Records | MUSIC
list.co.uk/music INDIE DJANGO DJANGO Marble Skies (Ribbon Music) ●●●●●
The appearance of Django Django’s third album within a couple of weeks of Franz Ferdinand’s latest seems like some sort of engineered Blur / Oasis contest between bands of Anglo-Scots who got their start in and around art schools. Not that we want to pit two of our favourites against one another, but the comparison does illustrate just how tricky it is to seamlessly fuse synthesisers with a more typical band set-up, and how well-practised Django Django are at it. Although the quartet’s self-titled 2012 debut album monopolised a lot of the
critical attention they’ve enjoyed so far (and a Mercury Music Prize nomination), both 2015’s Born Under Saturn and now Marble Skies have maintained a similar level of quality and sonic exploration. They make incredibly versatile, intergenerational music, which works for soundtracking both dancefloors and school runs. Advance single ‘In Your Beat’ has a crunchy, endlessly satisfying techno rhythm, while Vincent Neff’s highly produced choirboy harmony creates a compelling pop hook. ‘Real Gone’ is a striking song, an old-fashioned acid-house beast which breaks into a 4am Balearic piano and synth coda as Neff croons that ‘We’ve been lost but now we’re found / But the moment’s almost real gone’.
Great songs abound on this record, from the opening title track (an odd but
utterly logical amalgam of blissed-out Madchester guitar chimes and Yazoo- esque synthpop) to the Latin groove of ‘Surface to Air’, with Slow Club’s Rebecca Taylor on vocals. All of the above-named electronic adventures
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bookend the album, together with the breezy West Coast rock of ‘Fountains’, and surround a run of tracks which bear more classic influences, from the 13th Floor Elevators reverb heaviness of ‘Champagne’ and ‘Further’, to the piano-led flower power of ‘Sundials’. Bouncing between retro reverence and impatient futurist exploration, Django Django remain a great and timeless pop band in search of an era all their own. (David Pollock) ■ Out now. Django Django play SWG3, Glasgow, Thu 1 Mar.
ELECTRONICA DABRYE Three / Three (Ghostly International) ●●●●●
When Tadd Mullinix debuted his Dabrye moniker in 2001 with the release of One / Three, he unleashed a sound crafted from the dexterous merging of modern electronica with instrumental hip hop and elements of Detroit funk. Since the 2006 follow-up Two / Three, the Michigan producer has been concentrating more heavily on his dance projects, releasing music under various aliases. But over a decade later, he returns with his trilogy’s finale, once again entrusting a series of skilled MCs to deliver rhymes over his now trademark beats.
Three / Three hints at a greater influence of soul and jazz, heard in tracks like ‘Sunset’ and ‘First Law of Nature Rock Day’, with plenty of mellow refrains, relaxed repetition and a much more liberated feel overall. But this is integrated with the welcome addition of some of Detroit’s finest talent including Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat, Kadence, Quelle Chris, Danny Brown and more. Each guest vocalist adds their own unique vibe to Dabrye’s electronic-tinged hip hop lines, often juxtaposing something very minimalist and clean with fast-flowing, animated patterns.
Opener ‘Tunnel Vision’, with Guilty Simpson’s rough multi-layered rhymes, illustrates this excellently, as his flow bounces along above Dabrye’s laidback touches. ‘Emancipated’, with Ghostface Killah on lyrical duties, has this cut and paste quality in the accompanying chimes, which continues on ‘Lil Mufukuz’ featuring Doom assisted by some experimental funk. ‘The Appetite’, meanwhile,
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is sharper thanks to Roc Marciano and Quelle Chris’ rugged verses and Danny Brown’s familiar yelp, and ‘Culture Shuffle’ is arguably the track that best demonstrates Dabrye’s avant-garde layering, with its Middle Eastern sounding rhythms and futuristic bleeps.
Ultimately, as well as representing Dabrye’s long- awaited return to his instrumental hip-hop leanings, Three / Three signals an artistry and flair evident in the first two records of this now formidable trilogy. (Arusa Qureshi) ■ Out Fri 16 Feb.
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1 Feb–31 Mar 2018 THE LIST 77 1 Feb–31 Mar 2018 THE LIST 77