THE BEST:
'Him' - Silver Liz
This new single from shoegazey Chicago duo Silver Liz is barely two minutes. Some shoegaze songs have intros that are longer than that. But two minutes is all Silver Liz need to piece together an epic build-up. Tremulous chords follow an unpredictable chord pattern whilst Carrie’s ghostly voice hangs in the background. These then break away for a huge climax of howling guitars.
'Like Lightning' –
Cosmo Calling
This is some highly danceable indie rock. Danceable, but without a synthesizer in sight. The bouncy vocal harmonisation and slick guitars that this Manchester-based band play with are enough to make you want to get up on your feet and spill your beer everywhere. Using synths to build grooves is for amateurs. Fuck synths (he says before featuring two EDM singles).
'One Life' – SHVRDZ
(ft. Aerborn)
This Brisbane producer/singer pairing recorded and mixed this hypnotic EDM banger in the space of two days with nothing but a laptop and a mic. The shrill wubs caught me off guard – the beginning is so melodic that I wasn’t expecting such a stupendously filthy drop.
‘Maybes’ – Giraffage
ft. Japanese Breakfast
The bizarrely-named Californian producer Giraffage has teamed up with equally-bizarrely-named indie songstress Japanese Breakfast. The dreamy opening chords drew me in and are probably the best bit, although the distant vocals and twinkling synths that follow are definitely pretty too.
THE WORST:
‘Wit it’ – Lanze
SOMEBODY GIVE THIS DUDE AN INHALER. This Cincinnati rapper sounds exhausted and after a minute of listening to him I feel exhausted too.
That said, his asthma attack flow is creative and I can see all the mumble rap
fans bumpin’ this in the whip in months to come.
‘90s Kids’ – Shamir
Shamir’s written some groovy tunes in the past and upon
hearing the Windows 95 startup sound I was pretty psyched for something cute
and nostalgic, but sadly this song ends up just being a corny millennial
whinge-fest that irritates even a 90s kid like myself.