How To Dress Well - Nonkilling 6 | Hunger

A: How To Dress Well
S: Nonkilling 6 | Hunger

Earlier this year, How To Dress Well returned with an excellent new Maggie Nelson-referencing single, The Anteroom. Then, he announced that it's the title track to his new album, which was released last Friday. Before, he's shared a new single, Nonkilling 6 | Hunger, a mournful track that mutates into a strobed out house slapper. Enjoy.

... there's singing still left to be done.

Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper - Shallow (A Star Is Born)

A: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper
S: Shallow (A Star Is Born)

Shallow, the Bradley Cooper-Lady Gaga duet from the forthcoming remake of A Star Is Born, opens with an acoustic guitar that recalls strumming from the Peak Power Ballad Era. Cooper’s slightly raspy voice brings to mind today’s country-pop singers in Unplugged mode. But when Lady Gaga comes in to cheers, Shallow explodes into colors, turning a simple love song into high drama. And La Lady delivers a vocal performance that power-ballad scholars will be studying for generations.

... in the bad times, I fear myself.

Lana Del Rey - Mariners Apartment Complex

A: Lana Del Rey
S: Mariners Apartment Complex

La Rey has shared two songs of her 2019 album Norman Fucking Rockwell so far, this being the first but I like to do things in reverse order. Anyway, the track, produced by Jack Antonoff, features Del Rey's lush vocals against a beautiful backdrop of country-influenced guitar work, with her singing in wondrous whispers and dreamy layered harmonies about a beautiful, yet tumultuous, romance. 

... right where you are, that's where I am.

Christine and the Queens - La marcheuse

A: Christine and the Queens
S: La marcheuse

Taken from the French language version of her second album Chris, here's Christine's fourth single taken from said record. When asked about the lyrical inspiration of the album, she replied: “I just want to be someone who desires. I think it’s interesting to think about the one female character who desires and is really lusting after them, like a male rockstar could be."

... j’ai connu pire, j’ai connu la honte.

Molly Nilsson - Days Of Dust

A: Molly Nilsson
S: Days Of Dust

Molly Nilsson will release new album Twenty Twenty on November 2. She says the title came from being stranded at the Tokyo airport. “Between my interrupted bench naps the surroundings found their way into my dreams, particularly the big banners in the departure hall stating: 2020. Not aware that they were announcing upcoming Olympic games, my imagination wandered,” Molly says. “2020, a leap year. The year of the rat, the election. Perfect vision. A spell cast on the approaching future; not yet there, but close enough to be seen with full clarity.”


... it's over now.

Florence + The Machine - South London Forever

A: Florence + The Machine
S: South London Forever

Born and raised in Camberwell in south London, Florence Welch was educated at Alleyn's School in Dulwich before studying at the Camberwell College of Arts. After dropping out to pursue her musical career, Welch continued to live in south London and on this song she pays tribute the area that she still calls home. Enjoy.

... I thought it doesn't get better than this.

Khalid & Normani - Love Lies

A: Khalid & Normani
S: Love Lies

Love Lies is an original song featured in the movie Love, Simon. It's also the first collaboration between artists Khalid and Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei, and serves as Normani’s official solo debut. So on the day of the release, Normani tweeted: I’m so proud of this body of work that I was lucky enough to create with Khalid. And Billboard has ranked Love Lies as the #40 best song in 2018 so far.

... waste the day and spend the night.

Many Voices Speak - Tank Town

A: Many Voices Speak
S: Town Town

Many Voices Speak has recently released her debut album Tank Town and it is gorgeous. You can watch the beautiful performance video for the album's title track below. Stereogum calls it lush dream-pop and I really have nothing else to add to this. Enjoy.

 

...

Cher - SOS

A: Cher
S: SOS

SOS! Cher‘s new music video is so incredible you’ll need time to recover after watching it.

The video, directed by Jake Wilson, features a star-studded female cast, fabulous neon makeup and some seriously retro hair and wardrobe. (The bangs! The plaids! The turtlenecks!) Enjoy.

... what happened to our love.

Mumford & Sons - Guiding Light

A: Mumford & Sons
S: Guiding Light

Mumford & Sons have announced details of their upcoming new album,Delta, to be released on November 16. Recorded at Church Studios in London and produced by Paul Epworth, Delta will be the quartet’s fourth album and is described as a record of differing shades, colours and textures.

