It's a mix of vicious and dreamy this week. Artists featured include strongboi, Chat Pile, Osees, Sail, Ruru, There's Talk, Eminem & Snoop Dogg and Rina Sawayama.
THE BEST:
‘Unconditional’ – Strongboi
Strongboi, the quirky side project of South African
singer-songwriter Alice Phoebe Lou, is back with a new single titled ‘Unconditional’.
Alice’s quivering voice combined with Ziv Yamin’s dreamy production sounds so
good. There are also some enchanting guest vocals from Salami Rose Joe Louis (I
wasn’t familiar with her, so I Googled her and apparently she’s a ‘musician,
composer, producer and planetary scientist’. I wasn't expecting that last one).
‘Why’ – Chat Pile
These riffs aren’t just filthy, they’re putrid. The
instrumentation is practically death metal. It’s pretty fitting how disgusting
the riffs are when you consider the subject matter. ‘Why do people have to
live outside??’ vocalist Raygun Busch questions throughout the track. This
eventually turns into angry shrieks of ‘WHYYY???!!!’. The
straightforwardness of the message and the pure rage in his voice hammers home
just how outrageously gross it is that people are being made to live outside. The
track comes off the Oklahoma City band’s upcoming album God’s Country.
‘Perm Act’ – Osees
A couple weeks ago, Osees dropped a new fuzz-laden rock single
titled ‘Funeral Solution’ with violent lyrics about bloody splatter and
cracking skills. This new song ‘Perm Act’ is another fuzzy punky tune that’s
equally centred around violence – taking aim at police brutality. It’s a simple
but very fun track. The video meanwhile features scenes of police brutality that evolve
into a comically over-the-top gore-fest with cops eating each other.
‘Emotion Motional Ocean’ – Sail
Sail are a unique alt rock/metal band from Taunton. Their new single
‘Emotion Motional Ocean’ (try saying that fast) features soaring vocals and reverb-soaked
distorted guitars that give it an immensely epic feel. The instrumentation has an upbeat tone to it (I love that opening riff), although there is a darker sludgy
riff towards the end that makes for a nice contrast. Vocalist Tim Kazer’s
description of the song is quote entertaining: ‘You know the end of Pinocchio with the Whale? Monstro I
think. I went back and watched a clip and Gepetto will not stop talking about
dying. Like I don’t think there was a single person who made that film thinking
“this one’s for the kids!”. Emotions can be that way sometimes though, like
being eaten alive. That’s what Emotion Motional Ocean is. One big alt rock
emotional monster munch.’
‘Eyes of A Blue Dog’ – Ruru
Ontario-based artist Ruru delivers this excitingly unpredictable
soul/rock track. It’s a musical maze of sweet jazzy chord progressions and shifting
drum patterns. I love the range of guitar effects and the slo-mo reversed snare
at the end. The vocals are very soothing
while also being quite dynamic, turning almost shoegazey at the end.
‘watersignwave’ – There’s Talk
The last single I featured from this Oakland dreampop band was
about a year ago, which I described as the ‘dreamiest’ dreampop single I’d ever heard. This track is a little different – it starts off hazy and twinkly, but
then adds in some fat synth bass that cuts through the swirling ambience. It features lyrics about confronting heartbreak: ‘I promise you will love again’.
THE WORST:
‘From the D 2 The LBC’ – Eminem & Snoop Dogg
It’s odd to hear now-sober Eminem rapping about weed, and
even more odd to hear Snoop attempting a speedy flow. They’re both clearly
trying to build some chemistry by borrowing from one another’s styles. But the
whole track just feels underwhelming. Em is trying too hard with the puns and
Snoop sounds a bit too serious, plus the beat is bland.
‘Catch Me In The Air’ – Rina Sawayama
Meh, this sounds like The Corrs. The type of breezy pop rock
you hear during the end credits of every 00s rom com. Definitely not for me.