The first single from Ora’s upcoming second album begs the question, if Calvin Harris can write songs like this, why doesn’t he have better songs for himself? Harris’ sound is all over this record but Ora makes it her own with her best single to date, balancing an RnB feel with a poppier sound that…
My round up of the new singles available for digital download this week. 2 Chainz feat. Pharrell – ‘Feds Watching’ As 2013 continues to turn into the year of Pharrell, he pops up here with 2Chainz. Far from his best moment, ‘Feds Watching’ is a cliché-ridden one-note tediously-written song with a chorus that fails to…
My round up of the new singles available for digital download this week. AFI – ‘I Hope You Suffer’ The charmingly titled ‘I Hope You Suffer’ from AFI is a slow, lumbering, atmospheric track covering the well-trodden path of romantic breakdown. Resisting the temptation to go too screamo, the tempo gives it a sense of…
Jessie Ware releases her album’s titular track, a smooth sensual number that really showcases her voice. Much less electronic and bass-heavy than you’d necessarily expect from Ware, her airy, breathy voice makes the track – lifting up the chorus. It’s perhaps not above the sum of its parts, but she certainly delivers a distinct and…
Though it now seems like an age since the album came out the singles are still coming, and here is ‘Stand on the Horizon’ – a more subdued track from the band that, though finding a place on the album, doesn’t feel like their strongest single. Fans who liked their debut album sound will find…
With a powerful, soulful, evocative and emotional voice, ‘Meant To Be Kind’ has a power behind it that belies the youth of the artist. Without resorting to the temptation of wailing random notes at the end as often happens in power ballads like this, Grace keeps the energy ramping up whilst keeping to a solid…
Sometimes an artist will come back with a song that sounds like a classic. And this really already is as the 12 bars blues song was originally recorded back in the 1970s. Clapton and friends don’t do a huge amount with it but if it brings this smooth, rhythmic number to the attention of more…
‘Wonderland’ is not the most subtle of songs, very clearly on the subject of sex and performance, but it’s wrapped up in a funky, head-nodding rhythm that will get you up and moving, matched by the very listenable deep voice of Clock Machine’s vocalist. I’m not as keen on the lighter secondary vocals, but the…
The band that brought us ‘Real Girls Eat Cake’ are never going to be classed as high-brow but they’re a little bit more on radio-form here, though only in this censored version. Successfully parodying the sound of generic boy band music whilst also mimicking it, it manages to parody it whilst also creating its very…
‘Beggin’ For Thread’ is the latest single from BANKS, one of this year’s hottest acts. From the solid thick bassline to the subdued but evocative vocals, this is a low-key ominous indie number that successfully mixes in something for the RnB crowd too. Throwing in a sax line just at the point where the record…
