musicforlosers

[musicforlosers]

Notable, New Ones.

A weekly update on some of my favourite new releases.

Virile - Moses Sumney

Moses Sumney returns with “græ”, a beautiful new project which had an exciting set of singles building up to its release. The fourth track on the album, “Virile”, is a shift in tone for the singer/songwriter with deep, grinding guitars and heavy drums - a contrast to his usual finger picked, elegant sound. His vocals are as painful and soulful as ever and his “ah ah ah’s” add a catchy tone. A passionate protest against toxic masculinity and societal pressure, this is definitely a highlight on the album.

Bad Juju (Jubilee Remix) - Jasper Lotti

A new take on an already catchy dance track, Jubilee amps up the production to turn Jasper Lotti’s “Bad Juju” into a club-ready deep house track. The pairing strikes resemblance to other producers in the new wave of women’s innovation in dance such as SASSY 009 and Smerz, with cool, soft vocals complimenting a heavy beat and deep synths. This is a fine example of the exciting developments in female-crafted electronic music.

El Aprieto - Buscabulla

Coming from their debut album “Regresa”, the Puerto Rican duo use this track to refer back to the hurricanes Irma and Maria which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017. The song starts with “quiero salir, aquí no me quiero morir, quiero vivir” (“I want to go out, I don’t want to die here, I want to live”) which fits the duo’s fears of being back in Puerto Rico after having moved to New York to escape the 2017 turmoil. The instrumentation here is an ode to Boricua beats with a variety of percussive techniques in the mix. A breath of fresh air, this is experimental pop at its most sincere.

BB (Bodybag) - Slowthai

Slowthai is currently one of the UK’s most exciting rap figures and this fresh batch of singles following his debut LP in 2019 is no exception to the trend. On “Bodybag”, slowthai takes us back to times he spent with older generations in the slums of Northampton, whose influences on him are apparent throughout. His combative vocals are catered to with a lo-fi, minimal trap beat which doesn’t distract from a voice that demands to be heard.

[musicforlosers]

We Need To Talk About Charli.

If you’re an avid member of the stan twitter community, you will have made the keen observation that Charli XCX is one of its main figures. A groundbreaking pop icon and talented song writer/producer, Charli has made waves on the pop landscape over the past decade with some of the most experimental takes on the genre of all time.

Her new record “how i’m feeling now” is one of her most ambitious projects to date, writing and co-producing the whole thing in the short span of about 2 months (from the start of quarantine to today). In a musical climate dominated by male producers and songwriters, there is something delightful in seeing a woman create a project almost completely independently, with other recent examples including Fiona Apple’s “Fetch The Boltcutters” and Grimes’s “Artangels”. This project is no exception to the trend.

As a long-time fan of charli’s, I was worried that this project may have been rushed as some of her previous notable works had their release dates pushed back in order to meet her high standards and musical perfection. However, I was pleasantly surprised and somewhat disappointed in myself for having doubted her after playing “how i’m feeling now” for the first time this morning.

The singles that dropped before the release of the album, “claws” and “forever”, didn’t grab me at first listen, but after seeing the beautiful visuals released for the first and realising the catchiness of the second, they slowly gave me hope for this new project. “7 years” follows a similar theme to “forever” in that it’s a love song about her current relationship with Huck Kwong, a partnership which almost came to an end before lockdown but was strengthened by their time together in quarantine. The song reflects on their time together with lyrics such as “think we took some sleeping pills on that flight/cos 7 years have really really flown by” emphasising this point in charli’s own humerus way.

The most impressive tracks on the album come towards the end. “anthems” is a great example of one of Charli’s collaborative efforts, teaming up with Danny L Harle and Dylan Brady-whose influence is clear in the song’s resemblance to his 100 gecs work. The Charli/Brady pairing is so perfect that it’s a wonder the two haven’t worked together before. Charli’s lyrics here about missing the party lifestyle (one of her biggest writing inspirations) during quarantine and instead being filled with some form of existential dread reflect the feelings of many young people who would have otherwise relied on partying as a form of escapism from the trials of day to day life.

The reworking of “click”, a song from her last album, to create “c2.0” is almost a shift of mentality around friendships inspired by social distancing. Charli reminisces on time spent with her “clique” throughout the song, perhaps a perfect reflection of the impact that quarantine has had on human beings as social animals.

This album is definitely a milestone in Charli’s career and will hopefully be looked back on as a brilliant embodiment of life for young people in love, during a time when love is at its most important.