See the end of the post for the Weekly Playlist featuring all the tracks I loved this week.
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Clipse
So Be It
15 years on from their disbandment the brothers Clipse, Pusha T and Malice – will release Let God Sort Em Out, their fourth album on July 11th.
So far, we’ve heard the excellent ‘Ace Trumpets’ but ‘So Be It’ feels like the big statement rap single, complete with a proper monochromed rap video.
The Pharrell-produced track uses a sample from a 70s Saudi Arabian artist Talah Madah, and it’s refreshing to hear the Virginian rappers back in sparking diamond form rubbing your nose in the luxury lifestyle like old times.
A Clipse interview with the NYT just dropped this week.
Loyle Carner
About Time
hopefully !, the fourth album from UK rapper and lyricist Loyle Carner finds the artist in reflective fatherhood mode, who sings for the first time (after Grian Chatten ghosted his request) and the result is an album buoyed by the joys of life experiences, best exemplified in the album closer ‘about time’
Spray, Spriitzz
Where R U – Ibiza mix
Berlin-based Sligo dance producer Tiarnan McMorrow aka Spray brings ’90s rave bounce to his recent tune ‘Where R U – Ibiza mix’ originally released earlier this year, but coming out next week on a vinyl EP.
The euphoric dance song is like Opus III and Strike colliding with a Balearic sunset, with an vocal sample from Orbital-esque Irish dance tune from Erotixs.
“When I wrote it I was in Ibiza,” he explains. “And I wanted to make something that sounded like it could have been on an Ibiza sunrise compilation CD. One of those one-off tracks by an artist you can’t find any other music by. It’s a bit of an ode to an old Ibiza that I romanticize that doesn’t really exist any more but I’m still always chasing when I visit.”
“The vocals came from an old Irish dance track,” McMorrow explains. “The kind of trance vocals I chase always have a small flavour of Celtic sounds in it and this one scratched that itch perfectly – it’s a really nice balance between haunting and hopeful.”
Spray is also releasing new music under the Spriitzz alias. “Spray for the club, Spriitzz for the sunset,” he explains of the two monikers.
Nourished By Time
9 2 5
Baltimore musician Marcus Brown’s alternative project
Nourished By Time draws on shoegaze, electronica and R&B in his music, so often the result is a cathartic unique mix of all three.
‘9 2 5’ is from forthcoming album The Passionate Ones, out August 22nd via XL, and it’s a song about an artist stuck between pursuing creativity and sticking with the day job, with the song’s clubby off-kilter production, a magnet for the artistic side to win out.
Nightmares On Wax
30 Groove St. Dub
An oldie but a goodie as Nightmares On Wax mark 30 years of a key album in the chillout beats canon Smokers Delight, with an EP Still Smokin. III which offers alternative versions of songs from the 1995 album.
There’s a new reimagined version of ‘Groove St.’ with Rizzle Kicks’ Jordan Stephens on vocals, but I prefer the dub which still sounds fresh and ever-green.
Songs I also loved this week:
Also added to this week’s playlist:
- Alex Kassian – Body Singer
- HAIM – Now it’s time
- pôt-pot – WRSW
- Unknown Mortal Orchestra – DEATH COMES FROM THE SKY
- CMAT – The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station
- Say She She – Cut & Rewind
- Young Fathers – Lowly
- Poor Creature – All Smiles Tonight
- Four Tet – Into Dust (Still Falling)
- Joe Armon-Jones; Yazmin Lacey – One Way Traffic – feat. Yazmin Lacey
- Foxwarren; Andy Shauf; Darryl Kissick – Deadhead
- Sorcha Richardson – lock & key
- Sofia Kourtesis – Canela Pura
- Automatic – Is It Now?
- Just Mustard – POLLYANNA
- Daphni – Sad Piano House
- Joy Orbison; Overmono; Skiifall – Lippy
Nialler9 Weekly Playlist
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Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
