A revolving cast of contributors showcase some of the best new music releases from the past week.
Ryan Adams – 1989
Whatever you envisioned when you inevitably heard - provided you haven’t been living under a rock - that Ryan Adams was recording a covers album of Taylor Swift’s 1989, it will probably hit pretty close to the mark. The whole album sounds distinctly Ryan Adams, even - especially? - on huge hits like ‘Bad Blood’. Adams claims he was aiming for a sound akin to Springsteen’s bare-sounding Nebraska.
In the case of ‘Blank Space’, this means that Swift’s snappy synths and snares are replaced by delicate fingerpicking on an acoustic guitar, to be fleshed out later in the track by strings, organs, and more guitars. Through it all, Adams’ rough-hewn falsetto takes away the wink-and-nod factor that is native to the original recording, leaving space for a much darker reading of lines like “Wait the worst is yet to come / Screaming, crying, perfect storms / I can make all the tables turn”.
If you, like many people, imagined that Swift’s songs would feel more ‘authentic’ delivered by Adams, I have two things to say to you: 1) You have probably been conditioned all your life to assume that a 40-year-old man holding a guitar is, by his very nature, capable of more gravitas than a 25-year-old woman holding a microphone, and that is fundamentally untrue. 2) It is undeniable that for many of us, hearing these songs performed in a comparatively unpolished manner feels more expressive and poignant. In Adams’ hands, ‘Blank Space’ becomes a quiet act of desperation - a painfully self-aware ode to loneliness and codependence that perhaps it was always meant to be.
But more important than all of this is the fact that the substantial reworking of Swift’s material showcases just how solid her songwriting is. As Adams himself says, “A lot of those songs are pretty flawless.” – Sarin Moddle
Drake and Future – ‘Diamonds Dancing’
Harnessing Future’s 2015 hotstreak is a lucrative move for one Aubrey Graham, but while much of What A Time To Be Alive shapes itself around the sounds of the former, ‘Diamonds Dancing’ sees both artists converge for what is the jewel of the entire project.
The track upends mostly everything on the “mixtape” that comes before or after it, and it’s a kind of shared space for both to do their thing. The uncomplicated chorus is boosted by Future’s crushing falsetto that precedes it, while Drake’s cold and sinister outro that’s rumoured to be aimed at Nicki Minaj (“haven’t even heard from you / how can you live with yourself?”) feels like it could just loop forever.
‘Diamonds Dancing’ comes courtesy of producers Allen Ritter, Frank Dukes and Metro Boomin, and the latter - who along with working on singles for Future and Young Thug, was also responsible for ILoveMakkonen’s ‘Tuesday’ - has his prints all over the project. His approach throughout is melodic yet menacing.
Both Drake and Future have solo tracks to close the tape out, but on the whole the record is built off a sound that’s not really Drake’s at all. When his brief solo run on the 40-produced ’30 For 30 Freestyle’ comes, it feels tapped on and essentially out of place. The real prize is hearing them meet halfway, which is often when things work out best anyway. – Hussein Moses
Naughty Boy feat. Beyoncé and Arrow Benjamin – ‘Runnin (Lose It All)’
Let’s be clear here: with all due respect to Mr. Naughty Boy (la, la, la), the real noise about this track comes after the ‘feat.’ - the elusive, inimitable Beyoncé. There’s still no word on her next album, so these nearly-four minutes will have to do.
An aside - what is it about house music that sounds so very… maritime? Not ropes or anchors necessarily, but percussive little electronic leaps like merry dolphins squeaking, or waves of sound that break emphatically against the chorus. (I swear this goes beyond that ridiculous Peter Griffin video that occasionally pops up on my Facebook feed.)
The videographers for Naughty Boy and Beyoncé’s collaboration were clearly also feeling an aqueous vibe, as the clip for this song is shot entirely underwater. It starts with the noise of ascending bubbles, then a cetacean yelp, then Queen Bey’s vocals, so deep and so full you feel like you could dive straight into them. Quite gorgeous. And then the beat, which shimmers, rat-a-tat, into the melody like sunlight refracted through the water.
