REVIEW: LABRINTH - COSMIC OPERA ACT I

4/5

He Is The Cosmos

Past is prelude, and it only seems like we've just been woken up from the September that British singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer, Labrinth, gave us his sonically charged 'PRELUDE' E.P. The perfect precursor to this. His new album, to awaken the love of a calm January, 'Cosmic Opera Act I'. It's time to act right in 2026, because the great Brit legacy maker is promising us even more to follow with their part one. Just like the seasons of his soundtrack. From Simon Cowell to Tinie Tempah. An 'Earthquake' up in here, to a 'Euphoria' with Zendaya, this cosmic boy has gone out of this world. Labrinth is now a legend. Going forth with his fourth album, and first since 2023's 'Ends & Begins', the LSD member (him, Sia, Diplo) is given us a whole new electronic earth. The imagination of this misfit kid is inspired.

Back to black, like Winehouse, with a deep, blood wine shirt on backwards to cover, this is album art. As soon as the for the record intro tells us this is 'Something Like An Opera', we know it's exactly, outstandingly, that. And the bass dominant 'Debris' that follows and falls like 'Get Out', will shake you to your core. "The roof is on fire/Nothing left of me/Party at my house/Now it's all debris/Now it's all debris/Picking up the pieces/Just another morning/Same old routine/Now it's all debris/I don't know these people/Welcome to the ruin/I'm the centerpiece/What the f### am I doing?", Timothy McKenzie asks. Right now, nobody mixes the Saturday night fight with Sunday sacrament quite like this Tim. This modern day classical influence continues on the INCREDIBLE 'IMPLOSION', in all-caps. Not to mention the mad scientist single, and sensational music video set of 'S.W.M.F.' ("Star Wars, motherf#####", indeed!) and the heavenly highlight, 'God Spoke'. Like this will, to you.

Space feels like the first and foremost frontier (I know that's 'Star Trek', quit your Jabb-ering, fans of 'Wars'), on this album that reaches for infinity like the cosmos. Delving deeper at an 'Interstellar' rate, further into the labyrinth, 'into the black hole' searches through your subconscious. All before the 'Big Bad Wolf', huffs, puffs and blows your house on the hill, all the way down, with lines like, "I'm f#####g awesome/My head get bigger than Austin/Hear my ego contorting/Feel myself like I'm choking/I eating on your offspring, I'm Mike Tyson, no cocaine/Make you feel those endorphins, man, I'm just too important/Now they're all saying there's something wrong/I got my head in the f#####g sun/All of my dreams get undone/I walk around like an unsung." Now, if you thought the sensational singer and songwriter had given up on the lyrical licks of rapping, then like a notorious one, you're dead wrong. 'I Keep My Promises' and McKenzie keeps moving in any direction the music in him takes him.

After the opulence of an 'Opera Interlude', Labrinth conducts an 'Orchestra' that will have you on your feet and up in applauding arms like the Royal Albert Hall. Just imagine how this set would sound here for the Hackney hometown hero. "Trumpet, trombone, violin, check/Here we got the sound of a feeble attempt/Begging for applause that I need to exist/When I bring the sound that will keep you possessed/I give you the horn, and I give you the bass/Larger than life when I'm hiding my pain/I'm the f#####g best 'cause I claw for my fame/Praying it's the cure to my sizey charade (Go)." Moving in a time lapse, like the singles cover art. This might just be Labrinth's best yet, from an artist whose magnum opus might just be his whole career, up in here. He understands the loneliness of 'Euphoria' and brings it all back for 'Still In Love With The Pain'. But when he is left 'Running A Red', akin to the shirt, that's when his heart bleeds all over the studio's floor. "Yeah, baby, I'm a slave to living on your medicine/'Til I walk upon that day/'Til I run up on that." There's a hidden yearn that burns here. Thank God, it wasn't left on the cutting room floor. We can't wait until he acts again in this opera. Like the prelude, this is just an overture. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Debris', 'God Spoke', 'Running A Red'.

Spin This: Labrinth - 'PRELUDE E.P.'

