STACK #147 Jan 2017

NEWS MUSIC

The xx

WHAT'S THE STORY? We have a look back at the fascinating tales behind some of our favourite album covers.

E veryone you meet is jamming in the street all night long, says Lionel Richie, and I'm not about to argue with that pillar of the musical community. 2017 has begun with several fireworks in its pants; Kasey Chambers, Dropkick Murphys, The Flaming Lips, The xx, Bonobo, Austra, Mick Harvey, Code Orange and The McClymonts have all stepped it up, with plenty more in the (wind beneath your) wings. HNY! Zo ë Radas (Music Editor)

BONOBO T here's theories of how, why and when music first appeared. One view sees early structured sounds as a social glue: harmonising humans into communities, moulding behaviour and Words Simon Winkler

fulfilling a need to belong. Tens of thousands of years later – the internet age – humans have similar needs and songs have the same potential, just on a different scale. It's a power well understood by musician and producer Simon Green, AKA Bonobo. His albums all connect with a rare resonance. Samples are selected, instruments

T here's no shortage of wild armchair interpretations out there for the King of Pop's intricate Dangerous album cover (plenty of which claim they've found the key to Jackson's Illuminati leanings) – but that was likely the the goal of artist Mark Ryden. The notoriously cryptic pop-surrealist painter took six months to meld a sea of symbols pertaining to Jackson's life, with a common circus-esque thread holding them together. Does the crowned chimpanzee signify a puppet world leader installed by shadowy forces? Is it an allusion to mankind before we were corrupted by a secret elite? Is it simply Jackson's beloved pet Bubbles? Whatever the truth, the record became one of the best-selling albums of all time, spawning several #1 singles including the perennial favourite Black Or White . THIS MONTH: Dangerous, Michael Jackson (1991)

Migration by Bonobo is out January 13 via Ninja Tune/ Inertia.

are played and everything is arranged with sensitivity. Migration continues Bonobo's survey of emotions, music, and geography, or in his words, "the study of people and spaces... It's interesting how one person will take an influence from one part of the world and move with that influence and affect another part of the world. Over time, the identities of places evolve." And so Migration forms an affecting and effective journey into sound. Contributions are made from fellow travellers Rhye, and our own Nick Murphy.

.DVH\ &KDPEHUV * Š 2XW -DQXDU\

XX