I’ve been thinking back over the last few months and realised that when it comes to new music, it hasn’t been albums which have really stood out to me so much as individual tracks. I’ve mostly heard these whilst having BBC Radio 6Music on whilst at work, so I’d a lot of this list is dictated by their playlists. But I’m grateful that they were able to make me aware of these in the first place, and interested to see how the tracks that stand out most for me seem to show a shift in my tastes towards more electronic-based sounds.
Marika Hackman – Boyfriend
Marika Hackman’s shift from her previous sparse folk album to more guitar-driven indie balladry is bookended with this striking and provocative song which clearly owes a loving debt to late 90s post-grunge rock. Detailing what it’s like to be a woman and have a relationship with another woman which she feels nobody takes seriously, it has a compelling sense of her frustration and packs a surprising new crunched sound, but still retains her clear wit and sense of humour.
Spoon – Can I Sit Next to You?
They may not have the one standout, genre-defining album that someone like The Strokes may have achieved, but Texan garage rockers Spoon have been consistenly great over 9 albums, and have been working together for essentially 24 years now. New album Hot Thoughts hardly breaks new ground, but bar some more unusual tracks towards the end, I’m starting to think of it as one of their better albums and this track is my favourite. Fully embracing funk with the sexy guitar riff and the distinctive grain in Britt Daniel’s voice which I love, it’s an effortlessly cool track but one that’s rooted in a sense of restraint. It’s a song that slowly grows on you, but that gives it more staying power.
Gabriel Garzon-Montano – Crawl
Another one of those tracks that stands out on the first listen. Crawl is rooted in classic soul and funk, but takes a more minimal, focused but still breezy and playful approach. It comes from a finely crafted album, one which prioritises his vocals and some thoughtful instrumentation and harmonies which makes it an inviting listen.
Mr. Jukes – Grant Green (feat. Charles Bradley)
Bombay Bicycle Club frontman Jack Steadman is certainly making the most the band’s hiatus period, pursuing an unexpectedly new and welcome direction under the new moniker Mr Jukes. Producing a heavily collaborative album merging big band funk, electronic beats and indie pop, it’s breezy and playful and fast becoming one of my favourite albums this year. Probably the standout track is this collaboration with Charles Bradley, an infectiously joyous dance number that easily sounds like it could have come from the 1960s.
Joe Goddard – Home
One of the founding members of Hot Chip, Goddard’s first proper solo project is a delightful mish-mash of electronic styles, his own personal homage to all manner of dance music past which he loves. It all flows very nicely, all held together with his thoughtful production and some standout singles, Home chief among them. As well as showing off his musical knowledge by basing the track around a sample by 70s funk group Brainstorm, the track itself is both laid-back chillout mixed with dancefloor banger, that altogether I have come to find genuinely addictive over the last few months.
sir Was – In the Midst
Building on the foundation of a simple compelling bassline, this track by sir Was infuses an atmospheric blend of late night visions – jumbled voices on radios, the simple chattering drumbeat, and his near-RnB infused vocals on top which flow at his own pace. It’s a hypnotic track that quickly earwormed its way into my brain and happily made a home there, providing a bold and distinct counterpoint to a lot of what I’ve listened to this year.
Superorganism – It’s All Good
This is one of those moments when a song pops up on my Spotify and, only half-listening, bits of it start to jump out at me, and it ends with me thinking “What the hell was that?!”. And I listen to it all over again and get quickly hooked. I don’t really know anything about the group, but then frankly no one does right now. Supposedly made up of a teenage girl from Maine and 7 musicians from London, It’s All Good is a bold statement which pretty much lives up to its grand title. Nearly drowning under a collage of sound effects and vocal samples, the track is eccentric and hazy, taking a mellow build up to a seriously bombastic chorus. It’s super strange, and I love it.
Sylvan Esso – Kick Jump Twist
Kick Jump Twist could easily be like any old electro pop banger, but I feel like it’s a lot meatier than that, a lot more going for it. Definitely one of those songs best appreciated with a good pair of headphones, the bulky layers of disjointed blips and beats gives the track this sense of urgency. When I listen to it, I get the image of a teenage dancer from a small town desperately throwing themselves into frantic moves all alone, dreaming of an escape, something much bigger than what they know. Yeah, this track actually feels that evocative to me, and it’s one I’ve easily lost myself in many times over the last few months.
