REVIEW: BETHANY COSENTINO - NATURAL DISASTER

4/5

Beth Coast.

Best pop album of the year? Well, P!nk ('TRUSTFALL'), Miley Cyrus ('Endless Summer Vacation') and all those Taylor versions may have something to say about that. Let alone compelling crossover talents like Shania Twain ('Queen Of Me') and Lana Del Rey ('Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd'). But this left turn from the best of the west, Bethany Cosentino is certainly a contender. Cosentino and her Best Coast partner in perfect Cali' playlists, Bobb Bruno have been on hiatus like BTS since the 'Always Tomorrow' of 2020, right before the pandemic shut everything down like their tour. And we can't wait for them to make it back like the bear necessities of their 'The Only Place' classic, putting them on the map like their state after their sensational debut 'Crazy For You'. Nobody knows when that will be and besides, that's BC's business. But we'll always have to those rip-roaring guitar riff 'California Night' atop Los Angeles' legendary Capitol Records Tower. Until then there's more than enough to tide you over. Going solo for the first time, there's life after with Beth, and her first album is a 'Natural Disaster'. 

One you'll actually welcome at your door. Just like the formidable first album title-track that sings, "It's August 1st in a parking lot/And there's a guy with a radio/He's sure got a lot to say, got a lot to sell/So I'll look the other way/And there's a girl with a cigarette in her mouth/She's on the phone, I can tell she's from the South/She's walking backwards, wants to be an actor/Why am I listening?" The chorus matching the desert of this album artwork and its theme. Calling, "This is the hottest summer I can ever/ remember/'Cause the world is on fire/And, hey, if we're all dying, then what does it matter?/We're a natural disaster". A metaphor for our love and a literal reflection in life. Especially in Californian where the forests are in desperate need of a drop of water like our souls are another chance. This is the realest look at the raw nature of things outside those homes in the hills since Julia Stone of Aussie act Angus and Julia Stone's cover of Midnight Oil's 'Beds Are Burning' for her 'Songs For Australia' album and the haunting backing vocals that echoes what's happening on the other side of the world. 

Bolstered by three big singles, Beth's beautiful new album has the same pop sensibilities, tempered by things a little bit country, by the hits of Sheryl Crow and Faith Hill that she grew up with in the golden era 90s. Rolling like a Lionel Richie Commodore, 'Easy' evokes that all taking a pit-stop from the drama in a Californian break in the road like Danielle and her Haim sisters now this woman in music is in it with part two to her career. "Sitting in my car in a parking lot/Look up at the stars, but they don't shine a lot no more/It's always something in the distance that reminds me of resistance/When did something oh so easy get so hard?" Wanting to be free like "just me!" 'It's Fine' continues this feeling with the latest single. Whilst the album precursor, 'For A Moment' imagines you in this state for a fleeting second, singing, "The hills behind our house/Could literally just burst right into flames/I wake up every day and ruminate/I look at you and start to pray for rain/A voice inside my head/Says, "Why you wanna waste your time like that?/Cut all your losses baby don't look back/Today could be the best you'll ever have." A folk song that is anything but folklore. 

'Outta Time' Bethany sings heavenly for the skies of a city of stars like all that's left is 'A Single Day'. Single, taken, or "it's complicated". Whichever one you check this ticks your box. Just like 'My Own City' and the heart of where home is. 'Calling On Angels' it gets even more like heaven singing, "there's fire in the sky, and we don't see eye-to-eye, think I'll go out for a drive/Roll down the windows to let in the sun, but the mood feels overdone." Lost in the open road where we were born to run, Wendy. But this Bethany and explicitly in this 'Real Life' she 'Hope(s) You're Happy Now'. We are with this album. 'It's A Journey' like the acoustics of "when the sky is falling I get closer to the sun, closer to truth/I hear the darkness calling, it's OK to let it in/At least that's what they say/Just when you think it's over/It all comes crashing down/The devil on my shoulder says give up/But it's a journey and I think I'll stick around." Bethany almost gave up music to study psychology, but 'I've Got News For You' on the best saved for last on perfect piano ("talking to myself in the mirror again/Practising the words I never meant/To say out loud, to someone else, 'til there was you"). Cosentino may be away from the coast, but she's still at her best. The map just got a little bigger in the California Republic. But she always finds her way home. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Easy', 'Calling On Angels', 'I've Got News For You'. 

REVIEW: NAS - MAGIC 2

4/5

23K Magic. 

