THE BEST:
‘The Apprentice’ -
Gorillaz ft. Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Zebra Katz & Ray Blk
After a slew of massively mediocre singles from their new
album Humanz (which is out today),
the cartoon collective have finally come through with a gem titled ‘The
Apprentice’. The track contains three guest vocalists (including UK soul hitmaker
Rag ‘n’ Bone Man) and a smooth electrofunk beat that’s as feelgood as a warm
bath whilst eating Haagen Dazs. But wait – there’s a catch. It turns out this
is only a bonus track on Humanz. Why
you gotta leave the best single off the album?
‘Mercury’ – Sufjan Stevens ft. Bryce Dessner, Nico
Muhly & James McAlister
Singer-songwriter sensei Sufjan Stevens and his newly
acquired gang of musical ninjas are releasing an album themed around the solar
system. After experimenting with T-Pain vocals and synthesizers on ‘Saturn’
much to my displeasure, Sufjan seems to now be cutting out the electronics and embracing
the emotive frailty of his voice on this new single ‘Mercury’. He then hands
the track over to the instrumentation at the end, consisting of some dazzling
strings and pianos. And to all you devout Sufjan followers, yes I agree the
live version from five years ago has more grandeur, but oh well this version is
still pretty.
‘GOD’ – Amique
This maximalist mindfuck doesn’t give you much of a chance
to warm up. As soon as you hit play, you’re assaulted with layers of loopy vocals,
frenetic funk and stuttering noise grooves. The song deserves a straightjacket,
but then so do I. All in all, I’m curious to hear more from this mysterious
Amique character.
‘Silent Witness’ – S.O.S
EPILEPSY WARNING! To be honest, I doubt most you guys even
read these descriptions before hitting the play button. Anyhow, now you’ve
recovered from your seizure, let me introduce you to Bedford-based electropop
artist S.O.S. Her new single ‘Silent Witness’ sees her singing bouncily over a glitzy
shuffling dance beat, even throwing down a surprise rap verse at the end. Creepy
strobed art-dance music video aside, it’s very fun and bubbly stuff.
THE WORST:
‘Devil on Hwy 9’ – Danzig
Things have clearly gone so downhill for the heavy metal
veterans that they couldn’t even afford a producer to do the mixing. Why do the
instruments sound like they were recorded in a studio, whilst the vocals sound
like they were recorded on a plastic cup and string?
‘All the time’ -
Young Thug
At this point I don’t expect Young Thug to ever learn how to
ride a beat, but come on, this is sloppy even by his standards.