LIVE REVIEW: TsuShiMaMiRe @ TOP BEAT CLUB, Tokyo, Japan (12/01/26)

4/5

Punk Power

Austin, Texas, USA. Renowned as the Live Music Capital of the World. That's where TsuShiMaMiRe, the Japanese all-female rock trio, made their name Stateside at the South By Southwest music festival. Punctuating this with performances with the Suicide Girls and at anime events for these Japan girl's nights. The only other city in America, apart from the jazzy likes of New Orleans and New York's hip-hop, that has quite an effect on the world's soundstage is Music City itself, Nashville, Tennessee. Such an iconic landmark of country and western music, that even Detroit's own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame White Stripe, Jack White, had his first Third Man record store there. 

Last March, TsuShiMaMiRe (abbreviated as TSMMR) supported White during the Tokyo set at Toyosu Pit of his brief but brilliant tour of Japan that also saw him make a surprise stop at the Shibuya store Hysteric Glamour, that just looks like an album cover. This gig, albeit getting in late because of the number roll call (I can only count to ten in Japanese...I'm just kidding...five), was my first introduction to Tokyo's perfect punk trio. Their bassist bending backwards with ease. Pulling better faces than Haim's Este, whereas I pull my back out these days, even reaching into the fridge. The lead singer, unafraid to cede some of the spotlight to a fellow star because we all know the bassist is the underscoring soul of any band.

Originally hailing from Chiba Prefecture, these jets, not to be confused with the Tsushima island in Japan, are art punk all the way down to their nuanced name. A neologism of their bassist, Yayoi Tsushima's family name combined with "Ma" (for vocalist and guitarist Mari Kono, with a style and pixie cut Yayoi Kusama would be proud of) "Mi" (for original drummer Mizue Masuda) and "mamire", which means "mixed up". Well, now TSMMR can add Hokkaido's own Addy, AKA, Asami Suzuki to their iconic name. Their new drummer, who won her sticks and is absolutely amazing on the skins. 

Influenced by the likes of Rage Against The Machine, this band have even had songs on Fortnite ('Break The Curse'). Now, sandwiched between last year's American tour, and this year's Ice Cream Punk Tour of Australia (starting at Shotkickers in Melbourne, February 19), they have just performed at Tokyo's Top Beat Club to start the working week. And this was one Monday you would have liked in one of the town's best hidden gems of a venue, serving drinks, music and damn good coffee. Their plectrum drink token (a 1,700 yen cover) being the perfect memento for those like me who don't drink (I still have my gold coin from Toyosu Pit), as all the acts strummed the night away.

Getting there a little late for this battalion of bands, I caught the tail end of my own country's amazing Mika Bomb and their bold and brilliant, boundless energy. The same that carried over for the terrific TsuShiMaMiRe, who showed us their soy sauce and a jukebox of instant sing-a-long hits like 'Brain', 'Sex' and 'Eel'. Kono being a kinetic stage presence, having audience members hold the mic as she sang into it and kept her energy effervescent, just like Yayoi's eyes and Asami's hands. Recently, from Aimyon to Sakanaction, we’ve talked about music in Japan, just like the latter's bassist Ami Kusakari linking up with fellow electronic artist Kyoka for MUTEK JP 10. It's their turn. It needs to be noticed and have its day outside of the Land of the Rising Sun, too. Anime is all over the world with its themes, and the neighbouring South Korea's K-Pop showed we don't have to be lost in translation. TsuShiMaMiRe are further proof that Japanese music rocks! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

REVIEW: NAS & DJ PREMIER - LIGHT-YEARS

4/5

Legends Have It

Saving the best for last, Mass Appeal's 'Legend Has It...' series concludes with a classic collaboration before the curtain of this calendar. Slick Rick ('Victory'), Raekwon ('The Emperor's New Clothes'), Ghostface Killah ('Supreme Clientele 2'), Mobb Deep ('Infinite'), Big L ('Harlem's Finest: Return Of The King'), De La Soul ('Cabin In The Sky'). And now, Nas, who appears on all the albums from the aforementioned artists with the respective, 'Documents', 'The Omerta', 'Love Me Anymore', 'Down For You' (with Jorja Smith), 'U Ain't Gotta Chance', and 'Run It Back!' But now, Nas is like back with the legendary DJ Premier, like some of their collective classics. And the name of the game is 'Light-Years', like how much ahead of the competition this old-school/out of this world album is.

