Friday 16 February 2024

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 16/02/2024: Idles, Goat Girl, Mutes and more…

Wash out you ears out after listening to that new Kanye album with these new tunes. It's mostly British post-punk this week. If you don't like British post-punk, I'm sorry. Artists featured this week include Idles, Goat Girl, Mutes, Bound by Endogamy, Aloysius Bell and BEAR1BOSS.

THE BEST:

‘Grace’ – Idles

This is the best song Coldplay have released in years. They totally sound like a more melodic version of Idles. It’s almost like Idles deepfaked footage from a Coldplay music video and put their music over it. Anyway, the new Coldplay album, Tangk, is out today.

‘Ride Around’ – Goat Girl

Goat Girl are back with their first single since 2020’s On All Fours. It’s got some pretty wacky guitarwork in it  – I love the skronky opening riff and the fluttering arpeggios that the come in slightly later.  The rising and falling guitar harmonies towards the end are also pretty fun (they vaguely remind me of that ‘Hanging Tree’ song from The Hunger Games, which I’ve always thought was a banger). The London post punk band are planning to drop a new album titled Below The Waste this year.

‘Televangelist’ -  Mutes

This energetic song from Birmingham post-punk band Mutes ends way too soon. Those slow rising notes throughout are so hypnotic and eerie. I can’t make out any of the lyrics, but the press release tells me it’s themed around Catholic guilt, which seem pretty novel. It’s set to appear on the band’s upcoming fourth album.

‘Cog’ - Bound by Endogamy

This Swiss synth-punk band make nihilistic songs about the modern day digital dystopia we live in accompanied by harsh rave synths and industrial percussion. ‘Cog’ might be one of the tamest songs off their new album, but makes up for it with some really cool progression, featuring cyclical lyrics over an everchanging backdrop of sinister analog noises. If you want to take it up a gear, check out their track ‘Nothing’.

‘Wreckage’ – Aloysius Bell

After cudgelling my ears with the cold electronica of Bound by Endogamy, I was in desperate need of some warmth. And this track of Canadian singer-songwriter Aloysius Bell’s new EP, Warm Thing, did just the trick. This soulful instrumental is gorgeous and the vocals are subtle but oozing with emotion.

THE WORST

‘Conscious’ – BEAR1BOSS + SOFAYGO

Production this good is wasted on these types of rappers. This dude’s so off-beat it’s like he’s trying to rap over a completely different track.