Xinlisupreme - I Am Not Shinzo Abe (not on label, 2018)
Xinlisupreme were one of my greatest and most cherished discoveries in Sixth Form. Themselves discovered by Andy Weatherall and released on Pias, Xinlisupreme's potent mix of fuzzy pop, glitchy beats and walls of noise were absolute tonic to my young ears. Then, after an LP and an EP, they disappeared. Why? Political sedition, apparently. It's hard to imagine a society where calling your album I Am Not Shinzo Abe can get you cancelled for political extremism. While Japan is seen to many as a glorious melange of cultural freedom, a hotbed of transgression and intensity, it is, of course, a right-wing hell-hole, a first world country that still has the death penalty, with far right zealotry on the rise. It is bizarre to think of such a straightforward title being the source of such ire. Calling an album Fuck Boris Johnson in the UK would only raise eyebrows for being unnecessarily on the nose.
I Am Not Shinzo Abe is Xinlisupreme's best album. Even poppier, even noisier than before, at times it sounds deliriously, gloriously broken. Opener Seaside Voice Guitar is so ridiculously destroyed through waves upon waves of distortion, its genuinely difficult to hear anything but snatches of wistful electropop splutter out. It sounds less like a song, and more like walking around a Tokyo videogame arcade, ears at saturation point, spurts of hyperpop spluttering through a pink palimpsest of utter sonic annihilation. It puts other artists describing themselves as noise pop to shame. Elsewhere we hear techno, eurobeat, ballads and pop punk being shoved through the noise meatgrinder. At times, it's a little like having a panic attack. This is essential music in every sense.
Halshug - Sort Sind (Southern Lord, 2016)
Filthy Danish mid-tempo hardcore punk with a menacing D-beat quality. Angry and no no-nonsense. No quite ugly enough to be essential listening but good fun. The guys on the CD look like they'd chin me.
Zomby - Dedication (4AD, 2011)
Is this good? I don't know. I mean it's obviously not good. But maybe it's actually good? It's a bit embarrassing, but maybe I don't care? Or maybe everyone's right and it's shit? Because I definitely don't like it. I'm pretty sure I listened to it a lot when it came out and then I bought a bunch of his CDs and sort of regret it. But maybe I like it? It's really sparse, like it's been chucked together in Ableton. Which is good! Like, punk. But really inoffensive punk. It's like a sketchbook or a mood board rather than an album. It's nice listening to something that any 16 year old could make. The gunshot samples are funny. They're supposed to be funny, right?