You know how people lose their **** over how amazing the ancient Greeks were? Just remember that in a bizarro alternate universe a very large percentage of those people would have been down with this song because people are I-don't-even-****ing-know. If you ever find yourself marvelling at the ingenuity of the human race just imagine Plato (or more likely his lay-about kid) bumping Limp Bizkit. There's something about that that is unintentional art.

.

Enter the 36 Chambers is at heart a goofy 80s rap album that's just feel-good rapping about how fly an MC you are with as many silly punchlines as possible, while using the hard hitting style and language of 90s gangsta rap to give it more edge than LL Kool J or Run DMC. So it's stylistically and lyrically confused but also has all the fun of the former style and the punch-you-in-the-face knockin' of the latter in a way that meshes without you having to think about it.

It's a genre transitional album that isn't forward thinking enough to realize that it's a transitional album, but it's executed so fantastically that it absolutely has all the fun of 80s rap and beats the mother****ing ass of the 90s without needing to know that it has to do both things at a perfectly 50% ratio to avoid being mediocre. No wonder they never released another ultra banger album, cause they probably just released this album at exactly the right era for their approach.

I adore Hidden Orchestra but too often limit myself to just their debut, Night Walks. Today I spun their follow up, Archipelago and gave their latest effort, Dawn Chorus a first listen. It doesn't disappoint - just as atmospheric and layered as their other works.



Also nearly lost my mind when I discovered that Arthur Jeffes carried on Penguin Cafe Orchestra's work after his father's passing and released several new albums under the abridged project name, Penguin Cafe. Their 2017 LP is the best post-Simon work they've done. Enormously satisfying to have fresh new PCO tunes to enjoy!

Here's the opener to The Imperfect Sea (2017), entirely embracing the eclectic spirit of the original Orchestra.