A revolving cast of contributors from the Music 101 and Wireless teams showcase some of the best new music releases from the past week.
Silicon aka Kody Nielson. Photo: Unknown
Silicon - 'God Emoji'
If ‘God Emoji’ is anything to go by, Kody Nielson’s new project Silicon is the aural equivalent of Michael Jordan’s shoes squeaking across the basketball court. The synthesizers are sticky with the sweat of Germanic funk and the stabs of higher-order synths, which are coupled with lines like “we will feel no pain”, feel like a sarcastic retort – a jazz hands to the impassively delivered vocoderized vocals. And against all that, the sticky-as-gum-left-under-a-desk bassline anchors the whole thing by virtue of its lack of ulterior motive.
It’s a grower and it’s blissfully short, too. There is no guitar solo, the chords are not resolved and it feels surprising when it ends. Two and a half minutes is the perfect time for a pop song. Time to listen to it again. – Eden Bradfield
Eric Lau – ‘Dedication A, B & C’
For last year’s Record Store Day, Leeds based label First Word Records gathered together the production trio of Eric Lau, kidkanevil and Tall Black Guy to take part in a friendly beat making competition. They were let loose amongst the record collection of UK producer Mr Thing and given the task of gathering samples in one day, without any records leaving the house. To carry on the tradition, this year Mr Thing selected one record each for the same three producers and distributed them in a meeting at London’s Love Vinyl record store.
My pick of the resulting bunch is Eric Lau’s ‘Dedication A, B & C’, which samples a rare Australian jazz album by Serge Ermoll. Not content with creating one beat from the record he was selected, Lau has put together three separate pieces that flow together in one breezy suite of head-nod vibes. Brass, string and vocal segments have been expertly chopped and screwed over characteristically big beats, while the third movement takes a leaf from the Madlib book of less is more. The essence of the original record is captured beautifully, and brought into the 21st century with smooth, soulful finesse. - Luke Owen Smith
RATATAT - 'Cream on Chrome'
It has been five long years since we’ve heard any new music from New York experimental rockers Ratatat and our house parties just haven’t been the same. The duo broke their radio silence over the weekend at Coachella when they premiered ‘Cream on Chrome’ to a crowd of windswept and sand-burnt punters.
‘Cream on Chrome’ was given the prestigious closing spot of their set and it is undeniably the Ratatat we know and love. The duo achieved critical and commercial success by mixing synthetic elements with live instrumentation and ‘Chrome’ continues that legacy with its fuzzed out melodies and heavy guitar licks. The thumping bass gives it a settled groove while the synth line builds to a crescendo with a crack at the song’s end. While it isn’t a huge leap for Ratatat, it’s still a heck of a lot of fun. – Ellen Falconer
Brand New - 'Mene'
Long Island alt-rock band Brand New premiered their latest track 'Mene' this week, their first new material since 2009's critically acclaimed Daisy. The fast paced track clocking in at just under two and a half minutes won't disappoint older fans as it makes no attempt to disguise itself from previous releases, sounding like it could belong to 2001's Your Favourite Weapon. Jesse Lacey's vocal hooks sound just as good as they've ever been as his Morrissey influence shines through.
While this track was released by the band, it isn't officially a single. In saying this, its safe to assume that with added dates to their touring schedule this year and increased activity, it's likely an album announcement is soon to follow.
- Joshua Thomas
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