So, did you watch the Grammys? No, me neither. I'm glad to hear St Vincent won an award and equally glad to hear that Iggy Azalea didn't. Also, Kanye's still a dick. That about sums up my thoughts on the whole event.
Time now to talk new tracks. That is the point of this section after all. This week Kendrick gets angry, Royal Blood get bloody and I get deep.
THE BEST:
'The
Blacker The Berry' - Kendrick Lamar
'I'm black as the heart of a fucking Aryan!"
The happy, positive Kendrick that was rapping on ‘I’ couldn’t be further from the one spitting on this new call-to-arms track.
The happy, positive Kendrick that was rapping on ‘I’ couldn’t be further from the one spitting on this new call-to-arms track.
Accused on Twitter of not caring about last year’s Ferguson
murder by talented-but-loud-mouthed fellow hip hop artist Azealia Banks, the Compton rapper
has stepped up to the mic to settle his views on black culture and racial
violence. The song at first presents itself as a zealous attack against white-on-black violence, but later reveals itself to be an attack on all violence in general with Kendrick constantly declaring himself as 'the biggest hypocrite of 2015'.
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It's pretty damn intense, set to a mean beat and delivered with a belly full of fire. The sweet jazzy outro serves as a space to catch your breath.
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It's pretty damn intense, set to a mean beat and delivered with a belly full of fire. The sweet jazzy outro serves as a space to catch your breath.
'Hardest
Part' - Laura Welsh ft. John Legend
The ‘I’m not in love, but really I am’ song template will
never get old, so long as human beings have emotions and an irrational impulse
to suppress them. This soulful duet by UK vocalist Laura Welsh and radio
sensation John Legend does nothing new, but it’s pretty and heartfelt enough to
make up for this. Laura’s new album ‘Soft Control’ drops March 9th.
'Alchemy' - Zac Abel
Featuring a tasty garage beat from London producer Joker,
this new track highlights Zac Abel as another up-and-coming UK musician to look
out for. He’s got the kind of seductive voice that gives R Kelly a run for his
money. This deserves to be on the airwaves.
'Out of
The Black' - Royal Blood
Royal Blood’s ‘Out of the Black’ has been out since 2013 but
I’m plugging it anyway because it’s awesome, plus as of this week it now has a cool new music video featuring animal mascots going on a gory gas station rampage. It's also got to be one of the most elaborate Snickers ads I've ever seen.
'Mechanical Friends' - Laura-Jean
'I believe there's a planet out there for me'
Sometimes Earth pisses me off. Sometimes I wish I could live on a planet where everyone thinks my way, a planet on which TOWIE and butter and talking about the weather are banned.. I then realise that such a planet would be quite boring as we'd all share the same quirks, plus nothing would ever get done if everyone was like me. Still, it's an interesting thought and one I'm glad the beautiful Laura-Jean has wrote a song about.
'I believe there's a planet out there for me'
Sometimes Earth pisses me off. Sometimes I wish I could live on a planet where everyone thinks my way, a planet on which TOWIE and butter and talking about the weather are banned.. I then realise that such a planet would be quite boring as we'd all share the same quirks, plus nothing would ever get done if everyone was like me. Still, it's an interesting thought and one I'm glad the beautiful Laura-Jean has wrote a song about.
THE WORST:
'I’m the Ocean' - Slug † Christ
This guy’s signed to Awful Records, which is appropriate. The beat's nifty but the dude sounds like he's had a bad stroke.