Danger Mouse & Black Thought, Thelma Plum + more, our favourite records of the week
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12.08.2022

Danger Mouse & Black Thought, Thelma Plum + more, our favourite records of the week

Words by Mixdown Staff

Danger Mouse & Black thought bring the heat, Thelma Plum sends her love back home, and Goo Goo Dolls escape the pandemic

This week, Danger Mouse & Black Thought drop Cheat Codes, Thelma Plum drops the Meanjin EP, and Goo Goo Dolls drop Chaos in Bloom.

This week’s top picks:

  • Danger Mouse & Black Thought – Cheat Codes
  • Thelma Plum – Meanjin EP
  • Goo Goo Dolls – Chaos in Bloom

Read all the latest music news here.

Danger Mouse & Black Thought – Cheat Codes

Cheat Codes – which also features Raekwon, MF DOOM, Kid Sister and Conway the Machine – is Danger Mouse’s first hip-hop album since his The Mouse & The Mask collaboration with the late MF DOOM, and follows Black Thought’s pioneering output with The Roots, sensational viral freestyle and acclaimed solo trilogy, Streams Of Thought.

For ‘Aquamarine’, Danger Mouse’s rousing, cinematic production and Black Thought’s razor-sharp vocals are perfectly complimented by Kiwanuka’s soaring and soulful hook.

Their latest single ‘Strangers’ saw the duo enlist hip-hop A-listers A$AP Rocky and Run The Jewels. The result is a tour de force from acclaimed producer Danger Mouse, and Black Thought, A$AP, El-P and Killer Mike, four of the most revered figures rap today.

Thelma Plum – Meanjin EP

Across its six tracks, Meanjin is a moving body of work that sees Thelma reflect and reminisce on her time growing up – and returning to – the Sunshine State. Arriving alongside the release is a music video for ‘The Brown Snake’ ­– an ode to the locally famed Brisbane River and its affectionately known alias, which features a multitude of other references to Meanjin.

Joining ‘The Brown Snake’ on the EP is May single ‘Backseat Of My Mind’ which is a self-described “nostalgic feeling driving song”. Comprising its remaining four tracks are the stirring rainy day anthem ‘When It Rains It Pours’ and haunting piano-led ‘Baby Blue Bicycle’, as well as and the short and sweet ‘Bars On My Windows’ and charming love story ‘The Bat Song’.

Goo Goo Dolls – Chaos in Bloom

Marking the first album of their career to be produced by frontman John Rzeznik, the record finds the band at the top of their game and continuing to constantly evolve just as they have for nearly four decades together. Consisting of 10 tracks, Chaos in Bloom is an album of biting sarcasm, stadium-ready choruses, and the type of spear-sharp songwriting that’s led them to becoming one of the most influential alternative rock groups of all time.

While Chaos in Bloom isn’t necessarily an album borne out by the pandemic, many of the tracks reflect on all of the things in daily life that became amplified while everyone was isolated from one another and sequestered at home.

To record the album, Rzeznik and bassist and songwriter Robby Takac retreated to Dreamland Studios just outside Woodstock, New York during the pandemic. An environment as remote as it is rich with historic rock music roots, the location proved to be the perfect setting for clearing the noise and creating such a record, which carries a true live quality that the band captured by blending vintage instruments and gear with new-age recording processes and techniques.