Little Simz – “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert” (Age 101)
Before a few rather very German albums disturb the readers and / or make them flee, the album of the week swiftly: “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert” by British rapper Little Simz, bourgeois Simbiatu Abisola Abiola Ajikawo. Identity search and self-assertion through grime and soul hip-hop. Crazy, confidently raped, produced in a very serene way – but still with disturbing energy and playfulness. Voice and insight into the world of a woman who is deeply influenced by life. But the urge of a 20-year-old freedom fighter. “She’s the illest doing it right now,” said Kendrick Lamar years ago. So it must be because of the damned world that it’s still not adequately famous for its immense quality.
Alex Christensen – “Classical 80s Dance” (Seven.One Starwatch)
Alex Christensen was a very crucial composer and producer for his time in the nineties. Or, as he puts it on his homepage himself: “With singles like ‘Das Boot’ and ‘united’ he decisively shaped the 90s and got the dance and techno boom going.” Then he discovered and adapted the really very good trick of aging classic rock stars for himself – he continued exactly the same, but with an orchestra (Homepage: “With the series ‘Classical 90s Dance’ Alex Christensen even brought classical music and dance Music together. “). It has recently sold a good 300,000 times. And “now”, one last time the homepage, “he continues the success story: In ‘Classical 80s Dance’ the iconic hits of the 80s find their new, orchestral home.” Which means that he throws songs, which in the original mostly work through their manic focus on only a few striking elements (#producers), shovel by shovel with hyper-nervous and somehow greasy strings. And then a quarter-pounding bass drum drifts underneath. This makes Alex Christensen one of the very few producers where even very unmistakable 80s hits still sound like 90s dance. Formative, the man.
Tiny Addendum: The Way How Gary Barlow – Head and rulers at Take that, Decade antipode to Robbie Williams and, you can see that here again, widely underrated singer – bringing air into the paste on “Don’t Dream It’s Over” deserves nothing but recognition. Wonderful man.
David Hasselhoff – “Party Your Hasselhoff” (Restless / The Orchard / Sony)
What absolutely imperative to continue David Hasselhoff leads. Hasselhoff has actually become naturalized, at least as a musician. Here are the fans, the love, the duet partners from Harald Juhnke to Blümchen, the people who shoot documentaries about him and do not ask him about his appearance in Hitler’s costume. For here he of course also recorded the song “Damnit I Love You”, which, you don’t immediately recognize that at the beginning, is an English version by Matthias Reims (German David Hasselhoff?) “Damn I love you” – and that’s just it one of many, gently reinterpreted songs on “Party Your Hasselhoff” (Restless / The Orchard / Sony), the album that he will be releasing here on Friday (“I Was Made vor Loving You” is included and also “The Passenger” ). On the album cover, parts of the name are written in letter form with these shiny metallic party balloons. They form the words “Ass off”. And the beauty here is that the album sounds very, very, exactly the same.
Moses Pelham – “Nostalgia Tape” (Sony Music)
And so on Moses Pelham. Pelham was a very crucial composer and producer for his time in the 1990s. Then he discovered and adapted the really very good trick of middle-aged hip-hop stars for himself, and did not continue exactly the same, but with doe-eyed singers. Now he’s bringing out a new solo album. “Nostalgie Tape” (Sony Music) is said to contain mainly a slightly milder form of battle rap and a few guest appearances by Marteria, Namika or Cora E (the older ones will remember). And what can one say, here too: the man is largely underestimated! Almost as much as the Hessian in rap. Top MC. Does it suit him insanely, instead of misgivings and Weltschmerz to spend again something that has to be given the technical term “neck cuffs”. In his words: “Get in – un ‘auf gedda / against my lines are other leaf blowers.”
FS Blumm & Nils Frahm “2X1 = 4”
In order to weaken the nerd character, you can imagine the whole thing a bit archaic: two artists – one pianist Nils Frahm, the other the experimental musician FS Blumm – a tape recorder, very free, very improvised sessions, very much recorded extensively. And then dragged the still raw material into the building (well, into the studio), where it was torn, cut, filleted and reassembled. Over and over again. Layers on, layers gone. Break out pieces, insert pieces. Tons of raw material. And then at the end a very playful, cozy, warm and really dark and beautiful dub instrumental record. “It was as if we were traveling with a combine harvester and then writing our names on a single grain,” says Blumm. And so the title, “2X1 = 4”, almost makes sense.
Kanye West – “Donda” (Universal Music)
And then suddenly “Donda” was released after all. Strangely unspectacular process after the whole PR madness, the roughly 312 postponements, the three live streaming sessions in two different football stadiums. Apparently someone just pressed a button: pling, there. No fireworks, no parades, no apocalyptic horsemen who dropped the first specimens over the world.
The main thing is that the album is a rather great mixture of religious spirituality and darkly tinted highscore pop. Awe of God and the primal force of rap. At the center of most of the songs are piano, organ or synths, gospel choirs, autotune voices or lead chants so silvery, ethereal and disembodied, so uplifting, caressing the soul and relieving the heart, as if gravity on the moon would apply to them at most. Underneath, however, basses crawl, roll and level around again and again, so massive, grim and lowered, as if they didn’t just want to scrape the dirt off the streets, but all the concrete at the same time. Which, in turn, to reach into the interpretation box, fits very well into the image of the soul savior Kanye West. Collect the people at the bottom – and then lead them to the higher.
Otherwise, “Donda” is a very long (one hour 48 minutes, 27 songs), largely hit-free concept work that, somewhat maliciously condensed, has three themes: Kanye West, Jesus – and the path from one to the other. In the song “Off the Grid” West also explains that he is by no means spreading his heavenly messages as an end in itself. He talks about it daily to his best buddy, God. Lionel Messi is there sometimes too. “I talk to God everyday, that’s my bestie / They playin ‘soccer in my backyard, I think I see Messi”.
A detailed portrait of the album is available here (SZ Plus).