Ty Segall/White Fence – Joy

Ty Segall/White Fence
Joy
Release Date:  20th July 2018
Drag City

After a long hiatus, Ty Segall is back with a brand spanking new album, collaborating with his buddy White Fence once again. Last time they worked together ‘Hair‘ was the result, but as there is less of that to go around these days, at least if we take ‘Take Care (To Comb Your Hair)‘ from 2017 at face value, we now have ‘Joy’ which seems to come from the two being together, along with their rather lovely pets, as pictured on the album sleeve. I mean, doesn’t it just scream ‘joy’? I feel happier already! Though, when it comes to the duo’s new tunes, well, maybe there isn’t quite as much joy to go around. 

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Nine Inch Nails – Bad Witch

Nine Inch Nails
Bad Witch
Release Date:  22nd June 2018
Null Corporation 

After the diluted radio bait that was ‘Hesitation Marks’, Trent Reznor delved back into the world of EP’s to try and work it out. What we got was a series of old NIN, new NIN, NIN NIN, and experimental welcome to the future NIN. ‘Bad Witch’ is the finale, the culmination of the previous musical doodles, of the EP trilogy, but Trent insists this one is an LP, purely under the basis that no one buys EPs. Fair enough, for what is an EP anyway? Is it determined by the amount of tracks? The length? The intention? The quality of cardboard they use to make the CD case? Who can say, it’s not as simple as the rules of the novella versus the novel. Despite being an EP trilogy, here is the LP at the end of the background world.

Oneohtrix Point Never – Age Of

Oneohtrix Point Never
Age Of
Release Date:  1st June 2018
Warp

Baroque pop, who’d have thought 2018 would be the age of that? No one except Oneohtrix Point Never, that’s who.

Though that’s just how it starts, it’s all I can think about when I think ‘Age Of’.

It is the ‘Age Of’ many things, you can just insert a genre at the end as each track comes, ready to switch it out for something else once the next one rolls round.

It’s an adaptable age. An ‘Age Of’ everything.

It’s so hard to define. I guess that is our current age, indeed.

Beach House – 7

Beach House
7
Release Date:  11th May 2018
Bella Union 

I’ve always been up and down on Beach House. Going by all those moody synth bands I love so much, it made too much sense that this dream pop duo would be my next obsession. But it never happened, for the pop within the dreams often felt like songs trapped between mud, never flowing as they should. Then ‘7’ happened, and all was right with the world, even going back wasn’t so bad, for they clicked into being the band that I should have loved. And now I do, isn’t that grand? They’re up there with the good low moods, not the bad low moods. No one wants to sit on a table with The National or Slow Readers Club (someone once told me how the latter had a really dull gig, then few days later they put together a glowing piece. Don’t sit on that table). It only took 7 goes for me.

Death Grips – Year Of The Snitch

Death Grips
Year of the Snitch 
Release Date:  10th August 2018 (physical)
Harvest

The new Death Grips is here, and it isn’t so much of a surprise anymore! They used to drop releases onto the net just like that, stick their middle finger out to the major labels, break up, rebuild, and everything else that gave a specific time and place for every album to be connected by. ‘Year of the Snitch’ however, was revealed, trickled out, then finally released. That’s so completely normal for Death Grips, and upon listening to the new tracks, I’d say this is Year of the Normalisation of Death Grips. So it goes.  

Deaf Wish – Lithium Zion

Deaf Wish
Lithium Zion 
Release Date:  27th July 2018
Sub Pop

If you slipped the latest Deaf Wish, or even the last Deaf Wish, onto a Spotify playlist at a party, people would most likely think the same thing, all of them, yourself included maybe. Everyone would nod their head to the Kool riffs and go ”hey,Sonic Youth!’, or ‘Ah, I love Goo!’, or ‘Boy do I miss the 90’s’, or you get the idea. But, hey!, it’s the new Deaf Wish, gotcha!

Though in reality, the first person passing the laptop would probably make a point of skipping it within seconds of play. At least at the Spotify parties I frequent. Which isn’t many. 

Kanye West – Ye

Kanye West
ye
Release Date:  20th July 2018 (physical)
Virgin EMI

I was waiting for the bus one time when I met this guy. I can’t remember what started it, maybe I was holding a book, but he talked about wanting to be a writer. I was still high from my uni degree days, so told him I completed a Creative Writing course, which got him talking. He told me how, like myself, like others, like you, like your best friend, your sister, your brother, your partner, your e.t.c, wanted to write a book. Pleasant chit-chat, maybe he had a spark within, who knows? And then he sat next to me on the bus.