A revolving cast of contributors showcase some of the best new music releases from the past week.
Boots – ‘C.U.R.E.’
Between his work on Queen Bey’s surprise self-titled album back in 2013 and his efforts on the recently released FKA twigs EP M3LL155X, Boots aka Jordan Asher has kept busy turning corners.
On ‘C.U.R.E.’, which has just been liberated from his forthcoming debut solo album Aquaria, Asher deviates once again, trading in his PBR&B for something a little more claustrophobic. The track was co-produced by Run The Jewels’ El-P and it’s not hard to trace the influence back to him. Here the beat rumbles along while erratic glitches come and go, creating an abrasiveness that parallels much of El-P’s own catalogue. It’s restless, anxious and urgent all at once.
Unfortunately, Asher’s uncharismatic half-raps hold back the track from truly hitting its stride, and the menace of lines like “who’s watching your family, kid?” lack the punchiness and impact we’re treated to from the production. But though it doesn’t connect on all levels, ‘C.U.R.E.’ begs the question of whether Boots can stand out on his own. When the album drops next month, we’ll find out for sure. – Hussein Moses
Negative Gemini – ‘You Never Knew’
‘You Never Knew’ gives you an ice cream headache when you take it in for the first time. It sounds really sharp in headphones and the bass is a little overwhelming, but after repeated listens it all starts to make sense.
Pay close attention and you’ll hear the chorus’ slowed down vocals forming another deep cushion for the low pads that run throughout the song. The drums have a few Balearic touches, but it settles much closer into a nifty little breakbeat that - combined with the clean production - make it feel more like 1998 rather than the breezier chillwave of the late 00s.
That clean digital touch takes that upbeat break and makes you feel you’re waking up alone in your house and maybe, just maybe in a few months you can comprehend waking up on the beach. There’s not much sunny lyrically about ‘You Never Knew’ but because it’s well written you can just ignore the doomed lovers and give into the pop sensibility and dance a little.
Negative Gemini’s Lindsey French has excellent production chops and nothing in the song ever overstays its welcome. There were a few tiresome moments on 2013’s Forget Your Future, but so far all the singles this year overshadow that release so much and ‘You Never Knew’ surpasses even those. An artist to follow, no doubt. – Luke Jacobs
Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez – ‘Strong’
Listening to a duet between two of the world's most overworked cash cows may not be high on your to-do list, and initially it is easy to write off ‘Strong’ as a cheap, vaguely exploitative publicity stunt. Ostensibly personal, yet conveniently nonspecific, and with both Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber in the midst of releasing and promoting new material, the transparent cynicism of the track is certainly off-putting.
Yet in the effortless and melancholy chemistry between Gomez and Bieber, the track finds a kind of accidental authenticity. Though their on-off relationship narrative may have provided endless lucrative tabloid exposure, there is something genuinely, recognisably sad about their doomed reconciliations.
It is a sleek, soulful operation, transitioning easily between vocals as the pair lament their predicament. Justin, often in smooth teeny weeny falsetto, posing endless questions (as he is wont to do): “how will I get over this?/ Should I go?/ Who do I talk to?; Selena, dropping her voice to a deep, mature octave, is the more direct, determined of the two: “I know there’s no sophistication in my lack of patience/ I’m just wishing you were better at communication/ as I sit here steady waiting”.
As was no doubt hoped, the internet has already set to work determining the meaning of all this. Is this farewell or reconciliation? Have emotions been purged and catharsis achieved? Or has the flame been reignited once more? Will it appear on Bieber’s upcoming LP Purpose? In this real life Shakespearean soap opera anything could happen. – Katie Parker
Porches - 'Hour'
“In my loner hour / I turn to my twin bed for power” sing Aaron Maine and Greta Kline eight bars into ‘Hour’, the latest release from the NYC-based Porches. It’s the first sign, for the uninitiated, of the earthy take on electronic rhythms to come. Porches vacillate between robust beats and Fleet-Foxes-esque harmonies in a way that somehow avoids sounding schizophrenic. They tried out this folk-electro synthesis in earnest on 2014’s Ronald Paris EP - a departure from the guitar-based sounds of previous releases.
Maine has previously bristled at the use of ‘bummer-pop’ to describe his music; it may have been apt for most of the material on 2013’s Slow Dance In The Cosmos, but it certainly doesn’t apply here. ‘Hour’ - while it may be about being stoned and lonely - has a definitively upbeat quality to it. Whether you chalk that up to the brisk beat or the major intervals at work on the vocal harmonies, it’s a change to be fêted. - Sarin Moddle
Rank Pulla – ‘Discrimin8’
Emily Littler’s new release as Rank Pulla sounds like Yeezus if it was the logical continuation from 808s and Heartbreak. It’s a heady mix of vocal warble as if sung over a speaker – kind of removed and commanding and 80s, much like Liquid Sky.
Hell, ‘Discrimin8’ is a Kanye-esque title too. The track is dirty and reminiscent of the synth-insanity Garageband encourages in people. And that’s kind of great – who cares if Garageband played a part in it? The vocal melody’s not much different to Littler’s debut solo outing, but otherwise it’s a whole other thing.
It’s part woozy, like when you drink your seventh cup of coffee in Port Chalmers and realise some asshole has stolen your favourite beret. But it’s also cheesy too. “1 2 3 4” is sang before a brief moment of euphoria and it only gives the track more life, as if re-establishing that it’s real. Real Music (TM) always starts with “1 2 3 4”, if you didn’t realise. Taylor Swift always starts off with “1 2 3 4”. That’s just what you do. – Eden Bradfield
What's your song of the week? Tell us about it in the comments section.