How about another 'Magic' trick? The way Queens MC Nas has been releasing albums since the pandemic, you would have thought this was back in the golden era when he was the planet's most prolific rapper. Trading bars and barbs with Jay-Z like Biggie and Tupac, when these friends were formidable foes. Since locking it down, Nas has been working on his latest crowing achievement. The gold bars of 'King's Disease', concluding last year with its Holy Trinity third part, which made sure all other pretending rappers to his throne were merely wearing masks like COVID. In-between all that he pulled 'Magic' out the 2020 socially isolated hat with prolific producer Hit-Boy. If 'Disease' is 'Stillmatic', then this rabbit takes you back to iller times like hey presto. Now with another unexpected drop like Drake of 'Magic 2', Nas is back making real rap hits with the boy that could conceive its own trilogy come next calendar. 

"I'm a magician, you should listen, it's never the same tricks/2020 when we did the first one, five album run, not a cursed one, it's a blessed one/By the time y'all hear this, we be halfway through the next one", Nasir Jones preludes on the opening act 'Abracadabra' like the steel of a Shaquille O'Neal heavy-hitting 'KAZAM!' What's a great trick, if you can't come back and explain how it's done? But the God Son MC will never reveal his secrets like cutting the grass, so the snakes will show. Now, this may not be as 'Black Republican' big as his beef squashing on stage teaming up with S. Carter, but putting in 'Office Hours' with 50 Cent is certainly something we never expected to see like KD and Magic mixed with 'Dumb and Dumber' references. Working magic like Lloyd Banks until all the hate disappears. Teasing, "Ha, ayo Fif', I might put my next album out on G-Unit" like that time we thought he was making 'The Pledge' to sign to rival Ja Rule's Murder Inc imprint. Curtis "Billion Dollar budget" Jackson who once signed Mobb Deep, M.O.P. and Ma$e to the money, rapping, "Innocent victim/Stick 'em, get 'em, book 'em, good you got 'em/Glad you took 'em/Black and wasn't lookin', headshot," like when he used to teach you 'How To Rob'. 

More 'Black Magic' like Common is given with Jones' 'Magic' shtick as this eleven-track epic, like all the classic half-hour hip-hop albums, gets deeper and darker. Moving in 'Motion' and hallowed Hit-Boy beats that feel as hallmark as all the hip-hop heads nodding along in Carhartt hoodies. But for your work wear like an 'Unauthorized Biography Of Rakim', it's 'Bokeem Woodbine' that gets real personal. A song as stellar as the character of its acting namesake. "Neil Young with a bounce" rhyming, "I'm bent off good wine, like Bokeem Woodbine/Home reading a script, lightin' up from a good line/Not no cocaine, this that crack though/She asked for my passcode, she got what she asked for (Ouch)." Now you know Nas' password ain't password. Cornering a new market for classic song titles, with 'Earvin Magic Johnson' he also gives us the best Lakers related song since the Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Salute To Kareem'. Or better yet Anthony Kiedis' own 'Magic Johnson' rap over purple and gold superfan Flea's bass back in those 'Mother's Milk' days. It's showtime for 'Magic 2' with Nas lines like, "On my Earvin Magic Johnson, I'm enterprising/I keep it ghetto like the hood before they gentrified it/I might burn this b#### down, Left Eye, Andre Rison/I can't trust you built for cuban links unless we tied in/Shout to Rae and Ghost/Can it be all so simple? One of my favorite quotes/From 42nd Street, days of pimps wearing suede loafs/That McDonalds is still there where we had to trade blow."

That Times Square Virgin Megastores and Tower Records may have gone like the album age, but the man that still makes LPs is here to stay like golden arches for the record. Platinum plaques hang in the office of Miss Jones' son instead of filling the cavities of a whole host of rappers who will never be as long in the tooth as Nas', rap sheet of big blockbuster billboard hits for his own great American book of rhymes. 'What This All Really Means' is lyrics like "The feelin' of the first time seein' your name on a flyer/It just was yesterday, picture that on the day you retire/And they still shocked and amazed, I made it up higher/'Cause I came up with them hot heads that played with the fire" on this eighth wonder are engraved in hip-hop stone. Reminiscing on those plastered salad days like Springsteen treating down Hammersmith Apollo posters in London, declaring him the next Dylan. The Mass Appeal of this album like Gang Starr will 'Slow It All Down' as the new perfect De Niro and Scorsese partnership of Nas and Hit-Boy make legendary lasting legacy like Premiere with this sequel. No slump, because these guys are no sophomores now. 

