THE BEST:
‘Together’ – Katie Rush
This heartbreak-themed pop song
has some really left-field production. The sugary groove feels like a hybrid of
80s/90s electropop, whilst wailing guitars are layered over the top, which – to
quote the PR email – ‘mock the cries of
coyotes, hungry for love’. There’s nothing else out there that sounds quite
like this. The NYC-based singer has a new album out titled Stage Life which
you can check out here.
‘This is All In Your Head’ – Headphone Hair
Continuing with the 80s pop
influences, this new synth-and-808-cowbell-loaded single from Oakland artist
Headphone Hair feels very Prefab Sprout, but with enough of a modern catchiness
to give it its own distinctive flavour. The lyrics centre around the awkwardness
of not knowing how to approach someone’s depression and in doing so making it
worse.
‘Black Hole’ – Ellis Redon
Straight off the San Antonio
artist’s new album Bloody Honey, this
gorgeously melancholy alt rock tune melds grungy guitars and gravelly vocals. Interestingly,
Ellis Redon’s last album was a guitar-free synthpop record containing digital
percussion – so he’s taken quite a stylistic leap. Perhaps he just needed time
to find his calling. Or perhaps we can expect more genre-hopping in the future.
‘Tiny World’ – Kai Orion
Washington DC experimental pop artist
Kai Orion has a new record out titled Start To End, which sees him dabbling with all kinds of odd instruments including
wine glasses, found percussion and - in the case of this song – beatbox flute
and cigar box resonator guitar. ‘Tiny World’ jostles along to an almost
latin-jazz rhythm, punctuated by an epic chorus containing dramatic organs and belting
vocals. It’s a fun mish-mash of styles and sounds that somehow fits together.
‘House vs House’ – Blanck Mass
Starting with a brutal scream,
this track then dives into a chaotic pattern of percussion and vocal cuts, out
of which rise euphoric EDM synths. That’s all before we get to the distorted
singing. In usual Blanck Mass fashion, it’s terrifically twisted and utterly
unpredictable. The producer has a solo album out August 16th titled Animated Violence Mild.
THE WORST:
‘Cattitude’ – Miley Cyrus ft. Ru
Paul
‘I love my pussy, that means I got cattitude’. Christ, I thought
Miley was starting to mature with ‘Malibu’, but now we’re back to Dead Petz-level sweary nonsense. I gotta
admit the beat bangs, and Ru Paul rapping isn’t something I thought I’d ever experience,
but otherwise this is trash.