This has to be Madonna’s weirdest
single yet…
THE BEST:
‘Activate’ – Elle Shimada ft.
Abbey Howlett & Cazeaux O.S.L.O
This song is a bit all over the
place (as are many of the songs this week), but the sheer creativity of it makes
it worth it. The beat produced by Melbourne artist Elle Shimada is a speedball
of woozy jazz samples and frenetic 808s. There’s some breathy singing from Abby
Howlett and a rapped verse from Cazeaux O.S.L.O (they’re all new names to me
too). The cool visuals are the icing on top. The track is straight off the
latest Wondercore Island mixtape SURF JAZZ – it features a medley of experimental
artists and its proceeds go towards an Australian surf charity.
‘Run For Your Life’ - Hallam
London
We’re half-way into pride month
and this seems like the perfect anthem. It’s an infectious tongue-in-cheek
dance-rock track that mocks the homophobic idea of gays taking over (I love the
lyric about the ‘rainbow-coloured laser sword’). The Sheffield-via-Dresden
artist wrote the song as a response to the ongoing debate surrounding same-sex
marriage in Germany (which was legalised in 2017).
‘I. I may come out as a yolk, I
may come out on saddle’ – WHY?
The title is utterly bonkers – and
fortunately the music lives up to it by being just as off-the-wall. It starts
off bouncily and then slows down into a soaring ballad-of-sorts over which vocalist
Yoni Wolf vividly describes birth through a series of wild metaphors. It’s got
a very optimistic tone to it, even if I don’t fully understand the meaning
behind it. Be whatever you want to be – that’s my interpretation of it. You can
be a brain surgeon. You can be an astronaut. You can even be a chocolatier.
‘Tiny Violin’ – Yardgames
Yardgames is the project of Will
Ian Lakritz and this new spacey single is straight off of his new album Out of Orbit. The synths are hypnotic, the vocals are enjoyably Toro y Moi-esque and I’m
loving that crisp snare.
‘Umami Syntonic’ – Imelda Marcos
Chicago noise rockers Imelda
Marcos – who I’ve featured on this blog before - have a new album out titled Tatlo.
It’s as equally crazy as their past work, made up of dissonant harmonic guitar
clangs and accompanied by skilfully synchronised drums. This track ‘Umami
Syntonic’ comes straight off the album and has an epic build towards the end that
may be the closest these guys have come to melodic.
THE WORST:
‘Dark Ballet’ – Madonna
Whilst it’s interesting to see Madonna
getting artsy rather than jumping on whatever style is trendy, ‘Dark Ballet’ is a
lot to take in. One minute there’s a dude screaming whilst being burnt alive
and next moment Madonna is wailing like a dalek to the melody of ‘The Nutcracker’.
It barely classifies as a song and the most conventional part is soaked in auto-tune.
Maybe it will grow on me. I doubt it.