Here’s the mixtape for April! 20 songs old and new that we’re loving at The Music Box.
Tag: WSTRN
Music Monday – Volume Ninety Two
1) Kanye West – Real Friends
Moody, downtempo hip-hop track with an overall melancholic tone and brilliant lyrics.
[Because Kanye is a tool and won’t put any of his latest music anywhere where people may actually listen, this is the only clip available: http://bbc.in/1OmSlT4]
2) Shura – The Space Tapes
Fuzzy, spaced-out electro-remixes of three tracks from Shura’s forthcoming highly-anticipated début album ‘Nothing’s Real’. Reverberating vocal samples, frolicking synthesisers and eerie sounds all echo infinitely throughout this nine-minute sampler track.
3) Niki and The Dove – Play it on my radio
Gentle but majestic 80’s-influenced synthpop track. Mirroring Fleetwood Mac at their peak, precarious percussion, dreamy harmonies and fluttering synthesisers drift beautifully through this brilliant song.
4) The Floyds – You
Lovely, breezy acoustic-based track with great lyrics.
5) Liss – Sorry
Dream-like, heavily auto-tuned synthpop track from up-and-coming band Liss, comprised of clinking synths, a waltz-like bass line and a meandering rhythm.
6) WSTRN – Come Down
Another brilliantly catchy R&B track with electro elements from West-London collective WSTRN. Sampling Evelyn King’s 1982 hit ‘Love Come Down’, the trio have created another smash record.
7) KAYTRANDA & Karriem Riggins – BUS RIDE
A beautifully chilled-out instrumental track from Canadian musician KAYTRANADA. Twinkling pianos, soulful and eerie synthesisers and fierce percussion drives this retro alternative-R&B track.
8) The 1975 – The Ballad of Me and My Brain
Brilliant track on which witty lyrics are growled over unsteady percussion and fierce guitar work. Haunting vocal samples evolve into a neurotic punk-pop track which perfectly captures losing your mind.
9) The 1975 – Lostmyhead
Dark and melancholic shoegazing track which is musically simple but incredibly powerful. Heavy, distorted electric guitar riffs and hazy synthesisers form the backdrop as frontman Matt Healy drones ‘And he said, I lost my head, can you see it, can you see it?’. It eventually climaxes in a brilliant orchestral track with percussion.
10) Active Child – 1999
Jazzy and soulful track by electronic artist Patrick Gossi, under his working name of Active Child. Gentle percussion and jazzy pianos with Gossi’s beautiful falsettos all result in a beautiful song.
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.
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