Not listening to the new Frank Ocean album? If not, why not?!? Get off my blog immediately! Get yourself to his website right now to stream the whole album on Apple Music.
All done? Excellent. We can now begin. Here are the five tracks I'm obsessed with this week, and why they're so damn fine. Bon Iver - 22 (OVER S∞∞N) [Bob Moose Extended Cab Version]
Contender for the most gushingly gorgeous track of the year. For context, I'd highly recommend reading Bon Iver BFF Trevor Hagen's essay on the new album, '22, A Million', out September 30th. It's an incredible insight into an artist that has defined a generation.
"It all came to a head on an empty Atlantic beach. I bore witness to my best friend crying in my arms, lost in a world of confusion and removal. Justin could barely even talk. It was only days before, on a misguided solo trip to an island off the coast of Greece, that he had recorded the opening words of 22, A Million, “It might be over soon”, into a portable sampler. The forecast that begins this next Bon Iver undertaking is a reminder of our fragile existence. How when everything appears stable, it may crumble and fall through our fingers."
For me, the track is a pointed reminder of our own mortality. It's sonically fragmented, yet sharp enough to pierce reality, It's not sad to think about death. In fact, it can be liberating, a window into inspiration. "It might be over soon." Justin Vernon has crafted music that has touched millions in different ways by uniting human similarities in a way that makes each of our struggles feel totally unique. The sound feels like a step up, especially in contrast to the cleaner, almost falsetto-less 'Heavenly Father', a standout from the 'Wish I Was Here' soundtrack. 2016 has been marked by divine Bon Iver features, from James Blake to Francis & The Lights. And this is the sublime culmination, the zenith, the big game payoff. "It might be over soon"... September 30th seems a long way away. But if we can wait for Frank, we can wait for you Justin.
The Magic Gang - All This Way
Let's switch it up. The Magic Gang are, quite simply, everybody's favourite indie band of the past year. Immensely likeable, effortlessly catchy and infectiously optimistic, you'll see every single release universally well covered from every blog and influencer worth noticing in the UK. They're supporting the like minded Spring King on tour soon, and are headlining Scala for the very first time at the end of next month. Big steps, big waves, big statements. And they're startlingly self aware. Listen to the chorus, you'll know what I mean.
Blaenavon - Let's Pray
The Maccabees have retired. Like Brexit, nobody saw it coming. And now we're going to have to deal, grieving, as the world gets a little bit worse. Blaenavon attempt to fill that void, with a Welsh sound that everybody in indie mourning will be able to relate to. And if you're still mad about the EU thing, then you can descend miserably into their nihilistic lyricism with all the comfort of a thumb-wary keyboard warrior.
Loyle Carner - No CD ft. Rebel Kleff
Another week, another brilliant track from Loyle Carner. Fresh off afantastic Tom Misch feature, he's the main man again. But this time it feels different. It's the same 90's hip hop beat, but empowered with a driven guitar riff and references to Jay Z and Ol' Dirty Bastard in the hook. Go see him headline Knee Deep Festival in Cornwall next weekend. Along with Whitney, one of my favourite bands of the year to emerge from the fire of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, you can witness his epic maturity in the flesh.
Pillow Person - Go Ahead
A while ago, I wrote a thinkpiece about how PC Music was inevitably going to take over the world. Sure, it's slow work. Mo Farah didn't get Gold overnight. But multi-multi-multi platinum awarded internet sensation turned Pitchfork darling Carly Rae Jepson knows a thing or two about overnight success, and her collaboration with major label PC Music pioneer Danny L Harle has garnered over 100,000 hits in the last 48 hours. A sign of things to come?
Regardless, it's a sound with a fanbase. And Sarah Jones, aka Pillow Person, aka 'the girl in Hot Chip', moves with clear inspiration. It could be GFOTY. Enjoy her bubblegum beats in the self directed video below. RJ, out.
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Sixteen. It's the number of waking hours you should be enjoying each day. It's the UK legal age when you can first start fumbling through the lessons of sex learnt from watching Team America: World Police when your parents were out of town. It's also the name of the band that represented Poland in the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest, In Birmingham.
It also happens to be shorthand for the wondrous, apocalyptic, what-the-hell-just-happened year of right damn now. The year of David Bowie's death, Kanye still refusing to let Taylor finish, and the Geldof vs Farage EU Armada-off on the Thames. Unbelievably, some music stuff happened this year too. Beyonce broke the internet, Azealia Banks left the internet, Radiohead deleted the internet. Grime made the Mecury's. And Michelle Obama ran the jewels with Missy Elliot. Honestly, 2016, it's been both hell and heaven to keep up. But anyway. Here are the sixteen tracks of '16 that have kept me up at night when the news takes a breather. We start reclined, relaxed, ready to groove. Then it'll take you to church. But by the end, the pews fly and the preachers rave. Enjoy: the best tracks of the year so far.
'Ain't Nothing Changed' drops the most gorgeous introduction of the year, dripping with class and a 90s East Coast vibe. The packshot was taken from Berlin, the birthplace of the underground. It's also taken just around the corner from a wicked burger joint that sells a triple stacked patty called the Grandmeister Fleisch. Admittedly, unrelated, but I thought we were talking about good shit? This is out as of last Friday on AMF Records, a new label set up by two best friends in London that released the Gilligan Moss 'Ceremonial' EP and the gutsy first single from INHEAVEN. Please digest with diligence.
It was a time without fear of taxes, accidental pregnancies, and the Daily Mail. It was a good time. And the fuzzy optimism of 'Keep Me' from Cumbrian seven-piece Pesky will take you right back to that time where people wouldn't shout at you for breaking the swings at your local playground because 'they're not meant for big people'.
And there's an authenticity to this innocent dream pop track, as all seven members are between 10 to 12 years old. I know right! The rest of their 'Smells Like Tweenage Rampage' mini-album is similarly School of Rock (out now on Fierce Panda), swirling in nostalgia for a time when The Chuckle Brothers didn't indulge in grime music. If Babymetal and The Strypes can do it, then why not Pesky? Best enjoyed on your old school field whilst spinning round in circles and thinking about how much you still fancy your old substitute teacher.
Wow. I haven't blogged about anything in just under a year. Somebody would be forgiven for thinking that I'd been busy getting a degree, travelling the world, and getting my first job in the music industry.
Well, I'm back. For today. But in the immortal lyrics of the late Joe Cocker, who knows what tomorrow brings? Especially with a new season of Game of Thrones on the horizon. In the meantime, enjoy this new track from Thee Manatees. They're a Welsh DIY garage rock band with the scuzzy grit of bare blues sounds, but with something just a little bit more eccentric. Minimalist, raw, and full of grizzly, intriguing energy. Human Fly feels like The Kills, whilst this new track, Cuckoo, is weird enough to be a Cosmo Sheldrake creation. It's real, man. |
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