Here are the best new songs we’ve heard in the past week, tried, tested and ready for your ears.
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1.
Peyton
To Spare
Houston newcomer Peyton delivers warm goodness on stripped-back R&B number ‘To Spare’. Harking back to the less polished pop-R&B cuts of the late nineties, ‘To Spare’ is infectious in its simplicity and back to basics analysis of heartbreak. With a voice like butter, Peyton establishes an instant charisma through her relatable lyrics whilst laid-back boom bap beats keep the track chill. It’s a polishing up of her skills since 2017’s debut album Peace in the Midst of a Storm and shows a marked improvement in an exciting young artist.
2.
Florist
M
Leaving the rest of her band behind for an album, Florist frontwoman Emily Sprague has returned on her lonesome for the third Florist album, Emily Alone. Marking a move away from the bedroom-pop stylings of their previous two albums, Emily Alone is built from intimate folk confessionals and ‘M’ is the rawest track of all. A slowly meandering, ambient leaning piano piece, ‘M’ is a stripped-back meditation on the nature of life that shows Florist at their most emotive.
3.
Model Man
Clarity
Signed to techno stalwart Alan Fitzpatrick’s new Apex Faction imprint, duo Model Man make swirling electronic informed by 90s house music. Their new single Clarity brings this formula forward with a euphoric piano lead, harmonized choirs and a polished sheen making for a mid-tempo dance song with heaps of crossover potential.
4.
Dump Him
Dykes To Watch Out For
Massachusetts queercore 4-piece Dump Him have been kicking about for a while now releasing a handful of promising lo-fi rough and ready demos. August 30 will finally see the release of their Alison Bechdel referencing debut LP Dykes To Watch For. The title track is the first cut from the album and it’s a romp of punk anguish and raw punk melody. Addressing the topic of LGBT exclusion, the track repurposes scrappy Gilman St style pop-punk for a modern audience and is a rebellious bop along from start to finish.
5.
Caroline Polachek
Ocean Of Tears
The former Chairlift frontwoman has returned in full collaborative swing with a host of huge names. ‘Ocean of Tears’ boasts PC Music darling Danny L Harle providing bass, experimental multi-instrumentalist Eartheater on guitars and AG Cook on production duty. This mesh of inputs makes for an intriguingly unique effort. At face value, ‘Ocean of Tears’ is a melodramatic ballad but Polachek’s oscillating vocals combined with occasionally deconstructed club leaning production make for a far more interesting proposition.
6.
Paranoid London feat. Simon Topping
Cult Hero (Do You Wanna Touch Me)
British acid house duo Paranoid London return with another beefy Chicago house influenced dancefloor filler. Embracing endless lines of squelching 303s, ‘Cult Hero (Do You Wanna Touch Me)’ nods to the past and blasts it to present through sleazy repetitive bass and deadpan tongue-in-cheek vocals. ‘Cult Hero (Do You Wanna Touch Me)’ was made for messy 4am singalongs in a dirty nightclub and makes for a welcome break from the over-produced impersonal house music that dominates so many dancefloors.
7.
Kink
Raw (Running Back)
Bulgarian house producer Kink returned this June after two years with floor filler EP Piano Power. ‘Raw (Running Back)’ is one of the most powerful slices of the stellar release marrying Baltimore club referencing beats with a light-hearted piano lead for the perfect summer disco bounce.
8.
YBN Cordae
Wintertime
Hip-hop hype monger of the year YBN Cordae has just dropped his long-awaited debut album, The Lost Boy. The Lost Boy is a promising showcase of a young rapper who’s wiser than his age but still has some way to go before reaching the heights of his pals Chance The Rapper and J Cole. Nonetheless, The Lost Boy is filled with enjoyable lyrical hip hop and the mellow vibes of Wintertime make it an album highlight.
9.
Negashi Armada
Golden (Intro)
Golden (Intro) is the first track on avant-garde hip-hop artist Negashi Armada‘s The Silverprint EP. Distinctly different from almost everything you’ve ever heard before, Golden (Intro) layers a discordant, disembodied flow over harsh-noise and country style Dolly Parton-esque melodies to make for a calamitous introduction to a boundary-pushing EP.
10.
Chance The Rapper
5 Year Plan (ft. Randy Newman)
Chance The Rapper‘s new album The Big Day is a tribute to marriage, settling and knowing your place in life. No song is this more evident on than the gently sentimental ‘5 Year Plan’. Hip-hop isn’t a genre known for sentimentality but Chance The Rapper carries it off with gospel-inspired melodies and motivational lyrics from composer and Toy Story associate Randy Newman. If hip-hop is a genre built from youthful emotion, ‘5 Year Plan’ is the sound of it ageing gracefully.
