Album of the Week: Alex G - God Save The Animals

If you’re a fan of Alex G, odds are you’re a fan of Alex G - and if you’re not, his new album God Save The Animals might just be the record to convert you. Somewhat of an anti-rockstar, Alex Giannascoli AKA Alex G shuns the spotlight, coming across shy, genuine and committed to letting his music and lyrics do the talking for him. 

While still defying strict genre classifications, God Save The Animals is Alex’s most cohesive record to date, as while it still hops from different styles and sounds, a layer of piano permeates the majority of the record, acting as a sonic anchor as Alex fuses seemingly disparate influences as far reaching as industrial, hip-hop, 90s jangly alt pop vibes and more. 

As is often the case withi his records, God Save The Animals features very liberal use of vocal processing on Alex’s voice, ranging from pitched up hyper-pop-esque frequencies to overdriven autotune to pitched down, bass heavy intonations as his lyrics grapple with themes related to the human condition and how we mature and evolve as humans over time. 

As if he hadn’t already, God Save The Animals solidifies Alex G’s place as one of the most interesting artists in alternative music in the twenty-first century, and leaves us wondering one thing - how the hell is he going to top this one?

The best of the rest of this week's records:

Beth Orton - Weather Alive [Partisan] ENG

Alternative / Folk

Big Scary - Me and You [Pieater] AUS

Indie

Editors - EBM [PIAS] ENG

Indie

Makaya McCraven - In These Times [XL Recordings / Remote Control Records] USA

Jazz

Protoje - Third Time's the Charm [RCA / Sony] JAM

Reggae

The Comet Is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam [Impulse! / Universal] ENG

Jazz

The Tallest Man On Earth - Too Late for Edelweiss [Anti] SWE

Folk

Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin - Ali [Dead Oceans] MAL/USA

Funk / Psych