Friday 4 October 2019

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 04/10/2019: The Hu, Clipping, Pitbull and more…



There’s all manner of crazy shit going on this week. There’s Mongolian rock with throat singing. There’s Pitbull rapping over a house remix of ‘Black Betty’. It's absolute mayhem.

THE BEST:

‘Blood of the Fang’ – Clipping.


Start running a bath before you hit play, because you'll need it after. This is the filthiest beat that experimental rap group Clipping have come out with yet. Lyrically, it’s an intense essay on racial violence, rapped so fast that I could barely keep up with it (especially at the end when Daveed Diggs goes hyperspeed). As for the video, they did surgery on a gun.

they did surgery on a gun


‘The Gereg’ – The Hu


The Hu – not to be confused with The Who – are a Mongolian ‘Hunnu Rock’ band that incorporate traditional Mongolian instrumentation and throat singing into their sound. I’ve never been a big fan of throat singing (in fact, I think most of it sounds horrible), but integrated into this suspenseful track the primal vocal style sounds epic and atmospheric. I could definitely see myself galloping across the vast Mongolian steppe to this music, the wind rushing through my hair, screaming as I fall backwards and shatter every bone in my body against the hard earth because I’ve never rode a horse before.  

‘Wake’ – MVNGOES ft. Afnan Prince



Most of the chilled-out dance songs that have ended up in my inbox recently have been so dull they put me to sleep, but ‘Wake’ is stimulatingly catchy. The smooth vocals come courtesy of UK singer Afnan Prince and meld well with the dreamy production made up of effulgent synths and moody sub-bass.

‘Killer’s Mind’ – Portland


Dreampop/electrofolk band Portland come from Belgium, which doesn’t make much sense given their name, but then again Texas came from Scotland and Beirut comes from America. The song itself is absolutely hypnotic, made up instrumentally of detuned synths and glistening guitars. The mix of male and female vocals meanwhile offers some extra dynamics.

‘Trouble Always Finds Me’ – FUR


Brighton band FUR combine the chords and melodies of 60s pop rock with the choppy rhythms of 00s indie on this new bittersweet track ‘Trouble Always Find Me’. It’s accompanied by a colourful lyric video, which doesn’t actually display half of the lyrics, but it looks cool nonetheless.

THE WORST:

‘Get Ready’ – Pitbull ft. Blake Shelton


At worst, I was expecting a cheap ripoff of ‘Old Town Road’. What I wasn't expecting was a house remix of Ram Jam's 'Black Betty'. It's certainly an ambitious crossover, melding hip hop, dance music, rock and country. Unfortunately, it manages to combine the worst of each of those genres.