R&Been Away

Wow. So whilst I've been tied up doing an FPL podcast, R&B has had a pretty exciting revival. Not that it ever really went away or stopped being good or whatever, but some true classics have surfaced over the last three months and I would just like to do is run you through them.

Very shortly after I gave up on even just weekly posts here, Brent Faiyaz went and dropped two hits, one, a solo effort, and the other as a member of Sonder. I'll freely admit at this point that I had absolutely no idea Faiyaz was involved in a project other than just him being him, nor was I actually aware of Sonder's existence. So, February was a nice surprise. The solo track 'Make Luv' has a bit more attitude about it than I remember the tracks on Faiyaz's last full-length Sonder Son having. I quite like scorned Brent. I guess the "thought I wasn't much but now you wanna make love to me" line relates to what we heard on the chorus of Goldlink's 'Crew', "I was down and out like last week, tell me where have you been". The Sonder track, 'One Night Only' flips the coin (is that the phrase??) on the situation with a softer vibe and vocal with a pretty outrageously catchy bass and guitar lines.

Was I genuinely unaware that both CVIRO and GXNXVS are Australian before sitting down to write this?** Like... it's actually quite obvious but took me by absolute surprise. It's no secret, however that a couple of years ago these two released one of my favourite songs I've ever posted, 'Sober', so I'm sure you can only imagine how gassed I was to see they are back and imminently releasing their debut EP together. (I have no idea when that's actually happening because God forbid anybody send me a press release I actually want to receive.) The two new tracks we've heard from this singer/producer duo so far are 'Lady', which is good, and 'Twisted', which is great - a hit. CVIRO's vocal is a perfect 90's throwback from start to finish, and GXNXVS's production is crisp as hell. I am hyped, you should be too.

God. The amount I love white men doing R&B is nigh on embarrassing. Some other songs I reckon you should be 100% aware of. LA based Danish artist Galimatias released a track called 'South' the other week which is such a shameless attempt at being sexy but it works thus I am not mad. Canadian duo Always Never have put out the weirdly titled 'Morgan Freeman'. The vocal sounds scarily close to those of Chase Atlantic but I feel like this pair have far more integrity than those kids from Australia who probably really just wanted to be a rock band. Finally, Ama Lou (woah, at last, a female) released a three track... EP(?) titled DDD; the stand out on which is opener 'Tied Up'. This track is strangely minimalist, one of those where you don't really realise how little is going on underneath Ama Lou's voice unless you pay some real attention.

All of these songs are available to listen to right now (non)exclusively on Keep It 2018.

** In my first ever post about both CVIRO and GXNXVS I noted that they were Australian. So, it's transpired I'm just thick.

Lune - L$D

Hi friends, I've been quiet lately, which is totally fine because I'm not overwhelmed by the notion of writing and blogging at the moment but I think it's important to sing something's praises when you think that something is really good. That's how I feel about Lune's cover of A$AP Rocky's 'L$D'. I'm a tremendous fan of covers as it is, you can view my Undeniably The Best Covers Ever playlist here, but there are some things in particular about covers that I like the most and Lune pretty much ticks those boxes.

I don't know anything about Lune, I can't even decide if the Twitter account I think is her is actually her or not. But things I do know are that her real name is Linnéa Martinsson and she's Swedish. Shock! Something good is from Sweden. Anyway, this cover, right, is of a pretty bland track as far as A$AP Rocky's catalogue goes, like, I guess it's nice for hip hop artists to do something different but the original version of 'L$D' is pretty beige. And that's what makes Lune's version so mesmerising. She's taken a song that is pretty inconsequential in its original form and actually made it into a love song without really changing much about it. I'm also very against the altering of song lyric pronouns for the purpose of a cover and I absolutely adore how genuine Lune sounds when she's singing about this girl. Obviously I have no knowledge of her sexual preferences but as someone (classic me) who fell briefly in love with a girl I met for three days last weekend, I'm finding 'L$D' painfully relatable.

