JASON DERULO: Future History.The title sums it up as he fuses the past with the present – usually with some mega samples. There’s some huge synth dance cuts such as Don’t Wanna Go Home with its massive sampled hookline from, er, The Banana Boat Song while the next minute he’s slipping into something more soulfully comfortable in the form of the kind of ballad Lionel Richie could have penned 30 years ago. But the biggest sample of all hits you smack between the eyes on Fight For You with the knockout blow that’s 80s hit Africa by Toto. Others fade into the background while top softie moment is the ultra-imploring ballad That’s My Shhh.
NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.Not exactly hiding behind the band here and this is Noel Gallagher’s first new album in three years. It begins with the distinctly psychedelic yearning Everybody’s On The Run that sets a high standard for the others to follow. He’s teamed up with musicians to do what he wants hence the eclectic feel that veers from acoustic strummers such as the intense If I Had A Gun to the woozy lollop of The Death Of You And Me and current single AKA What A Life that’s swept along on a sense of indie rock urgency. His powers aren’t diminished with the passage of time but his mainstream appeal might be swimming against the tide.
