Top 10 Records Of The Week - July 1st 2024
*Please note these songs have not necessarily been released over the last week, but they have been in my rotation or have been discovered this week*
10. Look At My Body Pt.II - Mabel & Shygirl
This is a perfect example of a "sexy" song, it's infectious, high octane, loud, a little bit naughty and just such an enjoyable listen. The track is under 3 minutes, including a spoken word section with a guitar riff/solo at the end. This is a song for anyone who likes Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion and people of that ilk. But also has a soft spot for any kind of song with a 'drop'. Is it high art? Absolutely not, but it's fun and something I've really enjoyed recently.
9. Purple Gas - Zach Bryan & Noeline Hofmann
Another country folk bop from Mr Bryan himself, he doesn't really miss. It's nothing insanely complicated, but the lyricism is shining, the sombre tones put you straight in your feels and it's just such easy listening. Highly recommend it for any folk lovers or anyone who needs a change of pace because they're fatigued with higher energy music. Treat it as a musical sorbet if you will
8. Aftertaste - Finn Askew
If I hadn't found such bangers over this last week this would 100% be higher. What a song, Finn is a really exciting artist who has excellent harmonic components highly derivative of R&B. This song feels like the more well-thought-out version of 'Holy' by Justin Bieber, but with hints of artists like Gabrielle and Mahalia in there. Excellent vocal performance with a unique tone and superb control of his falsetto, I know this is low on the list but I would highly suggest you listen to this song regardless of your tastes, I'm sure there is something you can find that you'll love about this song.
7. Do 2 Me (feat Anderson.Paak & SiR) - KAYTRANADA
It's a song with Anderson.Paak, obviously it's amazing. The groove is superb, it's smooth and catchy, the instrumentation is cleverly layered and it's bass line has some real character about it. There are moments where it feels a little West Coast, others where it feels more afrobeat(ish). It's a great feature and fusion.
6. Bleu - Broadside
Sometimes after a long hard day, people like to unwind with a cold one or treat themselves to a little guilty pleasure. For me that comes in the form of overly polished, glistening rock ballads with hints of pop-punk in there. My inner emo craves it and I will not apologise for it. Bleu is the closing track on Broadside's most recent project - which had some good moments but was largely forgettable, with the exception of this closing track which is essentially one giant crescendo. I return back to my point about, is this song high art? No, it's far away from it, but I loved it. It had a 2015 Bring Me The Horizon kind of charm about it and I'm not complaining.
5. Come Back To Me - Natasha Richardson
Acoustic, singer-songwriter. It's the style of music that got me into music so I will always gravitate towards that style in some regard. This song by Natasha is a great example of a personal, open and honest reflection of how someone is feeling and their emotions within the moment. Cleverly ties that in with the themes of finding it difficult to write songs because of her mental state. It feels a little raw and could have better production, but I feel like that 'rawness' enhances the song. It's an easy listen, but if you take the time to try and put yourself in position of the artist you can really get a feeling for how they were feeling when they wrote this.
4. Block Out The Noise - DAYTIME TV
Black Skinhead meets Royal Blood/Muse with a singalong that resembles P!NK's "So what". A fusion I didn't realise I wanted until I heard this. The production is awesome, the vocals are eerie and draw you in during the verses and the chorus is just so anthemic and catchy you feel like you know it after your first listen. I've been a huge advocate for the DAYTIME TV boys before starting this blog but it's only right one of their songs makes this list.
3. Look What You've Done To Me - J Casa
Imagine Loyle Carner and Dave created a musician. The laid-back rap flow of Loyle, the piano harmonics of a Jazz pianist, and the hard-hitting lines of Dave. Similarly to Number 5 on this list, the production leaves something to be desired but I'm more bothered about the songwriting qualities of a song and here they are excellent.
2. Auntie Diaries/Mr Morale - Kendrick Lamar
I'm going to put this out there early doors, I love Kendrick. He's undoubtedly the best rapper of all time to me, I love lots of rappers but to me K-Dot is levels above any of them. Now, after just decimating BBL Drizzy recently, I decided to re-listen to his catalogue and although this top 10 could easily be just Kendrick songs, I thought I would include two songs (cheating I know but it's because of the transition between the two). Auntie Diaries to me, is one of Kendrick's most vulnerable tracks explaining how his 'Auntie is a man now' and growing up with that, whilst talking about his shortcomings and using an offensive word previously and relating that to another context. When the track reaches it's cadence it ends with a poignant line, which leads to this dark transition into Mr Morale, which is definitely more of a 'standard' track but still with excellent points in there. Please just listen closely to this and enjoy.
1. Backfire - Wild Rivers
This SONG! Ugh. Simple? Yes. Effective? You bet. Wild Rivers just have a way of painting these heart-wrenching pictures with their layers of instrumentation, limited use of percussion, manipulation of syllabic phrases and subtle Male + Female harmonies, but where the female is the lead (which isn't particularly common). Try and listen to this song, like properly listen to it and tell me it doesn't stir up some kind of feeling within you. It's got hints of country, but I would still class it as folk primarily but it's secondary category probably being pop and it's a great representation of what the genre folk-pop can be. I love this song, the first time I heard it I knew I was going to play it repeatedly. Maybe not everyone will resonate with it as much as me, but I think it's just such ear candy that it's very unlikely you'll hate it.
