The best and worst of new music Friday: 24 February 2017

A vintage week if you like Coldplay and songs that go Wzrrp-worp. Not so much if you're into anything else at all. Sort it out, "the music industry".

Anyway, here's a rundown of the week's best new ones. And the Coldplay one, too.

1) Billie Eilish - Bellyache
Why put all the big artists at the top, when someone new could do with a leg up? California's Billie Eilish recently signed to Interscope, and has a great acousti-pop sound that'll appeal to fans of Ellie Goulding and Aurora.

She wrote her first song at the age of four, about falling into a black hole and being happy to be there. Her new single, Bellyache, finds her plotting revenge on her boyfriend for an undisclosed transgression. It's fair to say things don't go well for him: "Where's my mind? Maybe it's in the gutter, where I left my lover".





2) Calvin Harris ft Frank Ocean and Migos - Slide
Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in a post-chorus environment.





3) Zedd ft Alessia Cara - Stay
"Alessia and I first met at rehearsals for the HALO Awards, where Alessia, Daya and I performed together," writes Zedd. "I've loved her songs before but realised that she's an unbelievable talent when we started rehearsing together, so I asked her if she was interested in making music with me."

The answer was a resounding OF COURSE I DO and the result is the best of this week's onslaught of producer+vocalist collabs.




4) The Chainsmokers ft Coldplay - Something Just Like This
The title is clunky, the beats are generic, the melody is pedestrian. No-one is doing their best work here (except, perhaps, the team that animated the lyric video).




5) Lana Del Rey - Love
Already covered extensively on the blog, this is very much business as usual while managing to be one of Lana's strongest-ever singles.




6) Ed Sheeran ft Stormzy - Shape Of You
One of the highlights of Wednesday's Brit Awards, this collaboration got an official release today as part of a Ed Sheeran remix package. The guy has sold nearly 2 million singles over the last seven weeks. What does he think this is, 1994?




7) Thundercat ft Kendrick Lamar - Walk On By
Thundercat played bass on most of Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly album. Now the rapper repays the favour by adding a typically virtuoso verse to this melancholy R&B track. At the time of writing, its only got 2,000 views on YouTube. It deserves 100 times that.




8) The 1975 - By Your Side
A vocoderised cover of the Sade classic (Grammy-nominated for best vocal performance in 2002, but beaten by Nelly Furtado's I'm, Like, A Bird). Released in aid of War Child, this one of those rare charity singles that doesn't sound like it was knocked off in an afternoon.




9) Powers - Heavy
Powers are pop heavyweights Mike Del Rio and Crist Ru, whose credits include Kylie and Selena Gomez. They've just served up this calorific slice of pop that's equal parts Rocksteady-era No Doubt and Lady Gaga on a good day. Nice work.




2,000,002) Jason Derulo, Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla Sign - Swalla
A song about cum.

Sorry about that last one, but I refuse to suffer alone. Sometimes I wonder what did we do to deserve Jason Derulo? Whatever it was, I'm sorry and we won't do it again.

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New music from Dua Lipa, Jamiroquai and Ed Sheeran

It's almost as if everyone is clearing the decks before the Brits send Katy Perry and Bruno Mars roaring back up the charts...

Dua Lipa - Thinking About You
A funky little ballad, powered by a finger-plucked guitar and (later on) a chunky hammond organ. It's an "instant grat" track for anyone who pre-orders Dua's debut album - and if all the album tracks are this quality, we're in for a treat.

For those of you who are interested in how pop artists get launched in the post-iTunes era, this interview with Dua's record label boss is a fascinating read.




Ed Sheeran - Touch (Little Mix cover)
Cheeky chappie and all-round pop overlord Ed Sheeran popped into Radio 1 yesterday, where he revealed he's dropping another double single this Friday. Disappointingly, it won't be his cover of Little Mix's Touch, which remains a total banger, even on an acoustic guitar.



Jamiroquai - Cloud 9
Starring Penelope Cruz's sister, Monica, this is described as a "playful, Tarantino-inspired homage to the iconic visuals for the band's smash single Cosmic Girl". In other words, Jay Kay gets to drive a sports car around a winding clifftop road like a better-dressed Jeremy Clarkson. After the excitement of Jamiroquai's comeback song, Automaton, this is very much back to the old template.



Bonus track: Spoon - Can I Sit Next To You
One for the 6 Music listeners, this is jibbering, jittering slice of indie-funk from a band who always deserved to be bigger.

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Maggie Rogers, Ed Sheeran and the best of #NewMusicFriday

All you really need to know about this week's New Music Friday is that Maggie Rogers' debut EP, Now That The Light Is Fading, is finally out.

Impossible to describe but irresistible to listen to, it marks the arrival of a major new talent.

Thanks, Pharrell.


