Fetish Bones

Released

After a few under-the-radar releases, Moor Mother broke out with this 2017 album, a punishing, steely-eyed exploration of pain so layered and multigenerational it transcends time itself. Samples of gospel singers, preachers, prisoners being interviewed about chain gang labor, residents of Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing project talking about gun violence, and more all blend with Moor Mother’s unmerciful judgments, delivered in verses of blunt poetry that nonetheless contain a dark, grim humor (“Nois Bois” is a perfect parody of the noise-rap duo Death Grips). The music is lo-fi and harsh, industrial noise deploying electronic buzzes and clouds of static layered over deliberately crude and pounding beats and swathed in reverb and echo and miles-deep sub-bass. Not fun in the sense of escapism, but thrilling like a really good horror movie.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Halber Mensch cover

Halber Mensch

Einstürzende Neubauten
Hole cover

Hole

Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel
Copper Gone cover

Copper Gone

Sage Francis
Silence Is Sexy cover

Silence Is Sexy

Einstürzende Neubauten
Iono cover

Iono

Relapso
Sad, Fat Luck cover

Sad, Fat Luck

Ceschi, Factor Chandelier