Album of the Week – 15/06/24

The Decemberists are back with their first album in 6 years! Even stranger is that it’s not our album of the week. That can only mean one thing, yes, it’s a busy week! You can listen to a track from ‘As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again’ below.

There are also new releases from RJD2 ‘Visions Out Of Limelight’ and our own James Vincent McMorrow ‘Wide Open, Horses’. The hype about Kneecap will only continue until the release of their film, but you can hear their new album below.

In the end, we went for the funky synth sound of John Grant. They’re almost impossible to resist.

Album of the Week – The Art Of The Lie – John Grant

John Grant began thinking about The Art of The Lie in the Autumn of 2022. Earlier that year, John had been introduced to Ivor Guest, producer and composer at Grace Jones’ Southbank show, the finale of her Meltdown Festival. They began talking about two records Guest had worked on, ‘Hurricane’ for Jones, ‘Prohibition’ for Brigitte Fontaine. “Grace and Brigitte are two very big artists for me,” says Grant. “I love the albums he did for them. ‘Hurricane’ is an indispensable piece of Grace’s catalogue.” An idea was sparked. “I said, I really think you should do this next record with me. He said, I think you’re right.”

A year and a half later, the result is John Grant’s most opulent, cinematic, luxurious album yet: The Art of The Lie. As the title suggests, the lyrical ingenuity counterweighted under all this considered musical largesse is as dark as its production is epic and bold. Ivor Guest and his cast-list of storied musicians have brought the drama, flecks of intrigue as beguiling as Laurie Anderson or The Art of Noise. John Grant has earthed it in deeply felt humanity and pitch-black realism. “The clothing that it’s dressed up in makes it more palatable,” he says. “It helps the bitter pill go down. Music and humour are how I’ve always dealt with the dark side of life. Come to think of it, it’s how I deal with the good side too.”

Albums of Note:

— Kneecap – Fine Art

— Black Country Communion (feat. Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, and Derek Sherinian) – V

— The Decemberists – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again

— James Vincent McMorrow – Wide Open, Horses

— Monsters of Folk (feat. Jim James, Conor Oberst, and M. Ward) – Monsters of Folk (Expanded Edition)

— RJD2 – Visions Out Of Limelight

— ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER – Again

June 14th:

— Almeda – FK IT EP

— Annabel – Worldviews

— Axel Rudi Pell – Risen Symbol

— Bad Breeding – Contempt

— Been Stellar – Scream From New York, NY

— Bilal feat. Questlove, Robert Glasper and Burniss Travis – Live at Glasshaus

— Black Country Communion (feat. Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, and Derek Sherinian) – V

— Blvck Hippie – Basketball Camp

— Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A. (Vinyl Reissue)

— Channel Tres – Head Rush

— Chicken P – 4evaLit

— Cola – The Gloss

— The Decemberists – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again

— David Bowie – Rock ‘n’ Roll Star!

— The Dead Tongues – Body of Light / I Am a Cloud

— Delilah Montagu – The Bird EP

— Devin Townsend – Terria (Vinyl Reissue)

— Diamanda Galás – Diamanda Galás In Concert

— The Early November – The Early November

— Ebbb – All At Once EP

— Fana Hues – MOTH

— Hermanos Gutiérrez – Cósmico

— Hockey Dad – Rebuild Repeat

— Immersion (Colin Newman of Wire and Malka Spigel of Minimal Compact) – Nanocluster Vol. 2

— Infinity Song – Metamorphosis Complete

— JasonMartin and DJ Quk – Chupacabra

— James Vincent McMorrow – Wide Open, Horses

— John Cale – POPtical Illusion

— John Grant – The Art of the Lie

— Jordy – Sex With Myself

— Julie Christmas – Ridiculous and Full of Blood

— Julius Rodriguez – Evergreen

— Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug) & KMRU – Disconnect

— Kneecap – Fine Art

— LAUREL – PALPITATIONS

— Lay Zhang – STEP

— Liily – Liily EP

— Lindsey Buckingham – 20th Century Lindsey (Box Set)

— Lindsey Stirling – Duality

— Little Feat – Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (Deluxe Edition)

— LUCKI – GEMIN!

— Luke Combs – Fathers & Sons

— LULLANAS – Pretty Lies & Time Machines

— Madeline Hawthorne – Tales From Late Nights & Long Drives

— Martha Skye Murphy – Um

— Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Blow it…at Madison’s Quinceañera!

— Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs – Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits

— Mike Lindsay (of LUMP) – supershapes volume 1

— Mike Shinoda (of Linkin Park) – Post Traumatic (Vinyl Reissue)

— Moby – always centered at night

— MONO – OATH

— Monsters of Folk (feat. Jim James, Conor Oberst, and M. Ward) – Monsters of Folk (Expanded Edition)

— Normani – Dopamine

— nusar3000 – 3000

— Oliver Wood – Fat Cat Silhouette

— Paul McCartney & Wings – One Hand Clapping

— Picture Parlour – Face in the Picture EP

— PJ Morton – Cape Town to Cairo

— Pocketboy Solid – Pocketboy Solid

— Pride Month Barbie –  All The Girls in the Room Say ‘Sorry,’

— Raveena – Where Butterflies Go in the Rain

— REZN – Burden

— RJD2 – Visions Out Of Limelight

— Royal Trux – Twin Infinitives (Reissue)

— Sam Morton – Daffodils & Dirt

— Seal – Seal (Deluxe Edition)

— ScHoolboy Q – Oxymoron (Vinyl Reissue)

— skaiwater – gigi

— Squid Pisser – Dreams of Puke

— Staples Jr. Singers – Searching

— Stumbleine – Deleted Scene

— $uicideboy$ – New World Depression

— This Is Lorelei (Nate Amos of Water From Your Eyes) – Box For Buddy, Box For Star

— Tove Lo and SG Lewis – Heat EP

— Walt Disco – The Warping

— Walter the Producer – Please Help Me I’m Scared

— Widespread Panic – Snake Oil King

— Will Gregory Moog Ensemble (feat. Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory) – Heat Ray

— WØØLS – Santa Rosa EP

— Veps – Dedicated

— Zsela – Big For You

— ZU – The Lost Demo