After a Jekyll & Hide weekend – decadence then discipline; sun followed by rain; pain and progress – the steadiness of an overcast, dowdy old Monday has been welcome for SOIWT. In the weekly abandonment of my London-only rule, here are five songs that have characterised the past week:
Evryone – Flamingos (mp3)
I’ve featured this before, but it bears repeating. I love the boldness of it, the highly-strung voice and the scream-along chorus. “Don’t waste your time hanging out in the good old days”: so true.
Arthur Russell – This Is How We Walk On The Moon
This came on 6 Music courtesy of Nemone yesterday, and god but it’s wonderful. Previously unknown to me, Russell has a sundowner voice, one that somehow slips like pajamas over rusty-sounding strings, a sudden troop of trumpets and mambo-like drums. His other stuff is well worth checking out, too, but this one is serious gold in particular.
Sun Glitters – Love Me (papercutz remix) (mp3)
Portugal’s papercutz take Sun Glitters’ atmo-enough original, pare it down to basic elements and add in about 500 shots of adrenalin; then sit back and watch all kinds of high-pitched, histrionic hell break loose.
COYOL – Gone Gone (mp3)
A thrilling slice of gloomy, near-Gothic country blues-rock, built around guitars with harbinger-twangs and doomsday vocals. I see seas of tumbleweeds, and life, loss and loneliness on the unforgiving prairie – and my head throbs with excitement. Apparently Céleigh Chapman wanted to pen a tune that felt like “singing a Steinbeck novel”. Heck has she succeeded.
Nicola Roberts – Beat Of My Drum
I may have always had a weird crush on Nicola from Girls Aloud, but I never, ever expected to lush after her solo material. Yet here I am, crazy impressed by the zonky, bedraggled pop she’s released: a psychedelic hullabaloo laced with no end of natty producer work. She’s been working with the likes of Diplo and Metronomy, you know. Say it quietly, but say it true: Nicola’s brilliant.
