REVIEW: WILLIE NELSON - THE BORDER

4/5

Crossing the Border.

75 and still going strong. But if you think that's the age of the forever young Willie Nelson, then think again. 'The Border', out this New Music Friday, marks the seventy-fifth studio album from the prolific American singer/songwriter, with you always on his mind. And it's one of his best, like the amazing album artwork of the legendary landscape across the plains. This journey is no mean feat for Nelson, who recently celebrated his 91st birthday, if you can believe that. When most decades his junior would have trouble crossing the road, Willie crosses the border with another feather in his cap acting as a bookmark in his own great American songbook. Not that he needs it. Even before his double-whammy last year, 'I Don't Know A Thing About Love' and 'Bluegrass' following his album a year trend, Willie could have rested. It's like Dylan said, he could sing you the phone book. He already didn't have to write another song, decades gone.

Yet in calling up his friend Buddy Cannon for this Legacy record, along with songwriters Rodney Crowell, Shawn Camp and Mike Reid, the legend gets even more iconic on an LP that sounds fresher than the rest as he braids his hair again. For all you little Willie's out there, like Norah Jones, the visions of this album is a treat for a calendar circled by so many big artists out in this country from Taylor Swift to Miss Jones herself. But now, it's Nelson's turn with this border control and the titular track in the opening that stirs the soul. It's a cover of Crowell and Allen Shamblin's song off the 'Texas' album, but Willie makes it his own, like those 'Always On My Mind' like 'Georgia' to Ray. There are no walls to say hello to in this political commentary that heads for the border and the artwork of the mountainous range that is illuminated whilst the water starved land below remains in thirsty black and white, kept in the shade.

Back on the road yet again, but this time there's a border that leads to freedom. 'Made In Texas', the statesmen sings it proud as he remarks, "It started in the back of my daddy's ol' car/I was born beneath that old lone star/I hit the ground pickin' this old guitar/I was made in Texas." Chasing a century, but never forgetting where he came from. All whilst bringing everyone together in a time when we all need to do so. Welcoming us to his world and the real America we know and love...without the hate. For this chronology, Cannon also found 'Nobody Knows Me Like You Do' and the standout 'Many a Long and Lonesome Highway' from Cromwell's catalogue at a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame lunch. Now a man who made it down the Rock and Roll corridors has enough songs in his back pocket to wax another LP, all with four of his very own to add to this great deal.

You should know when to hold them, but Willie's always been free to play on. And it's a confident roll. That's what happens when your poker face is actually seriously working beneath, with strong conviction and even greater writing, like the typewriter typography that borders this album. 'Once Upon A Yesterday' will remind you of all your troubles today, like those four men from the other side of my tracks did. Whilst 'What If I'm Out Of My Mind' and 'Kiss Me When You're Through' are heartbreaking and shaking, classic Nelson relationship records like the closing chapters of romance in his autobiography that always ended with that same door closing (hello again, walls). Meanwhile, the love of Larry Cordle and Erin Enderline's 'When I Wrote This Song For You' is captured in the chambers of Willie's heart.

"He held me close against his chest and he wrote 'Your Cheatin’ Heart'", Willie Nelson sings on 'Hank's Guitar', a moving tribute to Hank Williams from the words of Buddy and Bobby Tomberlin. Reminding us of country music greats and the songs they sing like Johnny. But just like Beyoncé's classic 'Cowboy Carter', nothing is cashed in here for name-dropping and the like, in this time when people value a thumbs up more than they do love, or even the almighty dollar. The sentiment is strong and as real as it gets. Just like the earth under the border patrol cop's American boots, that feels like the sediment that could build a home if you're lucky and have earned your spurs. Yet, closing it all off, Willie Nelson asks us 'How Much Does It Cost', and, "how can I pay up and quit doing time/why am I always trying to make it alright/For I'm a songwriter and always will be/But how much does it cost to be free?" Well, if that's a price this great pays just for us to feel good, then this great writer should be afforded even more when it comes to the history books with one of the best records of this year...and his very career. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Many a Long and Lonesome Highway,' 'Hank's Guitar', 'Made In Texas'.

REVIEW: RM - RIGHT PLACE, WRONG PERSON

4/5

Right Album, Right Time.

In these digital era times, I don't want to throw shade or subtext, but it's important to heed this warning like the one Brandon Boyd's Incubus muse told him about when she called out, "don't let this life pass you by" on his 'Morning View'. It's simple, but subtle in how much it could move you and change you. Don't waste your beautiful young life and love on something or someone that's not right for you. Give it a chance, sure. But three strikes is a good way to measure it before you say "I'm out". Or you may never make it home.