Here's the best of the rest:

Ed Sheeran - How Would You Feel (Paean)
"Not a single, but one of my favvvvzzz," Ed tweeted the other day. A swoonsome love song cut from the same stone as Thinking Out Loud, it's so middle of the road it should have white stripes painted on it. But just think - if this isn't a proper single, he must have an even bigger ballad up his sleeve. Cunning bastard.




DJ Khaled ft Beyoncé and Jay Z - Shining
I've never been a fan of DJ Khlaed's beats, but Beyoncé is a pop alchemist and her impeccable phrasing and delivery spins gold from this otherwise average song.




Linkin Park - Heavy (ft Kiiara)
In what can only be a major administrative error at Warner Bros, Linkin Park have just released the new Chainsmokers single.





Kygo ft Selena Gomez - It Ain't Me
I wrote about this yesterday, and it is still worth a listen.




Disciples - On My Mind
Erstwhile Calvin Harris collaborators return with this hooky, vocoder-heavy club track. Slight but effective.




Little Cub - Too Much Love
Ironically, too much love is one thing this song isn't getting - buried, as it is, at the bottom of Spotify and Apple Music's new music playlists. But it's a corking little pop song, set to a whirlpool of synths. Features the incredible lyric: "I'm just a shagger, not a lover of consequence".




Rhys - Last Dance
This will be like catnip to Radio 1.





Take That - Giants
Inspiring. Uplifting. Boring.

There's also new music from Maroon 5 and Future but you needn't put yourself through that.

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Video: Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You

What shape are you? I'm a rhombus - but Ed Sheeran is ovally (awfully) good.

Sorry.

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Video: Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill

I'm toying with a new approach to the blog - in which new videos (especially ones for songs I've already written about) get posted with minimal explanation. Like this one, for Ed Sheeran's U2-tastic Castle On The Hill.


What do you think?

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Ed Sheeran: Now that's what I call a comeback

Ed Sheeran's a smart cookie. He knows the pop market is fragmented. He knows that, to repeat the success of + and x, he has to reach as many people as he can. So here he is, back with two singles at once: One for the fans and one for the nans.

First up is Castle In The Sky, a freewheeling ballad about growing up in Frangligham. It opens with the none-more-Ed lyric: "When I was six years old I broke my leg." Amazing.

Co-written with Benny Blanco, the song's built around cascading, U2-style guitar riffs. THe chorus will give you goosebumps and, with its references to Tiny Dancer, is precision-targeted at stations like Radio 2 and Heart.



Shape Of You is for the streaming services, an uptempo banger that riffs on Ed's work with Justin Bieber and Major Lazer last year.

Somewhat surprisingly, it paints Ed as a callous, opportunistic lover: "Your love was handy for somebody like me," he sings, "I'm in love with your body." (worst Valentine card ever.)

A press release says the song "dismantles and rebuilds pop music with nothing more than a loop pedal," but to be honest, it's just a very good tropical house track.



As yet, there's no release date for Ed's third album "÷" - but the campaign's off to a great start. Look forward to seeing him at Glastonbury (maybe (although it's as good as in the bag, isn't it? (unless they go for Guns N' Roses (but that would be awful (Go Ed!)))))

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Here's a song Ed Sheeran wrote for Justin Bieber

A week ago, I was locked in a basement and forced to listen to Justin Bieber's new album, Purpose.

While I accept the possibility of Stockholm Syndrome, I found myself enjoying the record (although, like me, it has a flabby middle section). Bieber's vocals are pristine and controlled, and his remorseful lyrics have a ring of truth.

The highlight, apart from the singles you've already heard, was undoubtedly Ed Sheeran's contribution, Love Yourself, which takes the form of a sarcastically scathing riposte to an ex. "My mama don't like you - and she likes everyone," Bieber chides over a simple, plucked guitar pattern.

By the magic of the internet, there is now a visual for the song - along with every track on Purpose, after Bieber pulled a Beyonce, releasing 13 dance videos in 13 hours on Saturday.

I've embedded the clips for Love Youself and my other favourite track, a Halsey duet called The Feeling, below. You can see the whole video project on Pigeons and Planes.

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Songs you may have missed: Surprise Coldplay edition

Songs You May Have Missed is a semi-regular depository of music I've omitted to write about. This week kicks off with one of the world's biggest bands going heavy on the cowbell. The results are surprisingly good.

1) Coldplay - Adventure of a Lifetime
The colourful, upbeat Adventure of a Lifetime was stealth released on Friday morning, with the simultaneous announcement that Coldplay's new album A Head Full of Dreams was due in four weeks.

Even their biggest detractors surely have to admit that, seven records into their career, Coldplay are going to have an amazing greatest hits collection. This does nothing to detract from that.




2) Pia Mia - Touch
19-year-old singer-songwriter and model Pia Mia ditches Chris Brown for the follow-up to the worldwide smash Do It Again. A seductive serving of R&B, this features a pan pipe solo for some reason.




3) Lissie - Hero
The first taster of Lissie's third album, My Wild West, Hero is a languorous country-rock daydream. Not her strongest song... but the mariachi trumpets are a nice touch.




