REVIEW: LABRINTH - ENDS & BEGINS

4/5

Euphoric. 

Dig into the 'Electronic Earth' of epic English singer/songwriter Labrinth's world, and you will unearth a Bowie like labyrinth of mood music for your sound board. Beginning his career under Disturbing London, great British rapper Tinie Tempah (uncredited on 'Pass Out' and the officially on 'Frisky'), the singer slash rapper truly broke out with his dynamite debut. Dropping bombs with his massive 'Earthquake' that featured half of London and even Busta Rhymes on the remix. But it was his 'Beneath Your Beautiful' debut with the hottest singer at that time Emeli Sandé that really showcased his velvet vocal talents. Talents that have taken him to supergroups with the voice that is Sia and DJ and producer Diplo (LSD), who also has a new album out this music Friday ('Piano Republik') and the scoring of soundtracks for the greatest show on TV (HBO's 'Euphoria'). Now the prolific producer Timothy Lee McKenzie formerly signed with Simon Cowell (without a talent show) is going it alone for the first time since 2019's 'Imagination & The Misfit Kid' with his 'Ends & Begins'. Sonically, perhaps his best yet. Get ready to feel euphoria all over again. 

Uncredited on the album tracks titles like the first time this Hackney rapper passed out, this solo affair does boast two blockbuster appearances, mind you. The follow-up to the first force of a single 'Kill For Your Love', 'Never Felt So Long' is accompanied by the one and only Billie Eilish and of course her songwriting brother Finneas O'Connell. "I thought you were my new best friend (My)/Wish I knew better then/Who knew you were just out to get me?/My whole world just fell apart", they sing together before Labrinth laces, "All white leather/You know this man ain't s### without you in the interior (I'm dyin' somewhere in the dark" with year long sing-along yearns.

Hollywood really comes calling in 'The Feels' of the opening that will really hit you in yours. As 'Malcolm & Marie', 'Dune', 'Spider-Man' MJ and of course 'Euphoria' star Zendaya Coleman brings back their high-scoring soundtrack work together for a song featured in the second season, but not on the score of the actual album. Zendaya is it in first-name only turns like Beyoncé. She is HER. The leading lady to this man. The ends to his begins. "Now you got me lost in emotion/Now you got me intoxicated with your drug/Bloodstream racin', heartbeat pulsin'/The truth of it is I'm in love with you, oh", she sings like she did last week at Coachella. Leaving you fiending for her own solo work like Finneas as McKenzie muses, "Now I'm in my feels/Way up in the clouds somewhere now/Don't know what's real, real/I'm lost, gone missin'/I don't even know if I'm here now/But I'm in my feels, feels."

Really feeling it lyrically and sonically we are so glad this postponed album that was meant to be October's very own is finally here like the step of a Spring, coming like the Summer sun. And it's here to stay in your Spotify streams as one of the best albums you'll hear this year in an already accomplished 2023 when it comes to the first quarter highlights. A shade under a half-hour (28 minutes for the 28th of April), but all power in its runtime, this Colombia record with a Cyberpunk feel to its album artwork is what Timothy describes as "sci-fi love songs for (his) beloved", the science to this cult favourite is as real as it gets, no fiction. It's 'Everything' like another Coleman co-write. 'Covering' all bases like, "My candlelight/Burnin' up like Palo Santo through the night/You, you're by my side/Feelin' like my four-leaf clover every time." 

This is love in the future from another legend with the roses. 'A Turn Of Events' and a firm home in Labrinth's new, more mature signature sound. '100 Miles An Hour' to the title track closer. The 'Power Couple' record is the new anthem all Jay and Bey's will sing along too, no matter who you call beau. But it's the 'Only Way Is Up' affirmation that gives you hope you can love like this too. You deserve it. We all do. One day. Or one way or another (you're going to find it). "There is no earth left here to dig/Layin' at the bottom of the pit tonight/Rememberin' when we were queens and kings and emperors/Now they're wonderin' how the f### we both made it out alive/But you know the stones don't, they don't bleed (Bleed)/And you know the zombies, they don't breathe (Breathe)/And you know that you and me are concrete (—Crete)/Nothing else that we need", Labrinth emotes on devotes. On the surface, these 'Ends & Begins' feel like a relationship record from rise to fall. But this is no break-up ballad for the fallen soldiers. More an ode to the ones that are with you when you begin again. All the way to the ends that justify what all this means. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'The Feels (Feat. Zendaya),' 'Never Felt So Alone' (Feat. Billie Eilish), 'Power Couple'. 

DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: SUGA - ROAD TO D-DAY

4/5

Disney D-Day +.

Driving through a highway in the mountains, Min Yoongi, AKA Agust D, better known as Suga of the worldwide K-Pop phenomenon BTS, is on a journey. At a loss. Searching for something he's sure to find on 'The Road To D-Day'. An album released this new music Friday gone after 'D-2' and his BTS brothers Jimin ('Face'), RM ('Indigo') and J-Hope ('Jack In The Box') before him. And the aforementioned documentary as this musical accompaniment. Suga featured heavily on Hope's own Disney documentary ('J-Hope In The Box'), and there's a whole host of all-stars that join this newly minted NBA Global Ambassador's own film (even a familiar 'Face'). Proof that the Big Hit world of BTS still turns like their platinum records, long after the dynamite has turned into butter.

Success has found Suga and it's oh so sweet. But he's not sure what to write about any more and the deadline for his new album is approaching like a 'D-Day'. This intimate and inspired film shows not only the influence of a true artist who is prolific in his own production, it also shows our ignorance in this social media saturated age of everybody thinking they know the whole story. It's all smoke and mirrors like the cigarette in his 'Haegeum' video, sharing a tote in support for V after the Grammys. A middle finger to the judgement. After all, this man has just turned 30. He's had the best part of a decade to do whatever the hell he wants, but a milestone like this age really puts things into perspective. His age surprises producing friend, rapper Anderson .Paak , but this is no 'Mic Drop' to legendary DJ Steve Aoki who has supported this band from the start. 'Boy With Luv' collaborator Halsey shows up on this American tour like J's Windy City Lollapalooza, from the Golden Gate of San Francisco to the Grand Canyon just outside of Vegas, but it's one stop that really strikes a chord.

From Seoul to Tokyo like a RM '.mono' mixtape, Suga heads to Shinjuku's Park Hyatt hotel for a grand meeting like the time Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson fell in love, lost in Sofia Coppola's translation. Here in a suite that's almost as iconic as the moment itself Min Yoongi meets the late, great, legendary Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto who passed away just a few weeks ago, last month. This meeting of the musical minds across the piano produced 'SNOOZE' with Woosung that really wakes up classic crossovers. But their conversation is even more compelling as they trade techniques and the desire to keep working, even in the face of defeat...or death. Spiritual, soulful and heart warmth in a cold night. 

To see this iconic maestro of music one last time and so intimately is purely moving. Making this documentary, previously just a nice behind the scenes piece, much more legendary. Figure in some alive musical performances for the film amongst the studio sessions and postcard planet pit-stops and Disney haven't had it this good since they were given 'Permission To Dance'. Agust D has battled himself for a long time. From 'Daechwita' to the latest single, but he's all about the moment right now. Not thinking about his past with BTS, or even what's on the horizon and the cards for the future. Even if the best is clearly yet to come. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'BTS: Yet To Come', 'BTS: Permission To Dance-Live In LA', 'J-Hope: Jack In The Box'.

REVIEW: AGUST D - D-DAY

4/5

DTS. 

Agust and everything after. What's better than a brand-new album from BTS after 'Proof' of their hiatus? How about solo sets from all their members, save Jin who is on mandatory military service for South Korea (the ARMY has your back, stay safe)? Giving us 'The Astronaut' before taking flight. Just a few weeks ago we saw the 'Face' of Jimin for one of the best looks yet, coupled with the stunning single 'Set Me Free Pt. 2'. And last year we even had billboard World Cup and Christmas numbers from Jungkook and V (the anthem 'Dreamers' and 'Christmas Tree' under yours respectively). In 2019 this solo stuff really took off with leader RM's moving '.mono' mixtape. The Rap Monster has since gone in with his inspired 'Indigo' album earlier this year. Suga also released a terrific tape a couple of calendars ago under his rap alias Agust D ('D-2'), spearheaded by the stellar single 'Daechwita' and its vivid video. But it was J-Hope's 'Jack In The Box' that really sprung these streams of solo leaks. Accompanied by its own Disney + documentary that showed just how much Suga is in Hope's corner. Agust D even has his own 'Road To' making of documentary set to drop on the Mickey Mouse streaming service this weekend. Let alone his own album to match. 'D-Day' is here.

