
Jamie T – 90s Cars
Londoner Jamie T returns with his first album in six years, The Theory of Whatever. Fifteen years since his youthful, blaring, no-fucks-given Panic Prevention burst into our eardrums, this album feels like a nostalgic flashback to simpler times. ‘90s Cars’, with an equally timestamped title, is its pulsating opener.
Joey Bada$$ – Make Me Feel
Another of many big-name album releases today is Joey Bada$$’ 2000. Six years but one digit up from 2012’s 1999, it’s a welcome record that will season many a playlist this summer. ‘Make Me Feel’ is soulful, light and groovy, living up to its emotive title. It doesn’t just make us feel but makes us feeeeeeel…
Charlotte Dos Santos – Filha Do Sol
Interpolating Edu Lobo’s boss nova tune ‘O Açoite Bateu’, this is another record that blazes with sunshine and Portugues flair, an ode to Dos Santos’ Brazilian roots. “‘Filha Do Sol’ is the most special song to me,” Dos Santos has said of the track, “as it is a song about my heritage dedicated to my family in Brazil. It’s a song about myself, having my Norwegian mother’s hair, and my father’s skin. It’s a song about the history of slavery and it’s about resilience and empowerment to all people of color as a reminder that we are strong and will always rise again”. The emphatic percussion at the end of the track is certainly an uplift.
Ayka – Cobalt Moment
Also half-Norwegian is Liverpool-born Ayka (who’s Turkish-Norwegian). ‘Cobalt Moment’ comes from her forthcoming EP, Eleven, which is out early September. Airy and ethereal, the sound of this track embodies its message of not taking life quite so seriously. “To deal with the seriousness of life, you ought to take it not as seriously,” Ayka has said. And with that wisdon-beyond-her-years, she’s certainly worth listening to (and keeping your ears out for in the future).
Eden Samara – Madonna
Working with London label Local Action, Eden Samara has dropped her new single ‘Madonna’, the lead single from a full album set for release this Autumn. This loose house track from the London-based, Canadian artist is both simultaneously danceable and cerebral; its subject matter, Samara explains, “navigates fears I’ve experienced when first dating someone about being accepted for the most complex areas of my sexuality and queerness.”
Jack White – Please God, Don’t Tell Anyone
One of my favourites from an all-round terrific album, which dropped today. (Catch our review here). ‘Please God, Don’t Tell Anyone’ is a lovely, meandering tune, reflecting on White’s inner spiritual turmoil. Its jazzy piano ending is typical of the album, which often transports us to an old American dive bar; as though White were sitting in the corner, regaling his stories and pouring his heart out.
Bonnie Kemplay – 19
One of the latest additions to the illustrious Dirty Hit record label (The 1975, beabadoobee, Wolf Alice – you know the sort), Bonnie Kemplay has produced a tune that belies her 20 years and the track’s title. ‘19’ was written over a six-month period about, well, being 19. “As my life shifted throughout that period of time,” Kemplay’s said, “the lyrical content took shape in parallel to my experiences – so it ended up being about many things. There are common themes of time passing, ritual, hopelessness.” It also ended up being a beauty, with a powerful crescendo two-thirds of the way through.
Ty Seagall – Over
The fourth and final tune to derive from a big-swinging album drop today, Ty Seagall’s Hello, Hi is a melodious arrangement of garage rock. As its homely title suggests, Hello, Hi was recorded at Seagall’s California home and adds yet another year for us to be blessed with at least one album from him, going all the way back to 2009. ‘Over’ isn’t just an emotive, toe-tapper, it’s also an ironic track selection for an artist who, it seems, is anything but.
Bleach Lab – Take It Slow
South London’s Bleach Lab have dropped ‘Take It Slow’ along with the welcome announcement that they’re signing to Nettwork (home to the likes of Matt Maltese, Perfume Genius and Ólafur Arnalds, to name a few). ‘Take It Slow’ is, unsurprisingly, about enjoying the journey of life, rather than simply rushing to the destination; something we hope the band undertake with such positive news. By the sound of it, as you’ll hear in the track, it’ s fully deserved.
Lil Uzi Vert – Flex Up
After some leaks, snippets and much clamour for new music from Lil Uzi Vert (even if Eternal Atake was just a couple of years ago), it seems the cogs are finally turning on an impending project. We were treated to a slew of singles this week, all of which are part of their Red & White EP, which in turn serves as the prelude to their forthcoming studio album, P!NK. You can’t say we’ve not been treated.
There it is. That’s a wrap. In the words of one forgotten man, “Hasta la vista, baby”.