Sunday 19 April 2015

ICYMI - This Week on WIIHAMB - 2015 Week #15

In case you missed it - You shouldn't have, but just in case you did.

Everything is the hecticest at the moment. I generally just seem to have quite a lot on and in addition I'm attempting to prepare for my two weeks away which starts next Friday. It's going to be manic to get everything finished in time but hopefully there won't be a day with nothing going on either here on or #thedaily.

Keep up to date with all of the daily goings-on over at WIIHAMB Daily.

Sunday
‘Swarm’ is the final track on Moscow producer Andrew Bugrov’s new four song EP ‘Ostium’. Ostium features collaborations with Aluna, Ayer and this track with Russian group Mana Island. ‘Swarm’ is perfect soulful chillstep for this Sunday evening.


Monday
This track took me a little while to get into, there’s a lot going on in these three minutes and 43 seconds. I haven’t heard anything from Towkio before but this track feels like him and Chance The Rapper were made to collaborate on it. Eryn Allen Kane’s subtle additional vocals add a slightly more pop soulful feel to the song too. ‘Heaven Only Knows’ is taken from Towkio’s ‘.wav Theory’ set for release later this month.


Tuesday
‘1 2 3 4′ is the first offering we’ve heard from former Friends frontwoman Samantha Urbani and my God was it worth the wait. With a noticeable helping hand on the production side from her other half Dev Hynes (AKA Blood Orange), ‘1 2 3 4′ is a bongo-featuring pop extravaganza. Let’s hope for more tracks over the course of the rest of 2015.


Despite Rixton being from the UK, America had their debut album ‘Let the Road’ back in March, we’re not getting it over here until June. So naturally they need to keep churning out the singles and ‘We All Want the Same Thing’ happens to be the next one. Luckily for us it’s good enough to keep the anticipation rising for the album.


Wednesday
I knew Samsaya’s name was familiar, I actually posted her single ‘Stereotype’ way back in September 2013. This is the first song of hers that I’ve stumbled across since then and I’m so glad I did. There seems to be a plethora of amazing female pop stars falling out of Scandinavia, and Norway’s Samsaya is no exception. The heartfelt ‘Beginning at the End’ is taken from her second album ‘Bombay Calling’ which was released on Monday in Norway followed by the UK in a couple of weeks time.


Throwback Thursday
On a lonely Saturday night I decided to curate my own little six song playlist of tracks included on the Donnie Darko director’s cut soundtrack. INXS’ ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ soundtracks the opening scenes of the film which see Donnie wake up in the middle of nowhere and then follows his bike ride home on a sunny Autumn morning.


Friday
The other day I said that Honne haven’t put out anything that hasn’t been great and I firmly stand by this statement stronger than anything else right now. I listened to the original 1973 soul song for the first time whilst writing this and I can’t say I prefer it. Some extra trivia too, Jack Penate also covered ‘Didn’t I’ back in 2007 for his ‘Spit At Stars’ EP.


Saturday
Erik Hassle produces such consistently good songs and has done for so many years and ‘No Words’ is no exception. The upbeat track is accompanied by this simple but very clever video which finds Hassle dancing and throwing various breakfast ingredients around a kitchen.


Since the video has been unleashed on the internet for those who don’t have the “luxury” of Tidal, I’ve had ‘American Oxygen’ on repeat on multiple occasions. The thing about ‘American Oxygen’ is that it’s an all round great song. The melody, the lyrics, the chorus, the whole sound is very 2015. The problem with ‘American Oxygen’ is the fact that it’s Rihanna’s single. The writers include Rihanna herself, maker of hit songs Alex da Kid and X Ambassadors (which is huge for them right?); I just wish that they’d given it to someone else rather than Rihanna release it herself. The message the lyrics and even the video are trying to portray just doesn’t really sink in when there’s a millionaire fronting its campaign. Alas, this is how things have worked out. It’s a shame but I do still hope this is the global hit it deserves to be.


April playlists so far: YouTube / Spotify / Deezer


2 comments:

  1. I'm reallllly digging this Erik Hassle song. That kitchen dance scene looks like it was a lot of fun! I wish I could be that carefree and messy in my kitchen haha.

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  2. It's so good, but I can't help worrying about having to clean it up every time I watch it!

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