Grimes revels in ethereally beautiful pop on album No 5

The five years between albums have enriched Grimes as a songwriter, a singer and a female artist.

US pop/electronic musician Grimes (aka Claire Boucher).

ELECTRONIC/POP

Miss Anthropocene

Grimes

4AD/Remote Control

★★★★

Grimes album Miss Anthropocene.

Sounding like a broken-winged angel as she crashes through storm clouds towards the ground, Claire Boucher (aka Grimes) sets the mood early for introspective and ethereally beautiful pop sounds on So Heavy I Fell Through The Earth. Layers of trippy drums, swirling synths and her melodic croon envelop listeners in Grimes’s fantasy world. Miss Anthropocene addresses the power wrangles in relationships, most pointedly in Violence, referring to sexual abuse and exploitation. She’s hinted that it could also refer to human devastation of the planet. This album, her fifth, feels too personal and intimate to pass as commentary on global environmental damage, though: the lyrical content is pure gloom, but to dismiss the whole album as dark would do it a disservice. The swirly disco synths, falsetto melodies and poppy choruses give a toe-tapping, celebratory mood to proceedings. The Canadian singer-songwriter revealed only last month that she’s pregnant to Tesla billionaire boyfriend Elon Musk. Was she aware of the pregnancy during the writing and recording of the album? Does it matter? Listeners can only speculate. Though it’s rare to listen to an album start to finish these days, the pace is designed to hook you in, raise to climax, then let you out unscarred and fulfilled. The peak has to be 4AEM, throttling in with hectic drum ‘n’ bass beats washed over with vocals that sound like traditional devotional Sufi chants. It’s a combination that seems as natural as butter and toast in these skilled hands. The pace is gentler, though still suitable for a smoky dancefloor, on Violence, My Name is Dark and New Gods. You’ll Miss Me When I’m Not Around is disturbing, though if listeners are not humming along by the end, they may be tone deaf. Running through Miss Anthropocene is a sound similar to 1990s grunge-pop band Garbage, fronted by Shirley Manson; there’s also a definite parallel with Robyn’s dance music for depressives. This is not the angry, nu-metal aggression of Art Angels, Grimes’s 2015 album. The intervening years have enriched her as a songwriter, a singer and a female artist. Dark, introspective, futuristic, celebratory and sensual: expect to get lost with Grimes and her demons.

Cat Woods

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JAZZ

Transients Volume 2, by Andrea Keller.

Transients Volume 2

Andrea Keller

Independent

★★★★

This is a lovely album from Melbourne’s Andrea Keller, with music recorded in October 2018. Nine tracks not on the first volume (May 2019) are here, so this is a chance to again savour the playing of nine outstanding modern jazz musicians Keller has gathered together. They include herself, a vastly superior pianist. The aggregations are small: one duo, seven trios, one quintet. All the musicians here are extremely gifted players, including Flora Carbo (alto sax), Julien Wilson (tenor saxophone and bass clarinet), James Macaulay (trombone), Stephen Magnusson (guitar), Sam Anning (double bass), Christopher Hale (bass guitar), Leigh Fisher or James McLean (drums). With her clever arrangements and compositions, the fascination in Keller’s music primarily lies in what her side-persons are prompted to play, given the freedom of expression that is in the air.

Eric Myers

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Fu Chronicles, by Antibalas.

AFROBEAT

Fu Chronicles

Antibalas

Daptone/Planet

★★★★

They might seem unlikely bedfellows but Asian martial arts and Afrobeat ­— the intoxicating conglomeration of Nigerian tribal rhythm, James Brown-inspired funk groove and sociopolitical commentary — actually cohabit compellingly in the latest waxing from one of New York’s most enduringly brilliant bands. Antibalas taps the spirit and sound of genre progenitor Fela Kuti’s 1970s collective Africa 70 in the band’s 20th anniversary album, with crisscrossing jazz-infused horn lines, dancing guitars, steamy organ and compulsive Afro drumming providing propulsion.The globetrotting Harlem band’s charismatic vocalist and kung fu master Duke Amayo hatched the album’s song template after perceiving parallel patterns in both of his disciplines. In eight elongated tracks, Amayo’s mantras meld with the magic of his bandmates to produce a gloriously free-flowing and mesmerising album.

Tony Hillier

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SOUL/FOLK

And It's Still Alright, by Nathaniel Rateliff.

And It’s Still Alright

Nathaniel Rateliff

Stax Records/Concord

★★★★½

After two albums with his hot soul outfit the Night Sweats, Nathaniel Rateliff is back where he began: solo. In more ways than one. Resigned rather than despondent, And It’s Still Alright documents the end of his marriage and the loss of his close friend and producer Richard Swift, who died during the making of the record. What A Drag sets the scene with Rateliff’s acoustic guitar, finger clicks and upbeat vocal masking his inner gloom as his marriage shudders to a close: “Here’s where the crash lands.” It’s followed by the title track, one of two heartfelt eulogies for Swift. Just as you reach for the bottle, Rateliff’s mood lifts as he channels Harry Nilsson over finger-picked guitars, sparse keys and percussion, with a nine-piece string section added on the aptly titled All Or Nothing. Elsewhere, mid-album track Tonight #2 is an angelic lullaby with an embedded dagger.

Phil Stafford

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POP/R&B

Changes by Justin Bieber.

Changes

Justin Bieber

Universal Music

★½

The irony of Justin Bieber’s latest album lies in its name. For a release titled Changes it has an incredibly one-dimensional and unchanging sound, as almost all of the 16 tracks resemble each other in tempo and lyrical content. This is the fifth release from the 25-year-old and, while it’s his clearest departure from the teen pop that launched his career a decade ago, its R&B drive also lacks the oomph — the syncopated beats and soaring melodies – that made so many songs from his 2015 album Purpose instant hits. Habitual and Available are standouts, with other highlights coming towards the end of the album when synthesisers are replaced by acoustic instruments and stripped-back vocals. Impressive as always is Bieber’s voice as it seamlessly transitions between his chest and falsetto voice. While the album is a pleasant listen, it’s devoid of innovative choices and is, quite frankly, boring.

Emily Ritchie

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PLAYLIST STEVE KILBEY, SINGER, SONGWRITER AND BASSIST

Five songs on high rotation

01. Singing Winds, Crying Beasts Santana

This is music as travelogue: Santana’s guitar is unbelievably loud and powerful when it comes in, and the percussion is brilliant!

02. Rain The Beatles

The bass guitar riff that launched a thousand other bass guitar riffs. And people who say Ringo couldn’t play, please listen to these walloping drums.

03. Guitar Man Bread

I wish I’d written this song.

04. The Wild One, Forever Tom Petty

My fave TP song: palpable longing and exquisitely played.

05. Overture The Who

Still jaw-droppingly amazing after 51 years!