'Pistols On Your Album Cover'? Nah, f### that! Nas has some shots for you like put your hands up with this 'kiss of death. "Eyes blurry, sayin' goodbye at the cemetery/I murder n####s on wax and forget where they buried/This the hardest s### since Rakim and Eric B/Or pistols on your album cover just like BDP", awakening a crate of classics whilst adding a new one to the deck in these modern days. It's just like the classic conclusion and reunion with 21 Savage on the single and bonus track, 'One Mic, One Gun', that could see a whole best of both world's collaboration album like October's Very Own' for the 'One Mic' rapper. That's all we need right now and Nas says, "No back and forth, I did it back then, I do it right now (Woo)/They tellin' me that I'm the G-O-A-T, I been here for a while/GOAT, love me today, hate me tomorrow, no switchin' my style/21, Yak, y'all get together, be big for the South (The globe)/But look at me now, damn, y'all, look at me now (Uh)/Whatever I do is New York, you hear that s### all in my vowels (Grrt)." As 21 counters, "Ain't no back and forth, ain’t no left or right (21, 21)/I got King's Disease but I move like a knight (21, 21)/Rappers bandwagon tryna get some likes (21, 21)/I do it for the fam', never for the hype (21, 21)/When you turn to legend, no such thing as relevance (21, 21)/They must’ve forgot that I'm a new rapper that got integrity (21, 21)/All in the media and blogs, that's just a place I don't care to be (21, 21)/Most of these n###s wouldn't say s### if they was ahead of me (Hit-Boy)" for these two kings about to take the throne together. Can't you see it happening? Don't you believe in this kind of magic too? TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Office Hours (Feat. 50 Cent)', 'Bokeem Woodbine', 'Earvin Magic Johnson'. 

REVIEW: GROUPLOVE - I WANT IT ALL RIGHT NOW

4/5

Summer Love

Australian site Music Feeds introduced me to the Californian rocking soul of American indie act GROUPLOVE in all caps, back in 2011. Sending me a review copy of their definitive debut of album artwork 'Never Trust A Happy Song', featuring singles such as 'Colours', 'Tongue Tied' and 'Lovely Cup'. Since then, there is no need to be 'Spreading Rumors' (just hear that sophomore set for yourself), this group of love have been synonymous with the scorching sound of summer. And amongst the freshly cut grass I've been itchin' on a new release like a photograph since 'This Is This' of 2021. Now, scratching vinyl like 'Big Mess' and the pandemic 'Healer', comes the acclaimed artwork and personal track-by-track portraits for the Spotify streams of 'I Want It All Right Now'. And you'll be glad that Aladdin wish has come true in the season and soundtrack that's as sweltering as the sweaty shirt stuck to your back. 

Don't be burnt though, because this is the lotion. The tonic like sipping sparkling water on a humid day. The hottest album of the week sees Hannah Hooper, Christian Zucconi, Andrew Wessen, Daniel Gleason and Benjamin Homola being that alternative best coast sound back, word to Beth. Showing that no matter how hot it gets, nothing matches the dreaming of California soul. Sharing one big suit, the band returned with dual singles 'Hello' and 'All' to make a grand greeting earlier this year. "So you're out, on your own/And nobody's talkin' to you/On the phone/Yeah, nobody's talkin' to you/So you go, yeah, just to get into view/Yeah, what are you gonna," served as the new "Hey, what's up" to those busy looking at their reflections in a black mirror. Driving this notion home like the video to 'All' with lyrics that run from loneliness, back to where the heart is. "I'm just trying to get home/In my heart I feel alone/I wanna have a good time, wanna be fine wine/I want it all right now/I wanna takе a long ride, with you by my side/I'm goin' to hell right now." Nodding to the album's title as you tune in and sing along. Tapping the steering wheel as you change direction like the needle. 

Threads will spider-diagram these lyrics to go like red yarn in this Instagram age. Yet it's the favourite 'Francine' of the stirring singles that will enter the history songbooks as one of the best odes to a first name basis muse. "Can you believe it?/Life is so fleeting/Everyone is here now/Then everyone is leaving/Never need a rеason/Always have this feeling/Everyone is hеre now/Then everyone is leaving." The chorus providing a call and response to the influence of life's impermanence that the generation that has grown up with this group knows all too well about now. Lasting like a summer love they always sang about from the first time their pedalling guitars and amp busting vocals brought you to Los Angeles like a train from Orange County. The 'Eyes' have it like the latest single walking through the lonely streets. "Yeah I'll miss you Los Angeles/Just when oh I can't say/It's all so subliminal/Thank God it's cloudy and grey". 

