5 songs you should hear this week - w/e 1 December
Every day we play you a track that has just grabbed our attention. As soon as we hear it, we send it into the digital ether for you all to enjoy. Sometimes it's an exclusive, sometimes it's a favourite artist and, other times, it'll be a brand new artist. Here's this week's choice selection. Just hit the links to see the full Just Added playlist:
Django Django - In Your Beat
We began the week with a bang thanks to Django Django and a second taste of third album, Dark Skies, which is due in January. From the 80s intro onwards, through rising electronic chords, to the “dancing with me” chorus, we are utterly on board. We’d also recommend listening whilst watching the hypnotic video (art directed by Brodie Kaman), which has poster-inspired imagery synchronised to match the beat.
Field Music - Count It Up
David Brewis wrote this song on his young son’s keyboard in the wake of last year’s Brexit vote (his town, Sunderland, was the first place that voted to leave). He was feeling “down and angry” and has described this track as “a howl of rage set to what’s basically my version of Material Girl”. The beginning, in particular, brings to mind Talking Heads, as David (Brewis not Byrne) takes time to check his privilege - from owning a car, to having drinking water on tap – while entreating others to do the same (count it up). The band’s sixth album, Open Here, is due out in February.
Ty Segall - The Main Pretender
The prolific multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and record producer, has had a busy year. This track follows hot on the heels of a self-titled LP, an EP and a series of singles including My Lady’s On Fire earlier this month. These four (so far – there are still four weeks left of 2017!) singles have been united by single-colour artwork and this song is depicted as a pinky-mauve. It features fabulously funky and fuzzy guitar, with some standout saxophone from regular collaborator and Freedom Band member Mikal Cronin. As Ty sings: just surrender to it.
The Go! Team - Mayday
When Jimmy Webb fired up the Morse code mimicking pre-set on his organ for Wichita Lineman, the strings followed suit and a perfect pop song was realised. Now Ian Parton’s taken the sound and run with a deliberately melodramatic metaphor: “I've always wanted to do a song with Morse code in it and when I hit upon the idea of applying a mayday distress signal to love problems I was surprised it had never been done before.” This is the second track from Semicircle, which is due January 19th, and re-unites Ian with original members Ninja and Sam Dook, plus a few new Go! Team members.
Smerz – Have Fun
This Norwegian duo’s name is taken from a rhyming German saying “schmerz im herz”, which roughly translates to “pain in the heart.”“It’s not often directly about heartache but what mood you come into from the heartache,” says Henriette Motzfeldt about the main inspiration for their music. This is their third release since signing to XL Recordings and follows previous Just Added track No Harm.
You can hear all the tracks via the Just Added Playlist
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