Released: 20th July 2018
Rating: ★★★★
The Internet’s rise to potent status has arguably one of the past few years most deserving moments. What started out as another off-shoot of Odd Future, has become a unified and unstoppable force of their own. ’Ego Death’ – their last album, finally saw them heralded in the status they’ve been deserving of, a soulful hybrid of funk, sizzling jazz, hazy R&B and unravelling rhythms that hypnotise each and every time. The latter, that hypnotising beauty, shines bright on ‘Hive Mind’, a coming together of the past few years filled with solo projects – but the sound of a band connecting in place like the perfect jigsaw as confirmation of their new found role as a cut above the rest.
‘Hive Mind’ is like setting a jukebox off and watching the results dazzle. Always growing, flying, grooving with a newfound confidence – it bottles up the sounds of 70s funk and shakes it with modern shine and a knowing independence. ‘Come Over’ flicks and pulsates with something fresh, while the likes of ‘Roll (Burbank Funk)’ and ‘Bravo’ are up there with the best they’ve ever served up. Everything The Internet do, feels collective and unpredictable – different styles bouncing off one another into a delicious whole.
It comes together to form The Internet’s jubilant confirmation ceremony, a band who already feel light years ahead of anyone else and firmly in their own league of peerless power. Make no mistake ‘Hive Mind’ is the sort of record that places The Internet into a comfortable realm as a band who’ll be adored and poured over for countless years to come.
Jamie Muir