Reigning in Southern California, these kings and queen get their 'Cheese' on for the opening slice after 'All'. But nothing sounds corny about this 'Cream'. As a matter of fact, that atmospheric track is the best of the crop of eleven on offer here. Even if Prince couldn't even pull off (pun very much intended) the title's lyrical titillation here. Holding up the rectangles that we usually pose with ourselves to all the art on display, you'll be mesmerized by 'Malachi'. The same goes for 'Billie', brooding like Eilish. Harmonizing and healing the pain like Jean for this American blue. "Follow me down to a place where we lose control/And I will help you unwind at a time, when you won't let go", GROUPLOVE offers like a helping hand which won't lose its grip as we get ours. 'Tryin'' to reach for more in this life we lead that sometimes feels like lead. All the way to the powerful penultimate 'Climb' and the closing 'Wall' that this album of one word track wonders and huge hits gets over. 

"If you can't find a friend to go/Always feel like you will be alone/We'll be here to climb inside your head/If you can't swim without a boat/Yeah, you feel like you will never float/We'll be here to climb inside your head," they sing in solidarity making the 'Climb'. All before the 'Wall' comes tumbling down and yours you put up in the protection of self-preservation finds a friend peeking through to help you, brick-by-brick. Yeah, that's the 'Cheese', but it's so great to have GROUPLOVE back. An indie band that brings us all together like the ice cream nostalgia of Pretty Girls Make Graves in this time when all that means something just melts into memory. Bringing that old thing back in pink pastel, don't pass this over this New Music Friday of PJ Harvey and Taylor versions. Soundtracks, festivals, Coca-Cola commercials and being in the video games like EA, you'll have heard GROUPLOVE Everywhere before, from Glastonbury, to supporting Florence. But never like this. Raging against this machine age with their next gen Mama and Papas sound. Don't worry about being first to film this photographic portrait, right now. Just make sure you take it all in. Because you'll be left singing like Mercury to how hot this all is. "I want it all. I want it all. I want it all. And I want it now." TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Eyes', 'Francine', 'Cream'. 

REVIEW: QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - IN TIMES NEW ROMAN...

4/5

Queen's New Roman.

A fortnight following Josh Homme's Them Crooked Vultures supergroup co-star and 'No One Knows', 'Songs For The Deaf' era drummer Dave Grohl and his Foo Fighters releasing their first album since the passing of dear drummer Taylor Hawkins ('But Here We Are'), and one week after arguably the biggest and best album of the year ('Paranoïa, Angels, True Love') by Christine and the Queen's, comes the most cohesive by the Queens of the Stone Age. And it's all written in your favourite font, 'In Times New Roman' (Fontastic!). Yet, nothing about this eighth wonder of an album from the Seattle based stoner desert, alternative rock and metal act is regular or go-to. All the way down to the aesthetic artwork that's so awesome it looks like the kind of tattoo Otto from 'The Simpsons' would rock behind those guitars that, you know, are like double guitars, man?

For the Queens' first album since the 'Villains' of 2017, singer Josh Homme's has been through the worst times of his life. Recently revealing he has undergone cancer treatment (we hope all is and continue to wish him well). Writing about these dark days, from God Rick Rubin's legendary Malibu's Shangri-la studios to a Readymade one in Paris, he does so 'In Times New Roman'. And the first Word document of a single comes with 'Emotion Sickness' for those suffering from too much of that on life's journey. The penultimate album track sings, "You got no possessions, just your flesh on, yeah/See the sights, Holy Braille/Feel as you might, ah/Rip some pieces free/Oh, atrocious, f-ferocious, yeah/Check the price/Alibi, buy by the slice/Yeah, absolutely." Said to be about Homme's relationship with ex-wife Brody Dalle. As both sides are telling their story right now. 

This Matador record from QOTSA charges in with the outstanding obscenity of 'Obscenary' to lay the scene perfectly. The second single belongs to the new classic 'Carnavoyeur', the best sounding track on an album from a band that you can just let play in the background as their signature sound can rock and roll you on an even smoother tide. Especially for a metal act from the grungy domain of Seattle, Washington. The latest single, however, is the second song on this top ten tracked album. 'Paper Machete' cuts you to the quick too as Homme in heavy harmony declares, "They're out to get you aren't they?/The kids, the man, the chicks, the breaks/I don't care what you think anymore/Doesn't matter anyway/Joan of arc, victim, perpetrator/Just a paper machete/The truth is just a peace of clay/You sculpt, you change, you hide, then you erase/You think you're brave?/All the plans you made/

Behind my back and from far away?Truth is, face to face, you're a coward/Sharp as a paper machete." Making manipulation face up to the mirror. There are some who just listen to music and let the wise words from a weary soul pass them buy. There are others that read the lines on the paper until they set in like tears that run like ink. If this sounds like you, or something you've been through, maybe it's time to draw a new line. 