4) Adele - Hello (live)
A sneak peak at Adele's BBC One special, with footage of the first live performance of Hello. Apparently she'll do a full 45 minutes of material in the primetime show, which is due to broadcast on 20 December.




5) SNBRN - Beat The Sunrise (ft Andrew Watt)
LA-based house producer Kevin Chapman, aka SNBRN, has remixed everything from Sexual Healing to Need You (100%) but this original track is a sign of bigger ambitions. A sunset house groove with an excitable bassline, it'll make you nostalgic for August.





6) Dua Lipa - Be The One
London's Dua Lipa stands out from her contemporaries thanks to a smoky voice that's a world away from the thin and auto-tuned sound of most radio-bound pop. Whether that's a help or hindrance only time will tell - but I suspect we'll be hearing a lot from this 19-year-old once the new year rolls around.




7) Fleur East - Sax
A perfect reminder of what happened in the 1980s when British artists tried to copy the Minneapolis funk sound: It's overly fussy production makes it a pale imitation of the Prince's pared-down arrangements, but Fleur has just enough sass to stop it being embarrassing.





8) Rudimental - Lay It All On Me (Ft Ed Sheeran)
A grainy, experimental clip accompanies this uplifting Lean On Me-alike from Rudimental and an unknown newcomer called Ed Sheeran.

According to the press release, the video portrays some of the things the Rudimental boys experience on their path to fame - "freedom, peace, struggle, frustration, brotherhood, family, love and life."

And ballet.



9) Shura - Touch
I'm always nervous when artists I love make their TV debut on Later... With Jools. Can they cut it live in a room full of their peers - or are they studio creatures, totally devoid of charisma or charm?

Shura falls somewhere between the two extremes. She spends most of the performance hiding behind her fringe, but the music is captivating enough that you can forgive her... I think.



10) Sia - Alive
Sia's first video in a long time not to feature Maddie Ziegler is still pretty powerful - with a young martial artist matching the song's bombastic "I survived against the odds" narrative beat for beat.




11) Sia - Bird Set Free
As you may know, Alive was co-wrotten by with Adele and Tobias Jesso Jr. during sessions for Adele's 25. Earlier this week, Sia released another off-cut from those sessions, the stirringly dramatic Bird Set Free.

Despite rejecting (at least) two of Sia's songs, Adele has been effusive about working with the Australian singer-songwriter, telling Rolling Stone: "I actually enjoy the dynamic of us both being in there and just fucking being bossy. And it's all these male producers, and they're all fucking shitting themselves 'cause we're in there."




12) Blueyes - Ain't Gonna Love You
Blueyes is the brainchild of Belfast native Bronagh Monaghan, who's been messaging me about her music for a year or so, now. Her new track, Ain't Gonna Love You is the sort of flickering, late-night seduction jam you could imagine Jessie Ware finds herself singing when she sleepwalks. One to watch.

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Ed Sheeran announces the end of an era

Ed Sheeran is taking a break. But don't worry: It's not you, it's him.

Here's what the world's most successful ginger tweeted immediately after unveiling his last (for now) single, Lay It All On Me last night.

This is my final thing I'm releasing for a while. Bad news if you like me, great news if you don't. We cater for everyone at SheeranCorp

— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) September 24, 2015

The song, a collaboration with dustbin lid enthusiasts Rudimental is a fittingly brilliant farewell. In fact, it's the best thing Rudimental have done since Waiting All Night.

I can't wait to see the video.

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Is Ellie Goulding's new single any good?

Yes, it is. Very good indeed. Opening with a stuttering guitar arpeggio, it leads into one of Ellie Goulding's best ever vocal and lyrical performances - with an almost conversational tone to the verses, and a multi-layered call-and-response chorus.

But the Max Martin-assisted song is also - very clearly - Ellie's response to Ed Sheeran's Don't.

Don't, you may remember, was about Ed's relationship with Ellie, and how she (allegedly) left him for One Direction's Niall Horan, while they were all staying in the same hotel. It sounds like this.


On Ellie's song, On My Mind, she also she sings about being in someone's hotel room. He is making grand declarations of love - but she isn't keen. "You wanted my heart, but I just liked your tattoos," she sings.

Ouch.

And If the song really is about Ed, it seems that Ellie's feelings were hurt when he spilled his guts on Don't. "You mess with the truth," she accuses, "saying that I hurt you, but I still don't get it... You didn't love me. Not really."

But in the chorus, she gives a clue as to why it all rankled so much... "So why have I got you on my mind?" she asks. "I could have really liked you."

What a convoluted (but fascinating) tale. I look forward to hearing Niall's version of the story on One Direction's next album.

Listen below.

On My Mind premiered on Nick Grimshaw's Radio 1 show this morning. Ellie didn't discuss the subject matter, but did talk a little about her forthcoming third album, Delirium.

