Sunday 14 June 2015

Recommended music: 'Lantern' by Hudson Mohawke

Lantern

If you've already written this off as an album of brainless bangers and cheesy tunes (as at least one of my friends has) then you've made a big mistake. Sure, there are massive dancefloor fillers on here, but they're done with a certain style and panache that eludes most of the chart fodder these days. There are brilliantly used samples (on 'Ryderz' and 'Brand New World', which samples Five Star of all people), and some great vocal appearances from Irfane (on 'Very First Breath') and Miguel (on 'Deepspace').


There's much more to it than that though, as the beautiful 'Indian Steps' will prove. With guest vocals from Antony Hegarty (from Antony & the Johnsons) this is an intense love song, where the emotions are amplified by the beats underlying Hegarty's luscious voice.

Meanwhile 'Kettles' sounds like nothing less than an overture, and 'Lil Djembe' is experimental and sounds a lot more like some of the other artists on Warp than the rest of this album.

'Scud Books' proves that he can still write something as massive as 'Chimes' if he wants to, and 'System' is another of his trademark massive tunes, but the whole album shows that there are plenty of weapons in his armoury and he's not afraid to use them, whether as a producer for the likes of Kanye West or for his own releases.


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