Saturday 7 April 2018

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 07/04/2018: Denzel Curry, SOPHIE, Drake and more…



Get ready for your ears to be ringing with the sound of distorted bass and rattling hi-hats - it’s mostly trap bangers this week.

THE BEST:

‘Sumo’ – Denzel Curry


Did someone steal all of Denzel’s Easter eggs? Did he step on a Lego brick? The Floridian father of Soundcloud rap is sounding mighty angry on this new heavy banger ‘Sumo’. As with many of Denzel’s songs, it’s packed with obscure cultural references from Prince Zuko to Chad Hugo.

‘Watch Out!’ – Rich Brian


The shrill synth in the beat is absolutely menacing – this might be Rich Brian’s hardest track to date. The funeral scene in the music video accompanied by the line ‘I just killed that pussy, send your thoughts and prayers’ also did make me chuckle. The Indonesian rapper may be trying to move away from his meme-y origins, but I’m glad he’s still keeping some humour in there.

‘Faceshopping’ – SOPHIE


If you were to film my expressions whilst listening to this new SOPHIE single, it probably wouldn’t be too dissimilar to the warping face in the music video. The gender-blurring banger-producing experimental EDM artist seems to be commenting on the way we all distort out physical appearance to please others. As per usual, the instrumental is a clanking mechanical monster of a beat that itself is continuously mutating.

 ‘Nice For What’ – Drake


Drake’s still harking on about how he hasn’t found a woman who’ll treat him right, but at least his production is fresh. It’s less moody than his previous couple releases and more triumphant, backed by Kanye-esque sampling and punchy 808s.

‘Moon Undah Water’ – Puma Blue


And now for something completely different. This Parisian band’s lo-fi jazz sound has me hooked – those raw detuned guitars and smoky vocals make me feel like I ought to be in a French café sipping coffee and eating croissants.

THE WORST:

‘Push Back’ – Ne-Yo ft. Bebe Rexha & Stefflon Don


Ne-Yo is back and he’s jumping on the Afropop bandwagon. It’s basically what Drake was doing two years ago.