Hot Singles In Your Area #1: FTSE, FARR, Janine

Well... this is new. AND HILARIOUS. We all know I don't actually enjoy writing so here we have a simple way for me to tell you about songs that are good by artists who are also good in an easily digestible and succinct manner. I used to do something similar last year but it wasn't half as witty as the title is now.

FTSE feat Shola Ama and Donae'o - Work U Out

Upon seeing Shola Ama's name alongside any track there's a pretty pre-conceived notion (for me, at least) of what that song is going to sound like. I was therefore surprised given Sam Manville AKA FTSE's previous works but also intrigued given said previous works. Manville in his FTSE guise alone has seamlessly transitioned between different pop and electronic sub-genres that it should really come as no shock that he's able to pull off this garage-esque track. I definitely don't believe it's something that an artist like FTSE strives for, but this is possibly the most commercially viable track that he's put his name to. Donea'o's verses are extremely tolerable on 'Work U Out', which is a pleasant surprise in itself too. Also, very strong summer vibe. Would recommend for literally right now.

FARR - Blades

This was a Bastien Rayno recommendation. I think I'd quite like a soundbite like off of MySpace songs that bands didn't want people ripping that just says "A Bastien Recommendation" every time one of these songs happens. I read somewhere that FARR are from London but that is not strictly true; in fact the duo are split across the Atlantic, which given their sound with a typical American R&B style vocal blended with sleek UK grounded production makes a lot of sense. 'Blades' is the pair's second single and it's far darker and weightier than their debut 'Down', but it definitely gives FARR an edge over their peers. This songs also has an absolutely stellar middle eight that breaks all the rules by not leading into a final chorus.

Janine - Unstable

I'm always a little cautious of artists using just their first name as their stage name. Where will I find you? How will I find you? How do I know you are you? Well, I sent a link to Janine's new single 'Unstable' to Matthew (you know, this guy) who informed me that Janine used to perform under the name Janine and the Mixtape. My smugness then quadrupled when I found a comment from renowned blog Disco Naïveté from four years ago saying that they didn't think Janine was "in it for much". Imagine hearing this new single now and being that wrong about a person. 'Unstable' is absolutely everything I love about a female pop/RnB singer/songwriter. Everything. Emotion, attitude, relatability, and a sultry as fuck contrasting middle eight section. Yes. Please. Slay me. Janine.

Underrated: Big Boi - Mic Jack

Let me tell you a lil something about Big Boi: He out here creating hits and none of y'all pay any damn attention every single time. It's a heartbreaking state of affairs that I am straight up over. Obviously we're all familiar with Big Boi's output during the Outkast era, especially during the Speakerboxxx/The Love Below cycle, most notably on 'The Way You Move' and his verse on'Roses'. But even with the high profile attention that those tracks garnered, 'Hey Ya!' was (and is still) such an astronomical international success that Big Boi's works almost got left behind.

Fast-forward to 2010 and 17 year old me is at a stage in my life where I am heavily invested in predicting the next big hit. That was back in a time where things could be anticipated long before tracks were actually released physically and/or digitally. It was also a time when I was becoming extremely invested in Radio 1 specialist shows. There was this new single from Outkast's Big Boi and I'm not sure I've ever heard Zane Lowe back something as hard as he backed 'Shutterbug'. And I was with him. "This is it", I thought. "A summer smash like no other." It wasn't. It did peak at number 13 in the UK singles chart which I was surprised to learn the other day, but it deserved so much more. But here we are, seven years on and things don't really seem to have changed much for Big Boi.

Back in April Big Boi released a pair of new singles to launch the campaign for his forthcoming album, Boomiverse, scheduled for release this week. Now, you see, I don't believe in releasing more than one single at a time because I think it makes the campaign messy and both songs are never going to be equal amounts successful, however, 'Kill Jill' and 'Mic Jack' (title-wise at least) go hand in hand. These two tracks are pretty drastically different in terms of sound though, whilst 'Kill Jill' featuring Jeezy and Killer Mike takes a more straight up rap/hip hop route, 'Mic Jack' is a second chance at that summer smash. Or at least, it was. With Adam Levine on the chorus and unnamed female vocalist all over the outro, this is Big Boi doing possibly his best pop effort ever. But this song has been out for two months now and ain't nobody giving a fuck, which is something I find quite appalling. "Out the oven 'cause we never microwavin'". Why are you sleeping on this, universe? I don't understand. Justice for Big Boi and the Boomiverse era immediately. I will say that I'm fairly upset that the outro is just cut from the video version of the song, but it's legitimately one of the highlights. Also why isn't this female vocalist credited? There is no reason for her to be anonymous in this day and age.

