Welcome to the first of your new-look This Week In Records posts in a post-Drake era. Well, not quite, but the departure of ‘One Dance’ from the peak of the UK singles chart is surely worth acknowledging. Watch out, though: in today’s new releases, there’s another surefire hit from a Bieber likely quite keen on replicating his unprecedented podium lockout. If there’s anything we’ve missed or you’d like to see your upcoming release featured on this page, let us know by emailing us at [email protected]!
DJ Snake – Encore
The fiery bass-driven music of William Grigahcine, a Parisian who has gone by DJ Snake since his selecting bow at 14, seemed even little over a year ago to be an unlikely contender for a pop breakthrough, despite his Grammy-nominated work on Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, yet his hand in ‘Lean On’ with Major Lazer and MØ has guided him towards a new trajectory. Debut album Encore, released today by Interscope, features top 10 hit ‘Middle’ with Bipolar Sunshine and ‘Let Me Love You,’ a new record with Justin Bieber’s vocal, though it still saves room for more aggressive party cuts à la 2013 breakthrough ‘Turn Down For What’ courtesy of collaborations with the likes of Skrillex and occasional blasts of hip-hop, with Young Thug, Swizz Beatz, and Jeremih turning up for ‘The Half.’
Tove Lo – ‘Cool Girl’
Since breaking through with Hippie Sabotage’s 2014 remix of ‘Habits,’ Tove Lo has become a prolific feature of the charts, guesting alongside Coldplay, Nick Jonas, Alesso, Flume, Years & Years, and more. ‘Cool Girl’ comes as the first single to her follow-up to Queen Of The Clouds, pairing a sultry ode to shallow relationships with an interesting bassline kick from the first chorus in a nod to the “dark techno vibe” she has previously hinted towards.
Blossoms – Blossoms
The story behind Blossoms is a suitably cute one, as all four band members were born in the same Stockport hospital. Their synth-drizzled indie, however, is far more impressive. Their self-titled Virgin EMI debut bears catchy vocals, melodies, and riffs alike – including current single ‘Charlemagne’ and the gloopy love shot of ‘Honey Sweet’ – and follows a fourth-place finish in the BBC’s Sound Of… poll in January and a cover appearance on this week’s NME.
Kideko & George Kwali feat. Nadia Rose & Sweetie Irie – ‘Crank It (Woah!)’
Is it possible for a throbbing and insanely repetitive yet deliciously infectious bass house track to succeed in the mainstream without a vocal edit? Of course not. Stop being preposterous. In the recent spirit of ‘Rinse & Repeat’ and ‘House Work,’ Brightonians Kideko and George Kwali give ‘Crank It’ a 6-month reboot straight into the Hottest Record slot on Annie Mac’s BBC Radio 1 show, this time with red-hot rapper Nadia Rose and reggae veteran Sweetie Irie working their respective things around the original two word hook.
Frank Ocean — Boys Don’t Cry
Look, it’s Frank Ocean. Anybody that cares to follow his doings or lack thereof knows perfectly well that today, just like every other week for the past two years, something is supposedly coming out that may be the ridiculously-anticipated followup to 2012’s Channel Orange or, as each second of his livestreams compounds, a nice wooden box that Ron Swanson might actually care about. At least this time we can point our pitchforks towards the New York Times if Boys Don’t Cry doesn’t appear on Apple Music today.
Frank is carrying the boxes he's made into a new room we haven't seen before. #BoysDontCry pic.twitter.com/actdunpCvV
— The FADER (@thefader) August 5, 2016
YG feat. G-Eazy & Macklemore – ‘FDT Part 2’
YG’s Still Brazy isn’t the most subtle record you’ll come across this year, but ‘FDT’ handles things quite directly in its hook: “Fuck Donald Trump, fuck Donald Trump.” Having crossed the Bloods/Crips void with the original alongside Nipsey Hussle, his new edit is probably the best and most relevant golf-course-referencing Hitler-alluding Ivanka-complimenting political commentary to feature rappers named Gerald Earl Gillum and Ben Haggerty that you’ll hear this week.
Selected Other Releases
Albums
65daysofstatic – No Man’s Sky: Music For An Infinite Universe
Armin Van Buuren – Old Skool
Conor Maynard – Covers
Dinosaur Jr. – Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not
Field Mouse – Episodic
Giggs — Landlord
Hervé – Hallucinated Surf
Jem – Beachwood Canyon
M.O – Who Do You Think Of? EP
Moose Blood – Blush
RIVRS – Falling EP
Sheridan Smith – Funny Girl: The Musical
Sinead Harnett – Sinead Harnett EP
Suicide Squad: The Album
The Cadillac Three – Bury Me In My Boots
Wild Beasts – Boy King
Singles
Afrojack feat. Ty Dolla $ign – ‘Gone’
Amtrac – ‘Running After’ / ‘No Order’
A-Trak & Tommy Trash – ‘Lose My Mind’
Axwell & Shapov — ‘Belong’
Banks — ‘Gemini Feed’
Betsy — ‘Lost & Found’
biLLLy – ‘Confused Lover’
Britney Spears – ‘Private Show’
EXO – ‘Monster’ (LDN Noise Creeper Bass Remix)
Galantis & East & Young — ‘Make Me Feel’
Jim Caesar – ‘Soul Purpose’
JONES — ‘Air’
Leif Erikson – ‘Flying High’
Merchandise – ‘Flower Of Sex’
Mr Sanka – ‘Flight Mode’
Mystery Jets — ‘The World Is Overtaking Me’
Norah Jones – ‘Carry On’
Sam Bailey – ‘Sing My Heart Out’
Shaggy – ‘That Love’
Stylo G & Jacob Plant — ‘Bike Engine’
Ta-ku & Wafia — ‘Love Somebody’
The Aston Shuffle feat. Micah Powell – ‘Make A Wrong Thing Right’
Warpaint – ‘New Song’
Xan Young – ‘Change’
Youthonix – ‘Science’
