This Week In Records: Oh Wonder, Tom Misch & Cashmere Cat (31/03/2017)

Welcome back to This Week In Records, a freshly rejuvenated column enjoying a world where coursework can take a back seat to writing assorted nonsense on new music for a few weeks. There’s plenty to get through today as labels realise they have Q1 release quotas to fill, but don’t think for one second that I’m going to neglect the things from a week ago that I’ve been largely neglecting. Here’s Last Week In Records in a quick-fire style:

After the Trump-laced ghoulishness of Benjamin Clementine feature ‘Hallelujah Money,’ Gorillaz paired the announcement of Humanz with a clandestine performance of the whole thing and putting out four new cuts of the 26 it’ll hold in total. ‘Andromeda,’ with the happy-go-lucky D.R.A.M. on the pre-chorus in such a falsetto that I couldn’t actually tell whether I was listening to the right version of the song, is my clear favourite, but the variety in Damon Albarn‘s phonebook is very clear and competent with Popcaan (‘Saturnz Bars’), Vince Staples (‘Ascension’), and the rather surprising pairing of Savages‘ Jehnny Beth and backing vocals from Noel “Yes, The Noel Gallagher From Oasis, That Band That Had A Huge Rivalry With Blur, That Non-Simian Damon Albarn Band” Gallagher (‘We Got The Power’).
In case it wasn’t quite obvious from the name and the garish gothic aesthetic, Creeper is the sort of band that makes its music videos in evacuated car parks late at night. They’re also from Southampton, hence I can tell that they’re switching between car parks – Ikea and West Park by the looks of things – for misleading dramatic effect. Fortunately, if David Mitchell-Baker’s words on debut album Eternity, In Your Arms are anything to go by, they’re also quite good at this music malarkey.
Remember Bombay Bicycle Club? No, not the defunct west London chain of Indian restaurants, but the very good band who went on a little “hiatus” at the start of 2016 after an Earl’s Court gig that I really should have gone to and a Citadel Festival headline slot that I really should have gone to. Well, frontman Jack Steadman is now to be the second after bassist Ed Nash (aka Toothless) to put out a solo record. As mr jukes – “a project that both revives his long-standing interest in jazz, soul, and funk and sees Steadman take on the roles of artist, composer, producer, and sample-hound, as well as the overseer of some very special guest contributions” – God First is due on Island in June and comes first with the brilliant ‘Angels / Your Love’ alongside BJ The Chicago Kid.
Ever wanted to hear Drake‘s cultural adoptions extend to calling a song ‘Gyalchester’ as a tribute to 0161 and the ladies with such an area code? Well, in More Life he’s got just the playlist for you. Not an album, because that would be sensible and normal and those are things that Drake is far too successful to adhere to. It’s just 81 minutes of music with 22 tracks (including interludes) and 12 guests (from Jorja Smith to Young Thug) that you listen to in the specified order for the proper experience. And pay £10.99 for.
Rather than picking just one upcoming artist who put out something very good last week, here’s a list of names that you should definitely familiarise yourself with if you like good things entering your ears: Nilüfer Yanya, Krrum, ALMA, Karma Kid & Fono, and Rex Orange County.

Now, on with the new. If you want to let us know about what’s on the way in future weeks, drop a message to [email protected].

Oh Wonder – ‘Ultralife’

When Oh Wonder – the London duo of Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West – collected 15 monthly singles into their self-titled debut LP, their scope was minimal, their vocal chemistry evident, and their aesthetic was so delicate that the cover was merely the band name and initials in Gill Sans on a white square with a black outline. Premiering today ahead of their imminent Coachella slot, with the title track of album two, vibrancy arrives – ‘Ultralife’ is the upbeat, joyous sound of an accidental success story adjusting to their glorious situation whilst leaving the gentle soul intact.

Tom Misch – 5 Day Mischon EP

Last week, one of the main reasons for the absence of this column was me being too engrossed in Surge Radio’s 48 hour Comic Relief marathon to pry myself away, and one of the fun projects embarked upon during that was recording a four track EP from start to finish. The results were pleasantly surprising, and you’ll hear them all over the station for the next few weeks, but it seemed Tom Misch had beaten us to a similar task by spending each day recording a new song. 5 Day Mischon, his first set of new music since July’s divine Reverie, is just as succulent, with Misch conjuring caressing grooves for himself and collaborators (Carmody, Novelist, Will Heard, Kaidi Akinnibi, and Tobie Tripp) to soulfully croon over. If this is what he gets up to in a week off from working on the album, we’re in for something truly special.

Cashmere Cat feat. MØ & SOPHIE – ‘9 (After Coachella)’

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you can always count on Cashmere Cat for something that’s worth rambling about in This Week In Records. Yes, ‘9 (After Coachella)’ is the fifth track from the once-leaked Wild Love to appear since he announced the album with the title track back in February – the only one of those to not get words in This Week In Records is ‘Trust Nobody,’ which is also the one that came closest to being a hit and is the most consistently fulfilling as a song – but there’s so much here to pick apart. Why, for example, is a song with this title being released two weeks before Coachella opens its desert-y doors? Why is the cover art a standard Instagram-ready picture of MØ instead of the monochrome blizzard scene depicted on the other four tracks? How does SOPHIE get those sounds of B&Q implosions in such haunting clarity? All I can really be sure about is that I just wrote 195 words about it and will continue to get baffled by Wild Love‘s composition and release strategy until that elusive day when it actually arrives.