10. Look At My Body Pt.II - Mabel & Shygirl
This is a perfect example of a "sexy" song, it's infectious, high octane, loud, a little bit naughty and just such an enjoyable listen. The track is under 3 minutes, including a spoken word section with a guitar riff/solo at the end. This is a song for anyone who likes Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion and people of that ilk. But also has a soft spot for any kind of song with a 'drop'. Is it high art? Absolutely not, but it's fun and something I've really enjoyed recently.
9. Purple Gas - Zach Bryan & Noeline Hofmann
Another country folk bop from Mr Bryan himself, he doesn't really miss. It's nothing insanely complicated, but the lyricism is shining, the sombre tones put you straight in your feels and it's just such easy listening. Highly recommend it for any folk lovers or anyone who needs a change of pace because they're fatigued with higher energy music. Treat it as a musical sorbet if you will
8. Aftertaste - Finn Askew
If I hadn't found such bangers over this last week this would 100% be higher. What a song, Finn is a really exciting artist who has excellent harmonic components highly derivative of R&B. This song feels like the more well-thought-out version of 'Holy' by Justin Bieber, but with hints of artists like Gabrielle and Mahalia in there. Excellent vocal performance with a unique tone and superb control of his falsetto, I know this is low on the list but I would highly suggest you listen to this song regardless of your tastes, I'm sure there is something you can find that you'll love about this song.
7. Do 2 Me (feat Anderson.Paak & SiR) - KAYTRANADA
It's a song with Anderson.Paak, obviously it's amazing. The groove is superb, it's smooth and catchy, the instrumentation is cleverly layered and it's bass line has some real character about it. There are moments where it feels a little West Coast, others where it feels more afrobeat(ish). It's a great feature and fusion.
6. Bleu - Broadside
Sometimes after a long hard day, people like to unwind with a cold one or treat themselves to a little guilty pleasure. For me that comes in the form of overly polished, glistening rock ballads with hints of pop-punk in there. My inner emo craves it and I will not apologise for it. Bleu is the closing track on Broadside's most recent project - which had some good moments but was largely forgettable, with the exception of this closing track which is essentially one giant crescendo. I return back to my point about, is this song high art? No, it's far away from it, but I loved it. It had a 2015 Bring Me The Horizon kind of charm about it and I'm not complaining.
5. Come Back To Me - Natasha Richardson
Acoustic, singer-songwriter. It's the style of music that got me into music so I will always gravitate towards that style in some regard. This song by Natasha is a great example of a personal, open and honest reflection of how someone is feeling and their emotions within the moment. Cleverly ties that in with the themes of finding it difficult to write songs because of her mental state. It feels a little raw and could have better production, but I feel like that 'rawness' enhances the song. It's an easy listen, but if you take the time to try and put yourself in position of the artist you can really get a feeling for how they were feeling when they wrote this.
4. Block Out The Noise - DAYTIME TV
Black Skinhead meets Royal Blood/Muse with a singalong that resembles P!NK's "So what". A fusion I didn't realise I wanted until I heard this. The production is awesome, the vocals are eerie and draw you in during the verses and the chorus is just so anthemic and catchy you feel like you know it after your first listen. I've been a huge advocate for the DAYTIME TV boys before starting this blog but it's only right one of their songs makes this list.
3. Look What You've Done To Me - J Casa
Imagine Loyle Carner and Dave created a musician. The laid-back rap flow of Loyle, the piano harmonics of a Jazz pianist, and the hard-hitting lines of Dave. Similarly to Number 5 on this list, the production leaves something to be desired but I'm more bothered about the songwriting qualities of a song and here they are excellent.
2. Auntie Diaries/Mr Morale - Kendrick Lamar
I'm going to put this out there early doors, I love Kendrick. He's undoubtedly the best rapper of all time to me, I love lots of rappers but to me K-Dot is levels above any of them. Now, after just decimating BBL Drizzy recently, I decided to re-listen to his catalogue and although this top 10 could easily be just Kendrick songs, I thought I would include two songs (cheating I know but it's because of the transition between the two). Auntie Diaries to me, is one of Kendrick's most vulnerable tracks explaining how his 'Auntie is a man now' and growing up with that, whilst talking about his shortcomings and using an offensive word previously and relating that to another context. When the track reaches it's cadence it ends with a poignant line, which leads to this dark transition into Mr Morale, which is definitely more of a 'standard' track but still with excellent points in there. Please just listen closely to this and enjoy.
1. Backfire - Wild Rivers
This SONG! Ugh. Simple? Yes. Effective? You bet. Wild Rivers just have a way of painting these heart-wrenching pictures with their layers of instrumentation, limited use of percussion, manipulation of syllabic phrases and subtle Male + Female harmonies, but where the female is the lead (which isn't particularly common). Try and listen to this song, like properly listen to it and tell me it doesn't stir up some kind of feeling within you. It's got hints of country, but I would still class it as folk primarily but it's secondary category probably being pop and it's a great representation of what the genre folk-pop can be. I love this song, the first time I heard it I knew I was going to play it repeatedly. Maybe not everyone will resonate with it as much as me, but I think it's just such ear candy that it's very unlikely you'll hate it.