After a few quiet weeks it feels like this week has been jam-packed with new music. We got a new FKA twigs EP, a new Lana Del Rey song and an unexpected Joanna Newsom album announce. We probably could've done 30 songs you need to hear this week but we know you're busy people and so we won't take up too much of your time. Here is a much more concise 10 songs that you must hear.
Tirzah
Make It Up
Lorde and Fourtet love London artist Tirzah and that means so must the world. This latest single has been floating around for a while now but it's only officially just been dropped on British label Greco-Roman's Soundcloud. Produced by Micachu, Make It Up is a muted pop song with mumbling bass but crystal clear vocals. It's an understated banger but after a few plays it really starts to sink under your skin.
tirzah make it up is the track right now
— Four Tet (@FourTet) June 17, 2015
[soundcloud width="750" height="200"]https://soundcloud.com/greco-roman/tirzah-make-it-up[/soundcloud]
Lana Del Rey
High By The Beach
It's hard to believe this has only been out for a week. High By The Beach already feels like Lana Del Rey's best song to date and by the looks of it, it's also going to be her highest charting - it's held the number one position on the US iTunes for much of the week. The video revealed today is everything you'd imagine it should be. It's melancholic, dramatic and hyperbolic. You don't really see her getting high by the beach but she is by the beach and she shoots down a helicopter with one hell of a gun so we'll take that as good enough.
CHVRCHES
Never Ending Circles
Glasgow trio CHVRCHES are well and truly back into the swing of things. They have announced their second album Every Open Eye, given us the first single Leave A Trace and now we have the second taster Never Ending Circles. With it's sprawling synths and thudding bass, the track is probably a little more accessible than Leave A Trace. That's not to say they give us a huge chorus here. Like many a CHVRCHES songs they cruise into the chorus and use the instrumentation to really swell the emotion and build climaxes - not pop hook.
Disclosure
Willing & Able (Feat. Kwabs)
After spending so long without Disclosure it feels like the new tracks are starting to flood in. Willing & Able featuring British soul singer Kwabs is the fifth track we've heard from Caracal and quite honestly, it's probably the best. Kwabs' voice is perfect for Disclosure's deep house soundscapes and he brings the soul with a little more depth than Sam Smith does on previous single Omen. There are still plenty of feature to look forward too though with The Weeknd, Lorde and Miguel all set to appear on the album.
Reece
Don't Go
Reece is an 18 year-old singer from Virginia who struck us earlier this week with this brilliant track Don't Go. With so much stuff flooding Soundclpoud everyday, it's often hard to stop upon something for more than a few seconds but Don't Go is a song that immediately demands your attention. It's the falsetto that hits you first and then those weighty beats that he sits back in so beautifully. Then by the time the chorus hits you're already searching for more information about him. It's an exceptional mid-tempo banger and given his young age, he'll probably deliver plenty more of these in his time.
[soundcloud width="750" height="200"]https://soundcloud.com/officialreece/dont-go-prod-jumpa[/soundcloud]
FKA twigs
In Time
When you've woken up for the past month hoping to see a new Frank Ocean album it's good to wake up and see something that's equally exciting. FKA twigs' new EP M3LL155X is exactly that. Both because it's new twigs and because it's utterly arresting. In Time is the highlight of the five-song set. It's a distorted, twisted track that manages to weave in both pop and R&B melodies making us think we've got a grasp on it before taking us on another detour. Her voice sounds fragile and the lyrics have this beautiful dark optimism to them - if there's such thing.
Slum Sociable
All Night
Melbourne duo Slum Sociable make it two-from-two with the release of their latest track All Night. Anyway released earlier this year is still one of the better Aussie tracks this year and now they've delivered another surefire winner. It's a bluesy hip-hop flavoured track with a hook that grabs you in the first second of the song. The production feels polished yet organic and the samples are old school without sounding gimmicky. We just have so much hope for these guys now - a big one to watch for the rest of the year.
[soundcloud width="750" height="200"]https://soundcloud.com/slumsociable/all-night[/soundcloud]
Mallrat
Suicide Blonde
It's stuff like this that makes us tick. Mallrat is a sixteen year-old rapper/singer/ridiculously talented citizen of Brisbane and Suicide Blonde is her debut. It was produced by Adelaide's Tigerilla and sits somewhere between US rapper Kitty and Australia's very own Allday. She manages to carefully tread a line between hip-hop and pop, serving up some thumping bass - the type that Robyn makes sure all her tracks don't go without. It's quite frankly ridiculous to think how young she is but so exciting to think of future possibilities. Also, sorry we're late on this one - not exactly sure how this gem passed us by.
[soundcloud width="750" height="200"]https://soundcloud.com/lilmallrat/suicide-blonde-prod-tigerilla-1[/soundcloud]
Ginger & Drum
Habits
Sydney duo Ginger & Drum really caught our attention with the shimmering electro-pop song Ticking Boxes and they have us pricking our ears up once again for their latest Habits. They have this knack of easing you in slowly with the verse and then hitting you with a chorus that makes your heart bleed. The melodic undertones on the chorus of Habits are just ridiculously delicious and that's not even mentioning the vocal which also gets us right here <3. They're playing a few free shows in the next few weeks that if you have half a brain you'll be at before someone plucks them out of this country and spits them overseas. Head to their Facebook for deets.
[soundcloud width="750" height="200"]https://soundcloud.com/gingeranddrum/habit-2[/soundcloud]
Joanna Newsom
Sapokanikan
It's been five years since Joanna Newsom's triple-disc masterpiece Have One On Me but you can't blame her for taking a little while with the follow-up because greatness simply doesn't happen overnight. Sapokanikan is the first taste of the forthcoming Divers (out 23rd October) and it's a delightfully perky number with a marching-band tempo that reminds us a little of Fiona Apple's The Idler Wheel. That is, of course, a great thing and we find ourselves smitten once again by Newsom's grace and delicate expertise.