Emily Vaughn - Mood

(I know this has been knocking around for a little while now but I've been busy doing nothing.)

Emily Vaughn first appeared in the Blogosphere two years ago with her debut single 'Hollow'. At the time I was very impressed with the 19 year old's first track and I claimed that she had "the pop formula sussed". Whilst that definitely wasn't untrue in 2015, if released now 'Hollow' probably wouldn't stand a chance amongst other rising female pop types. The other two singles released between then and now, 'Better Off' and 'Think Twice' are equally good pop but not groundbreaking, which to be honest, had me a little worried... but fear not, Vaughn is back and better than ever for 2017.

In fact, 'Mood' is not only the best song to eye-roll to so far this year, but also the best song to side-eye scowl to. Those two things are very important to me, especially when having to deal with fuckboys in a similar vein to the scenario laid out in the track's lyrics. The problem is, it's June 2017 and I'm really over the word "sassy" but if we can pretend that it didn't become the overused internet term that it is... it's very much what I'd like to describe 'Mood' as, and it really hits the ground running. There's something about solitary finger clicking that screams attitude and control and domination, which is actually nuts that all of those things come from a snap. And from then on through the next three minutes the attitude is relentless. Has anybody ever been as over an ex as Emily Vaughn is right now? I think not.

Can I also give praise to the dance routine section of the video during the middle (not sure if it's) eight please, because I love that.

Kudu Blue - Shaded

Hi Kudu Blue, bet you thought I'd forgotten about you, didn't you? Well, I wouldn't dare. Kudu Blue are a (now) four-piece band from Brighton. I can't quite recall how I first stumbled across them last year, and yeah sure, I could go back and have a look at my post about their single 'Vicinity' but I'm totally not about cutting corners like that. Also, if I had, what would I have written here? Anyway, after a three song string of singles last year the quartet have done a similar thing for 2017 but they've smushed the three new songs together and called it an EP. It's all the rage. Although, three tracks of less than 30 minutes don't actually constitute as an EP when it comes to online music store style guides, so technically this is, as JoJo attempted to coin, a tringle... but let's not get bogged down in semantics.

'Sugar Lemz' is Shaded's opener. "Lemz" is the kind of word that makes me feel a bit uneasy so I kind of just pretend that's not what this song is called. I think Kudu Blue sound a lot less like "a band" on this EP and much more like... "a project", and 'Sugar Lemz' almost throws you in at the deep end with that notion. I've had six weeks or so to mull this track over and I've decided that it would actually fit better as an interlude type situation on a longer release rather than A Single. Either way, it's cool in terms of giving us a taste of a "different side" to Kudu Blue.

But 'Drink Alone' is really what I've been waiting for. It's a big emotional RnB/pop banger that builds upon the singles the band were releasing during 2016. Something about the introduction is strangely reminiscent of the sea... is this intentional because Kudu Blue live near the sea or am I doing the classic GCSE English teacher thing of reading way too far into things? Who knows. We're all well aware that I am a fan of relatable songs, and 'Drink Alone' is just that. Pining after someone and not wanting to have to drink on your own. We've all been there, right? This one is my favourite.

I'd like to, at this point, mention how good Clementine's vocals are throughout this entire EP, and also the production and overall feel of these three tracks is pretty flawless. These things shine through on final track 'Enemy'. 'Enemy' builds in this super subtle and effortless way, which is quite an exciting thing to pull off considering Kudu Blue record and produce everything themselves in their home studio. This band are just really good, you know?

