BRAIDS, ‘Peach Wedding’ (Fat Possum/Digitally On Kanine) – out now
HURRAH! Canadians! More Canadians please. This track is absolutely lovely. One of my favourite films as a child was The Little Mermaid and I loved that melody which skinny Ursula sang on the beach.
Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean. Anyway, that melody is replicated (or as near as damn it) on this track, which I heartily approve of. Seeing them in as intimate a venue as the Anson Rooms, Bristol, would have been lovely.
Clement Marfo & the Frontline, ‘Overtime’ (Warner Bros) – out now
WHAT do a bunch of grime artists have to do to go from being underground to being signed to Warner Brothers, I wonder? Well, being touted by Mistajam seems to be the key, as well as ticking some boxes which record labels seem to love lately: genre-straddling, euphoric R&B/dance backing tracks and anthemic choruses; rap verses... Having said all that, it’s hard not to head-bob and foot-tap along to Clement Marfo and the Frontline. It’s formulaic but their strong underground roots come through and that is in fact their saving grace. The worrying thing is that this record feels like company execs have got their mainstream mits on it and pressed the ‘Dappy’ button.
Do what you do best, guys, you do not need the generic mainstream glitzy production, it’s not doing you any favours. This is what the remixes have picked up on: isolating individual elements which were done well and amplified them, such as the dubstep treatment on the Cruelty remix, and the absolutely filthy hard grime Miloco session. Catch these guys in London on December 2 and 4.
Bombay Bicycle Club, ‘Lights Out, Words Gone’ [Radio Edit] (Universal Island Records) – out now
GORGEOUS, melancholic yet with a strong upbeat World Music influence, ‘Lights Out, Words Gone’ is one of the crowning jewels of the recent Bombay Bicycle Club album ‘A Different Kind of Fix’. This single transports you straight to another place – perfect for this time of year.
Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr, ‘Nothing But Your Love’ (Warner Bros) – out now
JUDGING by the cover art for this EP you would’ve thought these guys were definitely French, but no, they are in fact a Detroit duo (perhaps that explains the double ‘Junior’). ‘Nothing But Your Love’ deviates even further from the loopy block-colour cover art by being very cool and chilled out, reminiscent of Death Cab for Cutie or Bombay Bicycle Club. Also the Kasper Bjørke mix at the end is a nice touch – dance music is everywhere at the moment, why not?