Black Grape - Orange Head (DGAFF Records) 
Release Date: 19th January 2024
I know Shaun Ryder is known as the front-man, face and voice of the Happy Mondays but if I'm perfectly honest, I was always more in to the stuff he did with Black Grape. So, colour me excited to have the new album from this 'side project' which is about to set the bar for every other band in 2024. 'Orange Head' is 11 tracks of eccentric but funky music that will challenge other artists to revisit how much of their input is actually unique or new.
The album opens with 'Button Eyes', a frankly disorientating Latin influenced track with Ryder shouting "Eepa, Eepa, Anglais" over a rolling rhythm and swaying melody before the horns and piano join in to make you feel like you've just stumbled in to an exclusive area of the Cuban resort you're staying at. 'Dirt' is altogether darker and more sinister with menacing melodies and insidious beats drifting out of the alley ways and ginnels of Manchester. Ironically, 'In The Ground' is more lively with a bubbling beat underpinning some Gorillaz-esque atmospherics with shimmering Spaghetti Western guitars adding a little depth.
There's a cowboy swagger to 'Losers' which hangs off a slow-striding bass line before recent single 'Milk' takes us straight in to the clubs with dirty and funky melody that injects the good times directly in to your veins. The party continues on 'Panda' with bouncing synths and a little 80s influence creating something radio-ready while 'Part of Everything' takes some 'Born Slippy' chords, slows them down and creates a sound that is pure blissed-out oblivion in the city centre on a Saturday night. 'Pimp Wars' snaps you out of your reverie though as the funk fuelled fun gets you up and striding towards the next bar with horns in your heels and organ in your, well, organ.
The late night vibes of 'Quincy' keep the funk going with a fluttering flute, loose beat and Kermit pulling the strings while Ryder rolls out his perfectly unique vocals. The band take a lead from Art of Noise on 'Self Harm' which snakes and swaggers in to your ears like Jessica Rabbit wearing thuglife sunglasses and a nose ring. 'Sex On The Beach' brings things to a climax with a genuinely disorientating reggae vibe floating out from the back room of the club leaving you with that early morning hours in the club feeling. This whole album sounds fresh, free and experimental which is exactly what I want from my music and exactly what I need at the start of 2024.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/BlackGrapeOfficial/