Premier previously released 'The Reinvention' with Ransom, mere months back, but it's God's Son who has been on a tear lately. Since COVID, Nas has given us the 'King's Disease' and 'Magic' trilogies, the latter with producer Hit-Boy, showcasing his supreme skill set as one of the game and genre's most legendary lyricists. This half-decade of dominance, making fans and purists alike debate if this was one of the G.O.A.T.'s greatest eras (he's an icon who deserves his time to be called as such), like the inspired 'Illmatic' beginnings, or the 'Stillmatic' career comeback when he gave the 'Ether' to Jay-Z. Not to mention when he buried all sorts of hatchets on 'Hip-Hop Is Dead'. Or almost called an album the 'N' word. And we can settle that Nasir Jones versus S. Carter debate right now. Jigga hasn't had a solo set out since they read the wrong name for 'Best Picture' at The Oscars. But by this moonlight, Nas makes it to 21 savage albums, if you count his collaborative ones with Damian Marley ('Distant Relatives') and The Firm ('The Album'). AZ calling it twenty-something on the real reunion of 'My Story Your Story'.

Jones really is a superhero like the Marvel comic collaboration with Mass Appeal. The premier DJ, too, giving us one of the New York rapper's greatest hits since 'Nas Is Like'. Singles? This dynamic duo doesn't need singles, like J. Cole doesn't guest features. Although 'Define My Name' last year, to mark 'Illmatic's' 30th anniversary was incredible. Not when they have sequels to their cinematic canons of hip-hop history. The instant classic, trilogy closer of 'N.Y. State Of Mind Pt.3' brings a bold and beautiful Billy Joel sample for Madison Square Garden's finest. Whilst we're in our '3rd Childhood' in closing now. Who else could it be? N.A.S. NAS! And Preme on the wheels of steel. Primo when it comes to other top tracks that could serve as spiritual sequels. Most notably, 'Sons (Young Kings)' for 'Daughters'. And the tribute to the best women in rap, with the 'Bouquet (To The Ladies)', like the 'U.B.R.' of an 'Unauthorized Biography Of Rakim'. And as he shouts out all the greats, like he does his 'Legend Has It' icons on the opening 'My Life Is Real, or the NYC sports teams on 'State Of Mind', whilst you listen out for Nicki, I'm wondering, where's Jean Grae?

This schedule by Mass Appeal is as good as that great day in hip-hop, a landmark moment for the genre. This should have been done when rap celebrated its 50th birthday. As classic as this cover in black and gold, blinging like the same 'Star Wars' Nas rapped about on another 'Illmatic' anniversary. The seventh seal and divine number. 'Nasty Esco Nasir' rapping like a 'Madman' and calling himself the crypto king on 'GiT Ready'. Rhyming "Welcome to the underground, that basement life/Way underneath the earth, dig up dirt, termites and baby mice, scatterin’/Below the surface, we deep in the soil, we jackhammerin'/To the core of it all, avoidin' the laws" with Ralph McDaniels. All before giving it up for the graffiti 'Writers'. Big beats take you through these streets as DJ Premier is as powerful as he is profound. Laying the groundwork for Nas to say such things like, "Rhyme a few bars, kick a few flows/For every word I spit, I get phenomenal/And we might as well shine together" for a Notorious B.I.G. refrain. No need to 'Pause Tapes', this hip-hop 'Junkie' who has been free-bassing since 2020, has that vision once more. Ayo, Black, 'It's Time' again. The appeal is mass and will last for light years beyond this great year in hip-hop. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'N.Y. State Of Mind Pt.3', 'Writers', 'My Story Your Story (Feat AZ)'.

Spin This: Mobb Deep - 'Infinite'

LIVE REVIEW: KYOKA + AMI KUSAKARI @ MUTEK JP 10, Spotify O-East, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan (23/11/25)

4/5

Water Studies 

Music is art, plain and simple, simple and plain. You only have to see sound and hear time with the late, great Ryuichi Sakamoto to feel this. Earlier this year, another artist inspired by the legendary likes of him, Ami Kusakari, released her inspired instrumental, and stunning solo set, 'Garden Studies' to rave reviews. Taking us back to the beauty and nature of life, soil to seed. This atmospheric album played in the white fog, of an exhibition like entrance to the epic, back-to-back, K-Arena 'Sakanaquarium' concerts with this bass player's band, Sakanaction, concluding their tour of the rising sun in August. 

