Today is New Music Friday, which means there’s loads of new songs in the world.
Here are the 10 single songs released today I loved the most.
See the New Music section for all the of tracks and albums featured this week.
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1.
Kelela
Contact
Kelela continues the teasing for Raven, with the sheenful electronic R&B of ‘Contact’, produced by LSDXOXO, Asmara, Bambii and Brandon Peralta.
Raven drops on February 10th on Warp Records.
Hear also: ‘Washed Away’ / ‘On The Run’
2.
Ailbhe Reddy
Last To Leave
A beaut of a track from Ailbhe Reddy’s forthcoming second album Endless Affair, out St Patrick’s Day, March 17th. ‘Last To Leave’ is a “dreamy lo-fi journey of love, romance and embarrassment.”
“It’s about having an infatuation with someone who you find frustrating and watching as they make a fool of themselves at a party, while knowing you might be doing the same thing.”
That’s Rafino Murphy aka Uly on trumpet
Ailbhe has two Dublin shows in Whelan’s on May 5th and 6th, along with UK and European dates.
3.
Braxe & Falcon, Panda Bear
Step By Step (Axel Boman’s In The Air Version)
Injecting some extra euphoria, beats and new vocals from Panda Bear, into the French duo’s low-tempo collaboration, Axel Boman’s version of ‘Step By Step’ arrived alongside a Junior Sanchez remix today.
The two remixes appeared ahead of a remix package, to be released digitally and on vinyl as a limited 12” on June 9th, and featuring A-Trak, ABSOLUTE., Amtrac, Shakedown and Didi Ha remixes.
“You can’t out-falcon the Falcon but you can try!” “At least that’s what I set out to do when I got the chance to remix my youth’s heroes. The French Touch sound from the late 90s and early 00s had a huge impact on me in my formative years as an aspiring DJ in Stockholm. My remix is an homage to a simpler time, to relentless joy and to the originators of last year’s brightest shining piece of electronic pop music.”
Axel Boman
4.
Braids
Evolution
TCanadian experimental pop 3-piece Braids’ music has been moving in increasingly dancier directions, and ‘Evolution’, from the trio’s forthcoming ffith album Euphoric Recall (28th April 2023) is the closest they’ve come to sounding like fellow countryman Caribou.
5.
Technology + Teamwork
Big Blue
Technology + Teamwork are Sarah Jones (sometime drummer for Hot Chip / Harry Styles) and Anthony Silvester who have an album called We Used To Be Friends out on Patrick’s Day, 17th March on Good Way Records.
‘Big Blue’ is a polychromatic meld of hyperpop and disco electronica.
“I wrote a beat about my favourite jumper” says Jones.
6.
Anna B Savage
Crown Shyness
Anna B Savage is releasing a new album next month (In|FLUX is out February 17th via City Slang), and ‘Crown Shyness’ is the latest song we’ve heard from the record.
Produced by Mike Lindsay (Tunng, Lump), the song
“I whittled away at this song for a long time, over two years, eventually bringing it to Mike and working on it together. It’s about feeling two conflicting things at the same time: a pull towards and a push away from. For me this song doesn’t feel explicitly sad, though. To me it feels like an acknowledgement of tenderness, and connection, but also the ways in which it can’t happen.”
You’re in my dreams
an awful lot at the moment
and if I know what that means,
it means this dance is over for us
one way or another.
Is this just a friend thing
or is it some kind of ending?
Doesn’t feel sustainable.
This endless push,
and endless pull.
Savage plays Whelan’s on Friday 24th March 2023 with a Foggy Notions promoted show, and a Belfast show on March 25th.
7.
Outcast Music, Jay 1, SELLO
Loose (Ireland remix)
What Ed Sheeran started with country-specific remixes last year continues with drill artist Sello reppin’ the country on the Irish remix of Jay 1’s and Outcast Music‘s ‘Loose‘.
8.
Andy Shauf
Telephone
Canadian singer-songwriter Andy Shauf can do so much with subtlety, he’s a bit of a master of reining it in at times, as heard on new song ‘Telephone’.
The song, and the beautiful ‘Wasted On You’ is featured on upcoming album Norm, due February 10.
9.
Sweetlemondae, Jafaris
Higher State
Striving for higher things, Galway artist Sweetlemondae is manifesting good things on ‘Higher State’, produced by Benza, which features a Jafaris verse. Nice bop to this one on Diffusion Lab.
It’s the follow up to last year’s ‘Never Gonna Be’.
“Over the years I’ve learned a lot about reaching a ‘Higher State’ from reading self-help books. I’ve always been interested in self-improvement and doing any shadow work in order to get to a better place, whether it be mentally, physically, or emotionally. When I was around 14/15 I feel like I had an enlightening moment where I realised my existence. I didn’t like anything about myself so I decided that I wanted to figure out how I could change that. I did that by opening up my mind to new ways of life. I love reading self-help books or books on spirituality or natural medicine. I feel like music is my therapy so I always push myself to word anything I feel as best as I possibly can. That’s why lyricism is very important to me because it’s really about me using this outlet to really delve deep into what I want to say at that specific time. I don’t think I have personally reached a ‘higher state’. But I can definitely hear the progression in my storytelling from the music I’ve put out over the years. I think ‘Higher State’ is more of a journey than a destination.”
10.
David Kitt
Wishing Well
David Kitt has announced his ninth album Idiot Check, will be released on March 31st on RE:WARM.
Kitt has never been one to settle on just one sound, but under his own name, his work has always kept the singer-songwriter flame strong no matter what slots around it, and the new album is said to be an “ambient and atmospheric record that puts an eclectic experimental spin on traditional folk music.”
‘Wishing Well’ is the third track on Idiot Check, and was recorded and produced by Kitt using his “Breaking Bad mobile studio set-up”.
“Wishing Well is about being on the run from memories/your past and memories fading/morphing/appearing in dreams and asking yourself what are you running from exactly. Running from yourself or something other than yourself? Some ghostly spectre that you can’t really pinpoint. It’s also about the void left by the absence of religion/superstition and who we ‘blame’ or project things onto in that absence. The song explores where these two things overlap I guess.”
Nialler9 Weekly Playlist
Nialler9 New Music Playlist
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, hit up the Irish section for individual track features
For this and more Irish songs, follow the Nialler9 New Irish Spotify playlist.