That's what the biggest hitter like Ohtani of BTS, RM is talking about, telling you on his new album 'Right Place, Wrong Person'. Sometimes you might be primed to be in the best spot of your life, but then you allow space to someone who is living rent-free in your head...and not doing their fair share of the housework. 

Ever since the break of BTS, the squad have all released significant solo sets, mandatory military service in South Korea pending, by the boatload. The last inspired album from the Rap Monster, 'Indigo', only just came out in the December of 2022, right before 2023, that feels like yesterday, not yesteryear. That LP featured the industry likes of Erykah Badu and Anderson .Paak as J-Hope made records with J.Cole and Suga showed off his Agust-D alter-ego. Now, Kim-nam Joon mostly goes it alone. Although he has been in the studio with Pharrell, and it shows on records like 'Nuts', 'Groin' and 'Domodachi (featuring Little Simz)', that sound alike in the sense that just like the Neptune, this musical nerd's style can't be contained as it pushes every envelope like mail days after a national holiday.

'LOST!' in a maze of a stunning single and many records that matches the Musiq typography tapestry of the greats like Maxwell and D'Angelo (see the R&B grammar of 'out of love'), this young prince gives us his best work yet. And we heard the mesmerizing '.mono' mixtape from 'Seoul' to 'Tokyo' and all the epic, emotional 'Forever Rain' in-between. This is just that much deeper and diverse, as the rich K-Pop artist gives us Korean neo-soul, all whilst allowing the old rapping monster of his to be unleashed over bars that carry that weight like going 'Nuts' over, "She a pro rider, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, rider/Must be an A1 guider, always throw a f######' slider/When it comes to love, she could be an all-nighter/Best gaslighter, no man could ever fight her/I go mad 어찌 모든 걸 함께 해/어째 이제 네가 줄 수 있는 게 없는데."

Yet this album from its inspired 'Right People, Wrong Place' reflection intro to the 'Credit Role' is a classic love story that will break your heart. Just check out the amazing artwork photo-op of a wedding by the beach where all is not paradise with the industrial city in the background. RM is playing the sides. Hidden behind his new buzz-cut. He's smiling. But is it forced? Find out when you listen to tracks like the yearning single 'Come back to me' with shades of Tyrese Gibson's 'Alter-Ego', 'Come Back To Me Shawty'. Or 'Heaven' on the same New Music Friday when the funkin' guitar God of 'Heaven Help's' very own Lenny Kravitz releases his own track of the same name for his 'Blue Electric Light'.

But are you going to go this way in a big summer suit the rolled up sleeves of Miami Vice would be proud of, by way of Seoul to Busan? Because it fits perfectly for RM, no question, like an influential interlude. BTS' best boy has crafted a classic creation. It's album artwork, down to the 808s and the video treatments. Giving a gorgeous gallery to him and his amazing army. When you hear the new power generation of the revolutionary 'Around the world in a day' ("let's run the night/If it's in their design") with its Moses Sumney harmonies parting, you just know that this prince of the Republic of Korea has it. Even in their hiatus, it's not the wrong time to be a BTS fan when this person has found their perfect place. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'LOST!', 'out of love', 'Heaven'.

REVIEW: LENNY KRAVITZ - BLUE ELECTRIC LIGHT

4/5

Electric Dreams.

Firmly in his own vault, not the one that's currently being picked apart at Paisley Park, Lenny Kravitz holds an unreleased album with the late, great Prince. Something the two funky and too freaky guitar Gods were working on together before Prince proclaimed at the end of the sessions, something like, "this is just for us!"

Talk about a kind of blue. You can imagine the look on his face behind those iconic, signature shades.

Maybe some of that can be heard on the 'Blue Electric Light' of Lenny's latest album, which now sets him at a baker's dozen (twelfth for twelve) with his first LP since the 'Raise Vibration' of 2018. It's been a long six years. In that time, he's recorded songs for soundtracks (like the 'Road To Freedom' for Colman Domingo's Oscar nominated civil rights drama 'Rustin' (this album was actually pushed back for Lenny to honour commitments to Bayard Rustin) on Netflix). He's been chosen as the "main event" at the UEFA Champions League final. He's become a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. Zoë's pop also got his Soul Train flowers. AND was named one of PETA's 'Most Beautiful Vegan Celebrities'.

