Twenty One Pilots are on a roll and Camila Cabello has gone hyperpop. Other artists reviewed in this now fortnightly roundup include Remi Wolf, Kid Acne, La Luz, Rudimentary Paste, Pink Milk and Dizzy Panda & The Perics.
THE BEST:
‘Next
Semester’ – Twenty One Pilots
This is the
second of two phenomenal singles from Twenty One Pilots’ upcoming album, Clancy.
The energetic guitars and exasperated vocals have a 90s alt rock vibe made complete
with some anthemic ‘whoooooaaah’s. I even like the stripped back ukelele
outro. There’s a genuine angst to it all.
‘Cinderella’
– Remi Wolf
I’m late on
the Remi Wolf train. Her vibrant and eccentric pop sound is exactly the
direction Doja Cat should have gone in. But oh well - Remi took us there instead with her previous album, and now she’s
taking us somewhere else that’s even more magical with ‘Cinderella’. The track
is a step away from electronic production to a more organic soulful sound, which
she keeps fresh with her hooky inflections. It ought to become a hit, but it
won’t, because these types of ridiculously fun pop songs never do.
‘Eranu/Uvavu’
– Kid Acne
‘Eranu/Uvavu’
opens with some trippy alien sounds and a drum freakout before disorientating the
listener with some entertaining sci-fi/woo-woo bars that will leave your ‘brain
like a fried egg’. It reminds me of hypnotically zany stuff I’ve heard from
High Focus rappers like Lee Scott and Strange U, but with the weirdness dial turned up a notch. The single comes off the Sheffield rapper’s new album HAUNTOLOGY CODES.
‘Strange
World’ – La Luz
This one
starts with some crazy drums too and is also sci-fi-themed. It’s the work of Seattle
psych rock band La Luz, who I’ve featured before on the blog a while back, and
who have a new album coming out titled News of the Universe. ‘Strange World’
sounds like if Django Django were all female but with arguably even better vocal harmonies.
The psychedelic instrumental passage towards the end rocks and the outro is eargasmic.
‘Ed-209’ –
Rudimentary Paste
Of all the
wonderfully unhinged Bandcamp bios I’ve come across in my internet travels, Rudimentary Paste may well
have the most unhinged (visit their Bandcamp page to read it for yourself). And their thrillingly chaotic and dissonant rock sound
(which even features some maniacal ‘HAHA’s towards the end) lives up to the
description. It’s like they’ve taken the crazy part from a Squid song and used that sound to make an entire song, except more intense and squirmy. Less Squid-like and more octopus-like. Which makes
the title of their new EP Octopus Milk & Other Tall Tales very apt.
‘You Will
Follow Me To Hell (Night On Earth)’ – Pink Milk
Speaking of
strange milks you probably shouldn't drink, Pink Milk are the next band in this week’s roundup. They’re a
Swedish darkwave/shoegaze band with a new album out titled Night On Earth.
This single is from the album, and its very atmospheric. I’m not sure ‘reverb-soaked’ or
‘reverb-drenched’ cuts it when describing this instrumentation. It’s practically swimming
in an ocean of reverb. Perhaps the reverb-iest song I’ve featured on this blog
‘Sirens of
Sunny Beach’ – Dizzy Panda & The Perics ft. Younique
Netherlands genre-jumping
duo Dizzy Panda have joined up with UK indie band The Perics to deliver a new
collaborative album titled Pentapolis. ‘Sirens of Sunny Beach’ comes off the album – it's a jazzy, funky, sunshiny instrumental with some
satisfyingly raw production. It does have some vocals, but the vocals are treated
as an instrument (hence why I call it an instrumental) made up of bababas rather
than lyrics. And who doesn’t love a good bababa?
THE WORST:
‘I LUV IT’
– Camila Cabello ft. Playboi Carti
Just as I predicted in my crystal ball, hyperpop has entered its watered-down mainstream form. To be honest, the
production is still quite fun and Cabello’s vocals aren’t bad. That is until she starts yapping
‘I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT…’ like a scratched CD. And then Carti turns
up for a verse, rapping like he’s profoundly disabled, and fucks it up completely.