New Music Friday | Featuring ‘Eat The Acid’ by Kesha

We commence the first of a back-to-back billing of bank holidays with new music from Kesha, Four Tet, Melotone, The National, Avalon Emerson and more.

Kesha – Eat The Acid

Announcing a new forthcoming album with not one, but two tracks today, there’s plenty to be excited about when it comes to Kesha’s new LP, Gag Order, set for release on 19 May. Not only has the project been produced by music industry behemoth Rick Rubin, but today’s releases mark a curious insight into what the US star has described as “post-pop”.

Four Tet – Three Drums

Fresh from his creative rendezvous with Fred Again.. and Skrillex, which included a closing set at Coachella, Four Tet (the artistic moniker of Kieran Hebden) is back to solo work. The result is beautiful, with an eight-minute tune that inclines into a fuzzy wall of sound, before fading down like one huge breath.

Melotone – And… Beyond

The Bristol-via-Birmingham-with-a-dash-of-the-Brazilian alt-psych outfit Melotone return with their latest single today. ‘And… Beyond’ is as textured as any of the band’s releases to date and leans heavily into the Portuguese tongue of lead singer Alec Madeley. The band’s debut EP is set for release on 7 July via Think Twice Records.

The National (feat. Taylor Swift) – The Alcott

The addition of Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers on The National’s latest album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein, was always likely to create some of the largest amount of chatter around the record. It’s a testament to the Matt Berninger-fronted outfit and the respect they’ve accrued over the years, however, that it’s by means overshadowed the release. That said, the piano-laden ‘The Alcott’, featuring Swift, is certainly a touching, well-written tune.

Teflon Sega – Unreasonable

The idea of an entirely virtual artist might be something of a gimmick to some (even if Gorillaz have been doing it since the late ‘90s), but there’s nothing inaccessible about Teflon Sega’s ‘Unreasonable’. Taken from the online creative’s debut album Welcome To The Mourning Show, out today, it’s a smooth funk, RnB-leaning tune that will induce as much real-life desire to move as any track out this week.

Indigo De Souza – All of This Will End

“Who gives a fuck / All of this will end / Don’t forget / All of this will end” Indigo De Souza emphasises on the chorus of her latest album’s titular track. It’s as though she’s half-telling us, half-reminding herself, which is exactly the human, relatable approach the album bears as a whole. Have a read of our review of All of This Will End here.

Avalon Emerson – Astrology Poisoning

For those not yet versed in Avalon Emerson’s & The Charm project, and may still know her for her techno bangers, get used to it. This dreamy new alt-pop output is a breezy ode to the likes of Arthur Russell and Cocteau Twins – some of Emerson’s most-cherished artists. Read our full review of the debut project for Avalon Emerson & The Charm here.

Jack Harlow – Ambitious

Bearing some of the typical Jack Harlow bravado that many have come to love, Jack Harlow’s latest album Jackman, out today, is a superior record to last year’s Come Home The Kids Miss You. Released, respectably, without all the fanfare of singles, it’s an attempt to figure Harlow as a genuine artist, rather than a chart-hitting puppet. To that end, ‘Ambitious’ is its trademark signature. Read our full review of Jackman here.

Confidence Man, Daniel Avery – On & On (Again)

There’s a massive tuuuuune out today by Aussie electro-pop act Confidence Man, bolstered by the ever-terrific technical powerhouse of Daniel Avery. The result is a track that’s somehow both light and airy whilst having an intense propulsive feel to it – a hard contradiction to master.

Grian Chatten – The Score

Fontaines D.C.’s frontman Grian Chatten dropped a solo track of his own this week; one that inevitably bears the same slightly bleak poetics found on his Irish post-punk band’s output. Whether it marks the start of further solo work or is just a stopgap for more Fontaines music is besides the point – so long as Grian and co. keep the tunes coming in some shape or form.