Get your teeth into all that...but let's hope they are faux leather pants.

It looks like Lenny is finally getting the props he deserved. The ones he said he already had earned in an epic Esquire interview last fall. But what about that album? Spearheaded by the big three singles of 'TK421', 'Human' and the latest 'Paralyzed' ("You’re the sun that always shines/Stare you down until I’m blind/Everyday my dreams come true/I can’t get enough of you"), you can hear Prince drums fresh from a 'Purple Rain' on tracks like 'Stuck In The Middle', 'Bundle Of Joy' and 'Spirit In My Heart'. It's like a new revolution for the power of your generation.

Yet, from the beautiful beginnings of 'It's Just Another Fine Day (In This Universe Of Love)' that pledges "All our days are borrowed/And we don’t know tomorrow/I hear your voice, feel your power/Let’s heal our souls from sorrow", to the titular track classic closer, this 'Blue Electric Light' is beautiful for your Oyster Cult in an electron blue that R.E.M. sang about. It's a dream from one of the genre's, and all the other ones he encompasses in this musical landscape, greatest. A Roxie Record smooth groove recorded in the Bahamas like 'Eleuthera' evoking as Lenny let's love rule once again in a world that sorely needs it right now. Even more than ever.

Sweet like Mariah Carey 'Honey', floating like a butterfly, Lenny lets the drums roll on a funky slow bassline that sets the mood like Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together' as Kravitz sings, "my spirit starts to move when I look in your eyes/And I'm shaking, baby 'cause your spell's got me hypnotized." Keeping it rolling as he 'Let(s) It Ride' on the futuristic funk of something the purple one would have been proud of ("can I eat your mind?" Well, that depends, buddy. You gonna buy me dinner first?) for this 'Blue Electric Light'.

Still, it's the spiritual duo of 'Heaven' and 'Love Is My Religion' that you'll really put two hands together for. 'Heaven' helps us to even more of that island soul and Prince drumbeats as Len sings, "killing in the name of God, it won't do/I just can't believe that we can't live together." Whereas the religion of love gets down on two knees at the pulpit and prays, "love is my God/ I keep believing, and I'll never stop." Amen.

A dozen definitive tracks for this terrific twelfth set. Electric and eclectic in a beautiful blue. Let the light shine. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'TK421', 'Human', 'Love Is My Religion'.

REVIEW: BILLIE EILISH - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT

4/5

Killing Me Softly.

A bedroom door opens into the water and Billie Eilish falls into a kind of blue. And with that, legendary like Joni, she enters the best year of music in 2024, heading for home alongside fellow big-hitters like Taylor Swift ('The Tortured Poet's Department'), Beyoncé ('Cowboy Carter'), Maggie Rogers ('Don't Forget Me'), St. Vincent ('All Born Screaming') and Norah Jones ('Visions'). Nine Grammy's later and this is only the third album for the 22-year-old who has already amassed such a legacy that decades and decades from now she'll be like Dolly, or Aretha, to be frank like Adele. But what a big one, 'HIT ME HARD AND SOFT' is in all-caps as we get ourselves a 'Bad Guy' who can do both. After her definitive 'When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?' debut took over the world and the theme tune to the latest 'True Detective' season 'Night Country', starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, the blonde on blonde of a 'Happier Than Ever' smouldering sequel was exactly that. Then, last year, she changed that game again with the Oscar winning and heartbreakingly moving 'What Was I Made For' from the Great Gerwig and Margot Robbie 'Barbie' movie that did the same to the world. Now if that wasn't enough, we have a Holy Trinity of studio albums. As Billie gets her J.Cole no guest feature on, best in the game like the Jordans and jerseys she rocks on stage, to release one of the biggest and best albums of the calendar without a single single to its name.

Hard and soft, 'LUNCH' could be your lead though as Eilish eats. "I could eat that girl for lunch/Yeah, she dances on my tongue/Tastes like she might be the one/And I could never get enough." Seemingly revealing one side of her sexuality, which she thought wasn't news to anyone, even though it wasn't any of our business anyway. But this is one of the most lavishing lyrics of one of the most beautiful and underrated parts of sex (FELLAS!) since the wild 'Horses' of Maggie Rogers couldn't be dragged away from reminiscing about giving head. This snack comes after the 'SKINNY' love of an outstanding opener, that shows yet again the family affair of Eilish and Finneas is the best songwriting duo since Bennie and the Jets. All the way to the compelling closer of the artwork of the best 'BLUE' that transitions better than a 'Star Wars' scene. But it's the flocking together on 'BIRDS OF A FEATHER', like a Netflix 'Heartstopper', that really takes wing on a highlight and a prayer, this way, as Billie broods, "I want you to stay/'Til I'm in the grave/'Til I rot away, dead and buried/'Til I'm in the casket you carry/If you go, I'm goin' too, uh/'Cause it was always you (Alright)/And if I'm turnin' blue, please don't save me/Nothin' left to lose without my baby." Death does not do this love part.

