Kendrick, Calvin, Selena and the rest of #NewMusicFriday

Last week's New Music Friday was so underwhelming I didn't bother writing a post (memo to Zayn and Drake: stop mumbling). This week, however, things have turned around completely. There's stonking new tunes from Kendrick Lamar, Selena Gomez and Oh Wonder, to mention just a few. Scroll down for the best - and worst - of the week's new releases.

Kendrick Lamar - Humble
"Wicked or weakness, you gotta see this," raps Kendrick on this, the first proper single from his fourth album. He's not wrong.

The track, which attacks some of hip-hop's most tiresome tropes (bragging about money, improbably proportioned video girls) while asserting Kendrick's position as the best rapper in the game. "Sit down, bitch, be humble," he says, while sitting in Jesus' position at The Last Supper. Well, quite.




A Tribe Called Quest - Dis Generation
The best track on ATCQ's recent album (it samples Pass The Dutchie!!) gets a proper single release, with a gorgeous black-and-white video that shows Q-Tip, Jarobi and Busta Rhymes trading lines, and dancing whenever the voice of the late Phife Dawg pops up. Brilliant stuff.




Calvin Harris - Heatwave (ft Pharrell, Ariana Grande and Young Thug)
Less than the sum of its parts, this star-studded single feels a bit aimless - but the loping groove and Ariana's sugar-sweet B chorus provide enough highlights to keep your attention.




Bleachers - Don't Take The Money
Jack Antonoff helped Lorde put together her new album, and she's repaid the favour by co-writing this single for his band, Bleachers (she also sings backing vocals, deep, deep down in the mix). Radio 1 are going to be all over this one.




Selena Gomez - Only You
A hauntingly sombre cover of the Yazoo classic, taken from the soundtrack to the new Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. I like this a lot.




Kwaye - Cool Kids
I was amazed to discover this caramel-smooth soul jam emanated from London - but there it is, Kwaye is a 22-year-old, Zimbabwe-born, London-based singer-songwriter. His debut video is a celebration and declaration of diversity. Highly recommended.




British Sea Power - International Space Station
British Sea Power said their sixth album (out today) would be their most musically direct record - and they certainly keep that promise. International Space Station is my personal highlight, with a soaring chorus and what can only be described as an indie musician's version of a cheerleader chant in the middle 8.




Becky Hill - Rude Love
Written with MNEK, this is a distinctly odd and deliberately obtuse pop single. Naturally, it is quite excellent.




Oh Wonder - Ultralife
A welcome return for DIY alt-pop duo Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West. Their doubled-up vocals are instantly recognisable on this joyous, uplifting single. Not a massive progression from their debut, but just different enough to raise interest for the new album.




Alt-J - In Cold Blood
Intricate but accessible; awkward but danceable. Alt-J at their best. Will sound great in a field near you this summer.




Billie Eilish - Bored
Another scene-grabbing slice of pop melodrama from the precociously talented teenager. An ode to boredom that manages to be anything but.




Vanessa White - Running Wild
The former Saturday has had her attempts at launching a solo career frustrated by legal problems with her old management. But with those hurdles overcome, she's back with EP2 (three years after EP1), which further exemplifies her deft touch with a classic R&B harmony. Beguiling stuff.



Catherine McGrath - When I'm Older
Imagine if Natalie Imbruglia did a country makeover of Torn, and you have a good idea of how Catherine McGrath's new single sounds. The 19-year-old, who hails from the rural outskirts of Belfast (NB: All the outskirts of Belfast are rural), grew up surrounded by music - her parents run the Fiddler's Green Festival - and cites Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift as her influences.

This song captures the joys of youth ("these are going to be the good old days some day"), with an earnest, uplifting acoustic strum. A total breath of fresh air.



Mary J Blige - Love Yourself (feat Kanye West)
After flirting with UK house on her last album, Mary J Blige's latest sees her retreating to safe ground. You've heard a hundred variations of this song before.





Cheat Codes - No Promises (feat Demi Lovato)
Totally generic Primark pop.



The Chainsmokers - The One
Not the one.

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Twelve songs you may have missed

It's been a long time. I shouldn't have left you. Without a dope beat to step to.

So, yeah. With apologies (yet again) for an unplanned break in service, here are the songs I should have been writing about over the last seven days.

1) Robyn & La Bagatelle Magique - Love Is Free
Arriving a brisk five months after the single, the video for Love Is Free is actually worth the wait. It sees Robyn and Dominican rapper Maluca breaking the fourth wall in a video-about-a-video with some stunning, Technicolor set-ups. VG.



