The 10 best new songs we’ve heard this week

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.

Kojaque & Luka Palm

Phoenix

Our choice pick from Kojaque and Luka Palm’s Green Diesel mixtape. ‘Phoenix’ closes out the short tape, exhibiting the best bars, production and flow any of Soft Boy’s roster have managed since Deli Daydreams. Palm’s delivery is superb, though question marks remain over how dynamic an MC the young Dubliner is, especially when it comes to varying his flows and lyrical concepts. Kojaque, who has had a couple of sluggish features (‘Nightlink’) since his debut full-length, comes through with some of his very best bars. Hats off the Fontaines reference. ‘Phoenix’ is top drawer stuff.

2.

Danny Brown

Dirty Laundry

Danny Brown is back with a blast after announcing his upcoming, Q-Tip produced, album uknowhatimsayin¿. Lead single ‘Dirty Laundry’ has a typically off-kilter delivery from Brown however the explosive production of 2016’s Atrocity Exhibition has been toned down for something a little more accessible and actually quite bouncy. In the three years since his last album, the oddball leftfield hip-hop scene that Brown helped bring to the masses has exploded and it’s a relief that he’s still changing things up.

3.

Sandro Perri

Floriana

Cult indie hero Sanro Perri breathes a new lease of life into a creed of stripped back, strectched-out mellow rock on new LP Soft Landing.’Floraina’ is our go to track. A five minute instrumental jam with some of the best horn and guitar tones we’ve heard this year. Music for dreamers.

4.

INJURY RESERVE/JPEGEMAFIA/Code Orange

HPNGC

Oddball hip-hop heavyweights Injury Reserve and JPEGMAFIA team up with metalcore stalwarts Code Orange for a characteristically sinister outing on ‘HPNGC’. ‘HPNGC’ is weird as hell yet still seductive through its claustrophobic production and a phenomenal verse from JPEGMAFIA. The aggressive extremities of experimental hip-hop continue to be pushed and here’s waiting for the JPEGMAFIA screamo album.

5.

Kindness

Dreams Fall

Kindess’s new LP Something Like A War is probably the most solid all round release of the week. It’s of that new school of R&B, full of dense rythms and intimate vocal deliveries. Jump in with ‘Dreams Fall’, with its airy synths and subdued slap bass.

6.

Kate Teague

Sweetheart

Mississippi singer-songwriter Kate Teague is set to release her debut self-titled EP later this month on Muscle Beach Records and if the first four cuts are anything to go by, we’re in for a treat. Most recent single “Sweetheart” is a gently winding, low-key indie rock number with Teague’s distinct delivery driving defiant anti-misogynistic lyrics like “I can frown if I want to/ Don’t call me sweetheart” through a thick layer of musical haze. Another excellent cut from an extremely promising act.

7.

Stirling March

Under Cover Lover

Kalita Records did the world a big solid and reissued Bahamian musician Stirling March’s ‘Under Cover Lover’. I’ve heard some scary stories about some of the prices this 7″ cooked up on the second-hand market. It’s not hard to figure out why. ‘Under Cover Lover’ is pure synth-funk gold, capable of whipping the most retissant of feet into motion. A jam straight out of 1985.

8.

Frankie Cosmos

Windows

Frankie Cosmos’ fourth album Close It Quietly sees Greta Kline and her merry band returning to their scrappy indie-rock roots after their piano-led Haunted Things EP series earlier this year. Lead single ‘Windows’ is a bouncy, back to basics lo-fi number with subtle synth touches and Kline’s private journal meets abstract poetics lyricism. Close It Quietly is a marked growth for Frankie Cosmos in an already stellar discography and ‘Windows’ is a highlight.

9.

Soymanga

Moramora Zoky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZtyrniRPvY

More tunes from resecued from purgatory by the helping hand of a reissue. I heard Soymanga’s ‘Moramora Zoky’ off the new Alefa Madagascar compilation. That collection boasts some mighty soul-jams based around the cultural movements of salegy & soukous on Africa’s red island from 1974-1984. They don’t come much mightier than ‘Moramora Zoky’. Pay enough attention and you’ll begin to think Vampire Weekend borrowed pretty heavily from their source inspirations. The compilation is released through Strut Records.

10.

Jay Som

Tenderness

Melina Duterte aka Jay Som has just released her third album, Anak Ko, and ‘Tenderness’ is a moody single that channels her usual indie rock chops into something a little more sultry. Hushed vocals combine with late-night funk grooves to make a surprising change of direction for the Bay Area artist. Think Mac DeMarco meets Shura and they have a nice cry together.

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