... I swear you'll see the dawn again.

Leon Bridges - Beyond

A: Leon Bridges
S: Beyond

Leon Bridges is fully into the possibility that the love is real, that the shoe might fit, and the sentiment is visualized perfectly in his sugar-y sweet Beyond video. The clip, which takes place in Bridges' home state of Texas, paints a picture of a retro romance that is refreshingly simple. The crooner slow dances, walks through markets, and laughs over dinner and drinks with his girl in a vignette that is sure to warm your heart. 

... feeling things I've never felt.

Lana Del Rey - Venice Bitch

A: Lana Del Rey
S: Venice Bitch

Venice Bitch, the second single from Lana Del Rey’s exquisitely titled new album Norman Fucking Rockwell, is unlike anything she’s ever written - but it takes a while to realize it. To a characteristically pensive fingerpicked guitar lick, Lana opens the song with a series of classic Lana-isms. Enjoy.

... miss you on my lips.

KT Tunstall - The River

A: KT Tunstall
S: The River

Guess who back. La Tunstall returns with her sixth album and a surprising makeover from her classic rock-folk persona of the previous five.The River is the first single from KT’s upcoming 6th album WAX, set to be released on October 5. 

... now I'll never know, now I'll never go.

Rae Morris Feat. Fryars - Cold

A: Rae Morris Feat. Fryars
S: Cold

Sitting somewhere between the accessible pop melancholia of Gabrielle Aplin and the intuitive songwriting qualities of Laura Marling, the young Blackpudlian has been honing her craft since the age of 16, and the relative experience is telling in this cut back from 2014. Enjoy.

... you're not the one I adore.

Thom Yorke - Suspirium

A: Thom Yorke
S: Suspirium

Suspirium is a song taken from Thom Yorke’s soundtrack for the 2018 horror film Suspiria. Thom sings about the dilemma of existence. He starts off with a reflection how we as souls have these bodies to play out fulfilling our desires through the choices we encounter in our lives. He then goes on to sing about how we are thrust into cycles of pain and joy.

... is the darkness ours to take? 

Nicki Minaj - Barbie Dreams

A: Nicki Minaj
S: Barbie Dreams

After a series of rollout delays, Nicki Minaj dropped her long-anticipated fourth album, Queen, last month. She and her team did everything to make the album release feel like an event. Nothing, though, will likely be as successful at driving immediate interest as the third song on the album, Barbie Dreams. “Reading the reactions to Barbie Dreams is fucking hilarious,” Nicki said as soon as the song was released. “Everyone is saying how disrespectful Barbie Dreams is, and that’s why I fucking love it.”

... he took it literally when I said "go to hell".

Mt. Joy - Bigfoot

A: Mt. Joy
S: Bigfoot

LA-via-Philadelphia five-piece Mt. Joy have released their self-titled, debut album earlier this year. The band have now shared a video for album track Bigfoot. Of the quirky video and its early 90's MTV vibes, director Steve Girard said that without a specific story in mind, he let Mt. Joy’s Bigfoot song inspire the visuals, and the visuals eventually built on themselves, in a natural way. Enjoy.

... white kids don't dance.

Tennis - In The Morning I'll Be Better

A: Tennis
S: In The Morning I'll Be Better

Throwback to this 2016 track taken from the fourth album from husband and wife team Tennis. Spoon’s Jim Eno, who produced the album called Yours Conditionally, returned only as a mixer as the record was self-produced by Tennis. Check out the music video for their song In the Morning I’ll Be Better, along with the album on your preferred streaming account.

... I’ll wipe your cares away.

Tami T - I Never Loved This Hard This Fast Before

A: Tami T
S: I Never Loved This Hard This Fast Before

This might have been the first time in almost eight years that I missed to post a song a day, but luckily I caught it just in time to make up for the gap. Enjoy.

... I never loved a boy like you before.

Toktok Vs. Soffy O - Betty

A: Toktok Vs. Soffy O
S: Betty

Berlin duo Toktok released a new electro-techno track featuring Soffy O earlier this year. The duo has been part of the Berlin scene for quite a while. They had their Tresor debut in 1995. Tresor, the other famous Berlin club besides Berghain, is still going and so are they over 20 years later in 2017 — and still using the all time classic synth 808 as you can hear. Enjoy.

... it's a cruel and a competitive world.