Kyoka, also, needs no introduction. The first female artist signed to the iconic experimental German label, Raster-Noton (now Raster Media and NOTON), splits her time between Switzerland, Berlin and her native Japan. The eclectic sound and installation artist, DJ, field recorder and electric producer knows music and sound to the notes she devotes. Exploring and experimenting, the whole soundscape with a purists touch. Records like 'Is (Is Superpowered), 'iSH' and 'SH' will take you further...and higher. Using synths, equalizers and MIDI pads, Kyoka not only brings echos and reverbs of her signature sound, but also the amazing art itself, as the movie that played behind her and Ami was composed by Kyoka, herself. All for a personal and profound passion project that is "inspired by motion picture blindness". All through the flow of water and our own human perceptions in this compelling communication from Kyoka and Kusakari.

Together, the perfect pairing offered a stunning set, incredible, inspired and absolutely beautiful. All for the tenth MUTEK JP festival, from Montreal, Canada, to Tokyo, Japan. Playing in Spotify's O-East venue in the heart of Shibuya, just a few corners from the crossing. But through these neon streams, audible art took you on a path more meaningful and moving than all that. All for a three-day festival that also included the electronic music and digital creativity likes of Alex Vlair, Atsushi Kobayashi, BunBun, and many, many more. This tech cultural-exchange in the form of music celebrated it's tenth anniversary in Japan with a special showcase, and Kyoka and Ami were at the heart of it, headlining the final day. From Kyoka's heartfelt introduction to her work, and songs like 'Susurrus' and 'Shush', to Kusakari giving us her 'Garden Studies' (including 'Sound Of A Pier', 'RainFalls' and an extended version of 'Ginkgo Tree') in all their beautiful blooms, this left us all in attendance wondering what it would be like if this dynamic duo gave us an actual album. But this perfect performance was much more than that. Floating through the depths of our subconscious and resonating with us in layers. Sensory, physically and mentally. It contained multitudes. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

REVIEW: DE LA SOUL - CABIN IN THE SKY

4/5

Spirit In The Sky

Eye know you're going to love this. Gus from 'Breaking Bad', AKA Giancarlo Esposito, or Moff Gideon in 'Star Wars'', 'The Mandalorian', takes roll, like Key & Peele's classic 'Substitute Teacher' with that iconic voice of his. And it's one hell of a register. Killer Mike running the jewels on 'A Quick 16 For Mama' (the perfect lyrical gift for next Mother's Day). Contemporary Tribe's Q-Tip on 'Day In The Sun (Gettin' Wit U)', also featuring Yummy Bingham (Giancarlo likes that one), who also features on 'Will Be'. The great impressionist of Jay Pharoah with Gareth Donkin on 'Just How It Is (Sometimes'). Swedish Little Dragon singer Yukimi for 'Cruel Summers Bring Fire Life!" The 'Different World' of Gina Loring. The Roots of Black Thought on 'En Eff'. The praise be of 'Believe (In Him)' with a congregation of Stout and K. Butler & The Collective. And the 'Palm Of His Hand' and Bilal's. But when Mr. Espositio calls for De La Soul in the intro to this album, someone is missing from the frame. Kelvin 'Posdnuos Mercer? Here! Vincent 'Maseo' Mason? Check! David 'Trugoy the Dove' Jolicoeur? Dave? Dave?!

Legend has it that the penultimate album in the Mass Appeal series, that also featured the likes of Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Mobb Deep and Big L, features songs with some of these artists that have formed like Voltron for a great year in hip-hop and a Marvel Comics crossover. Slick Rick, who set this all off, getting in 'Yours' with Common. And Nas ('Run It Back'), who is set to have the last album of the 'Legend Has It...' series, next month, to close out the year, with legendary producer DJ Premier. He also mans the tracks 'Sunny Storms', 'En Eff' and 'The Silent Life Of A Truth'. Whilst his own contemporary, Pete Rock, gets behind the boards of 'The Package', 'Different World', 'Yours' and 'Palm'. But even with more guest features than a Bizarro J.Cole. Not to mention references to both Superman and Lois Lane. This is a De La album, after all. And three is still the magic number as Trugoy The Dove, Dave himself, appears on six sweet tracks. Making this 'Cabin In The Sky' to Soul, what 'Infinite' was to Mobb Deep (rest peacefully, Prodigy), last month.