Tower Record CD collectors may wish 'Barbie' was boxed as a bonus, but this is just a new epic era for Eilish. Billie's version of blockbuster pop, so subtle and beautiful in its delivery, is decadent. Much like the classic 'CHIHIRO' on these top ten tracks, or the boundless bloom of a 'WILDFLOWER' that is so mature beyond her years, but in mastering her sound is only just beginning. Now doesn't that sound like 'THE GREATEST', like, "Man, am I the greatest (Greatest)/My congratulations (Congratulations)/All my love and patience/All my admiration (Admiration)/All the times I waited (Waited)/For you to want me naked (Naked)/I made it all look painless/Man, am I the greatest." The best actor, like trying to keep it cool when love compels you to play the fool. And the Oscar goes to. 'L'Amour de ma vie' with a French kiss you don't want to miss. Classic new Americana in 'The Diner' with lonely company like a painting from Hopper. This is art. The kind you can't pick apart. With her first album, Billie Eilish changed the landscape of popular music like Eminem. With her second, she tried a classic songwriting sound that everyone from Lana to Sinatra would be proud of. Now the third charm is a synthesis of both styles for the sweet spot. 'BITTERSUITE?' Then how about these words, "You seem so paralyzed/It's so romanticized/If this is how I die/That's alright?" Sonically soft-core, nothing hits harder. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'LUNCH', 'BIRDS OF A FEATHER', 'BLUE'.

REVIEW: ANGUS & JULIA STONE - CAPE FORESTIER

4/5

Cape Hope.

The London Eye, sometime in my mid-20s. Me and my good radio DJ friend John are checking out the view when we get talking to some lovely Australians, here in the Big Smoke from Melbourne. We hit it off with these guys and end up heading for dinner. The three of them say they'll be heading to Manchester in a few days, to which I, with pleasant surprise, tell them is close to my hometown and where my sister lives. "I'll show you around!" That's when they tell me they're going to a gig that I might be into. A brother and sister act from their native Down Under who they'd love to introduce me to, in concert that is, Angus & Julia Stone.

Since that show, it's been love and forever friendships too. The pair remain one of my favourite acts, and not just Aussie ones (although from INXS to The Jezabels all the best music seems to come from the best place for soap operas and heroes, from Heath to Hemsworth). As for the three friends. We keep in touch on social media. I almost formed a band with one (don't act like Harvey Marlan isn't an awesome name for a band), whilst another was here in Tokyo a few years back. Separate to all that, I even had my own 'Santa Monica Dream' in Los Angeles, California that, like Tom Hanks in 'Saving Private Ryan', is just for me. I've been waiting for a new album for as long as the fans now, and I also can't tell you how much 'Sitting In Seoul' resonates with my heart right now for a group that sings for the illuminating 'City Of Lights' neons like a Jezabel, 'City Girl'. After self-titled classics and ones like 'A Book Like This' and 'Down The Way', Angus Stone and Julia Stone are back with their first album since the 'Snow' of 2017. Although Angus had us last with the Dope Lemon of 'Kimosabé' last year, whilst the queen of the stone age of Julia released 'Sixty Summers' and 'Everything Is Christmas' in 2021. Now, with the lyrics of the titular 'Cape Forestier' ("Oh, start for the sea/I won't see you leave/With Southport (hey, that's the name of my hometown I was telling you about) from sight/Go to the rising light.") on the warm artwork (see above) of their new classic, it's so good that they are back together on the family sofa.

