Here’s a bomb drop of songs that are new/good/fresh in some way for me this week.
You can hear all music related to this blog at Spotify, including tracks played on the old Tunes On A Plate show. It’ll be updated with each new post.
Mandy Moore – When I Wasn’t Watching
I haven’t really thought much about Mandy Moore since I was a teenager. I was there when Candy (this was such a massive number… 2?!?!?! hit in Australia), Crush (trumped by Jennifer Paige’s Crush IMO) and I Wanna Be With You were gigantic pop staples in the hallways of my preppy high school. She was sweet, saccharine and sexy, and of course, I hated it.
But there was something less fake, less bought and sold about her that always kept her in the back of my mind. I knew years later that she was in a long term relationship with Ryan Adams, and that was of no consequence until just recently.
But regardless of everything in her past, she’s dropped a new single, and it’s fucking sensational. It’s got some real late 80’s/early 90’s Stevie Nicks vibes for me, and rocks an interesting chorus arrangement.
Charli XCX – Gone (ft Christine & The Queens)
Holy shit, I’ve been pretty wrapped up about Charli’s new record for a while now. 1999 was an uncompromising monster of a single, released at the back end of last year, and in classic ‘waterfall’ fashion, we’ve had drops of singles up until the album’s release this month.
Gone was also a pre-album release, and I passed it off as uninteresting the first time I heard it. But the hook stayed with me, and when it fell on me a couple of times over the course of the next month, it latched onto my brain and now I think it’s one of the pop picks of the year.
My feelings all peaked when watching this performance on Fallon this evening. I’ve had few passes at the wonderful pop record Charli has assembled, and everything she is as a performer is on stage right here. But I got truly staggered by Christine in this video, she’s absolutely gigantic here and makes the performance what it is. Don’t skip this. And pay hard attention to the breakdown.
Grimes & i_o – Violence
Grimes continues down a darker path with her recent output with the clinically catchy and entrancing Violence. Personally, I never had an in with Grimes, apart from a fleeting enjoyment of Oblivion, until We Appreciate Power, because I always find it so damn fascinating when pop mixes its colours with heavy rock guitars and tones.
There’s definitely less of that here, this song is more about a few simple ideas smooshed together, and after listening to this track on a few different sound systems, I’ve come to notice that this song just doesn’t have any guts without the sensational bass throb throughout. Listening to this on tinny or cheap speakers is a completely different experience, the bass creates this haunting, hypnotic vibe that really makes this song what it is. I’m really interested in what else Miss_Anthropocene has in store.
Danny Brown – Best Life
Danny Brown has his hands all over a bunch of projects, his new record U Know What I’m Sayin’ is out on October 4th, and I really got attached to Danny after his last full record, Atrocity Exhibition. He’s got his own TV show called Danny’s House, he STILL has one of the most interesting voices in hip hop. I want this.
Underworld – STAR
I don’t think Underworld have any fucking right to be this fucking good in 2019. To come all the way from Underneath The Radar, to this series of experimental releases they’ve been putting out called Drift over the last year, it’s fucking ridiculous that Underworld are still here, still relevant and still doing important things in the underground electronic music world. This song has a vocal cadence that is similar to their mega hit from the Trainspotting soundtrack ‘Born Slippy‘, with the same wry sense of humour. Take a longer look at the Drift series and see what else you can pull out of it.
Candy – Super-Stare
Candy are definitely one of the most brutal hardcore acts getting around at the moment. To the point that I get scared to put their record on, because I know what I’m in for. Their last record, Good To Feel, has languished in my Spotify saved records, because I know how good it is, I just talk myself out of ever being in a mood to put it on.
I’ll soon have another record to feel guilty about. Super-Stare is a 7 inch release out on Relapse, and it’s fuill of distortion, reverb and roughness.