Bearded and bedraggled through all the brutal pain, Homme still makes something beautiful through all the 'Negative Space' and brooding, bouncing back. There's a 'Time & Place' to make records like this, and it's here, rocking back harder. On 'Made To Parade' Josh jolts those who aren't living their own lives in this world that loves likes more than the heart of what matters. "Oh, I don't know what time it was/I just felt so young with a brand-new page in the morning sun/So you're made to parade with the mess you made?/Well, by all means/If I followed you, I'd be lost too, that can never be/So you're made to parade with the mess you made?/Well, float away/If I followed you, I'd be lost too, that can never be." Make sure you follow your own one. No matter 'What The Peephole Say' as people look through the doors to your lives without wiping their feet on the welcome mat.

Homme, Dean Fertita, Michael Shuman, Jon Theodore, Troy Van Leeuwen stun on the second-best track of the Seattle's supersonic album, 'Sicily'. Like Italy, it inspires sunshine through all these dark days heavier than metal or the blood-red bandana wrapped around the album cover's temple. "You're all peaches and cream/Pink nightmares/Lust a wild ocean/Don't rescue me, I'm drowning in wet dreams it seems", mixes the beauty of love with f###ing explicity. Juxtaposing like the love and hate of love and life. "I'm all used up again/I beat myself like a broken record/Objectified, misuse me as directed/My sweet nothing/The pound of flesh again/Silhouettes witness sheer devotion/I trace your hips/Oh, slow motion/I live between/Your legs." Feeling at a turn in bed, at times like a safe haven, at others in the middle of a sleepless, dark night, a prison. These themes are all wrestled with right until the classic closer 'Straight Jacket Fitting' that will suit and boot you around for almost ten minutes. In these new Roman times, your Stone Age favourites take the throne again. Yet in this game, rocks are still thrown from King's and Queen's, as the head remains as heavy as the heart. It was just written this way. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Emotion Sickness', 'Carnavoyeur', 'Sicily'. 

REVIEW: CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS - PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE

5/5

An Angel's Love.

Dylan, the Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper and Ben Folds. Last week's New Music Friday was blockbuster big this summer season. But this one is even bigger with three of a kind. Janelle Monáe gives us 'The Age Of Pleasure' we've been waiting for since the age of Aquarius. Whilst Jenny Lewis is just trying to spread 'Joy'All'. But like 'What Matters Most', let's save the best for last with Christine and the Queens' epic trilogy and Héloïse Adélaïde Letissier's magnum opus featuring Mike Dean, 070 Shake and musings from the one and only Madonna. 'Paranoïa, Angels, True Love' is a Louvre loved work of art, from one of this generation's greatest artists with acclaim. The rain of November gave us the perfect prologue of 'Redcar les adorables étoiles'. But now with the summer sun we can now feel the trilogy masterpiece as Redcar's story continues down the road in three acts. 

Ever since the French singer gave you your flowers and the human warmth of 'Chaleur Humaine' the music world has never been the same. Whether the self-titled sophomore set 'Chris' and the wonderful 'The Walker' teased things to come. Or if the deeply personal 'People, I've Been Sad' turned into the anthem of our collective planet pandemic. Now on 'Paranoïa' the first seven tracks takes us even higher in the realm of mesmerizing music for your muses. This experimental art pop opera opens with the opulence of an 'Overture' like the second disc's Mike Dean feature. All before getting straight to it with the instant classic single 'Tears Can Be So Soft' with the grief that falls like 'Aftersun'. Sampling Marvin Gaye ('Feel All My Love Inside') singing, "I miss my mama, miss my mother/Miss my mama at night/Ooh, she gave me life, ah, ah/I miss my brother, miss my brother/Miss my brother all day/Ooh, we used to pray/Ooh, I miss my lover, miss my lover/Miss my lover at night/Ooh, to hold me tight." The pain is profound. 

Marvin's room continues to be inhabited on the magnificent 'Marvin Descending' for this operatic masterpiece. 'A Day In The Water' continued this formidable glow for the source of your streaming. Purification from the pain, soothing "Deeper, and the deeper/Deeper, deeper that I go/Softer, it gets softer/It gets softer, softer, I don't know/Father, oh, father, oh, father/Oh, father, let me go I don't want it no more." But in this magnum opera, it doesn't get more classical, or 'Full Of Life' than sampling a 17th century composer for a hallowed highlight. Johann Pachelbel's 'Canon in D Major,' makes the life of this song exactly that. Major! But if you thought that was big, or the first act's 11 minute 'Track 10' finale in all its musical journey, then wait until you hear 'Angels Crying In My Bed'. Because this is the first time we hear the massive megastar Madonna's moving monologues. "And maybe we will almost fall in love/I will look into his eyes, and he into mine/My one singlе eye, the unfortunatе other blinded by a punishing slap/And we will agree that love can be blind." The superstar storytelling with the greats. 