Issuing us with inspiration from the Lemon Rock of Cape Forestier, Australia itself, the singing and songwriting siblings bring us one of their best albums to bear. In matrimony with singles like the dum, dum, da, dum march of 'The Wedding Song', or the other side of the Yin with the 'Losing You' break-up ballad, together again, the family is well and truly back home. 'No Boat, No Aeroplane' could take them away like Rolling Stone 'Wild Horses'. But there is a beautiful cover of Bob Dylan's sweetest and most simple ode, 'I Want You' that will remind you of what Springsteen meant when he said those straight-forward lyrics of "I want you so bad" are the realest and greatest because of how they are delivered. Like us from evil, or fear with the hop of this heavenly Cape like Cod. 'Life Is Strange'. One minute you're writing the soundtrack for a video game. The next, you're signing, sealing and delivering your first studio album in the seal of seven years. Produced by Ben Edgar and "holding a really special place in (their) hearts", 'Forestier' forests such gems like 'Country Sign' and 'Somehow'. From heading 'Down To The Sea', to dropping 'My Little Anchor', it all sounds so beautiful like the instrumental curtains of 'The Wonder Of You' like a Sinatra swansong. It's like they say in 'Seoul', baring theirs, "I'll be coming home soon/We'll be lying on the couch/Telling each other stories," back again. This famous fifth album will be accompanied by a world tour from way Down Under to the Union Jack eyes of London, Manchester and more. Ending back home in Queenstown. So just maybe, off a 'Big Jet Plane', I'll see you again, my friends. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'City Of Lights', 'I Want You', 'Sitting In Seoul'.

REVIEW: KINGS OF LEON - CAN WE PLEASE HAVE FUN

3.5/5 

House Of Fun.

Their sex may no longer be on fire like their prolific popularity (glad they got that checked out), but Tennessee's own Kings Of Leon still put on a clinic when it comes to classic rock and roll music. From the country home of Nashville and their, 'Youth & Young Manhood' and 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' beginnings, they've always been one of the best bands before the 'Because Of The Times' and 'Only By The Night' platinum sound. Since then, they've tried to still 'Come Around Sundown', riding the 'Mechanical Bull', but with the 'Walls' closing in, their popularity hasn't been the same since it was almost (can you believe it?) a decade and a half ago. Still, don't say they've fallen off like 'The Simpsons', or J. Cole trying to diss Kendrick. One of America's most amazing bands are back with their first album since 'When You See Yourself' in 2021.

'Can We Please Have Fun' they ask for their ninth wonder of a studio album, and their first with LoveTap and Capitol Records. And it's an exclamation too, saying goodbye to RCA. Feeling fresh like Vietnamese food, all the way down to the vibrant album artwork in all caps for this declaration. Recording in Franklin, Tennessee's Dark Horse, with the great Kid Harpoon, the man behind the Styles of 'Harry's House', the Followill brothers of Jared, Nathan, Matthew, and of course, Caleb follow-suit in this family affair. Writing some sensational songs, spearheaded by the singles, 'Mustang', 'Split Screen', 'Nothing To Do', and 'Nowhere To Run' to that end. Continuing to cook with the States star's Great British bake off of the 'Live At Wrexham' bonus Racecourse set featuring classics like 'On call', 'Pyro' and the searing 'Cold Desert' for your island discs. Headlining a tour through North America, Ireland and the United Kingdom where they continue to be profoundly popular, the Kings have plenty to deal with their set-lists, coming out of the corner with the opening 'Ballerina Radio' that stings like a bee. All the way to the ends of 'Seen' like getting left on read, waiting for more. But it's the floating 'Rainbow ball' that shows them in all their colours, as Caleb croons, "Got my old friend back/He was gone quite a while/I won't stand for that/Good times/Were had/By all/At the rainbow ball/We took every ride/Never paid no mind/We held/Our breath/We crossed that line."

Please, please me, in the madness of this house of fun, there's more to come. Like rapid eye movements, the lyrics of "Jump to conclusion/Based on illusion/Everything is shaved ice/Fashion week's a blur/And everybody slurs/And feels out of style", gives your brain that numbing freeze like the aforementioned summer snack. The world is gone to the dogs that would rather troll celebrity and you and me, and then celebrate what everyone's wearing at the Met Gala, as they dress up their previous cat comments to walk it all back. There really is nowhere to run in this 'Split Screen' dream that has a sadness like a John Mayer record. But on 'Don't Stop The Bleeding', in this mad world, Leon just want to pour on the fun for your tears and fears. "Bombs away/Don't stop the bleeding/Why you always look so sad?/I think you're rad." We all need somebody to look at us like that in this digitally dark day and age. Tune into this 'M Television' for the 'Hesitation Gen' and these two rockers will show you how to do this, son. It's all about just feeling the fun amongst all this fear, taking a leap of faith that sounds like "Let's take this thing apart/Rebuild it with our hands/Modify the make and model/Patch it up and see what happens." With a harpoon in their side, these kids of Leon make a brand-new start that will ease you in like 'Ease Me On' that sounds so illuminating like the lights of a jukebox when you select said track in an amber and neon lit bar. Finding their sweet spot, between the stools and the sour limes you twist 'round the neck, the Kings are back. And it's all for the fun, kids. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Ballerina Radio', 'Rainbow Ball', 'Mustang'.

