Viagra Boys – “Cave World” (Year0001)

What’s left when you showed “how it’s done” (in “Street Worms”) and reproduced it as best as possible (“Welfare Jazz”)? Tell stronger stories. In fact, in Cave World, the Viagra Boys can rely on a tried and true formula musically (except when Sebastian Murphy is tuned to falsetto, a good time for The Cognitive Trade-Off Hypothesis) that doesn’t work. surpass its predecessor. But lyrically, they present their most spartan and direct tracks to date. With an infant raised to become a criminal (“Criminal Kid”), they seek the primal not only in notes but also in words (monkeys and modern cavemen in Troglodyte, the oligarchic first man in Cognitive Compromise). Hypothesis” and other monkeys in “Return To Monke”), they even “judge”… the thief take it easy (“Ain’t No Thief”). Finally, the Viagra Boys in “Cave World” talk about today (and) in prehistoric terms and write an urban punk western that never rests even after the trigger is pulled. 7/10

Caterina Barbieri – “Exit of the Spirit” (Light Years)

In this work, the Italian composer also uses geometric and minimal repetitions. He wrote “Spirit Exit” in complete isolation and was inspired by such female figures as Emily Dickinson and Teresa of Avila. And if the latter is not striking without an accompanying press release, then behind the obedient and calculating manner of the compositions of the record, religiosity seeps through, which becomes a prayer when Barbieri takes the microphone – as, for example, in the semitone exercise “Transfixed” with the blessing of autotune. It all sounds unbearably new, but Barbieri has a way of handling his synthesizers with stoic tenderness and softening his melodies enough to formulate his own musical language and save those who don’t like cerebral electronic masturbation from allergic shock. 7/10

Workers Club – “Fear Fear” (Heavenly)

The Working Men’s Club continues to make music for kids who love guitars and electronics (almost) equally. But while on debut they gave their LCD Soundsystem British look, on “Fear Fear” Joy Division t-shirts were washed with New Order t-shirts and worn with black trousers, even when they were under the disco balls. The result is danced lazily and sometimes louder when it comes to “Heart attack” and “Money is mine”. The record certainly creates a dark dance atmosphere, but the problem lies elsewhere: in the almost imitative use of references. Because the sound of 2022, as if you were recording in the darkest underground studio of the 80s, seems deliberately obvious and thereby loses any refreshing intention that could be hidden behind this sound mix. Indeed, in such cases, a hint is always better than an overt. 6.5/10