A revolving cast of contributors showcase some of the best new music releases from the past week.
Future – DS2
Future knows he's got to punch hard if he wants to be remembered in today's musical climate and DS2 ensures he won’t be forgotten, even in the midst of OVO season. The album is deep, dark, codeine fuelled and honest. It earns the love (it deserves) because it washes over everyone who understands and lives its story - it says they doubted you but that's okay, they doubted me and I still don't care.
It also has bars slicker than any you’ll hear lately, with tracks like ‘Colossal’ and ‘Trap Niggas’ emphasising the theme. "You got to know where I’m from to get to know a nigga", he says on ‘Kno The Meaning’. The production here pays homage to his competition and, in the same hit, he repackages the sound and makes it his own. Listen in. Future is in the ranks of the elite. – Aleyna Martinez
Lana Del Rey – ‘Honeymoon’
After weeks of teasing via Instagram, Lana Del Rey has released ‘Honeymoon’ and in true Lana fashion it is sad, slow and sexy.
After the low tempo of last year’s Ultraviolence, the track sets an almost glacial pace indicating her continued departure from the hip hop leanings of Born to Die. While Lana detractors will no doubt consider it to be more of the same, ‘Honeymoon’ indicates increased confidence on the part of Del Rey and a commitment to a sound and ethos so often devalued and disparaged: “We both know it’s not fashionable to love me,” she croons here, and it is a wry moment of self-reflexivity all the more significant amidst her usual solipsism.
‘Honeymoon’ may feature some pretty classic Lana-isms (“There are roses in between my thighs and a fire that surrounds you”), but it is also orchestral and tense and brimming with disquiet. The subject matter is familiar territory: a codependent relationship with a dangerous man and lots of driving around, yet it is one that Del Rey knows inside out and which clearly remains fascinating to her.
Like Del Rey, ‘Honeymoon’ will not be for everyone, yet with her forthcoming album of the same name co-produced by Mark ‘Uptown Funk’ Ronson she may soon be approaching more accessible territory. In the meantime, however, ‘Honeymoon’ is classic downbeat Lana and the ideal track to wallow to this winter. – Katie Parker
Protomartyr – ‘Why Does It Shake?’
In the same week that Sinead O'Connor announced that rock is dead and the British populous continue to be miffed by lack of stadium rock acts (they should be more worried about Queen Elizabeth being a Nazi-sympathiser as well as a shapeshifting reptilian), Detroit band Protomartyr swoop in releasing their latest effort, ‘Why Does It Shake?’
Taken from their forthcoming record The Agent Intellect, which is due out this October, the song’s driving floor tom rhythms are instantly addictive and the dissonant wiry guitar stab at every fourth count eventually finds them in a flurry of noise. As per, vocalist Joe Casey has another batch of classic lines that are thrown into the ether with deadpan delivery: "History's my back yard / eternity's my reward"; "I'll be the first to never die / nice thought / and I'm never going to lose it."
Then comes the change at 02.12. Oh the change! It's worth the wait.
Protomarytr are the shape of things to come. Sinead, the British public and Mein Commonwealths' Führer should get their heads out of their arses and bow down to the future greats. – Zac Arnold
Tame Impala – ‘New Person, Old Mistakes’
Given that the first two Tame Impala albums were critically acclaimed and commercially successful, it seems inconceivable that songwriter Kevin Parker would have any reason to experience self-doubt while writing the just-released Currents. But as the album closer ‘New Person, Same Old Mistakes’ reveals, Parker is affected by an inner critic as much as the rest of us.
Opening with the lyrics “I can just hear them now / ‘how could you let us down’”, the song sounds like a pre-emptive defence of the new, disco-inflected direction he’s taken with this album. Later on, Parker sings “I know you don’t think it’s right / I know that you think it’s fake / maybe fake’s what I like”, and “I don’t care, I’m in love”.
By the time the chorus rolls around, he’s found his confidence and the finger snaps on the line “Feel like a brand new person” perfectly capture that feeling of self-assured sass, and help to make the song an album highlight. – Ellen Falconer
Tranquility House – ‘Mostly Ghostly’
New Wellington band Tranquillity House released their first single ‘Mostly Ghostly’ on Monday. Former Puzzlefoot members Nathaniel Herz-Edinger, Jonathan Peters, Philp Jones, and Dylan Kelly have joined together with new drummer, Tuterangiwhaitiri Pleydell, to create an intriguing art-rock creation.
Jamming into the song with loose drumming rhythms and stark guitar notes, ‘Mostly Ghostly’ evolves organically, warming up as the song meanders on into an excellent, catchy rock outro, which draws together the looser elements of the song excellently. New Zealand accented spoken word lyrics add a nice daydreamy, spoken poetry vibe to the song. Look out for their first EP, which is set to be released on Friday. – Elizabeth Beattie
What's your pick? Tell us about it in the comments section.