"It's been a long time coming. Love Me Like You Do... was never really meant to happen. I thought I was doing that for the film then it all kicked off. All of a sudden it was like 'she's back'. Now I'm really back. I'm back and it's just me."

Discussing On My Mind, she added:

"This was the first song I wrote with Max Martin. We met when we did Love Me Like You Do, and we got on really well. He's brilliant, he's hilarious.

"It's all very relaxed there. It's not like you go in and say, 'right, let's write a song'. It's more like we just chat about things for a day, and the next day we start thinking about writing some lyrics. The more I talk, the more ideas I come up with to write about."

You can hear the full interview (there's about 45 minutes of it) on the BBC iPlayer. Ellie first pops up at around 1h 45min into the show.

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Macklemore is back(lemore)

I'm not a fan of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's comeback single, Downtown. It's a Frankenstein's Monster of a song, stitched together from half a dozen half-formed ideas. I can't work out whether it's paying tribute to old-skool hip-hop or making fun of it. And what's with the chorus? Is Macklemore a secret Roxette fan?

The video is equally off-putting, full of crotch-grabbing and "hey bro" douchebaggery. What was everyone thinking?

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Downtown

Awful, isn't it?

Luckily, Macklemore's next song - a duet with Ed Sheeran called Growing Up - is more focussed... and a lot less hateful. It was written for his baby daughter, he says, and "half of it is advice about growing up. The other half is trying to figure out how to grow up myself."

Here's part of a long essay about her birth - and Macklemore's fears about being a dad - from his SoundCloud page.

Our daughter, Sloane Ava Simone Haggerty was born 2 months ago on May 29th. There is nothing like the joy and happiness that comes from bringing a baby into this universe. She has filled my heart in ways that I never knew were possible. She is the love of my life. This song is for her.

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The return of Leona Lewis and 10 more songs you may have missed

A semi-regular round-up of songs I've been too busy, lazy, stupid or myopic to blog about in the last week or so.

Today's page sees the long overdue comeback of Leona Lewis, a high school gem from Mark Ronson and a heart-warming performance by the Blur.

Enjoy!

1) Leona Lewis - Fire Under My Feet
It's as if Leona Lewis, owner of the world's most pointless umbrella, downloaded the blueprint for Adele's Rolling In The Deep and ran it through a cheap 3D printer.

The results are good - this is a perfectly-rousing slab of gospel pop - but you can't escape the nagging feeling that you've heard it, better, before.

The lyrics are bound to earn a few tabloid inches, given that Leona's new material has been very publicly trailed as a sideswipe at Simon Cowell, whose label she left last year. "Moving on to bigger things, I begin to spread my wings," she sings. "No longer in chains, I'm dancing over these graves."

A return to form, yes. But there's better to come on her new album.





2) Prince - Baltimore
A call for gun control in the US is the centrepiece of Prince's protest song, Baltimore - inspired by the death of youngster Freddie Gray in police custody.

"If there ain't no justice then there ain't no peace," chants the purple one over the sound of marching feet. It's a stirring, timely tune.





3) Lunchmoney Lewis - Bills
Lunchmoney, as well as holding a Guinness record for the worst stage name ever, has worked with both Nicki Minaj and Jessie J. This song sounds more like 1990s novelty abomination Scatman John, though.

A contender for song of the summer, with all the dumb joie de vivre that implies. You are never going to hear the end of it.





4) Mark Ronson and Mystikal - Feel Right
Set in a school talent show, and starring a marvellous mini-Mystikal, this video is a riot.





5) Chemical Brothers ft Q Tip - Go
It's unreasonable to expect the Chemicals to match the lunatic brilliance of Push The Button on this, their latest collaboration with Q-Tip. And so it turns out - Go has a brilliantly nagging bassline, and the duo still know how to build a crescendo, but the chorus falls sadly flat.

It's not helped by an abnormally uninspired Michel Gondry video.





6) Rachel Jane- Awaken
Born in Bristol and raised in Bath, 19-year-old singer/songwriter Rachel Jane is shaping up to be one to watch this year.

Awaken is one of the most surprising, rhythmically complex songs I've heard in ages. Beatboxing, tribal percussion, and drum and bass loops all get referenced in this primal, chanting track that rips up Florence's template and rearranges the pieces into something altogether more lissome.







7) Ed Sheeran - Photograph
Ed Sheeran raids the family archives for this touching little ditty.

Following the singer (who looks adorably like the Milky Bar kid) from cradle to stardom, it ends with the young Ed climbing on a rock and being asked by his father, "Are you at the top of the mountain?" - before cutting to Sheeran on stage saluting a festival crowd. Lucky bastard.






8) Lianne La Havas - Unbreakable (Jungle remix)
Jungle's shimmering, summery funk snuggles up to the supple new single from Lianne La Havas. A clever, thoughtful remix that elevates the original.






9) BenZel - Waiting.... ft Ben Abraham
Jessie Ware collaborators BenZel are in fact super-producers Benny Blanco and Two Inch Punch. Their new single is a stuttering, chaotic electro banger, drenched in pitch-shifted vocals.