Kudu Blue are playing The Great Escape next week, on Saturday afternoon which is a stark contrast to the 2 A.M. slot they played last year. It'll be a great time.

DJ Cassidy feat Grace and Lil Yachty - Honor

DJ Cassidy, he's a singles man. You remember DJ Cassidy's previous singles, right? No? Really? Let me give you a quick recap, a refresher course if you will. Cassidy's debut was 2014's 'Calling All Hearts' - a Robin Thicke and Jessie J cash grab collaboration. It charted at #6 in the UK, which is to be expected given the shit show that the general public seem to put on at all times. This song is not good. The follow up, released in the same year, was 'Make The World Go Round' featuring R. Kelly - an artist whose music people definitely don't care about in the 2010's. It sounds just like part two of the last song, and is therefore not good. That was the last I'd heard of DJ Cassidy, but it appears he's released two more singles over the last two years! First there was 'Future Is Mine' with Chormeo (and later a version with added Wale), but it'll come as no surprise that this is the same song again! His most recent effort prior to now was a track for HBO series Vinyl, the song being a collaboration with Jess Glynne, Alex Newell, and Nile Rodgers. You're expecting a banger right? Wrong. It's just a Chic tinged edition of that same song from Cassidy's last three releases.

So I know what you're thinking, this guy has released four underwhelming similar sounding songs, can he really be fifth time lucky? Well, the answer is yes. Yes he can. Although, I say this but I'm not sure how down to DJ Cassidy that is because honestly, Grace is the star of this show. In terms of instrumentation 'Honor' is stripped back right up until the first chorus, and even after that, it's still the Australian vocalist doing the majority of the work. Grace's voice is packed with attitude on every word she sings and it really shows on 'Honor'. In fact, it shines through so much that I am lost on why so much of her debut album felt... muted in comparison. The other featured artist to be found on 'Honor' is Lil Yachty, who is very hit or miss when it comes to collaborations but he gets it just right on this track. I can't work out whether that is down to this song appearing (and possibly being written for) The Get Down Part II or that's just happens to be a coincidence, either way, it doesn't really matter.

The final thing I'd like to praise is 'Honor's music video. Directed by photographer Sasha Samsonova who has worked extensively with Kylie Jenner and also directed the clip for Gallant's 'Talking To Myself', she has got the tone and DJ Cassidy's signature colour blocking spot on. In fact, the colours used between each scene are incredibly vibrant and the theme is so succinctly conveyed from room to room. It's beautiful. I hope this is a hit, and there's something you probably didn't think you'd hear me say at the start of this post.

Amir Miles - Bad Habits

Hi hi everybody, it's been a little while since one of these, huh? That's meant that I've essentially culled quite a few songs that I wanted to give individual posts to, and I've also grouped a couple together and hopefully they will go out at some point this week. I wrote those sentences on Sunday night... it's now Tuesday evening and this is the first from anybody has heard from me. Newsflash: Nobody is shocked.

My first track to start this new Spring era is from a guysI had quite literally never heard of prior to this track appearing wherever it appeared. Amir Miles is a 21 year old self-professed "independent alternative R&B artist" obviously from America. I haven't seen anybody else I know talking about his single 'Bad Habits' either, which I thought was strange because this is a very good yet straightforward RnB/pop song. I personally really like songs that are just about normal standard things without the overuse of metaphors. 'Bad Habits' does this really well, summed up in the chorus where Amir Miles basically sleeps with the girl he's having relations with's friend whilst she does the same to him just so that they get a reaction out of each other.

Miles claims that he has new music coming soon and it's "bigger than 'Bad Habits'". That's a pretty hefty statement considering how good this song is but I'm willing to put faith in it. Sidenote: This artwork is really cool.

WENS - Bleed

I won't lie. When do I? This is one of those songs I added to my blog queue and completely forgot what it sounded like between then and now other than "probably quite good". I don't know when I wrote those three sentences... but I don't remember doing so, so we're keeping them in for comic affect. I've spent a solid five minutes looking at WENS' social media trying to workout 1) where she's usually based and 2) where she is currently. No, of course this doesn't matter in the slightest, but it's one of those things I just like to know. All good sources say WENS is based in LA, it's just that she seems to tweet from/about London every so often and that got me tied up.

