Each Friday the Music Feeds team share the tunes they’ve been frothing on this week to give you the ultimate weekend playlist. It’s Music Feeds Faves time.
Zayn – It’s You
Now that ya boy Zayn has gotten the big poppy lead single Pillowtalk out of the way, no doubt ensuring retention of his One Direction fanbase as he transitions into this sexy as fuck solo artist, we can finally sink our teeth into this whole new anti-1D sound he’s been chirping on about for nearly a year now.
It’s You is the down-tempo, Frank Ocean-y ballad that exists mostly as a showcase of Zayn’s panty-wettening vocal range and hopefully as a bookend alongside Pillowtalk in between which his newly announced album Mind of Mine will explore. Dreamy is an understatement when it comes to this simple yet well-weighted new track which I will 100% be listening to next time my pants are off. / Mitch Feltscheer, Creative Director
The Dead Love – Wastelands
Grunge lives on in the seedy backstreets of Sydney. The Emerald City’s rock n’ roll sons The Dead Love have returned with the first slice of their forthcoming new album, So Whatever. Gone is the gloss and polish of their previous fair, stripped away in favour of raw guitars, live takes and untuned vocals flavoured by the 90’s Seattle sound that influenced them growing up. But the lack of sparkly production doesn’t mean that the band’s new track Wastelands isn’t still a gem.
The song’s power-pop hooks catapult grunge into the 2010’s and soundtrack the counterculture of a locked-out Sydney, where live music has been forced into backyards and messy house parties that spill out onto the streets. We could have a fully fledged revival on our hands here people. Better dust off the old flanno. / Emmy Mack, Staff Writer
Missy Higgins – Oh Canada
I’m the first to admit that after a few wines with friends I’m no stranger to belting out some vintage Missy Higgins at the top of my lungs, all elongated Strayan vowels and near-inscrutable lyric mongling, but that being said, my love for her music and her career is about as un-ironic as they come. Missy is an Australian icon and I’ll vigorously argue against any other opinion.
Point and case, her new song Oh Canada, which is a vitally important release, poignantly touching on the heartbreaking loss of life amidst the ongoing global refugee crisis, in particular the death of Aylan Kurdi, who’s tiny lifeless body washed ashore in Turkey stands as a defining image of the seemingly endless disaster.
In a way only she can, Missy paints a beautifully innocent and resolutely human depiction of a family forced from their home and the tragic journey towards a desperately needed new life. Only the truly heartless couldn’t feel the weight and power of Missy’s message and I’ll admit to getting misty-eyed watching the video to it for the first time.
Listen. Think. Share. Act. “Tell me how do we live with that?” Missy asks, and so should you. / Mitch Feltscheer, Creative Director
Young Thug – Worth It
When I was a student of the literati, I spent much of my time trawling through petrarchan sonnets and other poetic professions of love. I imagined some corseted, pantaloon-wearing stiff neck counting syllables and painting metaphors with a quill. I imagined the performance, she, the loved, quietly pleased as he spat out elevated rhymes exulting in her beauty. It is clear to me that “love is merely a madness” (Shakespeare).
Following in the mad footsteps of his love-sick forbears, Young Thug has gifted his gf, Jerrika, a belated Valentine’s Day gift, Worth It and look…it’s really nice. Young Thug makes ya feel special. His honeyed drawl is perfect for romantic homilies. You will swoon as he moves dexterously from word to whine to word to whine. The song’s clean instrumental dances perfectly with his characteristic flow.
The time of silly boys flinging poems at silly girls on balconies has ended. Stand back Romeo, Young Thug is storming the castle. / Luke Bodley, Presenter & Contributer
MOSSY – Electric Chair
Sydney’s MOSSY made an impactful debut onto the music scene this week with his debut single, but it’s far from his first artistic debut, the man having spent a large part of his career thus far honing his acting chops in theatre and films alongside NBD actors like Willem bloody Dafoe and Geoffrey freakin’ Rush.
Now he’s distributing some of that dramatic flair to the music world, unfurling this stylish morsel of psychedelic pop, swirling with cascading drums and soulful plugged in guitars.
If you need to brush up on your greek mythology, I’d recommend diving into the track’s accompanying music video. Starring MOSSY himself, the clip tells the Greek myth of Narcissus and Echo – a story that Wikipedia tells me is about mountain nymph Echo and her encounter with Narcissus, “the beautiful youth who rejected sexuality and falls in love with his own reflection” – which, holy shit, could also be the theme of Bieber’s Love Yourself. Greek mythology is so on trend right now. / Nastassia Baroni, News Editor
Et Aliae – Sober
Et Aliae is a Singpore-born, London-based producer who started out dropping really kitsch, minimal electronic tunes of Soundcloud about a year ago. Sober is off her forthcoming debut EP Rose and it’s a far more mature sound elevated by the vocals of former Danity Kane member Dawn Richard who is unexpectedly making some sick, futuristic electronic music at the moment.
Sober is a track heavy on the heart but it also has this euphoric silver lining which makes it so much more delectable. It feels sad and happy simultaneously and while that’s a slightly confusing feeling to work out, it’s a damn good one. The piano work in this is also amazing and it’s all been done by Et Aliae who is also a pianist and a composer. / Sam Murphy, Staff Writer
FKA twigs – Good To Love
Any day instantly becomes a good day when FKA twigs drops a surprise new song, especially when it comes with a self-directed music video which somehow makes it look really easy to dance in bed.
Good To Love, which twigs debuted at her Soundtrack 7 residency at the Manchester International Festival, is her most tender track to date, and a gorgeous follow-up to her 2015 EP M3LLI55X. That’s all I have to say, really; let’s let twigs’ immense talent do the talking. / Tom Williams, Staff Writer
STRFKR – Never Ever
The eradication of vowels from the musical world continues unabated, with LA trio Starfucker getting rid of them pesky non-consonants, and perhaps, making their name a little more kid friendly in the process. Never Ever is the first release sans-vowels and it’s more sprightly indie-pop, drenched in sparkling danceable synth and friendly sing-a-long choruses.
Not exactly groundbreaking, but when you know the recipe for sweet infectious dance pop, why mess around with it? / Mitch Feltscheer, Creative Director