2) Fleur East - Sax
My eyes! My eyes!




3) Honne - Gone Are The Days
When the Sound of 2016 longlist came out on Monday, lots of people were surprised that London duo Honne hadn't made the cut. James Hatcher and Andy Clutterbuck (great name) met on the first day of university and have been making smooth, romantic electronic pop. Their new single comes from a 7-track EP that's due out in January.




4) Foxes - If You Leave Me Now
A bit of a tear-jerker this one - and undoubtedly the best vocal performance of Foxes' career so far.

She says: "This is a really personal song to me so I wanted the video to reflect that. I took a camera on the road with me for a couple of days, check it out."




5) Tinie Tempah - We Don't Play No Games
Interesting to hear Tinie going for a harder, bass-heavy track after the breezy summer anthem, Not Letting Go. This is the first track from his much-anticipated Uunk Food mixtape, which features cameos from Wretch 32, JME, J Hus and, essentially, everyone you've ever heard of in Grime.




6) A Tribe Called Quest - Can I Kick It (live on Fallon)
Back together to promote the newly-reissued People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. This song never gets old.

7) The Staves - Make It Holy
Brrrrrrr....





8) The Palms - Push Off
Two of the members of Terraplane Sun are now performing as The Palms (I'm assuming this might mean something to somebody). Their debut single, Push Off, is a subtly groovy indie jangle that sounds like Jake Bugg and Foster The People slammed into each other.




9) Sofia de la Torres - Colorblind Cruisin'
Spanish songstress Sofia de la Torres has been on the verge of major success for a couple of years. Will this song be the one to push her over the top? Who knows - but it's a pop song so steamy it's de-crease your dungarees.





10) Selena Gomez - Hands To Myself
This is a weird video-advertorial, in which Selena and various Victoria's Secret models lip-sync to one of her songs. Everyone looks lovely, but the video is a bit of a dud. Still, nice song.




11) Dave Grohl vs Animal - Drum Battle
YES! YES! YES!



12) Jones - Hoops
Fans of Jessie Ware: Here is your new favourite artist.

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Remix request

Hi there, we have just been "serviced" with the new single by Soundgirl - three singers called Olivia*, Nikki and Izzy who, it says here, were inspired by the likes of SWV, Salt-N-Pepa and other non-terrible girl bands.

Of course, no-one's ever going to declare "our main influences are B*witched and Hepburn", but at least we've established they're aiming for a 1990s urban pop-swing angle. Which places them nicely amidst that whole end-of-a-century throwback scene spearheaded by Yasmin and Katy B and Magnetic Man.

The new single, Don't Know Why, interpolates Carly Simon's Why, which means there's a writing credit for Chic's Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. It's unashamedly commercial, with a few neat lyrical flourishes from Miranda "Girls Aloud" Cooper: "You make my heart go boom, boom, boom / I'm making mixtapes in my room".

The video is shot in Barbados, so expect a breathtaking blue / green colour palette.

Soundgirl - Don't Know Why


Now, this isn't the first song to lift the hook from Carly Simon's 1982 hit. Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest revamped it into a Daisy Age love song back in 1990. Aside from the phrase, "I've got crazy prophylactics," it's a stone-cold classic.

Could someone with better DJ skills than me please create a Soundgirl / Quest mash-up? There's not a Top Shop in the world that wouldn't play it.

Tribe Called Quest - Bonita Applebum (Why Remix)


* "Interesting" fact: Olivia's dad was in The Pasadenas

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Embedtime stories

Apropos of nothing - four songs that have given me goosebumps in the last 24 hours.

MNDR - Cut Me Out

A portion of peculiar pop from New York's MNDR (her off of Mark Ronson's Bang Bang Bang). It is available for download from something called Green Label Sound, which is probably very fashionable if you're the sort of person who thinks record labels are fashionable, ie a moron.


A Tribe Called Quest - Check The Rime
They didn't just do Can I Kick It, you know.


She & Him - Don't Look Back

Zooey Deschanel is delightful as ever in this retro throwback acoustipop concoction. But is it just me, or do her eyes look all raw like she's been crying? Zooey - you are always welcome at Discopop Towers if you need a comforting hug that definitely won't get weird and uncomfortable.


Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris - Love Hurts
Without wanting to sound like the sort of person who writes for Mojo magazine, this is possibly the best duet ever committed to tape. Drenched in regret, this is gut-wrenchingly, achingly beautiful. If you only know Cher's version, this is going to make you re-evaluate everything.

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