Hey everyone, don’t know if you’ve realised, but it’s summer. It’s hot! The Olympics are on! You can legit drink beer in the day sometimes! Anyway, all these are reasons why we took a little break from our weekly roundup last week. So here’s a little round up to say sorry. Listen below:
Swimming Girls – Tastes Like Money
It’s been awhile since a band released a debut single as promising as this. South West based four piece Swimming Girls mix Jesus and Mary Chain fuzz guitar with a big loping bassline and stadium drums, to create a huge indie pop banger. Expect to see a lot more of this band in the future.
Swet Shop Boys – T5
‘T5’ proves that Swet Shop Boys may be one of the most necessary hip-hop groups of this generation. Made up of Heems (of Das Racist fame), Riz MC aka actor Riz Ahmed and producer Redinho, Swet Shop Boys are cutting, funny and observant at the same time, all whilst skipping around each other over a dark, South Asian influenced, beat.
Noname – Diddy Bop feat. Raury and Cam Obi
Noname has been slowly beavering away, dropping guest verses for Chance, Kanye and Jamila Woods, giving us small bursts of her subtle, low-key flow. But back now with a full mixtape, we’re finally able to soak in her beautiful, soul tinged hip hop. ‘Diddy Bop’ is the pick of the bunch; if this doesn’t chill you out, nothing ever will.
Oro Swimming Hour – Marshmellow
This new collaborative project from Nicholas Stevenson and Oliver Wilde appeared out of nowhere, with eight tracks suddenly appearing on their Soundcloud. This fairly stripped back project is beautifully low-fi; both voices bounce off each other, often intertwining under slight distortion, into beautiful harmonies.
Bonfire Nights – Easy Touch
London-via-Australia’s Bonfire Nights seem to have a knack for perfectly mixing shoegaze’s motorik rhythms with psychedelia’s hypnotic guitar lines. This new single is a dark take on both genres.
Slonk – Walking Backwards
Slonk is one of a billion projects that Bristol’s Joe Sherrin is involved in, and compared with the raucous noise of Milo’s Planes and Let’s Kill Janice, Slonk is lo-fi, folky and calming. Like all his projects though, melody is rife, and ‘Walking Backwards’s harmonies and simple instrumentation are a joy to behold.
Listen here at Third Outing
The Wytches – C-Side
There are few things in music more satisfying than a massive bass slide. Whether it’s the huge show stopping one in the middle of Beastie Boys’ ‘Sabotage’ or some subtle ones nestled into the tight funk chops of Luther Vandross’ ‘Never Too Much’, bass slides are basically great. So when Wytches start ‘C-Side’ with a HUGE bass slide, you know the rest of the track is a winner.
Hot Cops – Dumbbo
This cold and menacing little number from Dublin’s Hot Cops sounds like Fugazi at their most quiet, but through it’s slow building, disconnected lyrics manages to keep an incredible amount of energy.
DENA – I Like You/ I Lied to You
Bulgaria born, but Berlin raised DENA sure has an ear for a pop banger. This latest effort, off her new EP Trust, is simple pop writing at its best. Choppy funk chords glide under her understated, almost monotone vocals that lament “I like you, but I’m thinking ‘bout somebody else.” Self-involved and dark, it’s a the perfect modern pop song.
Bon Iver – 22 (OVER S∞∞N)
Two things that Bon Iver has learnt since his ‘retirement’: 1) how to add symbols into text (c’mon, we all learnt how to do that on MSN 10 years ago, keep up) and 2) that he can still create, beautiful heart-wrenching ballads with samplers and loops, not just an acoustic guitar and a beard. Clearly hanging out with Kanye West has had a pretty big influence.
Check back next week where I promise there’ll be more Tracks of the Week