Here are some tweets.

????☔️ @MOMOMOYOUTH pic.twitter.com/wfKIpiWyHM

— Cashmere Cat (@CASHMERECAT) March 2, 2017

meow meow meow !!!!!!

— Cashmere Cat (@CASHMERECAT) March 2, 2017

it's cool to be a cat !!!!!!

— Cashmere Cat (@CASHMERECAT) March 2, 2017

Jamiroquai – Automaton

Hat lovers of the future funk world rejoice! Jay Kay and co. join Goldfrapp today in being mildly retro outfits releasing new records for the first time in a fair few years with preceding singles that rank firmly as my favourite things they’ve ever down, albeit having not paid much attention in the past. In Jamiroquai‘s case, Automaton may have got off to a technophobic start with the title track but ‘Cloud 9’ is a delicious little jam that makes me quite happy with the idea of following Noisey‘s guide to becoming the band if this writing thing doesn’t pan out.

Kendrick Lamar – ‘HUMBLE.’

Confession time: I still haven’t listened to To Pimp A Butterfly. The last week has made it quite clear that if I fail to rectify this by the time Kendrick Lamar‘s fourth album appears next Friday then I’ll be a little bit silly, and today’s follow-up of ‘The Heart Part 4’ with a fiery video for the Mike WiLL Made-It-produced ‘HUMBLE.’ somewhat suggests it’ll be quite the departure from the jazzy politicism of the previous collection.

Selected Other Releases

Albums

Bob Dylan – Triplicate
British Sea Power – Let The Dancers Inherit The Party
Charlotte OC – Careless People
Deorro – Good Evening
G-Eazy & Carnage – Step Brothers EP
Goldfrapp – Silver Eye
IDER – Gut Me Like An Animal EP
Julia Holter – In The Same Room
Klute – Read Between The Lines
Leah McFall – Ink EP
Mastodon – Empire Of Sand
Nelly Furtado – The Ride
Tei Shi – Crawl Space
Yellow Claw – Los Amsterdam

Singles

Allan Kingdom & Cadenza – ‘Vibes’
alt-J – ‘In Cold Blood’
Anton Powers & Pixie Lott – ‘Baby’
Art House feat. Natasha Bedingfield – ‘Love Looks Like’
Becky Hill – ‘Rude Love’
Bleachers – ‘Don’t Take The Money’
blink-182 – ‘Misery’
Bliss N Eso feat. Gavin James – ‘Moments’
Calvin Harris feat. Young Thug, Pharrell Williams & Ariana Grande – ‘Heatstroke’
Charlotte Devaney feat. Lady Leshurr & Fatman Scoop – ‘Bass Dunk’ (Tigermonkey Edit)
Cheat Codes feat. Demi Lovato – ‘No Promises’
Cold War Kids – ‘Restless’
Crystal Fighters – ‘In Your Arms’
Daley feat. Jill Scott – ‘Until The Pain Is Gone’
Dan Auerbach – ‘Shine On Me’
Donae’o feat. Fredo – ‘Whole Life’
Felix Snow feat. Marc E. Bassy & TYSM – ‘Cherry On Top’
Frankmusik – ‘Going Under’
Hazel English – ‘Fix’
Jay Sean – ‘Do You Love Me’
Joey Bada$$ feat. ScHoolboy Q – ‘Rockabye’
Kasabian – ‘Comeback Kid’
Kojo Funds – ‘Fear No One’
KWAYE – ‘Cool Kids’
Lao Ra, Tony Montana Music & Spice – ‘BALA’
Lido – ‘Solsbury Hill’
Mulàn – ‘Done.’
Oliver Tank – ‘Charlene’
Paul Weller – ‘Long Long Road’ / ‘Nova’
Rat Boy – ‘Revolution’
Rejjie Snow feat. Ebenezer – ‘Flexin’
ROMANS – ‘Happy Love’
Sälen feat. Daniel OG – ‘Pretty, Fake’
Seramic – ‘Same Mistakes’
Showtek & Brooks feat. Natalie Major – ‘On Our Own’
Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner & James McAlister – ‘Saturn’
TAPZ – ‘Run Don’t Run’
Texas – ‘Tell That Girl’
That Poppy – ‘I’m Poppy’
The Chainsmokers – ‘The One’
The Kooks – ‘Be Who You Are’
VERITÉ – ‘When You’re Gone’
Whitney – ‘Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can)’ / ‘You’ve Got A Woman’
Will Joseph Cook – ‘Plastic’
WizKid feat. Drake – ‘Come Closer’
Wrabel – ‘Bloodstain’ (Galantis Remix)
Xavier Omär – ‘Afraid’