Artist: SHIRT
Title: Pure Beauty
Label: Third Man Records
What is it? The debut album from the decade-strong east coast rapper struts and brags as if the last twenty years of hip hop never happened.
L&Q says: “Over neo-boom bap beats and immaculate samples, he spits Kanye-esque braggadocio, Nas-like street knowledge and even flirts with being Jay Z for a track.”
Read Mike Vinti’s full review
From February, the month that brought you Valentine’s Day, here are the 8 albums worth leaving your partner for
(Please don't do that)
Now that the Brit awards have once again failed spectacularly to merit the ongoing hardship of independent outlets only to reward Rag‘n’Bone Man for a single released back in mid-2016, it’s time to recall the musical happenings that actually mattered in February 2018. While shout outs are nonetheless owed to Stormzy’s timely diatribe (and indeed to Elton John mispronouncing the name of his dear friend Ed “Sh’ran/Sheran”), the last month has essentially kick-started 2018’s good-music cycle with many a release we’ll surely be mulling over well into year-end lists season – even if it ultimately shows that the term “neo-classical” will likely sully our tongues until the end of the known universe.
Artist: Poppy Ackroyd
Title: Resolve
Label: One Little Indian
What is it? An outlier composer working out of Brighton (where else?) in the à la mode neo-classical register. In short, an engaging version of something you might stick on while doing housework.
L&Q says: “Listen to ‘Resolve’ casually and it’s a wonderful record; but really engage with this music and it’ll reciprocate tenfold.”
Read Chris Watkeys’ full review
