Cat Burns, ArrDee – Home For My Heart
Brighton’s cheeky-chappie ArrDee has teamed up with fast-rising songstress Cat Burns for a surprising new single, ‘Home For My Heart’. Combining their respective talents and marking the first of Burns’ release for the year, ‘Home For My Heart’ is a soft yet potent release telling the story of broken relationships. It arrives with a sweet new video directed by Najeeb Tarazi, which sees the two stars revolving in and out of shot amid various backdrops that pay tribute to both their humble beginnings.
Miley Cyrus – Jaded
In case you hadn’t noticed – which would be nigh impossible thanks to the success of its record-breaking lead single, ‘Flowers’ – Miley Cyrus has a new album out today. Endless Summer Vacation is full of other exceptional high points beyond its disco-inflected opener. It serves as a reminder of Cyrus’ exceptional rock voice and recalls some of the best work in Cyrus’ hugely under-appreciated catalogue, as our review outlines.
Sleaford Mods – Smash Each Other Up
So much of electro-punk duo Sleaford Mods’ output has been spent railing against the political elite prising us apart. On ‘Smash Each Other Up’, the midpoint of their latest album UK Grim, Jason Williamson details the depressing endpoint: we’ve started turning on each other, as “Everybody’s getting well narky / fist fights in Sainsbury’s car park”. Amid a sombre beat from his other creative half, Andrew Fearn, it epitomises the bleakly accurate assessment of the country that the rest of the album puts across. Read our full interview with Sleaford Mods here.
Nia Archives – That’s Tha Way Life Goes
Another BRITs Rising Star nominee on this week’s playlist (along with Cat Burns), Nia Archives, has been riding a wave of jungle and drum n’ bass revival in the UK recently. With the release of her brand-new EP, Sunrise Bang Your Head Against Tha Wall, out today, she’s adding yet another worthy addition. With a jaunty piano backing, ‘That’s Tha Way Life Goes’ has the kind of happy-go-lucky vibe that’s inherent in its title, a sonic c’est la vie.
Azekel, Ebo Taylor – Love & Death, Pt. 2
Another track that captures life in all its pain and glory, Azekel’s latest release sees him collaborate with Ghanaian guitar legend Ebo Taylor. And that’s just the tip of the musical treat; the track also features Moses Boyd on drums, Charlie Stacey on keys and Sheila Maurice-Grey on horns. All of it combines for a brilliant swelling of sound and emotion. It’s the fourth track from Azekel’s long-awaited mixtape Analyze Love, out next week (17 March).
Christine and the Queens – To be honest
Mercurial French artist Christine and the Queens has announced a brand-new album, Paranoïa, Angels, True Love, for release on 9 June. The record is already a tantalising prospect, with feature guest spots from Madonna and previous collaborator 070 Shake having already been revealed and production work from Mike Dean. ‘To be honest’, the album’s lead single has a deep, glossy resonance that also amounts to sonic salivation.
Protomartyr – Make Way
When it comes to soaring, dusty indie-rock – the kind that could soundtrack a Western, and which both Warmduscher and Black Country, New Road occasionally stray into on this side of the pond – Detroit quarter Protomartyr are the real deal. ‘Make Way’ precedes the band’s new album, Entitled Formal Growth In The Desert, set for release on 2 June, and has a kind of towering majesty, its drums raining down, from a track recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, where the humbling Sonoran rock formations lie.
Depeche Mode – My Cosmos Is Mine
‘My Cosmos Is Mine’ is the first track on British legends Depeche Mode’s fifteenth studio album, Memento Mori, which will be released in just two weeks, on 24 March. The 12-track album will be a poignant record for the band, as it will be the first since the sudden death of co-founder and keyboardist Andy Fletcher in May last year. This latest track certainly sets an atmospheric scene whilst also living up to previous descriptions of the album as “a vast expansion of moods and textures”.
Kassa Overall – Ready To Ball
Seattle-based drummer, producer and rapper Kassa Overall announced his signing to the esteemed Warp Records with his new single, ‘Ready To Ball’. His new label, the home has a taste for experimentation and giving their artists the creative space to breathe; it’s a sound and aura on this new track, which its creator has explained is “really [about] dealing with feelings of jealousy”.
Shaun Farrugia – Vertigo
The final track on Shaun Farrugia’s debut EP, Heaven Like Mine, out today, ‘Vertigo’, was written from the point of struggle; a time, Farrugia has described, when it felt “like everything was spiralling out of control”. Thankfully, as can be heard in the impressive vocals of the 26-year-old Maltese, there’s a sense of hope from admitting vulnerability. Heaven Like Mine has been a long time since Farrugia quit his job in 2019, sold everything he owned, and flew from Malta to London; there, he showed up on the doorstep of Sigala after being invited to meet the producer during an Instagram Live. He’s undoubtedly come a long way since he wrote this tune.
