Tag: pop

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Music

The Green Child – Low Desk : High Shelf

Here comes another entry in the “things I completely missed in 2020 but probably shouldn’t have done” canon, this time courtesy of Raven Mahon and Mikey Young aka The Green Child. Low Desk:High Shelf is taken from their second album Shimmering Basset, the recording and themes of which deal with Raven’s relocation to Australia from California. A week ago I would have casually mentioned that the lo-fi, almost naively wonderful electronic opening reminds me of some of John Maus’s best work, but as it turns out even niche musical heroes of mine can trash their own legacy in a single swoop. So instead I’ll say it’s a brilliant, yearning, melancholic, hopeful slice of electronic folk-pop, and leave it at that.

https://thegreenchild.bandcamp.com

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Music

LAMBERT – one x one

LAMBERT is a London based songwriter, producer and artist with a background in baroque and classical music and now creating some rather striking electronica. one x one is her latest release and pairs her granulated, ethereal vocal alongside starkly beautiful production. The track was produced while “coming to terms with the reality of losing someone close to me”, with LAMBERT aiming to make something that was both painful and beautiful to capture the feelings of that time. She’s undoubtedly succeeded.

https://soundcloud.com/grace-lambert-207283757/one-x-one-2/s-IlN9um8m0HU

https://www.instagram.com/grace.lamberrt

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Music

Rebecca Phillips – Under Me

Under Me is the latest single from London-based experimental pop artist Rebecca Phillips, who combines Arca-esque production with striking vocals that swerve between hushed background textures and screaming excess. There’s a fine balance of delicate melodics and punishing violence at play here, and it all works extremely well.

https://soundcloud.com/rebeccaphillipsxyz

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Music

Shadi G – Goddess pt. 1

Shadi G is a classically trained Swedish songwriter, producer and singer who’s latest single Goddess pt. 1 sits somewhere between contemporary r&b and electro pop. The production is simple but extremely effective, with muted drums and hushed snares providing the perfect bed for her wonderful vocals, which remind me of NAO at times and Empress Of at others.

https://www.shadi-g.com/

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Music

Oneohtrix Point Never – No Nightmares

Considering the kind of completely unclassifiable music Oneohtrix Point Never usually crafts, a schmaltzy, vocoder-infused ballad – with The Weeknd no less – isn’t necessarily something you’d expect to find on his latest album. But then hasn’t this just been a year of the unexpected? No Nightmares is warm and wonderfully reassuring, and crackles with just enough weirdness to ensure you don’t think you’ve stumbled into the final moments of 80s school disco. And if you’re really not into it, you only need take a step in either direction on the album to be confused and slightly unsettled again.

https://www.pointnever.com/

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Music

Gabrielle Current – Plenty

Gabrielle Current new single marks a bit of a departure from her previous glossy pop, and channels 90s R&B aesthetics to very enjoyable effect. Both the vocal and production are hazy and understated, gently rolling along without vying for your attention and creating a quietly beguiling, nostalgic atmosphere as a result.

https://gabcurrent.com

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Music

Orions Belte feat. Shikoswe – Conversations

This is the latest single from Norwegian trio Orions Belte, a band supposedly inspired by “Nigerian 70’s rock, postcards from the French Riviera and Formula 1” and while I’m not an authority on either Nigerian rock or Formula 1, the breezy, heady melodies of Conversations absolutely call to mind sitting on a warm beach gazing out at the gentle swells of the Mediterranean. It’s an intoxicating blend, easily accessible yet with enough of a punch to stay with you for some time afterwards.

http://www.orionsbelte.no/

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Music

Blood Orange & 박혜진 Park Hye Jin – CALL ME (Freestyle)

This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to feature Blood Orange aka Devonte Hynes aka probably my favourite artist of the last five years on this blog. What’s he playing at?? It’s absolutely outrageous that he’s been starving us of new material for this long. Here he’s teamed up with South Korean 박혜진 Park Hye Jin – who recently released her second EP – on a sad banger, the music video for which is a first-person meander through the damp and deserted back streets of New York. Welcome back guys: you have been missed.

https://bloodorange.net/

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Music

Sufjan Stevens – Sugar

The latest in an ever-increasing and very welcome tide of singles from his upcoming album The Ascension, this is vintage Sufjan from the very first bar. Haunting pads and those brittle electronic drums that he’s been playing around with ever since the early A Sun Came-era weirdness, now honed and refined. Music video is great too. Maybe 2020 will turn out to be ok after all.

https://sufjan.com

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Music

Cut Copy – Stop, Horizon

Cut Copy have been around for 20 years, and I think this is the first time I’ve ever listened to a record of theirs. It’s entirely possible that I glanced at their name and got them confused with Coldcut which, while not exactly a great reflection on my musical nouse, is at least honest. Anyway, turns out their pretty popular and have released a lot of shiny, towering pop over the last two decades, and that’s definitely something I’m in the market for right now.

Stop, Horizon is taken from their new album Freeze, Melt. It’s about as pretty as pop gets, with a gently layer guitar loops slowly joined by tinkling percussion, whispered vocals and eventually a steady, four-four beat that nuzzles us you through to the end: a cosy, comforting hug of a record.

http://cutcopy.net