THE BEST:
‘Reset’ – Gesaffelstein
The
dark lord of EDM has returned after several years lurking in the shadows. His
latest track is an eerie mid-tempo trap number with flourishes of detuned synth
and jazzy horns. The music video features a bunch of rapper caricatures (one is
definitely supposed to be a parody of Tekashi69) all trying to compete to lay
down the best verse (which looks funny given it’s an instrumental). At the end
we then see, Gesaffelstein standing there looking out of place, which I guess
is a metaphor for how he feels right now in the music industry surrounded by
all these wacky attention-seeking rappers. Is he suggesting the music industry needs
to reset itself?
‘Soprano’ – DUCKWRTH
Gospel?
Am I listening to the right artist here? *Beat
switches at 0:48 and I am blasted off my chair by the bass* Ah, that’s more
like it! Yet again the Californian rapper releases another banger. It hasn’t
got the political lyrics of ‘Fall Back’ but given the energy of the track, I
don’t think that matters. The fact that he dedicates that section at the
beginning to gospel singing also just goes to show how diverse this man’s talents
are.
‘Feel
Ya’ – Ehiorobo & Tomggg
This
is my first exposure to Tomggg and I’m liking his cutesy and bubbly style of
production. It matches Ehiorobo’s quirky soulful voice (check out my interview with Ehiorobo here). There’s a lot of dark and moody music out there at the
moment and sometimes it’s nice to hear something sweet and bouncy.
‘Anyways’
– Arctic Monkeys
The Arctic
Monkeys have been continuously slowing down since AM and now they’re literally making lounge music. Ordinarily I don’t
think this would be my cup of tea, but Alex Turner’s poetic rambling is kind of
hypnotic to listen to. My favourite line: ‘nosebleeds
from epiphanies I took full in the face’. By the way, what’s this band’s
fascination with vacuum cleaners?
‘Chemical Spirit Connection’ – Andrew Goldring
This
track is about a ‘strange encounter one
night at the neighbourhood dive bar’. The fuzzy guitars and laid back
vocals do a good job of capturing the drunken haze of the moment and I’m loving
the whimsical lyrics.
THE WORST:
‘Gunner’ – Insaine Caine
His goofy
delivery makes him sound like he’s trying to voice a cartoon character and the beat
sounds like something from the ‘00s. But hey, what was I honestly expecting
with a thumbnail like that?