Author: The Predatory Wasp

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Music

BAYLI x iLoveMakonnen – SICK!

New York-based artist and songwriter BAYLI teams up with Atlanta-bred hip-hop artist and songwriter ILoveMakonnen on SICK!, which her first release since her recent signing with Snafu Records and a precursor to her forthcoming debut EP, stories from new york, which lands later this year. SICK! rolls along on a squelchy trap beat underpinning some solid verses from both artists and is elevated by the haunting synths which flutter around in the background in a very pleasing fashion indeed.

https://www.instagram.com/baylimusic

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Interviews Music

One Track Mind: Wildhart

The Swedish group on finding inspiration from fellow Gothenburg band Little Dragon

The premise of One Track Mind is pretty simple: I ask artists to pick one track that means a lot to them – either something they’ve discovered recently, something that’s been with them for years, or one that reminds them of a specific time in their life or career – and tell me what makes it so special to them. I get to talk to the artists I love, and they get to talk about the artists they love. Love all round!

Wildhart’s 2016 album Shine absolutely blew me away on its release, and is one I return to on a regular basis, especially the title track which is about as perfect as synth-led pop gets. After a brief hiatus following 2018’s Caught In A Fisheye EP they returned with new music this year, releasing singles His Arrows Won’t Hit Us and Beter Bby, and sounding just as beguiling as they ever have. It’s wonderful to have them back, and to welcome them to TPW today.

For their One Track Mind selection they have chosen a song from fellow Swedish group Little Dragon and discuss the delicacy with which light and shade is kept in perfect balance: something they’re very adept at themselves.

Continue reading “One Track Mind: Wildhart”
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Music

GILA – NANAO feat. Kloxii

NANAO follows the release of GILA’s debut album Energy Demonstration which landed last year, and is his first collaboration with LA based vocalist Kloxii, a Chinese-American producer and experimental pop musician who has released music via Tricky’s False Idols, and been mentored by Marie Davidson for Amplify Berlin. Exploring various themes including unrequited love and vulnerability, NANAO is looser and rougher than the tracks found on Energy Demonstration, with stuttering, over-saturated beats and ominous synth lines creating an oppressive, but oddly uplifting atmosphere.

https://gila-00.bandcamp.com

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Music

Mariah the Scientist – All For Me

Atlanta-based R&B artist Mariah the Scientist completely blew me – and lots of other people – away with her 2018 album MASTER, especially the song Reminders which I maintain is one of the most underrated tracks of that year. Released today is the follow up RY RY WORLD which on the first couple of listens at least sounds even better than its predecessor, and All For Me – with its delicate pads, retro drums and gorgeous chord changes – is an instant classic.

https://www.instagram.com/mariahthescientist

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Music

Nation of Language – Wounds of Love

Not only are Nation of Language touring Europe next year (tickets on sale tomorrow for all you synth-pop devotees), but they’ve also just announced a new album A Way Forward which lands 05 November, so today has been a Very Good Day for me. Wounds Of Love is the lead single and continues in a similarly evocative, happysad vein as their previous output. I bloody love these guys!

https://www.nationoflanguage.com

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Music

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine – Olympus

Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine. Credit: Daniel Anum Jasper

I’m pretty convinced at this stage that Sufjan barely sleeps. Following two albums in 2020 and Convocations from earlier this year, announced today was A Beginner’s Mind, a collaborative album alongside Angelo De Augustine and written during a month-long sabbatical in upstate New York staying in a friend’s cabin. A 14 track album “(loosely) based on (mostly) popular films”, single Olympus explores the mythical deities and monsters created by Ray Harryhausen for films such as Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans, and is an evocative, folky delight.

https://abeginnersmind.net

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Music

Ben McCarthy x Lighght – beneath the ice, the river still flows

Ben McCarthy is an electronic musician and sound artist from Toronto, who blends layers of re-purposed, processed and archival sound into some pretty unique music. Here he’s teamed up with Irish artist Lighght and together they’ve created a staggeringly beautiful, disquieting slice of experimental electronica that at times sounds like a gorgeous celestial improvisation straight from the heavens, and at others like whales being crushed to death by patient but deadly blue-white blocks of shifting ice. Don’t let that last part put you off though: it’s great.

https://paleeyesmusic.bandcamp.com https://lighghtmusic.bandcamp.com

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Music

Low – Days Like These

AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 13: Vocalist and drummer Mimi Parker (L) and vocalist and guitarist Alan Sparhawk of Low perform live on the altar of St David's Historic Sanctuary during the SXSW Music festival on March 13, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jim Bennett/WireImage)

I’ve listened to Days Like These maybe a dozen times now, and I’m still not even sure if I like the first half of it. Alan Sparhawk’s vocal is more prominent than perhaps ever before, accompanied by Mimi Parker’s harmonies and very little else and it’s almost wilfully OTT and (whisper it) a bit cheesy? Maybe that’s the point, and there’s a good chance that later this year after sitting with it for longer and reading more into the meaning behind it I’ll realise just how wrong I am, but that’s where I am right now. What isn’t in doubt however, is the second half, which is one of the best things they’ve ever made.

Produced again by BJ Burton who worked with them on 2018’s incredible Double Negative, it descends into warped static, freewheeling, ethereal harmonies and an atmosphere so thick with longing it takes a good few minutes to pull yourself out of it. It’s also the lead single from their forthcoming new LP Hey What, out 10 September on Sub Pop. Bring on the heartache.

https://www.chairkickers.com

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Music

Platnume – Romans

Produced by Platnume and DJ Jaden, the intention behind Romans was to make a fun but still impactful rap cut without the use of profanity: an admirable aim, and one that pays off. The Queens duo have cited artists like Kid N Play and Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, the influence of whom aren’t immediately obvious as Romans is significantly moodier than the vast majority of these 90s icons’ output. However, there is A LOT of autotune rap out there and this definitely cuts through the crowd, so they must be doing something right.

https://www.instagram.com/iamplatnume/

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Music

Wye Oak – Its Way With Me

Jenn Wasner’s voice is just completely enthralling. Not to do any disservice to Andy Stack alongside whom she records at Wye Oak, but its the irresistible radiance of her vocal that elevates Its Way With Me from perfectly lovely indie-pop jangler to hit-me-in-the-feels-so-hard-it-hurts anthem. This is the second single of the year following last month’s TNT, and while there’s no official news of a new album yet, fingers crossed.

https://www.wyeoakmusic.com