Friday 28 July 2023

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 28/07/2023: Paris Texas, Ryan Gosling, Will.i.am & Britney Spears and more...

I’m going to attempt to return to weekly roundups instead of fortnightly roundups. And yes, Ryan Gosling has made it into my top tracks. Other artists featured this week include Glazyhaze, My Octopus Mind, Paris Texas, The Money War and Will.i.am/Britney Spears.

‘The Other Side’ – Glazyhaze

This track is so heavenly that I thought I had indeed died and gone to ‘the other side’. I even thought I saw a brilliant white light, but it turns out I accidentally turned the brightness up on my laptop while trying to turn up the volume. It’s crazy to think that the members of this Italian dreampop/shoegaze band are all only 18 years old. The track is such an accurate representation of early 90s alt rock (both sonically and visually) that you’d think they lived through those years, but no - these whippersnappers weren’t even born when Shrek 2 came out. The track comes off the band’s new album Just Fade Away.

‘Moving Slow’ – My Octopus Mind

I’ve been putting off featuring this track, largely because the falsettos are pretty full-on and at first I couldn’t decide if they reminded me too much of Tiny Tim. However, I’ve included that they’re sassy enough to make up for it. Plus the track’s main riff is so addictively groovy. In fact, the whole track has a cool rocking motion to it, which combined with the woozy ‘seasick’ melodies and nautical metaphors (‘sinking in the depths)’ really captures the feeling of being on a rocky boat journey (which makes sense given that the song is about being on a rocky journey to find one’s true self). The track comes of the experimental Bristol band’s upcoming album Trying To Be Normal.

‘DND *moon edition*’ – Paris Texas, Kenny Mason

It’s great to hear some decent lyricism in hip hop. Kenny Mason serves up a fantastic verse about the frustration of not fitting in: ‘too hood for the art shit/too smart for the hard shit’. And I’m loving the bar ‘more notes than an opera house’. LA duo Paris Texas and Atlanta rapper Kenny Mason make a great pairing and I’d love to hear them team up again in the future.

‘Just Ken’ – Ryan Gosling

I wasn’t expecting to be moved by a song from the Barbie soundtrack, let alone a song sung by Ryan Gosling, but here we are. ‘Just Ken’ is the ultimate freindzone anthem – well, aside from ‘Friend Zone’ by Thundercat. Ryan Gosling’s voice sounds so good and the track’s got some wild transitions. I rate it Ken out of 10.

‘I Don’t Hear You Anymore’ – The Money War

The Money War are an indie/folk duo from Perth, Australia. ‘I Don’t Hear You Anymore’ is the title track from their new EP, which explores the emotional challenges of raising young three kids (as a father of two I can almost relate). I'm loving how enchantingly intimate it sounds - you can hear the warmth and weariness in the vocals, and the harmonised vocals are a nice touch. 

THE WORST:

‘Mind Your Business’ – Will.i.am & Britney Spears

I’d like to say I went into this with an open mind, but it would be a lie. Everything Will.i.am has touched in recent years has been shit. It’s like he’s got some Midas touch, but it turns everything to excrement instead of gold. And he’s now reached out his hand to Britney – who has already been through enough in her career without now having to accept joint responsibility for what may well be the worst song of 2023.

Is she… rapping? Why does she sound like she’s doing a bad Gwen Stefani impression? And what is going on with these lyrics:  Too much looky-looky, get up off me, too much watchy-wah’???