REVIEW: GHOSTFACE KILLAH - SET THE TONE (GUNS & ROSES)

3.5/5

Tone Def.

Beef, like Ali Wong and Steven Yeun on Netflix, between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. What's it good for, like war? Absolutely nothing when it results in trespassing and harassment to spouses. And you don't need J. Cole bowing out of this big-three (not so) gracefully to see and say it again. Sure, if it's kept on wax, then what a time to be alive. But these three were keeping modern rap alive. In terms of hip-hop, it belongs to the likes of Nas, the Wu-Tang Clan and many more. Nas is no stranger to lyrical battles after ethering Jay-Z. And both he and my favourite member of the Wu, Ghostface Killah know all about the beef that took the lives of late greats Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. Nasir Jones on the 'God Son's' 'Last Real N#### Alive' breakdown talking about Big biting purple tapes and borrowing styles that were only built for Cuban lynx. Here's to the 'Guns and Roses' like Axel and Slash.

Iron Man, Ghost was the guest star on that classic chef cooked Raekwon LP that even had a super sequel. When it comes to the face of this Killah, he's a scream. From signatures like 'Supreme Clientele' to 'Bulletproof Wallets', and later greatest albums 'The Pretty Toney Album' and 'Fishscale' (not to mention 'More Fish' in possibly his greatest, or any rapper's best runs). Let's not forget all the LP's from the W and compelling collaborations with Adrian Younge (the '12 Reasons' series), BADBADNOTGOOD (the sensational 'Sour Soul') and the face off 'Ghost/Doom' that could have been with the late, great MF DOOM. Now Toney will 'Set The Tone' with his first album since 2019's 'Ghostface Killahs', setting the table with some sweet guest spots. Of course, there's Nas on the red-hot single 'Scar Tissue' (the best feature you've seen since Jones' gutter 'Ghetto Dreams' with Common) and Kanye West, reuniting after his "she ordered the Kobe beef like Shaquille O'Neal" 'Back Like That' remix on 'No Face' for you Ghibli fans. Wu brethren of the 'Wu Massacre' Method Man on the 'Pair Of Hammers' that knocks and Raekwon on the rolling 'Skate Odyssey' with October London bringing big smoke. 'Wu Block' collaborator Sheek Louch for '6 Minutes' with Dipset's Jim Jones and Harl3y, who like a Davidson also rolls through on 'Cape Fear' (with not so Fat Joe), 'Plan B' and 'Shots' with Busta Rhymes and Serani. New artists never had it so good.

Setting the tone with collaborations across the board, not to brag, but let me tell you about the three times I met Ghostface Killah. The first was back in the early 2000s, visiting a friend in Leeds University where he was randomly playing a gig. I took a photo on a disposable camera, because back then, kids, our phones weren't so smart. But damn if I didn't forget to get his autograph. I made up for that a couple of years later at a Wu-Tang Clan reunion show. The last time I saw him, for a friend's birthday, there wasn't much else to do. So stupidly I showed him our photo now imported into my phone (because, family photos and all that) and he screwed up his face in response. All before breaking out the biggest grin you've ever seen and showing one of the members of Theodore Unit, "hey, you were wearing your purple sweater." Needless to say, the point I'm making is Ghostface may be one of the hardest rappers alive (who is rumoured to have thrown 50 Cent down the stairs, and broken Pastor Ma$e's jaw), but he's also one of the nicest. And as others wage war, he brings the rap GOATs to the fore like the Rushmore you best believe he's carved in. All the way to the banging bonus track with Terror Squad's Remy Ma ('YUPP!'). The Mass Appeal looking like a mixtape on this artwork as he calls up (like Chucky Hollywood on the 'Trap Phone'), Iceman for a 'Kilo In The Safe', Benition for the united colors of a 'Champion Sound', AZ and Bee-B 'Locked In', Shaun Wiah for the Mario sampling 'Touch You', and even Ja Rule on his comeback trail (can't wait for the new album) with Trevor Jackson over a 'Bad B####'. But I've still got a bone to pick with Tone. On his first 'Skit' he asks for your top five, dead or alive cereals, and Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes doesn't even get a spoon in. Unfrosted. C'mon, man. I know you've been to Leeds. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Pair Of Hammers (Feat. Method Man)', 'Scar Tissue (Feat. Nas)', 'YUPP! (Feat. Remy Ma)'. 