The Blaze - Queens

A: The Blaze
S: Queens

Cousins Guillaume and Jonathan Alric, aka French electronic duo The Blaze, are masters at capturing the human spirit in both sonic and visual form. Both are music producers and film directors, and everything the duo touches turns to gold. Their latest offering to the world comes in the form of Queens, a somber, beautiful, and moving music video from their debut album DANCEHALL, out now.

... feels so loud.

Blood Orange - Saint

A: Blood Orange
S: Saint

Dev Hynes released his latest Blood Orange album, the lovely and poignant Negro Swan. It’s an absolutely beautiful album on the surface level, but it’s got a lot else going on, too. Hynes has described it as being an album about the depression and anxiety of being a person of color, or a queer person, living in today’s United States. And the more you listen to it, the more the ideas come out.

... your skin's a flag that shines for us all.

LSD Feat. Sia, Diplo, Labrinth - Thunderclouds

A: LSD Feat. Sia, Diplo, Labrinth
S: Thunderclouds

Sia, Diplo and Labrinth soar through the sky in a psychedelic car in their trippy video for Thunderclouds, their collaborative single under the moniker LSD. Maddie Ziegler, who has appeared in Sia’s videos for Chandelier and Elastic Heart, stars in the clip, performing interpretive dances on top of the roaming vehicle. Enjoy.

... please turn your fears into trust.

Ladytron - The Island

A: Ladytron
S: The Island

The second single teasing Ladytron's next album - the legendary Liverpool electronic act's first after a 7-year hiatus, slated for release in the first quarter of next year - is here and it's ace. Delivered in familiar Ladytron fashion, The Island feels like a nod to longtime fans who've been awaiting the group's return for so many years.

... fate loves desire.

Neneh Cherry - Shot Gun Shack

A: Neneh Cherry
S: Shot Gun Shack

Cherry heard the phrase Shot Gun Shack while at the funeral of late jazz musician Ornette Coleman: I don’t even remember who said it, but I was like, ‘Shotgun shack! That’s a cool term.’ It’s about gun culture—the notion of war zones and the tragedies that guns bring there. The dealing of arms. Street culture. The gun is a powerful thing - dangerous, but powerful.

... you can't cry now.

Aesop Rock - Kirby

A: Aesop Rock
S: Kirby

Kirby is actually a pretty simple song in terms of content for Aesop, being an ode to his cat Kirby. At the end of the song, he reveals that he bought the kitten because his psychiatrist told him to. It happens. I guess.

... homie don't fetch, only woke to stretch.

Say Lou Lou - Golden Child

A: Say Lou Lou
S: Golden Child

Australian-Swedish sibling duo Say Lou Lou have come out the other side of their renaissance with Immortelle, an album that explores the roles and relationships of women. Their second single Golden Child is a percussive, dream-pop anthem for young, and every man who feels like a natural woman.


... there's fire burning in your bones tonight.

Childish Gambino - Feels Like Summer

A: Childish Gambino
S: Feels Like Summer

Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) dropped an animated music video for his single Feels Like Summer on Saturday, and it’s chock-full of high-profile cartoon cameos. Feels Like Summer, which was released in June alongside Summertime Magic, issues a subtle warning about climate change delivered through Gambino’s haunting vocals and dreamy melody. The new video also features dozens of cartoon versions of pop culture and political icons.

... I'm hopin' that this world will change.

Troye Sivan - Bloom

A: Troye Sivan
S: Bloom

No other song this year has inspired more unbridled joy than Troye Sivan’s My My My!. Like a pair of glitter-heeled boots, it begs for you to strut as reverbed drums clack and shake in the background. In fact, Bloom, the YouTuber-turned-singer’s second album, is soaked in this exuberance. Whereas before Sivan was meekly stepping out of the closet, embracing his homosexuality with brooding melancholia, Bloom dances around the closet as it burns. Enjoy.

... I've been saving this for you, baby.

Die Toten Hosen - Willkommen in Deutschland

A: Die Toten Hosen
S: Willkommen in Deutschland

Dear nazis, AfD politicians and all of you the other people hating in Chemnitz in 2018, 79 years after the third reich started the second world war, 15 years after this song was written - please retire your hate speech, please shut the fcuk up, or even better, please go and die. Thanks and sincerely yours, humanity.

... du bist schuldig, wenn du deine Augen davor schließt.