THE BEST:
‘Zoom’
- Topaz Jones
I’m loving the soulful way in which this New Jersey rapper rhymes ‘voodoo’ and ‘tutu’ and then ‘couscous’. He may well be the only hip hop artist I know spitting bars about couscous. It beats rapping about codeine. The groovy beat’s pretty cool too.
‘In My Dreams’ – Show Clothes & Gavriella
This tune with its symphonic strings is so sauve that I feel like I ought to be listening to it dressed in a tuxedo whilst playing blackjack. It’s made all the more gorgeous by Gavriella’s jazz-pop cadences. Some nonsensical perfume ad needs to use this song in the background and give it the recognition it deserves.
‘Tree of Love’ – Auramancer
The moody QOTSA-like vocals and carnivalesque guitars kick this track off to a great start. But the song really hits its stride with that soaring chorus. The Belgian rockers have an EP out titled ‘The Only Way To Fail’ for those that love this song and want more.
‘Welcome To This World’ – Mabuta
Mabuta is Japanese for ‘eyelid’. This is the length that people go to nowadays to find original band names. Sadly I couldn’t find any more ‘eye-opening’ facts about this jazz quintet. I don’t usually dig jazz instrumentals, but this gliding track is absolutely hypnotic. I can almost imagine myself flying when I close my eyelids.
‘Natalie’s
Rap 2’ – Natalie Portman
I would pay good money for a whole rap album from Natalie Portman. Following her 2009 Lonely Island collaboration, Natalie has decided to return with another hilarious single this time making Black Swan references and defending Jar Jar Binks. Also, Andy Samberg is back dressed as a Viking.
THE WORST:
‘Whiteboy’ - Tom Macdonald
This
dude is brave, I’ll give him that. But a rap song about ending white guilt
seems a bit insensitive given that hip hop was born out of black struggles.