Tuesday, 15 October 2013

Albums of 2013 - Steve Mason - Monkey Minds In The Devil's Time

Every year an album comes along that just kicks you up the ass and leaves you thinking, 'where the hell did that come from?'. For me this year it was the album by Steve Mason called Monkey Minds In The Devil's Time.
Steve was the leader of The Beta Band - a band which played an unusual mix of folkish tunes with hip hop, dub, electronica & rock. They were a bit of a cult band back in the early 2000s with 3 critically acclaimed albums but no huge commercial success.

Following their split in 2004, Steve went solo with different projects. This album comes after his first proper solo album in 2010. I have to say it blew me away when I first heard it. It is a mix of styles with  plenty of political comment. It's pretty hard to nail down because it is so varied but Steve has definitely been listening to some Prog rock as it's very Pink Floyd & Alan Parsons in places. Together with a bit of rap about the London riots thrown in for good measure. It's a challenging but ultimately rewarding album. But try to listen to it in it's entirety. No dipping in!!!

 
 
 

2 comments:

  1. This hasn't left the car stereo since you sent it. It ain't easy listening but it's one hell of a potent mix. A brave album!

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  2. Totally agree. I keep going back to it too. And some dodgy album called In Cassidy's Care. More of which later :)

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