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Desi rap, deep jungle and truck-stop concrète: five-star albums you may have missed this year
From Jordana’s sprightly soft rock to Pataka Boys’ collagist UK-Punjabi hip-hop, our writers pick their must-listen gems from 2024
On Chase Your Love, the pedal steel transcends its already innate beauty to find an elastic and joyous expression; elsewhere in this tapestry of transmissions, a rhythm guitar creates a clearing, followed by a pocket of watery submersion and then suddenly a sharp sodium glow and warm bass reminiscent of Yo La Tengo at their most spectral and ominous. Mud Family’s Mongo lends his gruff tones to Bappi Lahiri; Delhi superstars Seedhe Maut appear on searing Guddi Check, spitting about colonialism; NYC’s Heems merits a shout out for the bar: “Only right wing we acknowledge is Bukayo Saka.” Nostalgic references to defunct Southall pub Glassy Junction sit amid lines that are harrowing (“Brexit lookin’ cute now we fearin’ for our lives”) and comical: a longstanding racist taunt turns flex, as “bud dinger/big tipper.” Gritty, punk-infused hardcore is the name of the game and Guided Tour’s tough moments are stellar: Mob DLA is a chest-thumper, with a gargantuan bassline and a gang vocal that will leave you hoarse: “Nothing ever comes to those who wait,” chants vocalist Graham Sayle in his thick scouse drawl, the anxious heat boiling over in the melody.
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