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La Roux - Let Me Down Gently

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London-born pop-synth royalty La Roux have finally returned after a 5 year hiatus since their self-titled, Grammy Award-winning album.

Following their dancefloor anthem, Bulletproof, vocalist Elly Jackson confided “unless we manage to write a record in two weeks I don’t think there will be anything in terms of a second record for a while.” Well, we've waited long enough and the time has finally come for them to drop their first single in half a decade, Let Me Down Gently.

The mood is first set with Elly's breathy ad-lib & synth washes, creating an almost morose atmosphere divergent from their last album.

Bringing us in ever so gently with her desperate crooning, the song crescendos into a steady electronic beat before plunging us into silence. A brief moment is lent for us to gather our thoughts, before the breakdown turns the song on its head with synths-galore, a sax solo & the classic Elly Jackson we know and love.

It's a delicious taste of what's to come.

Let Me Down Gently is the first release from La Roux's upcoming album, Trouble in Paradise, due out July 7th.

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/la-roux-official/let-me-down-gently[/soundcloud]

Trouble in Paradise Tracklist:

1. Uptight Downtown
2. Kiss and Not Tell
3. Cruel Sexuality
4. Paradise Is You
5. Sexotheque
6. Tropical Chancer
7. Silent Partner
8. Let Me Down Gently
9. The Feeling

 

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Lily Allen - Sheezus

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Lily Allen has been running her mouth a lot lately about how her latest material is not up to scratch and that her record label has prevented her from releasing the real stuff. After the polite Air Balloon and the party-anthem Our Time, it was looking unlikely that Lily's quick wit and spite was ever going to make a reappearance. Thankfully, the title track to her forthcoming album, Sheezus, dispels that fear. The song is littered with Allen gold, but we've fished for five of the best nugs.

"RiRi isn't scared of Katy Perry's roaring"

Lily's astute observations of the celebrity world are insightful, but is anyone scared of Katy Perry's roaring? Isn't it more like a cat’s meow? Badgal RiRi once proclaimed that she was "yeah, yeah, yeah, so hard" so surely she'd be even geared up to take on Perry's new beau Diplo.

"Lorde smells blood, yeah she's about to slay you. Kid ain't one to fuck with when she's only on her debut"

Out of all the divas mentioned on Sheezus, it looks as if Lily wants to recruit Lorde as her 2IC. She's obviously impressed by her post-goth look and badass teen vibe, but we're not sure Lorde would be too keen to be associated with the 'queen' given her sentiments in a little ditty called Royals.

"Queen B's gone back to the drawing Lorde"

Lol. She replaced board with Lorde. Great use of poetic license. But seriously, don't mess with B. One minute, you're sitting comfortably on the throne and the next Yonce drops a surprise the size of an atomic bomb.

"Give me the crown bitch, I wanna be Sheezus"

Kim Kardashian may have something to say about this but we think Mr and Mrs Yeezus would make a great couple. Both have skipped any sort of media training and run their mouths as much as, well, Jesus. The only problem is, Kanye has his sights set on being a God, while Lily wants to be a queen. Surely at 88 years of age, Queen Lizzy would be an easy one to knock from the throne.

"Periods, we all get periods. Every month, that's what the theory is"

This is more than I could've ever learnt in sex ed. Thanks Lily. Got it.

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Tourist (feat. Lianne La Havas) - Patterns

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British producer Tourist has flooded the internet with remixes of HAIM, London Grammar and Chvrches over the past year, but now it seems he's ready to deliver some original material with the same pop-potential. Patterns is off his upcoming EP of the same name and features fellow Brit Lianne La Havas. It's everything you'd expect from an all-British affair. He lays La Havas' voice over a Disclosure-esque voice and peppers it with a choir-driven chorus. Despite the grandeur of the chorus, Patterns maintains a steady level of subtlety before ramping up the bass and subsequently taking it to the club.

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/soulblime/tourist-patterns-feat-lianne-la-havas[/soundcloud]

 

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tUnE-yArDs- Wait For A Minute

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tUnE-yArDs has a penchant for taking a trend and turning it on its head. And that’s exactly what she’s done on, Wait for a Minute, the latest track from her forthcoming album Nikki Nack. She’s undoubtedly heading down the lane of RnB but she’s swung a left, crashed through a fence and found herself at an anarchy-stricken kids party. It may sound messy, but it’s a beautiful thing. It’s smooth and effortless but at the same time it chops and changes whenever it pleases. tUnE-yArDs may have traded James Brown soul (Bizness) for How To Dress Well-flavoured RnB, but it still sounds undeniably like Merrill Garbus on her A game.

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St. Vincent- Lithium (Nirvana Cover)

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Listen Up! is the(in)terns way of giving a song the isolated attention it deserves. It's the track that says stop what you're doing and slow dance, grind or head thrash immediately. Our first Listen Up! is from the incomparable Annie Clarke, otherwise known as St. Vincent. April 5th marked 20 years since Kurt Cobain's death. In memorandum, St. Vincent took on the ballsy task of covering Nirvana's Lithium at a show in Chicago. It's a far cry from the left-field, brassy pop of her latest self-titled effort, but she slays. The chorus is one that even Courtney Love would be pleased with. It's everything it should be: angst-driven, angry and anxious. Clarke sticks close to the original, taking the beast on head-first and wins. The recording is low-quality but it adds a certain lo-fi charm.

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