Worth sticking around to the end to hear a sample of the common-or-garden soul track the duo ripped apart to make their record.







10) Lyza Jane - If It Hurts
Alt-pop singer Lyza Jane describes this video as "looking like Barbie's bad trip". She's not wrong.





11) Blur - Tender (acoustic with Jimmy Fallon)
You can't help but be buoyed by the irrepressible grins on Graham Coxon and Damon Albarn's faces during this performance. It's nice to know the band - whose Magic Whip album is much better than it has any right to be - are properly enjoying their reunion. Or this bit of it, at least.

And that's your lot for this week. More as soon as I can muster, I promise!

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Brandon Flowers is back and nine other songs you may have missed

So many good songs, so little time to write a blog. That's what the semi-regular "songs you may have missed" feature is all about...

In the words of Will Smith: "Here we go, here we go, here we here we go, yo."

1) Brandon Flowers - Can't Deny My Love
Working with Haim producer Ariel Rechtshaid, Brandon has produced a single that could have come from the soundtrack to St Elmo's Fire or Top Gun. It's that good.




2) Ed Sheeran and Rudimental - Bloodstream
In which Ray Liotta plays the washed-up frontman of hair metal band Black Glove (a nod to Spinal Tap's Smell The Glove?) He stumbles around his mansion, shooting bottles with a rifle, jumping off balconies and getting rather too friendly with his horse. It sounds more fun than it looks, unfortunately.




3) Charli XCX - Famous
Like Ed's video above, this was created for the YouTube Music Awards - which is odd, as it viciously rips into selfie-obsessed internet culture.

It starts innocently enough, with a Charli XCX wannabe dancing to Famous in her bedroom. But when her battery dies, she gets sucked into a nightmarish netherworld populated by grotesque, faded pop stars (including a scabbed-up version of Charli herself) all preening and posing into their phones.

It's like an episode of Black Mirror with a really perky soundtrack..





4) Florence + The Machine - St Jude
Florence's last video culminated with the singer crawling through the broken glass and twisted metal of a car wreck. This picks up the narrative, with Florence walking through the afterlife.

Musically, this is a much more subdued, hymnal track than we're used to from Ms Welch. I kind of prefer it to the empty bluster of the first single, What Kind Of Man.





5) Teleman - Strange Combinations
Teleman are a London three-piece that formed out of the ashes of indie band Pete and the Pirates, but don't hold that against them.

This song - recorded in one day as part of the Speedy Wunderground series, sounds like Alt-J have been eaten by Kraftwerk. It even has (what sounds like) a stylophone solo.

You can pre-order it on vinyl if that is your "scene".




6) Marian Hill - Lips / Wasted
This came via recommendation from Heat Radio's head honcho Talia Kraines, who saw the band at SXSW - a festival I am either too uncool or too nerdy to attend.

The upstart Philadelphia duo make the kind of twisted, harmonic R&B that made AlunaGeorge so exciting three years ago. I'm not sure these songs, from the band's new Sway EP, have a similar chart potential but they make a great listen.







7) Nero - The Thrill
When was dubstep the big new thing? Three years ago? Four? Now that every song incorporates its one signature sound ("wub-wub") that it was once fresh enough to be considered a genre of its own.

Anyway, here are prime wub-wub exponents Nero, who have wisely gone for an expansive, festival-friendly breakbeat banger to announce their comeback. Rave klaxons at the ready...




8) Shamir - Call It Off
Shamir's daffy On The Regular rightly earned him places on the various "Sound of 2015" polls at the start of the year. But I was intrigued to see how he'd follow it up... It was one of those records that was so unique, so individual that it whiffed of being a one-off.

Well, the whiff was wrong. Shamir's new single much less self-concious and a little more straightforward, without shedding the androgynous originality of his previous work. He also gets turned into a puppet for the video, for which he earns 10 extra points.




9) Rhodes - Turning Back Around
Because what the music industry is lacking right now is an earnest young man singing about his feelings.

Still, if that sort of thing is your bag, this is a really high-quality bag.




10) Sinkane - Young Trouble
I'd never really paid much attention to Sinkane - now on his third album - until this supple reggae track turned up on the 6 Music Playlist last week. Although it sits right in that Bob Marley groove, it also incorporates pedal steel guitar from Jonny Lam, making it sound fresh and dusty at the same time.

Very likeable and immensely listenable... I've just ordered his album.

And that's your lot for this week. Hope you found one new favourite in there.

As ever, send any tips to the email at the bottom of the screen, or track me down on Twitter.

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Songs you may have missed: Making up for lost time edition

Hello, and apologies for the temporary hiatus - which was mostly self-enforced due to half term and the Oscars, and partly actually enforced by nasty bout of Norovirus.

BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME HERE IS SOME MUSIC.

