‘Take me down to the hillside, show me where they used to play.’ The playful nature of Miike Snow’s past sound is taken down some dark paths on the penultimate track of their upcoming second album ‘Happy To You’. ‘Black Tin Box’ is a masterful example of a band pushing their sound into exciting new territories. Gone are the happy-go-lucky melodies of the joyous ‘Animal’ - instead, the group channel the spirit of The Knife and sister project Fever Ray as they experiment with a sinister mix of vocodered vocals, insistent drums and spectral synths. The production is wonderfully spooky, playing out like a twisted nursery rhyme as lead vocalist Andrew Wyatt chants the chorus-lines: ‘Black sheep, black sheep, give me aftershocks’ to truly hypnotic effect. The dizzy chills continue as Lykke Li lends her husky Scandinavian tones to the mix before a wonderfully dreamy set of strings bring the track to a climatic close. The bleak and claustrophobic atmosphere of ‘Black Tin Box’ is a stunning listen which finds Miike Snow in a state of much-needed artistic abandon.
Restraint & B
R&B is at a cross roads. The heavy swathes of predictable club beats that continue to dominate the airwaves are beginning to be challenged by the refreshing revival of a much more sophisticated urban sound.
It’s hard to remember the days when R&B music showed little desire to pander to the needs of ‘the club’. As a whole, the genre has become exceedingly self-conscious - caring more about generating that ‘killer’ hook to drunkenly slur along to on a Saturday night than seeking to evoke any kind of emotional depth. This period of excess, in the form of high octane production coupled with derivative lyrical style, surely questions R&B’s place in the world of music. Gradually, it seems to be turning into less of a flagship for African American music and more of a tool for easy financial gain.
Despite these depressing observations, a distinct rise of artists are beginning to challenge these notions of R&B as an increasingly lazy and overblown genre. Both The Weeknd and Frank Ocean found underground fame last year with their exciting interpretations of urban music. The Weeknd wore his heart on his sleeve amidst bleak soundscapes, whilst Frank Ocean mixed blunt lyrical honesty with eclectic production. Each artist helped to redefine R&B, exposing it to a new audience dominated by indie lovers who felt disengaged with much of what they were hearing on the radio. It seemed that in the case of these emerging new talents less was more, and slowly but surely a new breed of slick R&B, built on the art of restraint, was coming to prominence.
A year later, and the mainstream finally appears to be waking up to this exciting new development in the world of R&B. After his utterly ridiculous hits ‘Love In This Club’ and ‘DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love’, Usher is thankfully breaking free from the shackles of anonymity and re-igniting the flames of his former glories - teaming up with so-hip-it-hurts producer Diplo on his new single ‘Climax’. The track finds the pair in surprisingly understated form as Usher smoothly croons over Diplo’s urging beats and dubstep-inflected basslines. In essence, ‘Climax’ is Usher’s finest and most compelling work since his genre-defining ‘Confessions’. You can have all the Pitbull features, predictable hooks and over-the-top production you like but nothing compares to the art of restraint.
Listen to the Diplo-produced ‘Climax’ below:
REVIEW/ Goldfrapp
The Singles
12 years ago Goldfrapp released the mind-bendingly unique ‘Lovely Head’ to unexpected acclaim, 5 albums later the musical duo return with their first singles collection to date.
‘The Singles’ documents Goldfrapp’s chameleon-like journey of sonic experimentation which has seen them embrace everything from pastoral folk to filthy electropop. The collection’s effortlessly eclectic feel proves just how musically daring the duo have been over the past few years - brave moves from a group who have clearly been unaffected by the pressures of an often unforgiving critical and commercial audience.
The duo’s biggest commercial success ‘Ooh La La’ opens the collection, retaining its sexy glam rock charm and continuing to sound like the T. Rex song that never was. More pop bombast is provided by two of the bands most vibrant records: ‘Supernature’ and ‘Black Cherry’. The commanding slap of ‘Ride A White Horse’ is a joyous look back to the disco movement of the late 70s while the hypnotic growl of ‘Train’ sounds as sleazy as ever. However, Goldfrapp’s true moment of thrilling pop perfection has to be the insistent electro pulse of ‘Strict Machine’, in which the magical formula of Alison Goldfrapp’s seductive vocals and Will Gregory’s euphorically charged production is mixed to stunning effect.
The collection’s softer side highlights just how successfully Goldfrapp have been in taking a specific genre and making it their own. The dark yet hopeful tones of ‘A&E’ see the duo create their own interpretation of folk and one of their most poignant tracks to date. Equally, the more recent ‘Believer’ evokes the mellow sway of 80s synthpop with confident finesse. Throughout their work Goldfrapp have coupled heavily textured production with often ambiguous lyrics, leaving much to the imagination, making for a dream-like listening experience. This notion is epitomized by tracks from the group’s cinematic debut ‘Felt Mountain’. Both ‘Utopia’ and ‘Lovely Head’ alike draw the listener into an alternate world, bathed in psychedelic symphonies and bearing a distinctly sinister edge.
In the last decade Goldfrapp have done what many bands could only dream of - creating a body of work which is sonically diverse yet always remains tightly within the realms of their core sound. They exist in an ever-evolving musical landscape crafted solely under their own terms. The new additions to the collection, ‘Yellow Halo’ and ‘Melancholy Sky’, are testament to this. The tracks sound like a charming culmination of the duo’s past sounds, recalling the acoustic warmth of ‘Seventh Tree’ and the ambient wonder of ‘Felt Mountain’. Clearly, there is much promise awaiting but retrospectively ‘The Singles’ is a powerful reminder of the musical genius that lies within this painfully underrated duo.
2012 needs you Jack
Tonight has seen the triumphant return of indie hero Jack Peñate. The video for new song ‘No One Lied’ was recorded at Jack’s home in one take and sees him channeling the spirit of Jeff Buckley, with his raw and moving rendition. It’s been almost 3 years now since the release of the refreshingly vibrant ‘Everything Is New’, so it seems about time that Jack returned to the musical landscape to blow our minds all over again. Jack, 2012 needs you.
Foster The People - I Would Do Anything For You (Strange Talk Remix)
It’s 2012 - the apocalypse is nigh - yet all is well in the world of pop. Scissor Sisters have exploded back onto the scene with this batshit crazy slice of euphoric dance-pop: ‘Shady Love’. The track sees the group enlist the help of rising star Azealia Banks (under the moniker Krystal Pepsy), as they bring the frenetic flow of her underground hit ‘212’ into a thrilling arrangement of filthy electro, courtesy of Boys Noize. Jake Shears takes the lead vocal reigns as he makes his first attempt at rapping, a potentially disastrous decision which ultimately pays off, as he spits out such rhymes as: ‘She gon’ vote for Obama and she likes to dance with Madonna’ as if he owns the New York City streets. Not only does ‘Shady Love’ have raw attitude but its woozy chorus serves up the kind of perfect pop hook we have come to know and love Scissor Sisters for. If there was any band who was going to surprise us this year it had to be this crazy bunch of New Yorkers named after a lesbian sex position. Have I even mentioned the sitar featured in the middle-8!? Bizarre but brilliant.