'He's Been Shining For Ever, Your Son' The second act declares. Beautiful in black and white like the striking pose of the album artwork like a dancer. 'The Flowery Days' continue this beautiful bloom, before meeting an angel again with Lady Madonna. The first 070 Shake collaboration comes with 'True Love' however. And the 'Let Me Touch You Once' second track that follows. "Flexing, flexing hard, flexing hard/Flexing slow, flexing slow/See my abs, see my abs/I'm your man, I'm your man, mm/As I am imperfect/Waiting for some hot sex/Oh, forgive me, parles-tu français?" Unapologetically. Yes, this album deals with the grief of Héloïse losing his mother. But that doesn't mean he can't find the joy in life like Jenny. Or the pleasure principle like Janelle channelling Janet. 'Aimer, puis vivre' concludes all of this en Francais. "Love, love with, love without love/Pour lui, elle a tout lâché, je comprends/Elle tend sa main dans le froid, je n'entends pas/Love, love with, love without love (Je fais des choix)." 

Tarot card album artworks deal you to the third and final act of this ménage à trois for the fourth album. This is where the 'Angels' become 'True Love'. This "operatic gesture" inspired by Tony Kushner's 1991 play 'Angels In America' lets it all 'Shine'. All because like the record company, 'We Have To Be Friends'. "Touch yourself/Boy, it's all still there/Your mouth, your nose/Your eyes, your elbows/Your knees were supposed to go/But it's all still there/And you loved, boy, open wide/A sorrow crashed on the floor, wasted again/But, boy, oh, boy, at least you tried." Heads, shoulders, knees and toes never sounded so good for the whole body you touch. 'To Be Honest' before the first single of this fourth, it gets really racy 'Lick(ing) The Light Out' with Madonna in a neon dream from the sparkling flashbulbs of the Iron Lady. "Descend a bit lower, lower/Mm, and meet me there", he says. Whilst Madonna like a prayer asks, "Where do you think I stand?/I stand in your heart/Just next to your lungs/You smoke too much/Do you want to chase me away?/I am dwelling in your sorry." "If an angel in power decided just to see me/Could I get that much higher?" the Queen asks. Putting two hands together for those guardians from the United States. 

'I Feel Like An Angel', Letissier laments, spreading his wings. All before the 'Big Eye' like the portrait of a famous artist comes to a close. Your love is your power. Your love is your soul. And we see it in collective unison for the one. "After the signal you sent me/When I f### you now/Oh, I touch you now/Recreate it now/Penetrate it now/Soul/My soul/Yeah/Open it all/Open it all/Oh, my word is my sword/Eh, oh, my word is my sword/Recreate it all/And forgive it all/My eyes is my pride/It's all dead inside/It's all dead and then it is reborn in me/Endless memories/I see you from inside, my teacher/Master of love, my pride/I am now your mother." Through the grief and the paranoia comes an angel to watch over you true. Making you believe in love again and the power of the spiritual and the sexual. In the boundless beauty of a Queen's bountiful body of work. This Redcar ain't stopping. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Tears Can Be So Soft', 'Full Of Life', 'I Met An Angel (Feat. Madonna)'. 

REVIEW: JENNY LEWIS - JOY'ALL

4/5

The Age Of Joy. 

Rave unto the 'Joy'All'. The fantastic new album from great American singer/songwriter Jenny Lewis. All in the same big-three new week Janelle Monáe gives us 'The Age Of Pleasure' and Christine and the Queens the even more magnificent 'Paranoïa, Angels, True Love'. But don't forget about Jenny like Forrest. Her first album since 2019's outstanding 'On The Line' is her best since the fellow torso classic of 2014's sea blue 'The Voyager'. Rilo Kelly, Jenny and Johnny, The Watson Twins, Nice as F###, Bill for 'A Very Murray Christmas'. The only one Lewis hasn't collaborated with is Clark. But on her latest epic expedition, her lucky for us 13th album and her fifth solo project has a sparkling seventies feel. All the way down to the glittering disco ball album artwork that will play in your playlist's jukebox. 

