Mura Masa releases his self-titled debut album today and, as the headline above suggests, it's got more smashes than a bottle bank.
If you're not familiar with his ouevre, here's a potted biog: Mura Masa is 21-year-old Alex Crossan. He comes from Guernesy, and named himself after 16th-century Japanese swordsmith Muramasa Sengo. Being raised on a "small, isolated haven" halfway between Britain and France meant he wasn't swayed by prevailing music trends, and so he delved into the weird and wonderful delights of world music, which means his own productions are peppered with non-Western sounds like Trinidadian steel drums, African kalimbas and Indonesian gamelan gongs. It's trop-house with a genuine understanding of its roots.
More importantly, he makes dance music that's infused with genuine emotion, via collaborations with fellow outsiders Damon Albarn and Charli XCX.
Lana Del Rey has always had hip-hop elements in her songs, but she's never had a rap star contribute a verse... until now.
Yesterday, she unveiled two new songs: Summer Bummer and Groupie Love, both featuring A$AP Rocky (and on the former, Playboy Carti), and both continue the star's current hot streak.
Summer Bummer is, despite the bollock-awful title, my favourite of the pair. It starts off as a prototypical Lana Del Rey song, with barely-bothered lyrics like "hip-hop in the summer, babe... be my undercover lover, babe."
But then something interesting happens - after A$AP's verse (which he shares with Playboi Carti) the song starts to deconstruct, dissolving into digital noise, with Lana's haunting upper-register holler barely holding the song together.
Groupie Love is a more straightforward, string-drenched ballad, with a chorus that sticks like flypaper.
Speaking to Zane Lowe last night, Lana revealed she'd recorded a bunch of songs with A$AP Rocky but they're mostly just languishing in a cupboard somewhere.
"He travels a lot but sometimes he’s in town for a month and, when he is, I’ll come to the studio and hear what he’s working on and do background vocals on his tracks," said Lana.
"There probably are a lot of tracks somewhere that we’re both on over the years. We do 'em and forget em and if one's better than all of them, like this one, we try to put it out."
Lana then proceeded to FaceTime A$AP Rocky while he was on the toilet, which is a classy move.
Still, with these two tracks alongside Love and Lust For Life, her new album is shaping up to be one of the year's best releases. It's out next Friday on Polydor.
Crikey - it's like David Bowie's surprise comeback has spurred the entire music industry into action.
First up, Destiny's Child have announced a brand new track, called Nuclear, will be included on their forthcoming compilation album, Love Songs. Sadly, a quick glance at the tracklisting, shows it's clearly going to be a ballad. But there's still hope as The Neptunes are on production duties. If you've heard their remix of DC's Emotions, you'll know what I mean.
Then, pop star turned actor turned interior designer turned golfer Justin Timberlake announced his long-overdue return to music.
It came via a minute-long, spoken word YouTube video, which I hope and pray isn't a sign of what's to come. We want beatboxing and jaw-dropping dance moves, not a po-faced thesis on how he "nurtures his muse". I've said it before, and I'll say it again: GET ON WITH IT JUSTIN.
At the other end of the scale, here's a new song from Florence + The Machine, which has appeared out of nowhere. I Come Apart is duet with US rap prodigy A$AP Rocky and it is magic.
Finally, the Brit nominations came out last night. It's a pretty good shortlist this time around, and one which illustrates the increasing separation between the download market (represented by Olly Murs and Calvin Harris), the people who still buy albums (Mumford and Sons, Alt-J) and the music industry voters whose sole aim is confusing Cathy in Asda by nominating acts she's never heard of (Cat Power, Richard Hawley).
I wrote a brief analysis on the BBC - which is basically a string of bad jokes (what else?). But the best thing about the launch event was Jessie Ware playing an acoustic version of Running.
She's up for two awards: best female, which she'll lose to Emeli Sande, and best breakthrough, where she has an even chance of winning - but it's fantastic just to see her in the running. Haha, running. Like her song. I see what they did there.
