Albums of the week: Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds, Fcukers, Nubiyan Twist, Adam O’Farrill

Mutiny After Midnight

Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds

(High Top Mountain/Atlantic Outpost)

Sturgill Simpson, the prolific US country artist also known as Johnny Blue Skies, remains an outrider in a genre that mythologises principled risk-takers. His latest album is an incendiary, louche rock record that exhorts America to make love, not internecine war.

Teased online before landing as physical copies, Mutiny After Midnight hopes to start a revolution from the bedroom and the dancefloor, because everything is terrible. Gen Z are not having children, or even sex. Make America Fuk Again is explicit in its aims; Simpson also wants to make America “not suck again” by turning up the heat. The ensuing tracks are full of funk and daring, extolling pleasure and condemning ICE, Trump and the so-called broligarchy.

“I can’t breathe,” sings Simpson on Excited Delirium, an apparent reference to the murder of George Floyd, before sneering at ICE agents: “Why you dressed up as a soldier?” On the coruscating Ain’t That a Bitch, the powerful plot the rise of fascism and the system lets them. Naturally, the political is also personal, as Simpson shares his own secret mission-within-a-mission: “Weaponising my autism to shit out an opus.” Mission accomplished. 

Ö

Fcukers

(Ninja Tune)

Yes, it’s pronounced like that. Not “FC UK-ers”, as Jimmy Fallon politely introduced them on his show recently. The provocative American dance duo aren’t much for subtext or subtlety in name – or anywhere else – on a very enjoyable debut. The glossy hi-def production by Kenneth Blume (formerly known as Kenny Beats) is one sign that Fcukers are aiming higher than anyone expected after they released scuzzy, 2am drop singles such as Mothers and Homie Don’t Shake in 2023. Another is that their lyrics have become slightly more sanitised, as they graduate from supporting LCD Soundsystem to joining Harry Styles on his upcoming stadium tour.

Consistent, though, is Shanny Wise’s airy, alluring drawl, draped over Jackson Walker Lewis’s party-starting club-pop. Ö excels as a very American take on post-electroclash – the anything-goes sound of the mid-00s that brought underground acts such as CSS, NYPC and Goldfrapp to prominence. There isn’t much funk or groove here, but this is gloriously disposable, repetitive, direct-to-the-lizard-brain music. Perfect for an indie sleaze summer. 

Chasing Shadows

Nubiyan Twist

(Strut Records)

Leeds-formed, London-based nonet Nubiyan Twist have spent a decade refining their potent blend of funk, dub and Afrobeat, and this is their strongest album yet. It repeats a formula that started with 2021’s Freedom Fables, with the band alternately accompanying vocals from a frontwoman (on this occasion, new addition Eniola) and well-chosen, surprisingly high-profile guests: Nile Rodgers and Seun Kuti lent their talents to previous release Find Your Flame, while this one features a jazz-funk workout with Patrice Rushen (Threads).

Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara brings an earthy quality to the title track, which is sure to be a concert fixture; Bootie Brown, formerly of 1990s hip-hop outfit the Pharcyde, adds his west coast rasp to Red Herring; and Ezra Collective pianist Joe Armon-Jones enhances the dubby closing track Rhythm of You. Best of all is Message, built around a driving, Eddie Hazel-like guitar riff from the bandleader Tom Excell and whipped into a frenzy by dancehall darling Mr Williamz. All of which might suggest the core band are overshadowed, but the lean arrangements, imaginative horn charts and propulsive rhythm section ensure they remain front and centre on this irresistible album. 

Elephant

Adam O’Farrill

(Out of Your Head)

At 31, Adam O’Farrill boasts one of the most enviable CVs in jazz. The Brooklyn-based trumpeter is a regular collaborator of the guitarist and MacArthur “genius” Mary Halvorson, as well as the virtuosic Japanese pianist Hiromi, and has released five albums as a band leader. With Elephant, however, he pushes himself further into the spotlight, fronting his debut quartet as a lone horn player.

Accompanied by three other rising New York artists – the pianist Yvonne Rogers, bassist Walter Stinson and drummer Russell Holzman – the resulting nine tracks are a propulsive journey through the sharp edges of modern improvisation. The interweaving piano arpeggios and minimal drums of Curves and Convolutions set the tone of the record as O’Farrill’s muted trumpet bursts into beautiful melody.

Other tracks such as Eleanor’s Dance and Thank You Song give a lopsided feel, shifting metre each time the listener grows comfortable. But O’Farrill excels in the Sea Triptych: across three tracks, he moves from muted melody to frenetic rhythm, showcasing his capacity to embrace avant-garde experimentalism as much as group groove. A remarkably confident debut. 

Playing with rave chaos and punk ideology, the LA duo deBasement have already started drawing underground attention. Together, the Grammy-nominated producer Margo XS, who has worked with Kim Petras and Zara Larsson, and the vocalist Alli Logout, frontperson of the acclaimed punk band Special Interest, make blown-out, ferocious pop bangers.

Formed in 2024, the band quickly moved through queer club spaces (Berghain) and festivals (Wide Awake). Their debut EP, F.F.F.T.DJ, attracted the support of fellow experimental producers from AG Cook (executive producer on Charli XCX’s Brat) to Toronto-based DJ Bambii, helping cement their status as one of the more unpredictable new acts emerging from the alternative club scene.

DeBasement sound like electroclash blasted through filthy club systems. Tracks such as Front Left Speaker feature alt-rap hooks, distorted beats and synth lines, balancing pop instincts with raw rave energy.

Their hedonistic new single Aftermarket Bass builds on that approach. Made with fellow LA-based producer Nikki Nair, it revs like an Ed Banger deep cut, with wonky, basslines and Logout’s whispered “pump the brakes”. It sounds like it could only exist at 3am in a packed room, and offers a tantalising glimpse of their next EP, expected this summer. Georgia Evans

Aftermarket Bass ft Nikki Nair is out 25 March. DeBasement’s second EP will be out in June 2026.

Photographs by Jeton Bakall/Sam Blake