Music Monday – Volume Ninety Two

1) Kendrick Lamar – These Walls

The american rapper throws a curveball on this neo-soul influenced hip hop track. Breezy, light and reflective, it’s a brilliant track and one of Lamar’s best.

2) Mark Pritchard – Beautiful People

Gentle electronic track which drifts effortlessly throughout its six minute duration.

3) Zayn – SHe

Brilliant alt-R&B track with moody guitar riffs, an awesomely catchy chorus and polished production. It’s carried by buoyant beats and Zayn’s syrupy vocals. One of his best.

4) Digital Farm Animals – Wanna Know

Buoyant house track with a brilliantly catchy hook.

5) White Denim – Take It Easy

Soulful and relaxed track with a retro vibe. Utilising little more than organic percussion, bright keys, jazzy riffs, funky bass lines and beautiful falsetto vocals, it’s a lovely track.

6) ROMANS – Silence (ALUNA GEORGE Edit)

Chipmunk-esque pitch-moderated vocal samples, hip hop beats and reverberating soulful vocals carry this brilliant and powerful track.

7) SBTRKT, D.RAM, Mabel – I FEEL YOUR PAIN

Elusive producer SBTRKT teams up with vocalists D.RAM and Mabel on this jittery neo-soul track with elements of alternative R&B.

8) Nick Jonas & Tove Lo – Close

Sultry and moody R&B track which utilises steel pans and thunderous percussion. It’s a powerful track driven by Mattman and Robin’s tight production.

9) Barq – Gentle Kind of Lies

Quirky and brilliant Alternative R&B track with furious guitar riffs, funky bass lines and rock-influenced percussion. Jess Kav’s soulful vocals shine throughout.

10) James Morrison – Need you Tonight

Catchy pop track with funky guitar riffs, skipping bass lines and bright piano chords. Drawing upon disco and soul elements, it’s one of his best songs of his career.

Music Monday – Volume Eighty One

Music Monday is our weekly feature which showcases the hottest tracks in the world right now.

1) Wretch 32 ft Anne Marie and PRGRSHN – Alright With Me

Wretch 32’s commercial crossover is a triumph. Anne-Marie showcases her powerful vocals on an impossibly catchy hook whilst Wretch 32’s rap is refreshingly clear.

2) Babyface – We’ve Got Love

Whilst Babyface is an artist in his own right, he is also the songwriter behind many huge hits by the likes of Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown and Beyonce. ‘We’ve Got Love’ is his latest single, a catchy & uplifting R&B track with elements of new-jack swing. It’s a song which is bound to fall beyond the radar commercially but it’s one of the best R&B tracks in years.

3) NAO – Bad Blood

Slick and soulful vocals coat an eerie electro track with reverberating vocal samples. Nao is an up and coming British singer-songwriter from East London with a sound best described as ‘neo-soul with electronic’.

4) Grace Feat. G-Eazy – You Don’t Own Me

Whilst it’s still not a patch on the original by Lesley Gore back in 1963 , Grace & G-Eazy’s modernised interpretation is enjoyable. Produced by legend Quincy Jones (best known for his work on Michael Jackson’s ‘Off The Wall’, ‘Thriller’ and ‘Bad’ albums), G-Eazy’s rap and hip-hop beats bring the track into the 21st century.

5) Liss – Try

Danish band Liss perform a perfect spin on Pop music on the incessantly catchy ‘Try’. Abundant with broken vocal samples and tropical house-influenced synths, it’s a fun throwback to 80’s synthpop.

6) The 1975 – Ugh!

The 1975 perform their best Prince initiation on this R&B-Rock jam. Featuring heavily auto-tuned vocals, tinny guitars, luscious layered harmonies and rubbery bass-lines, it’s absolutely brilliant & fuses 80’s & 90’s music together perfectly.

7) Fleur East – Sax

Energetic and bouncy dance-pop track with funky guitar riffs and brilliant use of brass instruments. Whilst it’s been on the radio airwaves for weeks now, it’s still as hot as it was on its première.

8) WSTRN – In2

‘In2’ is West-London trio WSTRN’s début single; an R&B/Hip hop track with moody guitar riffs and an irresistibly catchy hook.

9) 99 Souls – The Girl Is Mine

99 Souls cleverly fuse two huge R&B tracks, Brandy & Monica’s ‘The Boy Is Mine’ and Destiny’s Child’s ‘Girl’ into a funky house track which is bound to become a huge club hit.

10) The Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir – A Bridge Over You

A strange inclusion on this edition, perhaps but in a chart so dominated by over-produced music, it’s refreshing to hear music in its simplistic form. Unaltered vocals accompanied only by a piano result in a gorgeous mash-up of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’. And of course it’s for a brilliant cause.