THE BEST:
‘Captain’ – redveil
Maryland hip hop artist redveil has found the perfect
balance between soulful and hi-octane. He’s what Denzel Curry would sound like
he leant into his melodic side a bit more, or what Saba might sound like if he
turned up the 808s. His delivery is so
catchy and his production is so fun, and I’m pretty psyched to hear more from
him. Playing w/ fire, his new EP, it out today.
‘Undergrowth’ – Squid
‘Undergrowth’ is the latest single from bonkers
Brighton band Squid. Ollie Judge really sounds like Thom Yorke now that he’s toned
down the yelping. I’m also getting a Radiohead vibe from the hypnotic bass
groove. The rest of it still thankfully sounds like Squid though. I love the fidgety
embellishments of guitar and trumpet, and the ethereal church bell synths at
the end are very cool too. At first it’s all a bit disorientating, but on
subsequent listens it all comes together.
‘Happiness’ – Adult Leisure
Off their debut EP The Weekend Ritual, Bristol alt-indie
band Adult Leisure deliver this new single ‘Happiness’ – a song which clearly
isn’t very happy at all when you dig into the lyrics. According to vocalist/lyricist
Neil Scott, ‘Happiness’ is ‘a song born out of the ‘working for the weekend’
culture; the struggles with acting your age, being responsible, trying to reduce
the youthful hedonistic lifestyle with the grim reality you’re getting older’. Having
recently hit 30, I can relate, and I think the song musically does a great job
of capturing the exasperating feeling of youth slipping away. At the same time, it’s still a very fun song –
the racing guitars are very satisfying and the vocals are truly addictive.
‘Honeymoon phase’ – Dragonfruit
‘Honeymoon phase’ is a song about wanting to return to the
early days of a relationship when the passion was alive and everything was new
and exciting. It’s got some gorgeous velvety chords and bubbly bass that give
me Kaytranada vibes and some silky soulful semi-sung semi-rapped vocals. The song
is the title track off the Rotterdam alt-r&b band’s new EP Honeymoon Phase, which features more plush synths and silky vocals.
‘Saturday Night’ – Boni
Boni is a founding member of experimental
electronic trio, Fried Dough (who I’ve previously interviewed on this blog). This
new track comes off his solo self-titled debut EP Boni. It’s a rock track at its core, however the punchy trip hop percussion gives it a unique edge.
THE WORST:
‘Search & Rescue’ – Drake
These days, AI seems to be doing a better job of writing Drake songs than Drake himself. 'Search & Rescue' has a cool moody atmosphere, but Drake's delivery is flat. And even though I know he’s saying ‘mami’, I keep hearing it
as ‘mummy’, which makes me picture Drake singing from a high chair.