are testament to many of the tracks on the first LP, that's probably why I like Brainless so much... that beat is raw.
Sherwood: yeah man, having heard the beat for rap god i wasn't exactly expecting much, but on the whole i have to say the production is above average for late-period em.
Sherwood: speaking of rap god... what do you think of it
Gilbey: Well let's just put it this way, when he was on Radio 1 with Zane Lowe on Monday and revealed that he freestyled the whole track, I think I creamed... his flow is just absolutely untouchable. That shit about Ray J and Fabolous? My gosh that had me in bits.
Sherwood: if it was indeed a freestyle, then i guess em truly is the goat. shame he had to do it all over a wack beat
Sherwood: and the homophobia aint gonna win him any points in these hyperaware times

I actually quite liked the divisive Yeezus, but I can't shake the niggling thought that it may just be an elaborate troll on Mr. West's part. Seemingly out to confirm my suspicions, Yeezy released the video for the album closer "Bound 2", and I absolutely love it. How could a guy with millions and millions of industry dollars behind him put out something so damn tacky, featuring sweeping scenery (complete with prancing horses), a still motorbike/greenscreen combo, and, above all, a topless Kim Kardashian? Sorry guys, but Yeezus has had you all on. I imagine he's laughing his arse off right now at all the hatred and bile in the comments section. He knew he would cause a frenzy with this shit. Career suicide? Nah. The "Bound 2" video is simply verification that Kanye West is one of the most self-aware artists in mainstream music, who knows full well the power of his brand and how it can create schisms amongst the public, as well as completely disregarding (nay, mocking) what it means to be a superstar in the musical era of vapid consumerism.

P.S. The song itself is decent, and something of a throwback to College Dropout-era Yeezy in sound.

James Ferraro does love fucking with his admirers. Although his latest album, NYC, Hell 3:00 AM, will most likely end up ranking highly on my own albums of the year list, it's a rather confusing entry into his artistic oeuvre. And, in typical Ferraro style, before anybody can even begin to figure it all out, he decides to drop some new music! What a bugger. Anyway, new Ferraro material is always a good thing, so be sure to check out God of London below for a further blast of postmodern anxiety.

The Range Nonfiction (Donky Pitch, 2013)


Nonfiction is the debut full-length from Donky Pitch's very own producing trailblazer, James Hinton, who has been enjoying a considerable buzz over the past year or so over the release of the EPs Disk and Seneca. However, upon hearing the intricate farrago of chillwave, footwork and jungle beats on his latest assemblage, it is evident that this 25 year old arriviste hasn't only appeared on the IDM scene in order to put out generic dance records and make a living off techno hypebeasts; he has come to expand the ever reforming barriers of modern bass music.

Death Grips Government Plates (Third Worlds, 2013)

"Fuck you". It's an appropriate lyric for Death Grips. "Fuck you" is Death Grips to a T. They say "fuck you" to record labels and fans alike. MC Ride's various quotables demonstrate an extreme lack of self-preservation - he don't give a fuck about himself. All signs point towards two middle fingers to everyone and everything. Their latest "fuck you" is Government Plates, released with absolutely zero fanfare onto the unsuspecting Deep Web, complete with visual accompaniments to each of the eleven tracks. Suffice to say, the people of the blogosphere lost their shit, all of them scrambling to write a feature on Government Plates as fast as they possibly could. It's strange to think a band as hostile and abrasive as Death Grips could invoke this sort of madness, but it's as good a testament as any to the group, who have been turning heads since 2011 with their incendiary blend of hip-hop, industrial, noise, rock, etc. No group working in the confines of hip-hop sounds quite like Death Grips, and Government Plates is possibly the furthest-removed from hip-hop they've reached in their short, trailblazing lifespan.

What's initially striking about this release is that MC Ride's vocal involvement seems to have been significantly pared back. A lot of the dense lyricism that blew your system on The Money Store and No Love Deep Web has been reduced to short, stabbing phrases. Take the previously released "Birds", wherein MC Ride does his best Lil B impression: he clumsily stumbles over his words, pays little attention to conventional rhyme schemes (not that Death Grips are renowned for their conventional approach to lyricism) and just generally sounds unfocused, disorientated even. It's a bewildering change of pace from a guy who previously screamed lyrical abstractions about paranoia, murder and Lady Gaga. Other tracks seem to remove Ride from the equation altogether, such as the twitchy "I'm Overflow", but his ferocious spirit is ever-present throughout the album by means of vocal manipulation and sampling, despite not having as much to say this time around.

Flatlander and Zach Hill's production on Government Plates remains resolutely Death Grips, but perhaps even less considerate of song structure than ever before. Stylistically this release lies somewhere between the cold, minimal No Love Deep Web and the overblown Money Store, with face-melting synths clattering against hard hitting drumming: the Dylan-referencing "You might think he loves you for your money but I know what he really loves you for it's your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat" opens the album fantastically with the sound of breaking glass, high-pitched skronk, Ride's disturbed shrieking and Hill's massive, masculine beats. While the pace is often altered, the intensity of this album remains constant, and it's indicative of a group who still abound with frenetic energy two years on from their original incision into hip-hop.

Primitive and guttural as ever, Government Plates is more than the stopgap it could have been. Instead, it's another highly satisfying collection of paranoid, twisted tracks, albeit with more emphasis placed on the frazzled music than MC Ride's mind-bending raps. In true Death Grips style, it also happens to be a free download, so say "fuck you" to everyone you know and cop this shit while it's hot. Tomorrow isn't coming, it's here right frickin' now, and it sounds insane.

FREE DOWNLOAD

Milo Cavalcade (Hellfyre Club, 2013)


Milo, member of Scribble Jam champion Nocando's label Hellfyre Club, is the latest breakthrough in abstract hip-hop. You may be questioning yourself, "Abstract hip-hop? What on earth could that possibly imply?", but after listening to any of his 5 acclaimed releases, it will soon become strikingly clear. His music has been dubbed by Rate Your Music as being a part of the rap sub-genre 'nerdcore', and with track names such as 'Sophistry and Illusion' and lyrics based around 'boiling the elements down into the axioms', it is evident that Milo clearly isn't your generic rap artist.

Cavalcade is a mixtape that showcases the self-reflective and mindful lyrics that truly epitomise Milo, and although I have thoroughly enjoyed every piece of work since his debut album I Wish My Brother Rob Was Here, I feel like his lyrical adeptness and general artistic awareness have evolved dramatically over the past two years and have harmoniously mingled together to create one of the most conceptual mixtapes of 2013. This 'awareness' comes through well in the first track, 'Geometry and Theology', which contains a thought-provoking concept from the late Ludwig Wittgenstein in the opening minute about the origins of language, and then transitions to a dreamy spoken-word verse that flits between themes of the generic fangirl on Twitter and the Book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament. It sounds like it should be an awkward mish-mash of trivial nonsense, but in reality, it works so perfectly well.

Although none of the tracks on Cavalcade reduced me to tears like 'The Ballad of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy' on the EP Milo Takes Baths so very nearly did, producer Riley Lake's airy, dream-like production really creates an overwhelming atmosphere; the samples from America and shadowy drum beats fluctuate between creating a quiet, ambient atmosphere and a strangely pleasant harsh one.

All in all, Cavalcade marks the beginning of a promising career for Milo, and I am thoroughly intrigued as to whether he shall continue in this direction on future releases.