Paved with album artwork reminiscent of when The L.O.X. told us 'We Are The Streets', D is ready to go to battle with 'D-Day' and it's outstanding opening title-track. This baller who has just inked a deal with the NBA as a Global Ambassador won't retreat. Jimin may have just given us the best non-BTS single, RM the deepest cut and Hope the most inspired left turn of an album, but Suga's goes the hardest. There is nothing sweet about this like the purple wrapped BTS Snickers bars ('Save Me' feels like a candy cry for help), save the seriously sick skills. He goes nuts. Get some! The single 'Haegeum' has a vibe and video that could rival the time he was taking heads at a temple, as he goes against himself again until the scar. "Interpretation is free for all/Out with the nonsense/Freedom of expression/Could be reason for somebody’s death/Could you still consider that freedom?/If your convictions are reflected in your judgment and speculations/And you believe that your freedom is on the same level as others," he translates, unlocking what's forbidden like the meaning of the songs title. Suga is smoking. Literally. A nod to V's Grammy cigarette "scandal" perhaps?! He's behind his other brother too. 

The back and forth brotherhood with J-Hope continues on the unquestionable highlight 'HUH?!' in all-caps. But it's 'AMYGDALA' that really makes it's exclaimed name. "1993/The month I was born/My mother's heart surgery/A lot of things happened/What's so eventful/I can't even remember/Let's take them all out one by one." '93 to infinity. Feel old yet? This real rapper is dropping knowledge like an O.G. taking the game to school. 'SDL' plugs in even more, rapping "참 말야 바람대로 되는 게 없지/인간관계란 정말 어려워 역시/애초부터 맞지 않는 거였어/우리 둘 사이 간극을/좁혀 보려는 것 자체가 억지/기억은 미화되기 마련이야 (Oh woah, woah yeah)/벌써 희미 한 것처럼/영원을 노래하던 우린 없어 마치 꿈처럼/내가 그리워하는 것은 말야 그대일까/아니면 후회와 미련이 남는 그때일까." Having fans ask, who's that girl like Eve. 

But like a Jimin sequel, it's 'People Pt. 2' featuring I.U. that really streams and hits you like an IV. In the same vein of those golden era early 2000 rap and R&B crossover hits for the charts. And this billboard king makes Hollywood highlights this weekend like the Canadian one on the Hollywood sign with singing starlet Lana Del Rey. "This thing called love/Maybe it's just a momentary list of emotions/It's conditional, what is it that I love?/Wasn't loved enough as a kid/That's why I'm the cautious type/I want, a sincere connection with others/Forever's something like a sand castle, you know/It comes crumbling down at the calmest of waves/What is it about loss that makes us so sad?/Really, it's the dread that makes us so sad." Powerful and profound if you liked the original, ordinary 'People' off 'D-2', then you haven't heard anything yet toDAY. 

On 'Polar Night' he goes in the opposite direction, questioning it all and even himself. "Between so many truths and so many lies/Are we seeing this world right?/It is all dirty (Am I also clean?)/It is all dirty (Are you clean?)/Between dark questions and indiscriminate accusations/What do we fight for/It is all dirty (Am I also clean?)/It is all dirty (Are you clean?)." All before the 'Dawn' of an inspired interlude feels cinematic. You won't hit the 'Snooze' button on a classic collaboration with the late, legendary Ryuichi Sakamoto and the great WOOSUNG collaboration. But it's the 'Life Goes On' head of this top ten half-hour of power that will really wake you up. Determined to hit you where it hurts...the heart. "As time goеs by/Someone will be forgottеn/Just do what you want/Time is like a wave/It will be washed away like the ebb/But don't forget to find me/This moment when everyone stopped/The porch that looks far away today/Life goes on, life goes on/Life goes on, life goes on/This moment when everyone fallen apart/Our relationship is getting farther than yesterday/Life goes on, life goes on/Life goes on, life goes on. And on and on 'till this day. 'D-Day' has an artillery of big hits in its arsenal, no armistice. And that's the truth like a truce. Now before BTS shake hands and make up another record, it's time to put yours in the air. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Haegeum', 'Huh?! (Feat. J-Hope), 'People Pt. 2 (Feat. IU). 