1) Rihanna - Towards The Sun
Nice to hear a more optimistic Rihanna on this track - taken from the soundtrack to the DreamWorks animation Home (which seems like it might be Jim Parson's Aladdin).

Turn your face towards the sun," she sings. "Let the shadows fall behind you." It's a midtempo banger that's crying out for a dreamy Penguin Prison remix.






2) Ed Sheeran - Dirrrty (live lounge cover)
I will personally give Ed Sheeran £500 if he plays this at tomorrow night's Brits wearing Christina Aguilera's ass chaps.





3) George The Poet - Cat D
George The Poet has noticed something. Certain people are damaged - but you don't notice because they project an aura of confidence.

He's noticed something else, too. Some second hand cars aren't as good as they're made out to be. AND THAT'S A BIT LIKE PEOPLE, ISN'T IT?

At first, you think he's going to stretch this tortured metaphor to breaking point. Then he goes way beyond that. And then, somehow, it comes full circle and becomes rather touching. Odd, but brilliant.





4) Calvin Harris ft Haim - Pray To God
I am firmly of the belief that Haim can do no wrong.





5) Clare Maguire - Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
I naturally recoil from anything recorded "especially for Burberry" - but, oh hell, Clare's voice on this could melt the icecaps. Astonishing work on the Carole King / Gerry Goffin classic.

And note that this is a live vocal. Fucking hell.






6) Blur - Go Out
Oh, I do wish Damon Albarn would stop singing in that "won't someone please just give me a hug" whine. But, hey, it's nice to hear his increasingly polite melodies being scuzzed up by Graham Coxon's deliberately atonal guitar lines, even if it's just for old times' sake.

This is from the band's first new album in 12 years, The Magic Whip, which is a great title.





7) Kanye West - Wolves (ft Sia and Vic Mensa)
Imagine if Kanye just turned up at the Brits, played this, then dropped a new album on iTunes. It won't happen. But imagine if it did. (It won't).

(But imagine).





8) Jess Glynne - Hold My Hand
I'm as much a fan of the handbag house revival as the next man, but it's nice to hear Jess Glynne drawing inspiration from Shanice's I Love Your Smile, too.





9) U2 - Every Breaking Wave
The one Noel Gallagher called "a fucking tune". The one you shouldn't have deleted from iTunes in a fit of pique because Bono is a twerp. The one that's about "the troubles".

The video is awesome, too: Shot by Belfast-born director Aoife McArdle, it video depicts a Catholic boy who falls in love with a Protestant girl at a punk show in 1980s Northern Ireland until (you guessed it) their burgeoning romance is torn apart by the realities of the troubles.




10) Hozier - Problem (Ariana Grande cover)
It's a cover that makes you realise how astonishing Ariana Grande's tonsils are... Nice switch into Warren G's Regulate at the end, too.





11) Lennon and Maisy - Boom Clap
Lennon and Maisy are the singing siblings who play Maddie and Daphne in country music soap opera Nashville. Their Charli XCX cover was uploaded to YouTube just before the show returned from a mid-season hiatus in the US - and the lush, folky harmonies give the song new life.





12) Ariana Grande - One Last Time
We're definitely in fourth single from a hit album territory here, but the apocalyptic video is something of a surprise.




13) Chvrches - Cry Me A River (live lounge cover)
Taking a break from recording their second album, Chvrches popped into Radio 1's Live Lounge to play their Drive: Rescored track "Get Away" and this masterful take on Justin Timberlake's breakout ballad. It somehow manages to be vulnerable and menacing at the same time - like one of those terrifying dolls in Toy Story.

Incidentally, an album of Chvrches cover versions would be a welcome thing. Remember this version of The Arctics' Do I Wanna Know last year?

Phew! Well done if you stuck around to the end (the Chvrches thing was your reward for not closing the tab as soon as I mentioned U2).

Normal service should return to the blog in the next couple of days once awards season dies down. I've missed you guys. All eight of you.

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Ed Sheeran + Rudimental = Sheermental

Rudimental have literally put a donk on Ed Sheeran's album track Blood Stream, and it is great.

Ed told MTV it was "sort of" the first single off Rudimental's second album - which seems like a daft idea, but what do I know?

Rudimental, on the other hand, told The Sun: "The song is so sick, so insane. We can't wait to show it to people."

Sadly, you can't see it yet. But here is a handy audio stream.

Ed Sheeran / Rudimental - Blood Stream

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10 must-see moments from the Grammys

Rihanna killed it vocally, Katy Perry brought the tears and AC/DC were about the only band who didn't bore everyone off with a ballad.

These are the Grammy highlights, and the tweets that best explain them.

Get them while they're hot. And by hot I mean still available.