REVIEW: WILLOW - empathogen

4/5

willow is a player.

Beyoncé. Taylor Swift. Norah Jones. Maggie Rogers. Sheryl Crow. St. Vincent last week...and on this album for the ruling love of 'pain for fun'. The big guns have brought out some of their best albums this year. But don't forget about Willow Smith. Daddy certainly doesn't, proudly posting her big Tiny Desk Concert powerhouse performance on his Instagram ahead of Willow's New Music Friday release of 'empathogen', going head-to-head with the legacy making likes of Dua Lipa and Sia. Uncle DJ Jazz Jeff getting in on the act, proclaiming that "she's a superstar" in the comments. She surely is, and before you throw Towns out the house, like the late, great Uncle Phil when he was wearing that one shirt Big Poppa would be proud of, for being obvious, just wait. She really is. Rocking and rolling with wicked wisdom, following her last two diverse, defiant and definitive albums ('<COPINGMECHANISM>'  and 'lately I feel EVERYTHING'). Raging hard against the nepotism machine, all whilst bringing the most famous family back from the brink like 'Bad Boys: Ride Or Die'.

Riding together, living forever, Willow generates more than a sense of empathy with her latest, and maybe greatest album. Set off by the kinetic single 'run!' and big records with Vincent (seamlessly sounding alike as they weave between verses in chorus) and the American symphony of Oscar and Grammy grabber Jon Batiste, coming 'home'. Classic like the amazing album artwork neo-soul's D'Angelo would be proud of to the grill, this is the bare truth, with emotionally naked ambition for the young star with a legendary legacy that is all her own to do exactly that with. Mastering her style and the full-width character of her 'b i g f e e l i n g s' like a Prince, or a Soulchild of Musiq like Maxwell would write it. This is bigger than Taylor. Better than Beyoncé's. Solange knows. Pop ain't playing. Willow wouldn't whip her hair again if you asked her. And now she doesn't need to...as if she ever did. By industry standards she's reset, the 23-year-old is already an 'ancient girl' as she sings for her legend, "Whisper softly the story of that ancient girl/Entranced with the elders in their caves/Drink sacrament, overflowing telling secrets/In the dark lies a story of that ancient." Poetic and powerful prose for the pros. It's just a 'symptom of life' you can't refrain from, singing "Feeling absence of time/Knowing all is decided/There's nothing here left to find/The story's all in my mind/Pushing and peeling the layers that cover my mind/Looking into the shadow, now I notice the light/Magic is real, when you see it inside, you decide," in beautiful black and white over the kind of artwork look that mama said looks like Lenny Kravitz at his early days best. Are you listening, Zoë?

Are you gonna go this way? Because "like a snake shedding skin/creating life to begin," Willow is here to stay, like the Disney + remake show of the same name should have. Hollywood may have tried to clear house with her father, but for the daughter of her own destiny, 'the fear is not real'. Just a 'false self' if you think that. Willow has already broken out, come of age, and all those other clichés. This is simply a star in her stride, striking with her most searing stroke. On 'no words 1 & 2' she gives you plenty, as she instrumentally plays. Then coming back out on 'down', she gives you more, "So far/Not sure who we are/Warm hands touch my heart/Make friends with the dark, see/I won't ever let you down/Down/Down/No more/Illusions control/My center unwavering/Let us see." Letting you know in just these few, that she'd do it all. Risking it like, "Sometimes I don't wanna try/To calm the chaos inside/And I just let out a sigh, I just sigh/Don't know why, but it feels right/Flowing free like the sea/I can just sit here and be/And only listen to me, it's just me/In this moment of the purest devotion," 'between i and she'. It all comes to a head on the penultimate, quotable 'i know that face'" like this one you'll never forget. "I know that face that you make when you're scared to see/All the shadows in your mind I know you're not facing me, endlessly racing/Let me show you what it's like to know/Light and dark is just a place called home." Recognizable like the nostalgia of memory. These songs and this singer as you sing along. The most powerful pathogen. Oneness that you can relate to without the communion of prescribed drug abuse. But something with a much stronger substance. One of great depth and feeling. Let's hope others connect and understand. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'run!', 'home (Feat. Jon Batiste), 'pain for fun (Feat. St. Vincent)'.

