THE BEST:
‘Moonlight’ – Disclosure
Disclosure
have been going nuts this week releasing new singles left, right and centre –
by the time you’ve read this post they’ll have probably released three more tracks. Despite experimenting with different genres such as funk and even 50s pop, the bulk of this new material has been pretty meh. The exception is 'Moonlight', which is everything I love from Disclosure with it's slick build-up and glossy chords. Of all the tracks released, it's probably the closest to the duo's original deep house sound. Why can't all the other singles be like this? Why do musicians have to change? I HATE CHANGE.
‘Balancing Act’ – I, Aeronaut
This
is like some chillwave take on Radiohead – it’s a grainy mix of moody vocals,
distorted drums and reverb-soaked guitars. At points it’s so muddy, you can
barely distinguish sounds from one another, yet it remains a pretty cloud of
sounds rather than an ugly mess.
‘Tick Tock’ – Japanese Television
This intense
instrumental is the work of space-surf rockers Japanese Television. It races
along to the accompaniment of a driving bass riff and pounding drum beat whilst
various psychedelic effects play out over the top. It makes me picture the hero
of an action movie racing through traffic to disarm a bomb in the local mall that’s
tick-tocking away.
‘SPACEMAN’ – Chloe Black
This
is pure unadulterated pop, the likes of which I usually avoid on this blog, but
there’s something unique in the melody that elevates this beyond your usual radio
fodder. I particularly like the transition from the woozy verse to the grandiose
chorus. I don’t even care that the lyrics are about wanting to fuck a spaceman.
THE WORST:
‘Fuh You’ – Paul McCartney
I’m
not the first to make this joke, but here it is anyway: hasn’t Paul come a long
way since ‘I want to hold your hand’?
It’s interesting, because if anyone else had sung this hook in 2018,
no-one would bat an eyelid – that’s how overtly sexual pop music has become. The fact that it’s coming out of the mouth of a 76-year-old ex-Beatle’s
mouth is what makes it so scandalous, and I kind of respect him for having the
audacity to do it. The issue is that Paul doesn’t go far enough – if he really
wanted to stir things up he should jumped on a Death Grips beat or some grindcore,
not this clean commercial crap.