Good morning. Let’s have a singalong.
“It’s Friday! Friday! Listen to new music on Friday! Everybody’s looking forward to The Weeknd! RAY BLK and Courteeners, yeah! Instant grats everywhere, yeah! But DNCE and Kent Jones? Nothing now makes any sense to me!”
If you’d like to complain about my deranged Rebecca Black-themed lack of rhyme or rhythm (or just to see your upcoming release featured on these pages) then email us at [email protected].
Tove Lo – Lady Wood
Tove Lo is one of the coolest of girls in pop and, it seems, one of the least likely to need you to remind her of it. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what Lady Wood‘s gloriously bassy lead single will do – following a post-Queen Of The Clouds run of features in every nook, cranny, and Coldplay album you could find, this new record aims for things that only the press release can adequately explain without me actually putting ears to it.
Similar to Queen Of The Clouds, whose tracks were broken into three intimate chapters (The Sex, The Love, The Pain) – Lady Wood will be divided into two chapters: Fairy Dust and Fire Fade. Tove Lo describes them as “the emotional curves I go through when I’m chasing any kind of rush.”
Fairy Dust refers to anticipation, as in the seductive slow-jam ‘Influence’ (featuring rapper Wiz Khalifa), and the prowling title track, ‘Lady Wood.’ Tove Lo compares that anticipation to “when the adrenaline starts to kick in. It gives you butterflies. It’s that tingling sensation of sex.” Fire Fade captures the moments when that thrill starts to wear off, as in the swelling, unguarded ‘Keep It Simple’ and the cocksure ‘WTF Love Is.’ As she says, “You feel a little bit uneasy. And you really want to chase that first feeling again.”
And yes, Lady Wood means exactly what you think it means.
Charli XCX feat. Lil Yachty – ‘After The Afterparty’
February’s release of a four-track EP named after Vroom Vroom, her new experimental imprint, pitched Charli XCX firmly as one of the most eccentric and mind-bending figures in contemporary pop. Marking the beginning of her work with SOPHIE and the PC Music crew, it dared to be a little bit bonkers and present the often harsh and somewhat peculiar aesthetic in a vaguely commercially-tolerable guise. Then, she was responsible for the greatest bubblegum pop anthem from an animated to be released on May 6th, trouncing Justin Timberlake’s efforts with ‘Explode.’ That it soundtracked the only enjoyable seconds of the tedium that was The Angry Birds Movie was a modicum of relief.
Unfortunately, the Lil Yachty-featuring ‘After The Afterparty’ is none of these things.
Bonzai – Lunacy EP
Why am I writing a column on the week’s new music at 3am on a Friday? Bonzai’s the one to blame. Back in April at The Edge‘s AGM, candidates for the position of Records Editor were asked to name some new record that we’d enjoyed and hadn’t expected others to have heard. Her nine-track “future rave disaster-queen” opus Sleepy Hungry came to mind, and splitting tours with label boss/regular collaborator Mura Masa and Australian maestro Flume is an easy way to digest the five tracks that she’s gradually shared throughout the month.
Ekkah – ‘Can’t Give It Up’
With the benefit of almost 11 months of hindsight, 2016’s edition of The List – our annual sojourn into the world of tipping acts for the big time – seems to be our best yet. Jack Garratt wasted little time in debuting an album at number 3 in the UK charts and picking up five of our coveted stars in the process, then the summertime saw Alessia Cara find herself in stadiums with Coldplay as HONNE and NAO prepared to lift July with superb efforts a mere week apart. Now, as Dua Lipa parks ‘Blow Your Mind (Mwah)’ across radio and teases her 2017 record with new grat track ‘Room For 2,’ Ekkah’s vivacious retro styling is exhibited in their liveliest single yet.
Christine And The Queens – Chaleur Humaine (Deluxe Edition)
Yesterday, I was asked by a friend to identify a song that had been heard on the radio a few days prior. Perhaps because I’d played it to him mere seconds before, the first attempt at the tune sounded a lot like Sälen’s ‘Copper Kiss.’ Attempt two, on the other hand, only needed three notes to resonate sufficiently.
Since a performance of ‘Tilted’ on The Graham Norton Show in mid-June, Christine And The Queens’ ascent into the English-speaking musical zeitgeist has as astonishing as her stage presence. With four sold-out dates across the country (including a pair at Brixton’s illustrious O2 Academy) commencing next week as her first shows since supporting Elton John and The 1975 at the Apple Music Festival last month, February’s Chaleur Humaine, reviewed by Alice Hearing, gets a set of bonus tracks new to those unfamiliar with the native tongue side of her repertoire.
Michael Kiwanuka – ‘One More Night’ (SG Lewis Remix)
Whilst we’re shedding tradition by talking about deluxe albums, let’s celebrate a remix here in This Week In Records: impeccable Reading-born producer SG Lewis taking on Michael Kiwanuka. If it wasn’t for Frank Ocean, both would have headlined an edition of this column (Kiwanuka for Love & Hate, Lewis for Yours). Here, the pairing of an accelerated Lewis groove and Kiwanuka’s haunting soul is a tearjerking dollop of contemporary funk.
Selected Other Releases
Albums
Alexander Armstrong – Upon A Different Shore
Alpines – Another River
Courteeners – Mapping The Rendezvous
CRX – New Skin
Empire Of The Sun – Two Vines
Frank Iero And The Patience – Parachutes
Jack Savoretti – Sleep No More
James Arthur – Back From The Edge
Kevin Simm – Recover
LeAnn Rimes – Remnants
Le Couleur – P.O.P.
Leo Kalyan – Outside In EP
Madness – Can’t Touch Us Now
Mic Righteous – Dreamland
RAY BLK – Durt
RITUAL – Every Night Another But Not You EP
Tom Grennan – Something In The Water EP
TOY – Clear Shot
Singles
Alex Newell – ‘Keep It Moving’
Alicia Keys – ‘Holy War’
A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Ant & Lil Uzi Vert – ‘Runner’
A$AP Mob feat. A$AP Rocky, Tyler, The Creator, Playboi Carti & Yung Gleesh – ‘Telephone Calls’
Bastille – ‘Send Them Off!’ (Skream Remix)
Bebe Rexha – ‘I Got You’
Bryson Tiller – ‘Let Me Explain’
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs. Diplo feat. Deb’s Daughter – ‘Hey Baby’
DNCE feat. Kent Jones – ‘Blown’
Drake – ‘Fake Love’
Drake feat. 21 Savage – ‘Sneakin”
Dua Lipa – ‘Room For 2’
Ekkah – ‘Figure It Out’
Emeli Sandé – ‘Breathing Underwater’
George The Poet feat. DEVolution – ‘Wake Up’
Hudson Mohawke – ‘Shanghaied’
Jonas Blue feat. Raye – ‘By Your Side’
Khalid – ‘Hopeless’
Kim Burrell & Pharrell Williams – ‘I See A Victory’
Kungs feat. RITUAL – ‘You Remain’
Little Mix – ‘You Gotta Not’
Louisa Johnson – ‘So Good’
New Gen feat. Avelino & Tiggs Da Author – ‘Ring The Alarm’
Pharrell Williams – ‘Runnin”
Professor Green – ‘One Eye On The Door’
Sløtface – ‘Empire Records’
Sub Focus – ‘Nobody Knows’
The Japanese House – ‘Swim Against The Tide’
The Shins – ‘Dead Alive’
THEY. – ‘Rather Die’
Una Healy – ‘The Waiting Game’
Vasser – ‘Whatever You Want’
Vök – ‘Show Me’