Amazing artwork, in Simpsons skies, will keep your head in the clouds, looking to the heavens of a rap God. All whilst those feet stay firmly on the ground, walking for all the people in the single that runs it back. And the '3 Feet High and Rising' legends prove they've still got it. De La Soul are far from dead, as this album, like 'The Grind Date', the 'Daylight' they showed an 'NBA Live' soundtrack, 'And The Anonymous Nobody' proves they've still got it. Even in this art official cage age, Prince was talking about, they bring back the year 2000s, 'Art Official Intelligence' feeling. From the millennium bug, to A.I., take that. Even reuniting with producer Prince Paul, this first album since David Jolicoeur's death, and the first in almost a decade, is a joy to behold. Especially as he never really left us. 'Yuhdontstop'! This ninth studio album really is a wonder, like the producer.

'The Package' left outside for your 'Day In The Sun' ("I walk through the city real slow/Like I've been pieced together by that dude named Frankenstein/And I only got one little thing on my mind: that's a whole lotta you/Hot on my tail be a whole lotta crew/After me they (searching) with their pitchforks and stakes/Try to backstab but they can't grab your attention away from me and vice versa/Mama always said there'd be days like this") are the singles that will be getting you through the fall, but it’s the real rhymes you'd stay outside in the cold for, crate digging. 'Good Health' is what you need, and that track eats like your vegetables. Whilst 'Patty Cake', is so good you should name it, and listen to it twice for the bakers, man! Yet in this cabin talk, after the terrific title-track for this soulful hip-hop, it's 'Don't Push Me' in cloud covering closing that will really take you to the edge...of heaven. "Tuesday morning, I ring upon the door/Wednesday morning, come knock a little more/Door cracked open they'll be like, "who is it"/it's the 86 come to pay that a## a visit." Meet Dave again. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Run It Back (Feat. Nas)', 'Yours (Feat. Slick Rick & Common)', 'Don't Push Me'.

Spin This: De La Soul - 'The Grind Date'.

REVIEW: AEROSMITH & YUNGBLUD - ONE MORE TIME EP

4/5

AeroBLUD.

If you've been crying for some new music from Aerosmith, then the pleasure and pain has been one and the same. It seems like the band with nine lives have been on a permanent vacation, as the 'Toys In The Attic' rockers haven't pushed play on an album since London held the Olympics, with 2012's 'Music From Another Dimension' (featuring the hallowed hit single 'What Could Have Been Love' and the beautiful 'Beautiful'). But it's time to get a grip (and your wings) on the pump again, as the elevator is going down again, like the love symbol going crazy. Recovering from the heartbreak of having to cancel their farewell tour to arms. And it's only taken a young twenty-something from Doncaster, South Yorkshire to get them here, bringing them on back. 'One More Time' for one last dance...and scream!

YUNGBLUD has never met a confidence he couldn't coax. Or the letter "O" for that matter. And fresh off his album of 'Idols', the '21st Century Liability' and huge rock hit maker has given the ageing Aerosmith their biggest collaboration since they walked this way with those legends that strut in shell toes. After their beautiful tribute to Black Sabbath's late, great Ozzy Osbourne together, Aerosmith and YUNGBLUD have given us the sensational single 'My Only Angel', sharing the microphone like Springsteen does with fellow Jersey boy rockers, The Gaslight Anthem. "Niiice!" "F#####g-A!" and "hallelujah's" can be heard as Dominic Richard Harrison kisses Steven Tyler on the cheek after bringing the 77-year-old's old thing back. With Joe Perry ripping and riffing, this really is 'Amazing'. All over again. Reworking 'Back In The Saddle', for a 2025 mix with the boys from Boston, that gives the track new blood.