This is very good house music, with ‘Halo’-style arching and swooping from Ms Knowles. The other vocalist (the mysterious Arrow Benjamin, a name straight out of an internet generator) perhaps isn’t quite her match, but helps create some lovely moments where his voice makes the background for hers to swirl and leap against. The ending is every bit as strong as the beginning, with her final breathy coos making for a honeyed sting in the song’s tail. – Natasha Frost
Sexwitch – ‘Ha Howa Ha Howa’
Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes is back, and after a slow and seductive buildup and a surprise unveiling at Green Man festival last month, her new project is well and truly go with the release of ‘Ha Howa Ha Howa’. Collaborating with TOY and Dan Carey and covering international psychedelic folk songs from the 1970s, the fabulously titled Sexwitch sees Khan explore pagan themes and aesthetics with a refreshing subtlety and nuance.
Originally performed by Moroccan singer Cheikha Hanna Ouakki, ‘Ha Howa Ha Howa’ is undeniably obscure and proved elusive when I tried to find it, yet Kahn and her associates have clearly done their research, and her empathy and respect for her source material is evident.
At almost seven minutes the song is a slow burn, atypical in form and rejecting a verse/chorus structure in favour of wailing and chanting that hypnotically ebbs and flows. The resulting sound is sexy, enigmatic and as darkly feminine as the name Sexwitch suggests. There is something oddly haunting and subversive to be found in the rhythmic cyclicality of the track. Particularly impressive is that the pagan evocations avoid the faux pas of cheesy token mysticism, and instead it is clear that Khan et al. take their concept - and the material that inspired it - seriously and they expect their audience to do the same.
The track not be as immediately accessible as the more dulcet Bats For Lashes material, yet with its heavy, hypnotic baseline and feverish energy one can only imagine how captivating it would be performed live. Daring and unexpected, ‘Ha Howa Ha Howa’ demonstrates an originality and nuance rarely attempted by established artists, and it indicates that Khan’s new project may be her most ambitious and exciting to date. – Katie Parker
Theatre 1 - 'Jackie'
Theatre 1 is a Japan-based artist who has been releasing pairs of tracks through their Bandcamp, once a month, since July.
A resounding theme of these releases seems to be this poised, sparse environment the tracks conjure around themselves. In 'Jackie' (from the third release - 3/12), little exists outside of low bassline and kick frequencies, a sequenced synth line and two crushed-pebble, dry hi-hats - throughout.
The very exposed 6.15 length of the track is used in total fullness. Though the sound palate never changes, the rhythms of the various elements shift throughout - like the lining up of a row of indicators at a stop. These sustained shifts give the track a quicksand-like structure, as they continue to coast along.
'Jackie' summons up something like/of a more techno-oriented DJ Fultono, whose deep juke/footwork cuts carry a similar brand of openness and cogent rhythmic slew to them. The conclusion of the track, after a complete listen is hugely gratifying, also. Just as they do at the lights, everything lines up together, eventually. - Thomas Shoebridge
The Shocking Pinks – Us Against The City EP
The Shocking Pinks, fronted by Nick Harte, have always been a wee bit of a mystery band. The 2014 album Guilt Mirrors has one of the most interesting collections of songs that I can think of, moving from lo-fi melancholic guitar-driven songs to (very, very, very) bass-heavy music, which most resembles house music.
The release of the Us Against The City EP is to celebrate the first date of the band’s 60 date world tour, and it coincides with the remastered rerelease of 2004’s Dance The Dance Electric, which is due out in early October.
If you haven’t heard it before, the title track of the EP features a funky as-all-hell drum beat followed by one very dirty bassline, and it has all of the pointers to it being a Shocking Pinks track (there’s a dark quality it gains from the vocal melody and the pleading guitar line which follows).
The EP also has three very nice remixes of ‘Us Against The City’ by Fly Nights, Mark Wundercastle and Yvnalesca. I am awfully excited for the release of the album, and this is the perfect song to kick off the run up. – Fraser Hunter
What's your song of the week? Tell us about it in the comments section.