LIVE REVIEW: BOB DYLAN "ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS" WORLD WIDE TOUR @ TOKYO GARDEN THEATRE, Tokyo, Japan (16/04/23)

4/5

Bobby. 

Something spiritual, like a fever dream for the rolling stone, this was an epic experience like no other. Perhaps it was the early start, waking up at 4:30 in the AM for a beautiful annual Easter event for my old school, a town over from Yokohama to Tokyo, that made it. The early afternoon sun that burnt me to a stroke. The rush back and the quick American cheeseburger scarfed before I took to this show. Tired in a trance that made this what was already almost akin to a religious experience. He may be 80, but I was the one almost nodding off around 5. Charge those weary eyes and the inability to read kanji on my stupid broken Japanese question, "is this row 16, seat 4", I asked (notice how good the Japanese is). "Oh, no, no. I'm sorry, that's today's date", the kind arena staff replied and reassured. 

Tokyo Garden Theatre was in bloom this beautiful weekend just gone with a spring in its step. Because after a brief break (an 18-month hiatus especially during corona for this 81-year-old legend surely is short), the one and only singer/songwriter, prophet and poet Bob Dylan was back in Japan for the first time in seven seals. Tickets might have cost a week worth of minimum wage, but it was well worth it just like the wait. Even if your smartphone's hope of capturing it for posterity was way Yondr in that pouch that seals up your device like security tags on clothing. Like Prince once simply put it in an effort for people to enjoy what turned out to be one of his last shows in the moment, "put your phones away." Engaged in this half-decade worldwide tour with no farewell that only Elton John's 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'. The man with the great American songbook performed a playlist worthy set-list for your Spotify streams. 

Black rising to this tour supporting Dylan's 2020 'Rough And Rowdy Ways' album really had everyone in a dance like the bar-room bliss it beautifully evokes in slow-drawl, smokey, old times numbers. 'Things Aren't What They Were' reads the red masthead of this tour under the suited skeleton's top hat and boy is the 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' singer right. Fans feeling for that and other classics 'Blowin' In The Wind' may have been disappointed, but what did you expect. This great 'Contains Multitudes' and they were all there. From the 'Blonde On Blonde' beginnings 'Watching The River Flow, Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine', to the Grateful Dead closer ('Brokedown Palace') that's been making headlines after its Far East debut. Already another classic concert for the calendar post-corona (Norah and Gaga last year) after Phoebe Bridgers at Zepp and the Red Hot Chili Peppers under the Giants' Tokyo Dome. 

Sure, even when Dylan could sing, he couldn't (he admitted so much on an iconic white banner), but save those sentiments. This is a poet still on top of his prose and penmanship. Plus the grain of that gravelly voice just graces the record with even greater grooves. Scratchy and signature to the way he autographed this auditorium that could rival London's Barbican and other theatrical masterpieces. Watching him paint his a day before accidentally happening on a Wes Anderson inspired perfect portrait photography exhibition in Tokyo reminded us of the notion that watching Dylan is like watching a work of art. And that's no tired age joke. It's on you if you don't realize this is like watching a Mona Lisa, Da Vinci, or Sunflowers for your Van Gogh. 

The closest thing to seeing Elvis, Sinatra, or the full Beatles line-up. MLK or JFK. Bobby or Ali. When it comes to Bob Zimmerman, it doesn't get any realer than that. No 'False Prophet'. Instead, the 'Mother of All Muses' serving someone. Us. Even way back yonder in the nosebleeds, peeking at him behind the piano and this grand royal red curtain return. Wondering if this is all a dream in the theatre of our minds. But instead it was a night like no other playing out in more than our mind's eye for a memory that will always stay with us. All as 'Every Grain Of Sand' of that iconic harmonica harmonized like Leonardo and Vincent's paintbrush for the picture. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Set-List Picks: 'I Contain Multitudes', 'When I Paint My Masterpiece', 'Brokedown Palace'. 

REVIEW: EL MICHELS AFFAIR & BLACK THOUGHT - GLORIOUS GAME

4/5

New Roots. 

