THE BEST:
‘Ponyboy’ – SOPHIE
After disappointingly soppy single ‘It’s Okay To Cry’, I’m
glad to see SOPHIE coming back to form with this abrasive banger. The track’s mix
of chopped vocals and over-compressed bass is sure to make most people throw
their headphones across the room, whilst the BDSM-themed music video is likely
to put just as many people off. For me, this unruly experimentalism is
everything that made me fall in love with SOPHIE’s music in the first place.
‘You Don’t See Me’ –
The Tambourine Girls
I almost didn’t give this track a chance. It starts off
fairly simplistically with a pounding drum, pulsing bassline and hazy vocals,
but it turns out to be a rewarding slowbuilder as more instrumentation gradually
joins in leading up to a grand climax. The frontman of this Sydney four-piece
also delivers some terrific lovelorn lyrics that seem to get more pained as the
song progresses before finally finding bittersweet resolution: ‘I think you loved me completely in darkness,
so that’s where I’ll be’.
‘ABC 123’ – Tune-Yards
‘ABC123LMNO’. That’s
not how the alphabet goes! Still, even if I haven’t got a clue what Merrill is getting
at, her frenetic art-pop sound is still as catchy and bubbly as ever. She has a
new album scheduled for release in January titled I can feel you creep into my private life.
‘Surrender’ – Kode
Maya
Finnish duo Kode Maya continue to piece together complex genre-bending
music. It contains everything from twinkling synths to world percussion to even
a section at 2:35 that sounds like the showdown in a Hollywood Western. It’s
very different to their other single ‘Mosquito’, but just as exciting.
THE WORST:
‘Perfect Duet’ – Ed
Sheeran ft. Beyoncé
Beyoncé has jumped on a pre-existing Ed Sheeran track and made
it all the more schmaltzy. They harmonise well, but what difference does that
make when the melodies are dull as dishwater?