Soulwax – Missing Wires
Another one of those hooked from the first listen tracks, the big return of Soulwax certainly started with a bang. Combining the heaviest of drumlines (the album used three drum kits) with actually quite delicate synth layers, the track gradually reveals itself slowly, with an addictive pounding and unhurried pace which drew me in. The whole album was supposedly recorded live in a single take, which makes the slickness of this track all the more impressive.
Bonobo – Outlier
Okay so this isn’t officially a single, but on my first listen to Bonobo’s new album, this was the track that really stood out to me most. Infusing world music elements with his trademark low-key electronic layering, for me it evokes aural dreamscapes which I’ve happily unpacked layer by layer over many listens. This track ended up being a favourite during crushed commutes and long walks to work over what was a particularly difficult winter for me – a few minutes of lush warm escape. If I were to pick one of the official singles from the album though, I’d happily list Bambro Koyo Ganda among this collection.
Future Islands – Ran
After previous album Singles pushed the band into more mainstream territory, Future Islands don’t stray too far from their now trademark blend of 80s-era synths and precise, New Order-like basslines and drums. But they still retain their raw emotional edge, not least down to Sam Herring’s vocals, which always sound like he’s singing like his life depends on it. Growling with this deep urgency over a broken relationship, it feels almost romantic, but that panicked change of pace at the chorus stops this from being a totally fulfilled song – instead it stays rooted in this sense of feelings left unrequited.
Jane Weaver – Slow Motion
Until I heard some songs on the radio lately, I’d never heard of Jane Weaver. And then I found out that she’s had long career, starting in a Britpop-era band called Kill Laura, and later releasing eight solo albums. I feel like I need to play catch-up. I really enjoyed current album Modern Kosmology, especially this track of hypnotic delicate synths that feels like something from another era, something that might have been far more popular in the early 80s. It feels heartfelt and idiosyncratic and personal.
Slowdive – Star Roving
I’m not familiar with Slowdive’s earlier work from the 90s, when they were pretty much the stalwarts of shoegaze. So this song stood out for me with no prior sense of anticipation and association. It’s a dense rugged track, blending layers of scratchy guitar with breathy vocals that are almost drowned by the instrumentation. It’s not like anything else I’ve heard this year, and has this compelling drive which keeps drawing me back to it.
Pond – Sweep Me off My Feet
The Aussie band who have shared members with, and have been fairly overshadowed by Tame Impala, Pond have never really popped up on my radar much before. This, the first single from their seventh album, feels more like a standalone single, driven by the breezy rhythm, catchy melody and soaring chorus. Considering that this is actually a song about singer Nick Allbrook’s perceived feelings of sexual failure and lack of masculinity, this is a surprisingly bright and upbeat track, with sweeping synths and a neat little glockenspiel to give it that touch of charm.
Little Dragon – Sweet
One of those tracks where, from the first listen, I’m like “YES YES I love it!”. A very welcome return for Little Dragon, a band who I’ve only grown to appreciate more over the years. Somewhat pushing their brand of glitchy synth-pop to an uptempo extreme, this song is essentially a simple ode to the little pleasurable moments in life, and the moment that frenetic opening kicks in, I can’t help but get that little buzz of a sugar rush.
Ryan Adams – To Be Without You
Taken from Prisoner, Adams’s first original album since his rather odd cover album of Taylor Swift’s 1989, this for me was a standout track in what is essentially a break-up album. This song is drenched with a feeling of melancholy, positively aching with a sense of loss, and full of these poetic lyrics of this almost gaping lack in his own body. The thoughtful composition of this song stops it from feeling near unbearable, and it feels to me like one of the most potent songs I’ve ever heard about heartbreak.
Methyl Ethyl – Ubu
Joining the likes of Pond in the ranks of the Australian psychedelic rock band, but one altogether more uncanny and a little strange (I still genuinely think it’s a woman singing, even though I’ve long since been proven wrong). Ubu is by far the most approachable song off their album Everything is Forgotten, but behind the driving bass line is a song that is more disconcerting and almost a little desperate. Offering concern for a friend struggling through a breakdown, the chorus is catchy but the sheer repetition conveys this idea of unending struggle and impatience.
Whitney – You’ve Got a Woman
I finally got round to listening to Chicago indie rockers Whitney this year, including their debut album from 2016 which is fantastic. This single is a cover of a song by Lion, a Dutch band from the mid 70s (I definitely had to look that up). It suits them perfectly, including singer/drummer Julian Ehrlich’s lush falsetto, and they give it this retro summery twist which makes the song feel actually more fresh in this era of looking back and appreciating throwbacks to the past. Delighting in its sheer simplicity, this is a genuinely lovely track.
Musings from a Darkened Room 