6 new songs you need to hear this week
Follow the Nialler9 New Music playlist on Spotify. This week’s additions include new songs from Metronomy, Shura, Agnes Obel, Trentmoller, DJ Shadow and Flores.
Check out the Songs of the week Soundcloud playlist.
1.
Blood Orange – ‘Best To You’
Dev Hynes’ ambitious guest-filled Freetown Sound album dropped last week.
The former Lightspeed Champion and recent songwriter/producer of great records from Sky Ferreira and Solange has released some great music under his Blood Orange name but with new album Freetown Sound, Hynes’ moves from liminal to minimal soulful sleek pop that addresses race, class and feminism.
Nelly Furtado, Carly Rae Jepsen, BEA1991, Debbie Harry, Kindness, Ian Isiah, Kelsey Lu, Jason Arce, Ava Raiin, P, Porches, Starchild and Patrick Wimberly of Chairlift all feature but easy standout right now is the Empress Of-sung ‘Best To You’ an alluring melancholic pop record to dance around to against the push and pull of desire in a fading relationship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5lJy3tc8lM
2.
Clams Casino & Kelela – ‘A Breath Away’
Clams has largely ditched the cloud for precision production.
Having already given us a grade-A banger with Vince Staples, Clams Casino has turned to his softer side on this collaboration with LA R&B singer Kelela from new album 32 Levels. Kelela is the owner of one of my favourite voices in music and while there are cloudy elements to Clams’ production on ‘A Breath Away’, Kelela punctures it with an emotive soulful beauty that few can match. It’s almost pop.
32 Levels is out on July 18th and also features Alt-J’s Joe Newman, A$AP Rocky, Lil B and Sam T Herring of Future Islands.
3.
Angel Olsen – ‘Shut Up Kiss Me’
A great single from the Chicago songwriter’s new album.
When Angel Olsen really lets loose, she’s at her biting best, as demostrated by songs like ‘High-Five’ and ‘Forgiven/Forgotten’ from Burn No Fire For No Witness.
For her forthcoming album, My Woman (September 2nd on Jagjaguar), Olsen is playing a part, in song and video, versions of herself and others. ‘Intern’ dramatically suggested a transition but ‘Shut Up Kiss Me’ draws you in to that world with a song that asks yet is in control of the situation. Olsen’s voice is at her most authoritative, expressive and artistic.
4.
James Vincent McMorrow – ‘Rising Water’
New R&B stripes with production from Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ producer.
James Vincent McMorrow’s new album is done and dusted and with some recent teasing, and a European tour announced, James appeared on Annie Mac’s BBC Radio One show last night to debut the recorded version of ‘Rising Water’ as the Hottest Record In The World.
The song is R&B soul-inspired with new textures in the form of throwback synths, a motorik bassline. McMorrow’s falsetto remains but there’s a refreshing vitality to it.
The song was produced by Nineteen85, who produced Drake records like ‘One Dance’ and ‘Hotline Bling’ along with OVO acts dvsn and Majid Jordan.
5.
I Am The Cosmos – ‘Letting It Go’
Dublin synth-lovers come back tougher.
Three years on from the release of Monochrome, the debut album from Ross Turner and Cian Murphy as I Am The Cosmos and the presence of its analogue synthesizer dance music in my regular listening has never diminished.
Where Monochrome was inspired by a single song from the Japanese band Mariah, a band who have inspired and moved crate diggers and music outliers alike, the band’s new material, live in recent shows, had much more muscle.
‘Letting Go’ echoes that difference in their approach. Following the band’s remix of Girls Names last year, ‘Letting It Go’ is all pulsing synthesizer electronics and swallowing Joy Division vocals that itself, start to lose control, echoing the title.
6.
Orlando Volcano Ft. Gemma Dunleavy – “Mixed Messages”
Dublin boy finds his feet in the Big Apple.
After being accepted to the Red Bull Music Academy in New York, the producer Orlando Volcano moved to the city for good three years ago and has spent his musical time exploring global underground dance sounds. His latest EP on London’s Liminal Sounds features the tropical dancehall of Mixed Messages with vocals by the effervescent Gemma Dunleavy (Murlo, White Collar Boy, Clu).
As featured in Irish Times’ New music roundup.