Last summer WENS put out her first track (well, according to Soundcloud, at least) 'Bones' which on a refresher listen I seem to vaguely remember, but it's got nothing on new single 'Bleed'. 'Bleed' is dark and moody and great to listen to when feeling even mildly emotional about a love interest of any kind. My current personal preferred love interest is one I am zero percent romantically involved with outside of my head. They are really fun to angrily lip sync the "don't call me baby" hook at. I'm totally living for the harmonies on 'Bleed's chorus too, I love it when solo artists harmonise with themselves on studio versions of things. I guess that happens a lot, doesn't it? It's just done exceptionally here.

WESLEE - Gassed

Let me tell you about Anchor. Myself and my bros Matthew and Pip (both of The Line Of Best Fit fame) have been dabbling in this Snapchat for radio like platform called Anchor. You have your own radio station where you can chat, import audio from other places, and play tracks from Soundcloud, Apple Music, and Spotify. You can also call in to other user's stations to force them to listen to your thoughts on what they're doing, as well as applaud stations that you listen to. The Anchor app is still only in it's second real iteration so the features are somewhat limited but it's definitely enough to get along with. You can find my station here. "Right, cool, but what has any of this got to do with Weslee?" I'm glad you asked. 'Gassed' was one of the first songs Pip put up on her station and I was so hyped on it that I called in to let her know... I might put that somewhere... because I'm hilarious.

Weslee actually originally put 'Gassed' out six months ago, which is some pretty poor form on everybody I know's behalf seeing as blogs, radio, and Spotify alike didn't start pushing this until about a month ago. I don't know what happened then, but as usual I'm turning up drunk to a party that everybody else has probably already got a hangover from. I've spoken a lot recently about my two favourite things in music at the moment, samples, and stripped back pop songs with tight as hell production. 'Gassed' nails the latter. Weslee's singer whose very secret name I do not know sounds super like Clementine from Kudu Blue at points, and it's taken me so long to work that similarity out I'm pretty pleased with myself. I am and quite possibly forever will be gassed - in a good way.

HANA2K - Jealousy

I was first made aware of Hana's existence way back at the end of 2014 (OH MY GOD!) when she must have been no older than an actual toddler. I genuinely can't believe that it's been that long that I've been waiting for new music from her. Nuts. Anyway so back in 2014 I received a very concise email pointing me towards Hana's track 'I Don't Want To' and I fell in love with it. It's actually one of the few tracks that I've frequently made my way back to Soundcloud's dreaded website to put on repeat. As is the way with most re-launching, 'I Don't Want To' is now no more, but I can only hope it sees a re-work or an update for the current times.

Now at the ripe old age of 17 Hana has returned as HANA2K (2000 is incidentally the year that she was born so that's me just busting your myths about what that means) and you know, I think she's ready to hit the ground running. I'm not sure how detrimental being based in South Wales is for one's pop career in 2017, and I'd assume Hana's working towards A-Levels too, but if anybody can make it work, I reckon she can. Her new single is called 'Jealousy' and although it's not as immediately gripping as I found 'I Don't Want To', it has these super subtle infectious pop quirks that seep into your memory. As pop songs go, 'Jealousy' is pretty stripped back but the production on Hana's vocals is really smooth - my favourite bit is the "a lot of flaws" line, just FYI.

I really hope that we hear more from Hana in 2017 because one song every three years really isn't enough to keep me going, you know? Also, I just stumbled upon this video, which I knew was coming but didn't realise was available yet, and I really love it; Wales looks well nice, doesn't it?

Alexander Oscar - Ocean View

You'll recall this time last week when I said that I was going to blitz through everything I hadn't posted in March so that I could start almost a-fresh in April? Well obviously that has not happened. And so we begin, once again, my quest to just get the hell through songs that have been floating around the world wide web for a month already. The first of these songs comes from Alexander Oliver, a Danish artist who released his debut single 'Ocean View' in March.