1) Rihanna, Kanye and Macca - FourFiveSeconds

Paul McCartney did you forget the words? #GRAMMYs

— Danielle Zimmerman (@Danielekincaid) February 9, 2015

2) Sia - Chandelier (with Kristen Wiig and Maddy Ziegler)

Kristin Wiig just perfectly summed up how us normals look when we sing Sia songs into the mirror alone at home. #GRAMMYS

— Rosemary Hallmark (@rohallma) February 9, 2015

3) Madonna - Living For Love

Taylor Swift was SO into Madonna at the #GRAMMYs: http://t.co/4K0kkYGDIt pic.twitter.com/EcdOSGFt6c

— Us Weekly (@usweekly) February 9, 2015

4) AC/DC - Rock or Bust / Highway To Hell

AC/DC gets a Teleprompter assist at #GRAMMYs. “It’s rock or bust.” http://t.co/Bc1xixvqat pic.twitter.com/F8yHQBD32Q

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) February 9, 2015

5) Katy Perry - By The Grace of God
Katy Perry's performance was preceded by a speech about domestic abuse by Brooke Axtell, from Austin, Texas (sadly clipped out of this video).

She spoke about her "romance with a handsome, charismatic man".

"I was stunned when he began to abuse me," she continued. "Authentic love does not devalue another human being. Authentic love does not silence, shame or abuse."

Brooke Axtell's is the most important voice we're gonna hear tonight. #GRAMMYs

— Emma Gray (@emmaladyrose) February 9, 2015

6) Kanye invades the stage



7) While Jay-Z and Beyonce watch




8) ELO and Ed Sheeran - Evil Woman / Mr. Blue Sky

Paul McCartney dances like nobody Is watching, notices somebody watching #Grammys http://t.co/qRSmMuLIvi

— Gawker (@Gawker) February 9, 2015

9) Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud (with John Mayer)

So far the biggest thing I've learned tonight is that Ed Sheeran's album X is pronounced "multiply" and not "ex"

— daniel. (@dandal1on) February 9, 2015

10) Pharrell - Happy (with Hans Zimmer and Lang Lang)

Ah, we knew Pharrell's outfit looked familiar... http://t.co/0eOeNPwSbF #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/L7Eb0ZdkoS

— Us Weekly (@usweekly) February 9, 2015

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Discopop Directory: Top 10 Albums of 2014

2014 wasn't a great year for albums, truth be told. Or maybe I bought the wrong ones. Anyway, here are the 10 best CDs that found their way onto my iTunes library, sorted by the number of times they were played (with my trademarked Excel formula to weight the albums by release date).

10) The Black Keys - Turn Blue

Neither as sleazy nor as catchy as 2011's El Camino, Turn Blue saw The Black Keys take a long, dark road-trip of the soul after Dan Auerbach's very messy, very public divorce. Along the way, they delved into psychedelia, 60s beat music, 70s disco funk and - on the pleasingly daft closing track - solid gold drivetime pop hooks.

The Black Keys - Gotta Get Away



9) Banks - Goddess

Oh, but this album is so gloriously, deliciously IN PAIN. Banks uses music like primal scream therapy, howling her distress over an array of sawbuzz synths.

As an album, Goddess is as dark and foreboding as a graveyard, but her melodies beguile and her honesty disarms: When she disses a boyfriend by reminding him she's "the girl who made you soup," it's so awkwardly specific it can only be drawn from real life.

Then, just when you think she's getting too miserable, she pulls out a filthy sexballad like Warm Water. This is what a femme fatale with a broken heart sounds like.

Banks - Drowning




8) Jack White - Lazaretto

It sounds like every other Jack White album, but it sounds better than every other Jack White album.

Jack White - Would You Fight For My Love




7) The Pierces - Creation

After achieving commercial success with the glossy soft rock of 2011's You & I, The Pierces smudged their mascara, consulted a shaman and revisited the backwood gothicism of their earlier records. The result is an album that retains You & I's soaring choruses while sending shivers down your spine.

Allison and Catherine's sisterly harmonies are worthy of Agnetha and Frida - but can you imagine Abba ever singing a lyric as sinister as: "Held down by the devil's hand / Dressed up like a gentleman"?

Luminous, grown-up pop.


The Pierces - The Devil Is A Lonely Night





6) Tove Lo - Queen of the Clouds

Not out in the UK until this month because Tove's UK label hate us, but available on import since September. SEPTEMBER.

It's worth the wait, though. Tove Lo plays pop like her life hangs in the balance. "I've always wanted my music to have that desperation," she told me last April, "where you just want to strip your clothes off and run down the highway".

I haven't quite gone that far, but it's been close. Timebomb, Not on Drugs and Moments ("on my good days I am charming as fuck") have hooks so thunderously bombastic I have literally started air drumming on the bus. There is no higher praise.


Tove Lo - Moments




5) Katy B - Little Red

Dance music doesn't produce solo artists of longevity or substance, but Katy's astute combination of underground sonics and pop structures made the "difficult second album" seem effortless. Best of all, she knew it. The opening track painted her as Queen B, easing a newcomer into the rituals of the night: "Keep your jacket on my friend, don't sit down / There's so many things to do round here, let me show you around".

