The best of this week’s singles: Oliver Wilde, AlunaGeorge, Sampha and more!
Published on July 16th, 2013 | Jonny Abrams
This week’s singles contained some genuine horrors – tune in tomorrow for more on Britney Spears’s contender for Least Appropriate Soundtrack Contribution of All Time – but as usual we done gone sorted some darn tootin’ wheat from that there chaff (or some other such characterful lead-in)…
Sampha – “Without”
“James Blake meets Timbaland” sound good to you? It does to us.
Don’t let that corny-ass write-up of ours put you off the tune: it really is a strange, beautiful and strangely beautiful little number.
When we lapse into irksome musicjournospeak, that’s just us getting excited.
Rocksucker says: Three and a Half Quails out of Five!
…and if you like Sampha, check out “Drops” by Jungle, which is also out this week…
Colour of Bone – “Itch”
That abrasively yelping verse manages to maintain interest levels purely by dint of sounding so bloody strange; this is a good thing, as it leads into a calming redemption of a chorus, making for a laterally conceived yet well-rounded package.
Like a scuzzier, bleepier, more British (presumably) version of WHY?. Approval gained, curiosity piqued.
Rocksucker says: Three and a Half Quails out of Five!
AlunaGeorge – “Bad Idea”
Loving the level of regional accent invested into the vocal; makes it feel like Maxinquaye at the disco, on a fair amount of uppers.
Just release the album already.
Rocksucker says: Three and a Half Quails out of Five!
Adam Dunning & Tash Parker – “Holiday”
Disarming sweetness, luxurious chord changes and – perhaps most impressive of all – a beach-set music video that doesn’t make you want to punch everyone and everything in existence
Such an elegantly dancing accordion solo, too, just to crown this exquisitely dizzy sort-of-waltz. It’ll sound cheesy to some but we’re thoroughly sold.
Rocksucker says: Four Quails out of Five!
Oliver Wilde – “Perrett’s Brook”
This is the kind of music Richard Hawley should be making, rather than the (admittedly serviceable) Doves-alikes that, er, earned him a Mercury nomination last year.
Misguided Rocksucker advice aside, this is flipping fantastic: entrancing, hallucinatory, slow-burning, otherworldly and all sorts of lovely things like that.
Kind of shoegazey, too, in its sleepy way. Over to us to investigate further. Single of the week.
Rocksucker says: Four Quails out of Five!
Tune in tomorrow for the worst of this week’s singles!
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