The Affair is here. Planting new seeds with Black Thought of The Roots like Cody Chesnutt 2.0 over Jamie Foxx cab chapters in 'Collateral'. All whilst Thought's house band continues to drum up late night success with Jimmy Fallon, or Oscar ones with Questlove's Academy Award-winning documentary 'Summer Of Soul'. Previous thinking had Black playing with 'Cheat Codes' and super producer Danger Mouse as early as August last year. That was one of the best rap albums of 2022. And now, already in 2023, we have one of this calendar's contenders regardless of genre. It's a 'Glorious Game' as Black Thought collaborates with the El Michels Affair like a Soulaquarian. Reminding us of a time hip-hop albums especially were actual albums. All the way down to the raw reprise of the stellar single that this LP is named after. Given beauty and grace by KIRBY like 'The Crown' of Vanessa. 

Big Crown Records are readying this one to take the throne like jewels ran with the iced out tiger style big cat album artwork over a green beret. The New York based cinematic soul outfit led by Leon Michels used to tour behind Raekwon and other member of the Wu-Tang Clan before 'Sounding Out The City' in 2005. They even covered the W with their 'Enter The 37th Chamber'. Cover albums and 'Adult Themes' are part of their formidable forte. Now linking up with one of Philly's best projects they let it fly gloriously. Over a half-hour and change the going of the game is still good like a prescription from the good doctor, or one Michael Douglas played. Recorded from the pandemic, all the way to post, we're 'Grateful' for this album like it's opening single and track sampling Shabba Ranks' 'Ting-A-Ling'. SHABBA! 

But second single 'That Girl' is that record and one that will make you fall in love with H.E.R. again like the one that got away. It feels like it was a teenage love that LL talked about for all those ladies Cool James loved. Dear devotions like "I pulled a flower from the garden of pure Fleur de Jardins/Her bloodline mixed, the Philippines with New Orleans/The vibe made me think of Diahann Carroll in Claudine/Whoever couldn't see it, then so be it like I mean/A queen nightingale and her wings whisper the sky a tale/The sun and moon are her biggest fans, they send her mail/Skin caramel, a magnetism none could parallel/From Venus to Vеnezuel', they call hеr Miss Michelle" are pure poetry for the prose. And to think some still disbelieve real rap is actual art. 

Radio records keep coming out the crates with the single 'I'm Still Somehow' as a Joni Mitchell credit never lies like Q-Tip and Janet J. But when you delve into the album tracks of this half hour of all power then you really get to hear (or read all about it in the album credits like Jay-Z and you used to do for real records) how great an M.C. Black Thought is. Still so underrated like Tank, his rhyme book is an artillery of codes ready to go nuclear. Maybe he'll finally blow at the Grammys on his own like love's quest for The Academy last summer or so ago. There's no 'Hollow Ways' to this as he raps "stay with the angels, walk like Egyptian/The Bengals and scripts gettin' flipped, the whole hood on angles/A significant amount of trauma'll change you/The "keep gettin' in and out of drama'll" drain you/For what it's came to, I ain't gon' say that I blame you/When you angry, ain't no management to complain to" over brilliant band backing of potent production. These are wise words from the salt and pepper sage scholar whose played this game more than those who want to win. 

Philadelphia soul is found rugged and raw on the 'Protocol' with Son Little, but it's 'The Weather' that really gets down before the creed of 'I Would Never' steps up and rings your bell just like before the title taking 'Summer Of Soul'. But here's the belt, 'Alone' will really make you realize how lost it has all become for better or worse. Counting on a 'Miracle' though, Thought hits back. Black raps "no gas, I'm high in octane/Which icon am I if not flames?/Goddammit, guess who not lame/And locked the block down before the blockchain/Stop playin', the stakes is too high/Some say life's a trip, then you die/Patience brings all things in due time/If you's a real one, well, that's a true sign," like he was in a cipher. If this was a rap battle he just flew you up 8 Mile road like a Falcon. Sorry Cap! Skin in the game doesn't come tougher than leather quite like this. Running it back with another act like DMC in the hat, walking this way in rhymes as crisp as your new Adidas. Shell to toe. Brainstorming on the 'Alter-Ego' closer with Brainstory, this is strictly for the hip-hop heads. It's the glory like Denzel and Morgan on this road. The game has changed, but the champion remains the same. Remember their names. Yo Black, it's time. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Grateful', 'Glorious Game (Feat. KIRBY)', 'That Girl'.