THE BEST:
'Fun
Universe' - Sam Carter
‘Fun Universe’ is the kind of Soundcloud stumble-upon that
really makes you feel like you’ve struck gold. The bright fifth chords sound
like they’re straight out of a sunny childhood dream, arranged into a short but
sweet ravey instrumental. I wasn’t able to find much background info on the man
behind the magic. To be honest, I prefer the mystique. ‘FROG
LEARNS TO MAKE MUSIC. WORLD FOREVER CHANGED’ reads his Soundcloud bio.
'God Emoji' - Silicon
I’m reminded of a more danceable version of Thundercat whilst listening to this new gorgeous tune from Kiwi multi-instrumentalist, Silicon. The charm is all in the groove and jazzy vocal harmonies. If God Emoji doesn't make you feel :), you're deaf.
'Fucking
Young' - Tyler, the Creator
The cockroach-eating, straight-edge, highly-immature,
highly-creative, highly-entertaining hip hop star of Odd Future fame has a new
track out – and it’s about being in love with someone who’s too ‘fucking young’. Tyler’s singing is
pretty awful (although self-awarely so) and lyrically he still can’t help himself
when it comes to juvenile punchlines: ‘my dick
is longer than my attention span’. However, instrumentally the track is made up for with some of Tyler's lush layered signature soul. It’s so pretty you almost forget what's being sung about.
'Cream On
Chrome' - Ratatat
UK instrumental duo, Ratatat, add some exciting duelling rock guitars
to their groovy sound on this new track. It comes with what I think is a music
video. 1:22 made me jump.
'Heroine' - Gengahr
‘Sure, you can be my
heroine’ the London indie rock band’s frontman sings almost reluctantly. This
is matched by the grudgingly breezy tone of the guitars. There aren’t enough
subtly twisted love songs like this any more.
THE WORST:
'The Wolf' - Mumford & Sons
This band have gone from being a watered-down folk act to a
watered-down rock band. Give it a listen if watered-down is your thing.