'Problems' continue on a track that tells us, and the muse, "Yeah, I know I've felt you in my life/In the streets of every city/Where I dream at night/I met all the bitter saints, and I was sold/But to get to where you want/You can’t do what you're told." Whereas, riding a 'Wild Woman', this new perfect partnership sings, "Big life from a little dream/Whole forest from a little seed/Drop me off down by the ocean, baby/That's a good place to leave me/Big house on a little hill/That's what you said that you want from me/Call me up when you get lonely, lady/I'll give you what you need." 'A Thousand Days' keeps this 'Dream On', 'Sweet Emotion' sound going. And you won't want to miss a thing, like this, "You got a little fire going on in you head/Maybe we can turn it up in my cold bed/Because, babe, heaven's gonna burn down eventually", crazy love. From Blud's trademark open shirt, to the scarfs hanging from Steven's microphone, this may just be an EP, but the skull fits perfectly on the wings. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'My Only Angel', 'A Thousand Days', 'Back In The Saddle (2025 Mix)'.

Spin This: Aerosmith - 'Music From Another Dimension'

YUNGBLUD - 'Idols'

MOVIE REVIEW: PRINCE - SIGN "☮" THE TIMES (IMAX)

4/5

Peace

85 Mins. Starring: Prince. Director: Prince. In: IMAX Theatres.

By royal appointment, O(+> is back in theatres. Remember during Prince's 'Hit n Run' phase, before he passed, when he was on the revamped 'The Arsenio Hall Show' for the nostalgia? The legendary Arsenio asked the icon if he was on Instagram. Prince replied that he was going to have, "Princestagram" (amazing). Now, with the return of his critically-acclaimed, classic concert film 'Sign "☮" Of The Times', from 1987, in IMAX theatres. We ain't trying to botch that name ("IPrince" sounds like something from Apple, we're good), but perhaps the IMAX blue light should have turned purple for this outstanding occasion. Especially when here in Tokyo (sharing the experience with an amazing artist in their own right), Prince's  "☮" sign played in a cinema under Shinagawa's Prince Hotel...and a cherry moon. 

For a minute there, I lost myself, like Radiohead, and thought they had made Prince signs special for this presentation. Blame my inability to read Kanji. Anyway, between all the Studio Ghibli re-releases ('Princess Mononoke') and BTS concerts (J-Hope) in Japanese theatres right now, Prince hit IMAX like Christopher Nolan with his odyssey. I may have been two years old when this concert was conceived, but it's an absolute classic that still holds up to this day. Even with its inspired intro, nuanced in nostalgia, directed by the man that gave us the Lake Minnetonka purifying scenes of his own 'Purple Rain' movie. And even that classic, that came before in '84', didn't have to close this compelling concert when Prince had 'The Cross' to bear in an epic finale. 'Little Red Corvette' ('1999'), on a piano and a microphone, being the only hit from another records making it to these times. Otherwise, it was a 'Housequake' of 'Slow Love' and other timeless love songs like 'If I Was Your Girlfriend' and 'I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man'. 'Hot Thing' and the official video for 'U Got The Look', featuring Sheena Easton at intermission. Boy versus girl, in the World Series of love.

Charlie Parker also got a cover ('Now's The Time') in a sensational set as outstanding as Prince's true, glam rock star outfits on the neon Moulin Rouge like stage in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Playing to the Paisley Park pastel and paint of this trip's theatrical poster. The band's all here too. Even some comic-foils from The Revolution era. But from the prescriptions on the keys of Doctor Fink, to the influential introduction of dancer Cat Glover, it was the great Sheila E. on the skins, who truly took your breath away. Especially with one hell of a drum solo (see Prince's Brit Awards performance for more), that she did with sticks, and even her hands (DAMN!). Between sweet segues, showing you a ring in a shop window (before the formidable 'Forever In My Life', bringing The Artist himself to tears, showcasing such skill in asking the backing singers to back up for a shadowy sound), Prince did spins and splits more times than you and your pants when you slip on a banana. They say in IMAX you can hear everything so clear, from a pin drop, to a jumbo jet soar. Yet, Prince was so much more. Playing in the sunshine, it was always going to be a beautiful night. ☮. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

 

Further Filming: 'Purple Rain', 'Under The Cherry Moon', 'Graffiti Bridge'.