I realised but didn't really notice that 'Ocean View' is a song entirely about sex until it was pointed out by Julian on Twitter, and I've honestly had some really mixed feelings about this since. But as songs purely about sex go, this one doesn't come off as particularly seedy or cringeworthy at all. In fact 'Ocean View' does all of this in such an effortless way that it Alexander Oscar pulls off a great pop/RnB debut with no trouble. The video for this track is a strange one though because, personally, 'Ocean View' conjured up imagery of summer and, actually you know what I thought of, the The Chainsmokers lyric video for 'Closer' - that vibe. Also, how much does the video girl look like Lorde's European counterpart! Finally, Alexander Oscar doesn't half have a face for a pop career, does he? An extremely strong look.

Club Drive - Spare Time

I just don't know what to do with Club Drive. I was so stoked on blitzing through blog posts on Monday night but I quite literally arrived at 'Spare Time' and I was... stumped. Club Drive are a four piece from Hertfordshire and prior to last year, they went by the name Tides. I've got some issues (not news) with bands who re-brand because I genuinely don't think it really makes much, if any, difference on how them or their music is perceived, even more so in this pop-rock scene where I think it's tricky to find a niche and get anyone to pay attention to you regardless. Not mad, just my thoughts.

As Tides, the quartet released an EP which I thoroughly enjoyed at the time, but I'm not sure how I'd feel if you handed it to me now. What I can be sure about is that Tides track and new Club Drive single 'Spare Time' is, and forever will be, a banger. It's not often that bands do a re-brand and retain songs from their previous iteration but I couldn't be more pleased that 'Spare Time' has not fallen by the wayside. A true cut above the rest of their songs, 'Spare Time' is not just a catchy pop-rock song, it's a strutting-down-the-street soundtrack. The vocal melodies throughout this track are, I think, what gives it the edge. Something must give it an edge because after two years I'm still not tired of it, and for me, that speaks volumes.

I still don't believe it's possible to embed Facebook videos somewhere that isn't Facebook, so the official video for this is not here.

Astrid S - Breathe

I am fully disturbed to learn that I have no written a standalone post about Norwegian princess Astrid S since December 2015, back when I was full shooken by 'Hyde', which, by the way, is still by far my favourite song of hers. Astrid S put out her debut EP, a self-titled effort, last spring, which I must have covered in some respect last year and I feel as though it also made the long shortlist for my favourite EPs of the year list in December. Something else I'd like to touch upon before we get to the new single in question is how insanely precious Astrid S is. If you look on her Facebook page there is an abundance of real life footage from her European tour in the Autumn featuring events like buying pizza for everybody in the queue to her show, taking fans for crepes and literally paying for a girl's flight after she missed her flight to a show earlier in the tour. True royalty amongst us mere mortals.

I absolutely adore songs that sound like they're born from real life experience, and that's exactly what 'Breathe' sounds like. This really feels like Astrid S' first potential hit and I am living for it. Not only is this an excellent pop song, but all of the references to air and the actions of breathing are a really cool lyrical touch - my personal favourite being, "if I could just inhale some chill". I've seen a lot of people complaining about Astrid's pronunciation of "astronaut" but imagine English literally not being your first language though. I think both this song and its video combined are really the level of art we wanted and didn't get from Zara Larsson this month, and I'll happily say that Astrid does gold paint better than Zara did silver glitter - and I loved that look. Speaking of this, 'Breathe's video is truly iconic and Cherry Cobra have down a stellar job of it. It's a fun 70s inspired clip that stars Astrid as one half of a criminal duo, robbing banks and wielding pistols. It's at this point a contender for one of my favourite videos of 2017.

Astrid S plays London's Scala in May but Scala is a venue that I refuse to step foot inside so unfortunately I will not be attending, but don't let that stop you.

Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still

I know very little about Portugal. The Man, which is quite embarrassing considering they've been active since 2004 and still sound as good as they do. Portugal. The Man are a five piece from Alaska, and that's exciting in itself really because the only other band I can think of that hail from Alaska are 36 Crazyfists and well... they're worlds apart. I highly doubt I've been looking particularly hard but it's always super interesting hearing music from areas of the planet that aren't entirely over-saturared with bands/artists of similar genres. But also they're now based in Portland, Oregon so I guess this was all a bit pointless, just like my life, but oh well.

Back in 2014, Portugal. The Man started work on their eighth studio album but it was eventually scrapped before the band took the time to write a whole new record, now titled Woodstock, which is supposedly set for released in June this year. Woodstock's lead single is 'Feel It Still' and I wish that every band could opt for a comeback that goes this hard. It's the instant setting of pace and sense of urgency, long before the vocals or brass section arrive, that's enough to get anybody excited. Then this insanely infectious chorus hook appears and I honestly don't think I've ever heard anything more sync-worthy - advertising companies will be being pitched 'Feel It Still' for the rest of time.

If I had any desire to be a decent journalist type I would have done some research and what follows would likely be a very different narrative, but as it happens, I am me. I've never listened to a full Portugal. The Man album, so I'm not too sure what we can hope to expect from Woodstock given this first single but surely it would be insane to think it'll be a let down? What an album for summer too!

Loop - As If

March is almost over and honestly that's just a concept I'm not sure I can handle In light of this terrifying fact, I need to blitz through a load of tracks that I've had sitting in my own personal "blog pending" playlist for the majority of the month. It's off to a good start since I was supposed to schedule this for this morning. So this week's posts will be slightly more frequent but also probably a bit shorter. Wow, the extent to which you don't care is astronomical. Okay, let's do this.

This week's first track is from Loop, known outside of her pop persona as Georgia Buchanan. Loop does straight up no-nonsense pop music, and new single 'As If' shows a slightly edgier and sassier side to her than we heard on her previous singles. The crux of this, in my opinion, is the effective yet subtle swear in the second verse. I'm really picky about how I feel regarding often unnecessary swears in songs but this one really hits the spot. I think this is my favourite Loop song thus far, and I'm confident that this was the track I recall enjoying the most upon seeing Loop live. Originally I'd written something about how if previous form is anything to go by we could probably expect an 'As If' remix sometime soon but I just read that Loop is in fact releasing her debut EP next month which is far more exciting than a singular remix.

Grace Pitts - Cold Without You

I've been getting really emotional to this song over the past couple of weeks. I might actually start a playlist of songs to cry to. Like, proper great songs, that aren't ballads that are just good for weeping. Grace Pitts sounds super young, there's some prominent innocence that comes through on her voice, however I've no idea how old she actually is and to be honest it doesn't really matter. Pitts is from Sydney and oh my goodness I'm so about Australia and it's neighbouring New Zealand this year. For real, that's where it's at.

Pitts' new single is called 'Cold Without You' and there are so many elements of it that I absolutely adore, starting with the production. Lord, I could scream, everything is so perfect. The "I can feel your heartbeat through the phone" line sounds almost like it was recorded down a phone, I don't know how, but it just works. The subtle echo on her voice and the backing vocal "are you gone" are enough to give even the stone hearted amongst us (me) chills. There's just something so refreshing about a song that's this well-produced yet still this subtle. The instrumental outro doesn't even feel excessive even though it's a lot more built up than the rest of the track. God, this is just exceptional.

Ängie - Spun

There's something that really doesn't sit well with me about kooky popstars. The "ooh look how weird and edgy I am, aren't I interesting?!" No, you're not; give me your music and take a seat whilst your audience let's you know whether we're actually interested or not. And this was my minor beef with Swedish singer/musician type Ängie, whom the Daily Star heralded “the most controversial star we’ve ever seen”, and The Sun reckoned she was “the most shocking pop star of 2016.” Get a grip. Debut single 'Smoke Weed Eat Pussy' [insert eye-roll here] and follow up 'Housewife Spliffin' aren't mildly contentious in a time like 2017, and they're not even particularly good songs.

