Paul McCartney gets a lot of shit thrown at him, but I've always loved him, John was a self-obsessed wanker, who, because he talked about peace and love at every opportunity, and died young, he get's cut a lot of slack, whilst Paul get's tarred with the schmaltz brush or as this hammy villain. So last month they re-released 'McCartney II' a series of home-recordings he made with a synthsizer in 1980, and reveals the scope and talent of the guy in a new light, from the weird techno-funk curio 'Temporary Secretary' to the ballads 'Waterfalls' and 'Summer's Day Song', which could be standard, but instead warp around strange electronic arrangements, especially the crackling violins on the latter. Then there's the instrumental 'Front Parlour' and 'Frozen Jap', the former washes warm waves of keyboards to the latters cold shimmers. The album is bookended by 'Check My Machine' a strange, reggae boogie, which Paul made to test out his new toy, and 'Coming Up' and gorgeous and taught, a total revelation to anyone who thinks Paul only does unadventurous balladry.

You should watch the video, here's alink because it won't let me embed it.

Zomby's just about to release a new album, so it feels pretty apt to look back to his first, the incredible Where Were U In '92, released on Werk Discs back in 2008. Zomby's music is ephemeral like exhaled weed smoke, snakes around like a night bus on diversion, this track, 'Tears In The Rain' is wrenching, evocative, ghostly vocals samples collide with rave horns, underpinned by an echoing beat, like your neighbour having a party next door, and his paper thin walls providing little protection from the strange, guttural sounds.

Buy Zomby's new album, Dedication, on iTunes

A Tribe Called Quest's debut album was crowned by the Lou Reed sampling single 'Can I Kick It'. It was though, a bitty, slightly immature effort. With most of the vocal duties taken by Q-Tip, Phife's equally expressive flow was relegated to the odd guest spot. So it took their second album, The Low End Theory, to really bring the group's style to maturity. More cohesive, TLET went against the grain of the dominant sound of late 80s / early 90s hip-hop. Instead of, for example, Dre's menacing g-funk on The Chronic, with its pulsing tonality, drenched in the LA dichotomy of sunshine and gunshots, or the highly political and claustrophobic beats of the East Coast scene expounded by the likes of Jeru, Public Enemy and KRS-ONE, ATCQ developed this a broadly jazz influenced, downbeat and pensive style.

This is exemplified in two singles from it, 'Jazz (We've Got)' and 'Scenario'. Jazz is pretty straight up, flipping between Q-Tip and Phife, yet showcase their downtempo, bass heavy sound. 'Scenario' is far more lively, made even livelier by a guest spot from a young Busta at the end. Possibly his greatest ever.