Track Reviews // JARV IS - Must I Evolve?


Single (15th May 2019 - Rough Trade)

Ahead of a series of London dates Jarvis Cocker has released work from his new project JARV IS. Revelling in the kind of sashaying film noir soundscape he’s best known for Cocker’s lyrics cast us back to the big bang (or maybe a small bang, actually, more of a pop) and recall his early triumphs like I Spy and F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E. in their puerile prodding and acerbic, wry glance at the minute and massive. But it’s from an advanced perspective; singing an Anthem for Doomed Everything in the trenches of obsolescence.

The careening downhill cacophony mirroring the accelerating hurtle towards extinction and the backing vocals’ call and response whip the atmosphere into an accelerating storm of percussive, electronic and human noise. Cocker teeters atop a rubble mountain of apocalyptic imagery; master and surveyor of the wastes. The beat is an insistent response to the question of the title, humming and pumping like a piston somewhere between krautrock and a Saturday morning superhero theme tune.

Bandmates Serafina Steer, Emma Smith, Andrew McKinney, Jason Buckle and Adam Betts goad a decisive step back towards the Pulp frontman’s wizardry of rhetoric and louche mischief after his relatively highbrow and sombre work with Chilly Gonzales. Selling the single only at live dates and advertising it with “Life is primarily a live experience”; never let it be said that Jarvis doesn’t know how to tantalise and titillate a fanbase…

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Track Reviews // Black Midi - Talking Heads

Double a-side single w/ ‘Crow’s Perch’ (Rough Trade Records, May 17th 2019) Black Midi are a frenetic, enigmatic four-piece from South London whose path to the top of the scene (recently signed for Rough Trade after a trans-Atlantic bidding war and months of speculating) has blossomed in the dark of the venues they’ve blessed and shunned the glare of online over-exposure. Stirring up more pre-debut buzz than contemporaries like Shame , Temples and HMLTD , their relative absence from the saturated hype machines and social spheres has only made those lucky enough to be obliterated by their live shows hearts’ grow fonder and hungrier. Scattered interviews, glimmering live performances (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMn1UuEIVvA ) and mind-bending demos ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8fBopo31vQ&t=772s ) are being gleefully deciphered and expanded into album rumours and lyrical concepts by the malnourished but growing fanbase as I write. Their second major single fi...
Read more

Track Reviews // Skepta - Ignorance is Bliss

First single from Ignorance is Bliss (Boy Better Know, 31 st May 2019) First of two singles dropped prior to the release of Ignorance is Bliss at the end of the month, Bullet From a Gun sees Skepta at his contemplative best. The beat (co-produced with Ragz Originale ) swoops and snaps like a melancholy trap house laptop start-up and the flow is somewhere between Method Man and Mobb Deep - bouncing effortlessly around syllables and then hammering each rhyme with battle rap clarity. It’s an older and wiser Adenuga brother on display here – on album’s like Black Listed the in the feelings cuts felt like gaps in the track list, the playful simplicity out of whack with the heavy emotional material revealing the rappers age at the time. Between now and then the development is something to behold, he’s still bigging up his family, his ends and himself but Skepta’s flirtation with American hip hop and R&B has eased any awkwardness into a more pre-possessing confidence. ...
Read more

Track Reviews // 0171 - SMTHN RL

15 th April 2019 2 nd single (Independent) 0171 are a duo from Hackney who recently snuck up on streamers with a gorgeous, metronomic debut single that seemed to pull from a significantly more varied range of influences than the ubiquitous electronic R&B/soul acts of today. At once theatrical and digital, hesitant and intimate, the track garnered a murmur of recognition across the net and the pair’s development in new track “SMTHN RL” will only amplify that. These are hypnagogic bedroom grooves augmented by a soulful grip on melody and an undeniably post-millennium veneration of sound that can be heard still from Ariana Grande to Rina Sawayama ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKLxvdFtlZE ). The distinct production of each ticking and swooning element creates a swirling cavern for Joe Bedel-Brill and Georgie Hoare to whisper like Justin or wail like Britney, both work. These mingled, organic vocal performances weren’t so evident on debut ‘1000 Words’ ( https:/...
Read more