Down this line, we are given 'Psychos' like Hitchcock for the latest stab at a single that you'll surely sing in the shower. Marching forward towards the light with lyrics like, "Life goes in cycles/It's a merry-go-round/I've been working off that juju/From my hometown/I am a rebel/All American made/Jesus Christ and the Devil/Yin and Yang." This is her songbook, and she's sticking to her own script. Because after all. All you need in this life is yourself, and a 'Puppy And A Truck' like a Norah Jones 'Man Of The Hour', or the classic anthem from two years back. Its artwork looking like a 70s ABA trading card. Trading love for what truly matters in life, "My 40's are kicking my a##/And handing them to me in a margarita glass/I was infatuated with an older man/And then I dated a psychopath." Hey, we've all been there. This is 40...and it's never sounded so good. 

Following the latest single's album opening comes the LP's title-track. After that on this half-hour affair like Janelle's 'Pleasure' comes the different strokes of 'Apples and Oranges', another fresh, classic cut. "He don't kiss me in the morning/He don't tuck me in at night/He don't know the things about me/That endure despite/He's hot and he's cool/He just isn't you/Oh, apples and oranges/Perfume or poison/Oh, apples and oranges/Look at them (Apples)". Comparing a new love with a former flame. And can you blame? Who can say they haven't done it? Especially for the record in this social scroll day and age. Now how dya like them apples? 

The core of this album gets to the 'Essence Of Life' in all its and the track's beauty. Sounding like a country Kate Bush, singing, "It's not that far away/From L.A. to the Bay/But I may as well be living on the moon/When I heard you say/You're not feeling it in that way/It reinforced what I already knew." Break-up ballads at their most beautiful. 'Giddy Up' and ride along, because this record keeps going strong. But show me 'Cherry Baby' and you'll have one of the top tracks of this ten. Even if it is her "first rodeo". Yet it's the 'Love Feel' that will seep deeper into your skin with the cream of the crop this summer. "Marvin Gaye, Timberlake, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash/John Prine, Waylon and Willie/Ice cold Modelo Tennessee whiskey/Bourbon from Kentucky left my heart in Vette City/Black truck, Pontiac, Plymouth and Cadillac/Thunder and pouring rain, sugar in the gas tank." An all-American classic like the aforementioned names. 

Heartbreak with hallmark helpings of humour and heart make this record and our relationships with it relatable. Making for a wonderful view from the 'Balcony' of this Las Vegas, Sin City singer by way of San Fernando Valley, Californian. "Tell me/Do you want this thing to end?/Are you so ready/To see all of your friends?/At our reunion, I'll pick up the tab/Have the rib-eye on me/And don't feel bad/It's my joy to/Feed you/Woo/Woo/Ooh/Do you remember/Making love?/Do you remember/The Gypsy inn by the sea?/And abusing emotionally/Invisible bruises no one can see/Not me/Or them." Turning misery and the desire of company on a dime all for what's at "steak" in love and life. Fill your country boots with a rhinestone classic that looks for the joy in life without so much as a trace of cynicism or cliché. 

All the way to the last with the 'Chain Of Tears' linked to the fools Motown's finest sang about. "Painted black and blue", hoping "there was some pill I could take/Wash away down the wishing well, hmm/Some procedure I could undertake/To have your memory erased, oh", all to dull the pain of a love that will never feel or be the same. Love in times of lobotomy, or a memory that will always look like a scar...no matter how far. Fading like pictures, or portraits of what we once were. "How do you say goodbye forever?/Sincerely seeking advice", Jenny Lewis asks. Fortunately for us, we won't have to say goodbye to the love of records like this that will last on the line down this voyage. Joy is for y'all. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Puppy And A Truck', 'Essence Of Life', 'Chain Of Tears'.

REVIEW: JANELLE MONAE - THE AGE OF PLEASURE

4/5

The Pleasure Principle.

Monáe makes the world go 'round. Whether it's the 'Hidden Figures' star literally stealing the show on the double from Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig in the 'Knives Out Mystery' 'Glass Onion' as an actor. Or as an author, writing the science fiction Afrofuturist cyberpunk short story collection 'The Memory Librarian' (thank you for the autographed copy, D) based on her last album (2018's 'Dirty Computer') and the short movie that was printed out under its heading too. Now 'The ArchAndroid' and 'The Electric Lady' is back where she belongs in your speakerboxx. All for an album that's less sci-fi and more Bowie meets Beyoncé. 'The Age Of Pleasure' is here. And it's a deep-dive into the water world of love and the age of Aquarius. This little mermaid, aqua marine, swimming suggestively like a stingray between the middle of your legs for some amazing artwork for your swimming pool nirvana. Never mind anything else. 

