The 25 best songs of the last month

15.

White Denim

Fine Slime

The Texas band’s rock music is a vintage kind, an effortless, guitar infectious music that recalls the best of the best while maintaining its own steam. Their new album Performance just dropped and its their eighth album of solid tunes. They play Dublin next year

16.

Helena Hauff

The Smell of Suds and Steel

Hamburg-based producer and DJ Helena Hauff’s second full length studio album Qualm is a no frills collection of techno, acid and hints of IDM. Not for the faint of heart, the music on this hard-hitting release will be too gruelling for some nervous listeners. Stick it out though and you’ll be rewarded with 12 tracks of expertly-crafted dance music. ‘The Smell of Suds and Steel’ may well be your way in.

17.

Madlaks

Jikovonunu – Young Marco Rework

The Amsterdam DJ and producer Young Marco has an reputation for eclectic DJ sets that could draw from any corner of the globe and divert into Italian house, obscure Belgian covers of calypso music or just playing Wham’s Last Christmas in July. That sense of adventure is reflected in this just released dancefloor rework of an exuberant South African piano-house tune. Weird and wonderful.

18.

Neneh Cherry

Kong

Trip-hop and pop culture icon Neneh Cherry’s latest single ‘Kong’ is sleek and powerful. It’s a strange mix of old and new. There’s plenty of elements of her definitive trip-esque pop style, from the clattering hi-hats to the skewed breakdown around the song’s halfway mark. However, there’s evolution to be heard here too. Here more so than ever there’s a focus on Cherry’s vocals and the lyrics which propel them, as poetic as they are cryptic. It’s produced by both Four Tet and 3D of Massive Attack.

19.

Elephant

Lie Fallow

Dundalk’s Shane Clark aka Elephant’s second album 88, flickers between the folk of his debut to fuller and fresher rock and occasional electronic elements with ease. This results in highly fleshed out project that feels human at it’s core. ‘Lie Fallow’ with its ’80s synth and Bon Iver vibe is a winner.

20.

Conner Youngblood

The Birds OF Finland

The debut album Cheyenne from Dallas native Conner Youngblood is a love letter to the art of travel. Subdued and nuanced, the blend of folk and ambient heard throughout is the perfect soundtrack for those taken by wanderlust. ‘The Birds OF Finland’, an early highlight on the project, showcases many of the reoccurring aspects of Youngblood’s music which make it so endearing. The opening 30 seconds sprawl out, gradually gathering form and shape in the added layers of instrumentation. Some of these sounds feel organic, like the twinkling of the acoustic guitar and others feel like the product of some lo-fi studio witchcraft.

21.

Anna Calvi

Hunter

From the just-released third record Hunter, Anna Calvi is the latest artist to explore the space between male and female sexuality. Self-described as a “queer and a feminist record,” the title track suggests that she’s been inspired by another performer who challenged gender. ‘Hunter’ is the soundtrack to sexual freedom in slow motion and has the feel of late era Bowie crossed with the Twin Peaks soundtrack. Calvi plays Dublin on September 28th.

22.

Ouri

Escape

Ouri is a Montreal-based French South-African experimental R&B artiston the Ghostly International label and ‘Escape’ the single from her debut EP is a streamlined and sleek nu-R&B track. It’s got a refined beat, lilting synth tones and a hushed vocal delivery. The track oozes cool and charisma from beginning to end.

23.

Spies

Ho Cho Minh

Spies lead singer and lyric writer Michael Broderick wrote the lines of this song while on holiday in Vietnam, hence the titular reference to the city named after the country’s Communist leader. The song is certainly better than a postcard with the declarations of love and friendship from the Dublin indie-rock band set to gentle synths, cascading background vocals and imbued with melodic brightness. It’s the latest in a line of songs from a band reinvigorated in the lead up to their new album Constancy, out November 23rd.

24.

LCD Soundsystem

Oh Baby Lovefingers remix

Both of the recent remixes by Dixon and Lovefingers of LCD this month are worth your time but it’s the slower latter one by Lovefingers with its rolling piano and slow chug (that also works sped up for DJing) that has emerged as a favourite.

25.

Mitski

Two Slow Dancers

A heartbreaking piano ballad at its core, Mitski’s ‘Two Slow Dancers’ is strictly for those with headphones and the want to open themselves to the melancholy of lead singer and project visionary Mitski Miyawaki. Taking an honest look at two people slowly growing apart with age, the track pulls no punches lyrically. The addition of those synth strings around the halfway point is the cherry atop this bittersweet cake.