XL Schallplatten & CDs

Review: XL Recordings founder Richard Russell has been rather busy of late. First came the publication of his memoir, "Liberation Through Hearing", and now this: the follow-up to his 2017 debut album as Everything Is Recorded. Like its predecessor, "Friday Forever" was produced and mixed by Russell but also contains contributions from a wide range of artists including Ghostface KIllah, Penny Rimbaud, A.K. Paul, James Massiah, Infinite Coles, Irish singer-songwriters Maria Somerville and Kean Kavanagh, and a host of new-breed British MCs. There's a concept behind it - the sound-tracking of a night out and the weekend that follows - with the music brilliantly joining the dots between hip-hop, neo-classical, soul, proto house, reggae, jazz and much, much more. That it not only holds together but also makes perfect sense is testament to Russell's growing skill as a producer.

Review: XL Recordings presents the long-awaited repress of keiyaA's 2020 album Forever, Ya Girl. The singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist was raised in Chicago's South Side; now based in New York, her jazz training, R&B sensibilities, and hip-hop inheritability are all deployed to full effect, crafting an experimental soul sound inundated with powerfully sultry voice and dense lyricism. Aiming to to foreground the standpoint and intellect of the black woman in the late-stage capitalist landscape, Forever, Ya Girl brings a sawn-off, digital neo-soul inflection to themes of struggle and grace, all while deploying many a quirky interjection and voice-modded sample between the beats.

Review: Baltimore's gothic synthpop golden child Nourished By Time (Marcus Brown) has made a wonderful name for himself so far, flaunting a blithe, nigh ghostly vocal talent, usually paired with a lo-fi alt-pop aesthetic. The 'Catching Chickens' EP, his debut record for XL Recordings, continues this trend with a brand new five-track EP, following up 2023's equally great LP Erotic Probiotic 2. Written between 2022 - 2023 in his home studio in Baltimore and along his world travels this past year, Catching Chickens is derived from the film Rocky, and the iconic scene in which Rocky's trainer makes him chase and catch a flock of chickens as a test of agility. Channelling Brown's per usual contemplation of late stage capitalism and post-pandemic loneliness, every song here is indicative of a well-earned artistic progression.