REVIEW: INCUBUS Live @ TOKYO GARDEN THEATER (01/05/24)

4/5

Rising Sun View.

There's nothing like the morning view in Tokyo...even if my old a## takes his sweet time to wake up and see it. You see, back in college, Incubus (don't Google the name) were one of my favourite bands. They still 'Jurassic Park' triceratops are. A halfway house between the fellow legendary likes of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers before them and Linkin Park after. No poor man's imitation, but their own individual band on the run of their own right. Calabasas' finest with classics for days. 'A Crow Left Of The Murder', 'S.C.I.E.N.C.E', which like its subject is so hard. And the absolute Californian classic, 'Morning View', which not so recently (it's about three years now) celebrated its 20th anniversary and next week will see a 'XXIII' re-recording. Way to feel old yet. Recreating that same beachside stone seating position like on their signature set, Brandon Boyd and co (with some new members like a Smashing Pumpkins) recreated their iconic album artwork like a BTS bench in South Korea. Bringing back memories of my first time in Los Angeles, walking Venice Beach, listening to said album. Seeing them on a television set singing 'Nice To Know You' in a Disneyland queue for a ride, the night before seeing, for the first time, the late, great Kobe Bryant and my beloved Lakers play the next day. Knowing I'd finally made it to the City of Angels.

That was back in 2006. The same time I last saw them for my best friend's birthday (like the penultimate classic I 'Wish You Were Here'. 'I Miss You' too...but I'll see you soon), bringing back even more beautiful memories and how quickly time passes into our most precious moment's nostalgia. Hitting me like the flash-bang as this was part of the 'Light Grenades' tour, maybe the band's last big album. Although the critically and cruelly underrated gems of 'If Not Now, When' and '8' were sadly missing off their tightly honed set-list. Like that same show, they began this gig falling into the same 'Quicksand' of the intro that poignantly puts it, "Some people fall in love and touch the sky/Some people fall in love and find quicksand". Right before breaking into 'Nice To Know You' with that same fever you always feel when you hear the Mike Einziger come into the play. All the way, just like the 'View', to the frog marching, beautiful end of 'Aqueous Transmissions' in the same way they've always done it live. After calling out their 'Warning' like her, to not "let life pass you by" with those same doomsday declarers, they end on a Budweiser like call and response, even if the ribbits had to be turned back on after ending abruptly. "I haven't felt the way I feel today/In so long it's hard for me to specify," Boyd sings on their bookending blockbuster. And before we said goodbye again, and that it was 'Nice To Know You', this whole show was better than watching Geller bending silver spoons. Michael's friend, not Rachel's love.

Witnessing newborn nebulas in bloom, Incubus, with their new muse on bass in Nicole Row (who has previously toured with Miley Cyrus and Panic! At The Disco) bloomed in the Tokyo Garden Theatre. One of the best venues in the city, so good to see again after seeing the chronicles of the great American songbook of the one and only, legendary Bob Dylan there around this time last year. After sweet support from Japanese big band Band Maid (that I regrettably missed, running late...I was on a date), Incubus brought out all the big guns, just like fellow Californian Beck did to begin last month in Roppongi's EX Theatre. 'Anna Molly', 'Sick Sad Little World', or the what goes around notion of 'Karma, Come Back'. Meeting us in outer space for 'Stellar', or cropping up with close encounter 'Circles' that really meant something with Richard Dreyfuss references. But for all 'The Warmth' that made yourself for iconic tracks, some who sleep have to be reminded of, like 'Pardon Me'. Or sitting down like Steven Yeun in 'Beef', in order to retake the wheel and 'Drive'. It was also these generational greats covering the classics that really resonated. From coming together over The Beatles, or giving some of Portishead's 'Glory Box' to their own 'Vitamin' supplement. Yet it was bridging their own greatest hit 'Are You In' with the fellow Los Angeles times of The Doors' 'Riders Of The Storm', or bringing out great Japanese artist and guitarist MIYAVI for David Bowie's Let's Dance' that was hard to top. Even Brandon said so himself. It was almost as unbelievable, like Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, who are here again next month (get ready to catch Flea's pop-up Harajuku guitar shop in Fender's new flagship), as the fact that Boyd is rounding a half-century. But best believe he is, you are...and they did. Don't let things like this in concert pass you by. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Set-list Picks: 'Nice To Know You', 'Are You In/Riders Of The Storm (The Doors cover bridge)', 'Let's Dance (David Bowie cover featuring MIYAVI)'.