Son Raw doesn’t need a stylist.
Look at that promo picture. King Midas Sound, returning after a 6 year hiatus spent hijacking vessels on the Somalian seas (one assumes), look like Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz if that cartoon group were made flesh, lived through a civil war, and decided to split the difference between looking road and Fury Road. Rappers can name-drop clothing labels all they want, but I’ll always respect a band that can capture the imagination through a powerful visual, all on a punk rock budget.
Sartorial swagger aside, Midas’ return to music is big news: their Hyperdub debut was an underrated anti-banger that deserves re-appraisal, rescuing trip-hop torpor from buddah bar cheesiness at a time when most people’s conception of “dub” had more to do with moshing frat bros than anything Jamaican. Their new record, Editions 1, sees them unite with guitarist Fennesz to continue a deeply personal path through ambient music, shoegaze, lullabies, drone, dub, and noise. At various points throughout, it sounds like all of those things, yet any attempts to slot the record neatly within those genres would be rebuffed: this is music too weird to be categorized, to sullen and hurt to be sold in a package.
The above video provides a glimpse into the narcotic moods the group is working in, but for optimal results, you’ll want the entire record, a quart of purple actavis, and severe emotional trauma.
Side note: while researching this piece, I realized that Kevin Martin and Geoff Barrow have never worked together. That can’t be right, can it?
