BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 10/12/2014: Frank Ocean, The Vengaboys, Earl Sweatshirt and more...

Time to round up my favourite and least favourite new tracks from the past seven days. Its all a bit poppy and electronic this week so I apologise if that's not your cup of tea.

THE BEST:

'Running Behind' - Holy Child

I’ve got a soft spot for these cheeky, buoyant female pop singers. Holy Child, Charlie XCX and modern Taylor Swift seem to be bringing back that girl power rebelliousness that pop’s been missing since the Spice Girls. Out of the three, this Cali duo definitely go for the less commercial/more interesting instrumentals. The marching band 808 snares in this track give it an awesome primal feel.

'Saturn Pulls Me Apart (Death of the Unconquerable Night)' - A Sunny Day in Glasgow

Buried under a wall of trippy synths, I was just able to make out the word ‘Christmas’ around the two minute mark, so I guess this is a Christmas song, although you wouldn’t automatically assume it given the style of music and the psychedelic track title. I doubt this will be this year's Christmas number one, but its still pretty interesting. A great song for anyone planning to spike this year's turkey with LSD.

'Knucklehead' – Lil Herb feat. Earl Sweatshirt

Definitely an unlikely pairing, but one that’s worked out pretty nicely. Chicago rapper, Lil Herb, abandons the thuggish, ‘knuckle-headed’ lyrics and run-of-the-mill trap beats he’s used to and jumps on this mellow piano instrumental produced by Earl. Loving those jazzy chords!

'Fantasy' - Ricoshëi

LA electronic duo, Ricoshëi, drop this laid back track featuring tropical xylophones, a smooth house beat and sensual male vocals. I’m digging the chilled-out beach bar vibe. Whatever genre this is, I want to hear more of it.

'Memrise' - Frank Ocean

This is more of a lo-fi teaser than an official track, but its proof enough to reassure us that Frank Ocean is back and sounding just as soulful.

THE WORST

'Where Did My Xmas Tree Go?' - The Vengaboys

This comeback single from cheesy 90s pop band, The Vengaboys, isn’t as charming as I hoped it might be. The lyrics for one are surprisingly non-jovial for a xmas song: ‘Woke up this morning all me friends were gone/ Because they didn’t get to eat’ and ‘My Uncle John just passed away’. Add on top the fact that it sounds as if their Christmas tree has been stolen and it swiftly turns out that this is really quite the depressant. STOP BEING SUCH SCROOGES VENGABOYS! YOU’RE RUINING MY CHRISTMAS!