This half-hour afrobeat reggae soul power feels like something from the seventies like Jenny Lewis' 'Joy'All'. Also out on the same New Music Friday that Christine and The Queens show you Redcar's 'Paranoïa, Angels, True Love' and many mesmerizing Madonna monologues. Coming out on Wondaland and Bad Boy, Atlantic Janelle's 'Age Of Pleasure' is for everyone as the non-binary star who still goes by she/her pronouns as well as they/them gives us their best record yet. She let her first single 'Float' in your collective Clouds for a minute. And it opens everything here with guest features Seun Kuti and Egypt 80. Inviting a world of wonderful musicians to this pleasure party suitable for all. Yet it's the Met Gala after party debuted 'Lipstick Lover' that really makes you pout as you apply it to your playlist. "I like lipstick on my neck/It let me know I'm your number one select/I like lipstick on my neck/Hands around my waist so you know what's comin' next/I wanna feel your lips on mine/I just wanna feel a little tongue/We don't have a long time." The only thing sexier than the lavishing lyrics is the stunning visuals of the music video. 

Lovers in all their f###ing feeling, the Queen makes us all bow down as low as we can go. Racy to the top of the charts, sex hasn't been this artistic since the days Prince would 'Come' in 'Controversy'. The collaborations are classic too. Something 'Phenomenal' comes with Doechii. And CKay 'Know(s) Better'. Even Nia Long joins Amaarae on 'The Rush' of you know what. But 'Ooh La La' The je ne sais quoi comes when a modern day icon meets a loving legend in the form of Grace Jones (and you thought the Queens and Madonna collaboration was a f###ing monster (it is)). "Ah oui, qu'est-ce que tu fais, tous les deux la?/Vienez-moi tous les deux/C'est est est est ton ami?/C'est ton ami?" Miss Jones asks. Pardoning your French in all her grace. 

Speaking of French and in tongues, we enter the Moulin Rouge in all the district of its red light for the album interlude highlight 'The French 75' featuring Sister Nancy. "Cheers to Paris, the vibes The French Quarter, French kisses/Cheers to the last night, French fries/Partyin' and gettin' f###ed up (Yeah)/Cheers to us not motherf###in' havin' a hangover (Yeah, cheers)/Cheers to us dancin' our asses off (Yes)/Having a good motherf###in' time," she toasts. We'll clink a glass to that. On her 'Champagne S###', Monáe raises even more glasses in spirit for this ice-cold diamond of a cut. All to the sands of a 'Black Sugar Beach' that streams,"I'll be your lottery tonight (Champagne s###)/I'll be your lottery tonight (Champagne s###)/(Champagne s###)/(Champagne s###)/Shake it all up (Hip, hip, hips, shake it all up)/Back that a## up/(Skip, skip, skip, shake it all up)/(Hip, hip, hips)/(Champagne s###)." Still on that bubbly skit until the refrain that likes it raw. Ooh, baby! 

"I'm raisin' the bar, they'rе givin' me stars/They think I'm supreme/They say I look better than/David Bowie in a Moon Age Dream/They keep on gassin' me up/I'm smokin' a pack of that loud/Ain't see me like this in a while/I'm young and I'm Black and I'm wild", the android going up against 'Paranoïa' sings in this sonic oasis. The couture of this 'Haute' is a grand design. Keeping it wet on the pool party 'Water Slide' of this heroine's hedonism. Before we are all 'Paid In Pleasure' with words like "I want my love made to your measure (Measure)/I wanna feel how you fit around me (Mmm)/I don't need money or treasure (Treasure)/Spend your quality time on me (Mmm)", for this age today. All for the best of this good year with one last sip of 'A Dry Red' that makes wine out of your tears for the INXS love of leading man Michael Hutchence whose memory could never be torn apart. 

But for your eyes only it's 'Only Have Eyes 42' in its worthy clever concept that's the real big game. "I like to love with my eyes closed/I try not to lead with my ego/Everything happened in slo-mo/But we all smiled and said, "It's alright"/'Cause you're the one, you're the one/Double the fun, triple the time for love/'Cause you're the one, you're the one/You suck the words from my tongue/That's when I knew." Even after the heavy hitters of a blockbuster last week, this ménage of the big trois of Janelle, Jenny and Christine's painted masterpiece gives us one of the best f###ing weeks of new music. Now, the 'Pleasure' is all yours, and more importantly...hers. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Lipstick Lover', 'Ooh La La (Feat. Grace Jones)', 'Only Have Eyes 42'.