Robyn + Röyksopp – Do It Again

“I don’t like clubs. When I was 18 I went to Zoo Bar in Leicester Square and a complete stranger told me I was ‘killing the mood’. But if I could be converted to sweating it out with a bunch of strangers on a dancefloor, it might be by the likes of Robyn and Röyksopp on their deceptively massive EP, Do It Again. Röyksopp’s contribution is carnal, dynamic and richly textured, while Robyn brings her signature melancholy, dressed in a ‘don’t give a fuck’ bright pop sheen. I don’t think I could ask for much more.” Dave

Adult Mom – Sometimes Bad Happens [Full Review]

“It has been a vintage year for bedroom artists, with some of my favourite releases coming from the small tape labels. Adult Mom’s Sometimes Bad Happens is one I found myself returning to, an EP that tackles big ingrained problems like depression and male attitudes towards women in grounded, relatable songs. By refusing to be just happy or sad or angry, Adult Mom paints complex characters that are a little bit of everything, a messy tangle that looks a lot like life.” Jon

Talons’ – Lost Summer [Full Review]

“How can you not love an EP that begins with the line “I wanted to change the world, but I ended up doing nothing all day”? Folk music but not as we know it, Talons’ replace bar brawls and heartache with the vague sense of sadness at the core of contemporary society. Perhaps, a hundred years from now, Smithsonian Folkways will hold the mp3s locked in a vault somewhere, an illustration of the millennial angst felt by a generation at the turn of the twenty-first century. People of the future will ask their grandparents about iPhones and Breaking Bad and this business with the planes.” Liam

Timecop1983 – Waves

“There is a glut of 80s-retro-synthwave-nostalgia music around at the moment, and not all of it is good. By definition, this kind of stuff tends towards the derivative and generic. So I thought I’d give some credit to Timecop1983’s Waves EP. It’s a collection of five inventive and catchy synthwave tracks, that manages to escape from simply being a genre piece. It’s not too serious, but is extremely well put together, and the most fun I’ve had listening to anything this year.” Matt

Jon Hopkins – Asleep Versions

“The scope of Jon Hopkins delivery continues to impress me. With Immunity, he produced one of 2013’s most impressively textured and considered releases. His eye for detail made it essential that you immersed yourself in the album to really appreciate every little nuance and affectation. With Asleep Versions, Jon Hopkins goes back to basics, revisiting four of Immunity’s highlights and dismantling and reimagining them. It’s the King Creosote version of Immunity that truly captivates me. It’s utterly heartbreaking.” Will

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Adult Mom (who we featured on our Favourite Free Music list) is the bedroom pop project of Steph Knipe, and here she is supported by a full band. This band gives Sometimes Bad Happens a well-developed sound that is not as lo-fi as you might expect from the bedroom pop tag.

Lyrically, the release is a refreshingly honest (you could say naive, but aren’t we all?) take on young relationships and their termination. That sort of I-hate-you-but-can’t-stop-thinking-about-you-so-now-I’m-starting-to-hate-myself feeling. ‘I Make Boys Cry’ is interesting in that it deals with the whole romance/love thing from a different angle, ditching the angsty male ‘I love her/I miss her/I need her’ POV for a more realistic female perspective. Forget in-depth think pieces or convoluted psycho-/sociological essays, you won’t find a better description of the crux of feminism than the line: “I make boys cry because they don’t understand that i am a person.” Women have feelings too, huh? Who would have thought it? To quote the song in full:

“i make boys cry in parking lots outside of restaurants
but boys make me cry too when they tell me
‘i love you! i love you! i love you!’

how many times will i be the one to enlighten and never get anything?

i make boys cry because they don’t understand that i am a person
yeah i get sad too but i don’t take it out on you

it’s shit that your love for me scared you so much
but “i love you! i love you! i love you!” is not enough.”

But despite the songs being full of sadness and confusion and hurt, they serve to point things out beyond the obvious ‘I’m sad, this sucks.’ Out of the bad times catalogued here comes something affirming, an acknowledgement that x is bad, and y is bad too, but I’m still alive and functioning and now I know x and y is bad so maybe I can deal with it better. Knipe describes this better than I can:

‘”Sometimes bad happens” is a direct quote from a toddler after dropping a truck full of sand on the floor and it resonated with me because it’s simple. Sometimes bad does happen, it’s a given, and sometimes we have to just move on and accept it. Accept bad shit, accept pain, accept being heartbroken, and one day you will be able to grow taller. Be angry and wild and sad and wacky because sometimes it’s all we can do to survive. Appreciate sadness and its temporary quality. That’s all, thank you to everyone in life.’

Sometimes Bad Happens will be officially released on the 22nd August, and you can buy it on Bandcamp, or on tape via Miscreant Records. The good folks over at The Le Sigh are streaming the EP on Soundcloud.

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