Author: The Predatory Wasp

Categories
Music

Varsity Star – Mixtape

There’s no shortage of people making whimsical, melody-focussed electronica, and in the wrong hands (ie. the vast majority of the time) it can come across as overly sincere or laughably lightweight. Varsity Star hits the tricky-to-find sweet spot here with Mixtape – the lead single from a forthcoming mini-LP – pairing crushed, broken beats with a glistening synth line and demonstrating it’s perfectly possibly to make something beautiful yet punchy in this genre, as long as you get the balance just right.

https://www.instagram.com/varsity.star

Categories
Music

cktrl – safe

London-based artist cktrl broke through with his debut Robyn EP last year, and safe is the final track from his new four-tracker zero which landed last week and starts life with a gently billowing cloud of echoing brass and soothing strings before ending with safe, a bassy, sensual, trappy cut with gorgeous vocals and a satisfying depth to its production.

https://cktrl.bandcamp.com

Categories
Music

The War On Drugs – Occasional Rain

I thought it wasn’t going to happen. Then right at the bitter end, halfway through the final track of the new album, a single, perfect little tear dripped down my ample cheek and finally, everything was right with the world. On first listen I’m a little underwhelmed by I Don’t Live Here Anymore, although given its two predecessors are among my favourite albums of the last decade, it had pretty high expectations to live up to. It’s a little too shiny, somewhat devoid of the turmoil and introspection that, paired with those glistening, timeless melodies made the last two albums so essential. Occasional Rain however takes me right back to those glorious, heartbreaking times: vulnerable, yet hopeful, a personal narrative that transcends its earthy roots and reaches for the sublime.

https://www.thewarondrugs.net

Categories
Music

Helado Negro – Wake Up Tomorrow

The new album from Helado Negro is Sunday morning hangover vibes through and through, with both textures and slow-paced rhythms seemingly tailor-made to sooth and reassure. On opener Wake Up Tomorrow he enlists Kacy Hill for some gentle background crooning which alongside the ridiculously chilled drumming and strumming creates an atmosphere so completely, effortlessly relaxing it’s a surprise he got the rest of the album finished.

http://heladonegro.com

Categories
Music

girl_irl – siren

Described as “a confidence boost before you head to the club”, siren is a heady electro-pop banger inspired by shygirl’s glistening productions, and works best when the full force of it’s crunching basslines comes to the fore, with girl_irl’s nihilistically detached delivery matched by the unforgiving low-end pummelling.

https://soundcloud.com/girl_irl

Categories
Music

Don Lifted – Light Figure

I shared a track from Don Lifted earlier this month which I really liked, but I wasn’t quite prepared for how much I would enjoy his album, 325i, which landed last week. Releases like this are pretty much the entire reason I started this blog – to support music from insanely talented artists that might otherwise go unnoticed. Don Lifted definitely falls into that category – aside from a very positive Fader feature I’ve seen very little promo for the album, but it’s fucking brilliant – a hazy, understated, atmospheric delight that incorporates elements of soul, hip-hop, indie rock and plenty more besides. Light Figure stands out for me due its heavy melancholic, yearning vibe, but it’s absolutely worth giving the entire album your attention.

https://donlifted.bandcamp.com

Categories
Music

Grouper – Pale Interior

Grouper has a new album out today, Shade, which I haven’t yet had the chance to listen to, but am expecting to thoroughly enjoy if it’s anything like Pale Interior, which is a bleakly compelling as you’d expect. She manages to make devastation – complete and unending – something you not only endure as a listener, but yearn for: a black pit that only deepens and darkness the further you fall.

Happy Friday!

https://grouper.bandcamp.com

Categories
Music

PinkPantheress – Nineteen

The 20 year old UK artist PinkPantheress broke through on TikTok, which goes some way to explaining why I’ve never heard of her despite many of her songs having hundreds of millions of plays across various streaming platforms. Her MO seems to be: take a small part of a song that was probably released in the 90s, loop a section of it, then sing, sweetly and earnestly over the top. The result should be cheap and gimmicky, and, well, maybe you think it is, but I don’t ok! Take the 90 second Break it off (included on the new album as a bonus track) that loops Adam F’s seminal Circles under a naively bouncy vocal: obviously it reminds you how fucking brilliant Circles is, but it also works in its own right. Nineteen is as close as she gets to a ballad on to hell with it, and very lovely it is too.

https://soundcloud.com/pinkpantheress

Categories
Music

W. H. Lung – Showstopper feat. softlizard

I didn’t really listen to The Cure growing up, and for this I blame my parents. Ask me to sing the back catalogues of Tear for Fears, Gloria Estefan or plenty of other accessible 80s pop ‘icons’ and I’ll give most people a run for their money, but Robert Smith’s happysad crooning was at best something I was only vaguely aware of until they decided to headline Glastonbury (remember Glastonbury?) in 2019 and I listened to Disintegration pretty much on loop for six months beforehand, and even though I ended up having a small mental collapse and leaving the festival before they even took to the stage, I am now fully aware of just how much music sounds has been heavily influenced by The Cure.

Which is a very longwinded way of saying that W. H. Lung sound like The Cure, but in a way that makes you want to carry on listening to them, as opposed to lamenting that there’s no creativity in music anymore and everything is a lukewarm imitation of something greater you missed the first time around.

https://whlung.bandcamp.com/album/vanities

Categories
Music

serpentwithfeet – Down Nuh River

I’m not sure serpentwithfeet can really be classed an ‘underrated’ given all the plaudits he regularly attracts, but I still don’t think he’s quite given as much due as perhaps he deserves. His output this year has been truly remarkable – DEACON is unquestionably one of the best albums of the year – and he seems to have fully found his groove, nailing the emotions without losing sight of the subtlety of production that makes him stand out. Down Nuh River is moody, understated and – yet again – outrageously good.

https://serpentwithfeet.bandcamp.com