This Friday, April 17, the records by Penny Arcade and Tomora are also hitting the shelves.
Tiga Hotlife (Secret City Records & Turbo Recordings/Modulor)
Tiga makes his grand return in a genre he helped to define through some of its aesthetic codes: retro-futurism of the eighties, absurd and/or shamelessly sexual lyrics, all paired with a certain sense of cool detachment. If he has shed a good amount of the sensuality that oozed from his debut album Sexor (2006) and despite a hilariously propulsive opening track (Hot Wife, with Boys Noize), Hotlife is a distilled snapshot of the history of electronic music (and of unforgettable basslines).
Yaya Bey Fidelity (Drink Sum Wtr)
Leaving largely behind rap (without fully abandoning the influence of hip-hop culture – her father, Grand Daddy I.U., was a member of the New York group Juice Crew in the 1980s), this new sixteen-track collection picks up where her third album, Do It Afraid (2025), left us. If the latter attempted to move beyond the overly restrictive image of the grieving woman – the previous, Ten Fold (2024), being notably marked by the loss of her father – Fidelity returns to tackle it through the lens of instrumentalization and the staging of the suffering of Black artists.
Penny Arcade Double Exposure (Tapete Records/Bigwax)
Recently settled in Marseille, this devotee of Syd Barrett and the Velvet Underground pays homage to his heroes on twelve new tracks where a chopped drum machine sets the rhythm for jagged guitars. One thinks of the balance between modesty and beauty practiced by his compatriot Studio Electrophonique, but also the unbridled imagination of Anton Newcombe in this way of looking back to the retro (the superb Rear View Mirror, Memory Lane, and Regrets) without dusty, claustrophobic weight. The ideal soundtrack for preferring the outdoorsy escape to the torments of everyday life.
Par Noémie Lecoq. Lire la critique de Double Exposure.
Tomora Come Closer (Polydor/Universal)
The duo’s intelligence, formed by Aurora and Tom Rowlans (The Chemical Brothers), lies in not proposing the “meeting of two different worlds”, nor simply stacking a series of pre-programmed sounds, layered in ways that contrast with Aurora’s powerful, incantatory voice. Everything on Come Closer is meticulously crafted, arranged to suggest a sense of progression, a controlled universe, a narrative that never forcibly drags toward the dancefloor, nor gets lost in pieces that are too overtly operatic.
Par Maxime Delcourt. Lire la critique de Come Closer.
Jessie Ware Superbloom (Polydor/Universal)
With an abundance of chart-toppers, Superbloom marks the apex for an artist who, after questioning her path for a long time and even dubbing herself a “dictator in the studio,” finally loosens the reins to follow her instincts and desires. A musician who reconnects with the soul of her beginnings on the sweet ballad Love You, and yields to her music-hall leanings on Summers, a barely veiled nod to Liza Minnelli.
Par Patrick Thévenin. Lire la critique de Superbloom.
