THE BEST:
‘Sunkissed’ – Old Paradice
Old
Paradice is the new joint project of UK rapper Confucius MC and UK producer
Morriarchi. Their first single together features a deliciously groovy lo-fi
beat over which Confucius lays some playful bars. It comes with cool visuals
that are literally rose-tinted to match the nostalgic sound of the beat. The
duo have a new EP out next year titled The
Last Resort.
‘Too Real’
– Fontaines D.C.
‘Is it too real for yaa?’ I love it when
an Irish singer embraces their accent, although ‘singer’ probably isn’t the
word here – this is more like slam poetry. It’s accompanied by some creative
guitar sliding made using a beer bottle that loops in an industrial fashion. The
video sees them all performing in a pub with googly eyes made out of cue ball. I
don’t know what it all means (it’s clearly all too real for me), but I love it
all the same.
‘Your Touch Is Tender’ – Oh Genius ft. David
Verity, Mike Evans and Dopein
This
new sensual single comes courtesy of UK producer Oh Genius. It features a
cosmopolitan mix of guest vocalists hailing from the US and South Korea. This
mix of vocal styles and the combination of soulful synths and trap percussion adds
lots of dynamics to the track (my personal favourite part is at the 1 minute
mark when the female vocals and sub-bass come in).
‘Flicker
Of Empty Flags’ – Rumour Cubes
This instrumental
track from London six-piece Rumour Cubes is the best political statement one
could make right now considering no words can accurately describe what’s going.
Opening with rolling snares, melancholy pianos and some pulsing bass, the track
slowly builds into a climax of tumultuous strings and angry guitar. The band
are described as post-rock, but they seem to be reaching beyond that into their
very own genre. Post-post-rock?
‘Yellow’ – Good Days
New York
based act Good Days are in the middle of a fascinating project – they’ve been writing
and recording songs in rooms filled with a certain colour to see what impact
that colour has on the musical style. ‘Yellow’ was created under yellow
lighting (they’ve also recorded a ‘red’ and ‘orange’ track and have plans to cover
the entire spectrum on a future release titled ROYGBIV). Glossy pianos and
sunshiny vocal melodies help to give ‘Yellow’ an undeniably bright feel. The
track even morphs into a Monkees-esque 60s pop song at the end complete with cheery
vocal harmonies.
THE WORST:
‘No Candle, No Light’ – Zayn ft. Nicki Minaj
I’ve
never understood the appeal of Zayn – he’s just a watered-down Justin Bieber. Here
he sounds more flavourless than ever, backed by what may well be the most
generic pop beat of 2018. As for Nicki, well done for making it into my worst
tracks two weeks in a row!