But Ängie has turned that on it's head for new single 'Spun' and all of a sudden I am somewhat invested in her as a hero of pop music over the next nine months. Oh, for sure, I'm just as surprised as you are. 'Spun' is, as the kids would say, a bop. Despite Ängie's speak-singing and drug taking connotations still being fairly prevalent, they are supressed with this infectious (sorry) pop beat and a wild full on catchy hook. As someone with no interest in drugs I've Urban Dictionary'd the term "spun" and I am now well informed that it refers to being "under the influence of methamphetamine", and I truly wouldn't have expected anything less. I don't know how long Ängie can play on this for, but taking a slightly less in-your-face approach really seems to have worked on this track.

Ängie plays Hoxton Square Bar and Whatever-It-Is-This-Week on 5th April with Urban Cone (literally the worst band name ever) and my top mates in Fours. As Anthony said we'll see how much weed smoking she does and how much pussy she really eats. Too right. (Tickets are on Dice but everybody's keeping that very hush hush.)

[EDIT: Now with music video]

Jakil - Every Time We Talk

I've had a couple of weeks to really let 'Every Time We Talk' set in and settle down so I'm not crazed fan-girl for it anymore, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing for this particular post or not. I don't know if people care about my own personal narratives when it comes to new songs; I had that revelation on the walk to work this morning. And then I was like, "well, this is a blog, not a zine, and it's about me, so I'm damn well gonna tell you my life narrative like you care even if you don't." I think I first heard this live towards the end of this year and if that is indeed true I can vividly recall hoping 'Every Time We Talk' was new and not old, because that's something that's really hard to tell if you're not given any background about songs you've never heard before.

In fact, it was new (well, probably not, but new-er) and made even better by being the first track Jakil have released in 2017. Imagine I made it this far into rambling before mentioning the artist. The state of this website. Jakil are a five piece, originally they are from Scotland, but now they live in London - following that pipe dream. Somewhere amongst this prose there's a point and I think the long and short of it is, 'Every Time We Talk' is incredible and one of my favourites so far this year. Something I still can't get over is the song's missing chorus. Where is it? Which bit is it? How can a song be this good but also at the same time not really have a chorus? Someone, please, explain to me how. I'm also usually pretty impressed with Jakil's ability to right quite sickly sweet 80s infused pop songs but not make them sound wet or cliche or cringeworthy. And as far as lyric videos go, this one's pretty on the money.

They're playing a show in Edinburgh next Thursday (literally a week from right now) and they also play Birthdays in London on the 12th April. Get get it.

Goldlink feat Brent Faiyaz and Shy Glizzy - Crew

Have I ever been around for the actual inception of a Goldlink song because I really don't think I have and that is the most absolute embarrassing thing considering how much I claim to love him. This is kind of not true anyway because Goldlink put out a new track called 'Meditation' with Jazmine Sullivan and Kaytranada, which on paper looks great, but I wasn't really into it. So where does that leave us? And by us I mean this post. Well, we'll just wind back to December when the twenty three year old rapper put out his previous collaboration 'Crew'.

I've made myself sound so much worse than I am, Goldlink dropped the music video for 'Crew' a mere couple of weeks ago so this song is still totally relevant. Hell, I think all of Goldlink's music will be relevant for the rest of time. I'm properly in love with Brent Faiyaz's hook on 'Crew' though, singers with vocals like this get me every single damn time. So smooth. So effortless. And it just works, especially against both Goldlink and Shy Glizzy's "flows". This song is worlds apart from Faiyaz's solo work as well, which is absolutely wild to listen to in the same sitting as 'Crew'. I super hated Shy Glizzy's verse when I first heard it but now I find myself bopping so hard down the street when it comes on. You've just gotta learn to take this stuff not even mildly seriously. Had a chat with a girl I work with today about how she doesn't like rap, largely, because it's misogynistic. Despite how I think that's a sweeping generalisation anyway, you have to take it all with a pinch of salt - Desiigner admitted that he has literally no broads in Atlanta. Why so serious, yo?