But while her debut was so in thrall to clubland it should have come with a complimentary strobe light, Little Red offered a few glimpses of what happened off the dancefloor: Katy nervously waiting for a date to arrive on All My Lovin'; or succumbing to guilt on the magnificent Crying For No Reason.

The result is a rare thing: A club record that sounds just as good at home.

Katy B - 5AM





4) Ed Sheeran - X

Ed Sheeran spends most of x singing about getting his leg over but, incredibly, you never recoil in horror or throw up in your mouth. Not even once.

Maybe it's his sincerity, maybe his humility, maybe it's just that these are bloody great pop songs. Gossipy, confessional and instantly memorable, the upbeat ones bounce and the weepy ones are suitably blubsome.

Occasionally he turns out a lyrical clunker ("put your faith in my stomach" is the year's least romantic come-on) but even those makes him more relatable. No wonder x became the biggest album of the year.

Ed Sheeran - Don't




3) Taylor Swift - 1989

Right, let me get a few things off my chest here.

First of all, Bad Blood is the most horribly misjudged song of the year. A diss track, supposedly about Katy Perry, it's pathetically petulant and paints a particularly unflattering portrait of its author. It has been excised from my library, otherwise this album would be languishing at number 10.

Secondly, why all the shouting? Almost every chorus is emphasised by T-Swift screaming the hook: "We never go OUT OF STYLE"; "Are we in the clear yet, IN THE CLEAR YET? GOOD." All you had to do was STAY (STAY) STAY (STAY)". It's almost as if she's worried the songs won't stand on their own merits.

But, of course, they stand 50 feet tall. The lyrics are funny and knowing, the production is enthusiastically bright, the hooks are harder to dislodge than a tapeworm.

1989 sounds nothing like the year it was named after, but Taylor Swift defined pop music in 2014.

Taylor Swift - Out of the Woods





2) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part One - Various Artists

Asked to contribute to the last Hunger Games soundtrack, Lorde handed in a diverting cover of Tears For Fears' Everybody Wants To Rule The World. For Mockingjay, Part 1, she was given complete creative control of the whole album.

The result is surprisingly cohesive, the nailbiting intensity of the film mirrored perfectly in the grungy, brooding music. Meltdown - by Lorde and Pusha-T and Haim and Q-Tip (!) - is a gothic call to arms; Chvrches' Dead Air chillingly depicts a disappeared population; Tove Lo's Scream My Name reflects the heroine's steely torment: "I'm dirt, I'm ice... I can take bullets to the heart".

The quality and the tension rarely dip - although Jennifer Lawrence's spellbinding The Hanging Tree should really have been on the track list.

Chvrches - Dead Air




1) Jessie Ware - Tough Love

Jessie Ware's second album is pinch yourself dreamy. A slow-burner, but one that goes from tugging at your heartstrings to snapping them in two.

Listen to the restraint with which Ware sings, "Say you love me to my face / I need it more than your embrace", then imagine how it would have sounded if pop music's other Jessie had wrapped her acrobatic tonsils around it. Horrible, that's how.

In fact, Ware's instincts are flawless throughout. She references Sade, Prince and The xx, and is never afraid to make unexpected choices. She favours subtle, unfolding grooves over obvious pop arrangements. And every song is structured around the ebb and flow of those flawless vocals. Or, to use her own words, "I thought it would be great to show people what it's like when I attempt to sing like a dolphin."

It's not the most exciting or original, album on this list. But it's by far and away the best.

Jessie Ware - Say You Love Me

And that's another year wrapped up, except for the honourable mentions: Paolo Nutini - Caustic Love; St Vincent - St Vincent; Royal Blood - Royal Blood; George Ezra - Wanted On Voyage; Prince - selected tracks from Art Official Age and PlectrumElectrum; Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence; Lykke Li - I Never Learn. I heard U2 had an album out, as well, but for some reason I couldn't find a copy in the shops...

See also: Top 10 Singles of 2014

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Songs you may have missed: 2015 edition

After one of the most disappointing Christmas release schedules in living memory (was a U2 album really the best the music industry could come up with?) thoughts are turning to 2015

Rihanna's in the studio. Madonna's vampiring some of dance music's biggest names, and Katy Perry is undoubtedly planning something ridiculous for the SuperBowl.

But before all that, the record labels will use the January lull to sneak some new artists onto the radio, and to raise the profile of some established acts. And that is where this "songs you may have missed" begins...

1) Frank Ocean - Memrise
Hopefully a signifier of a follow-up to Channel Orange in 2015, this was given a low-key premiere on Frank Ocean's Tumblr over Thanksgiving.

It's so abstract it barely registers as a song, but you have to admire the levels of filth he crams into the all-too-brief 1'57" running time.

"I could fuck you all night long from a memory alone," Ocean croons. What on earth would his mother say?






2) Zara Larsson - Weak Heart
She's Swedish, she's gorgeous, she's riding a horse. What more could you ask for?





3) Ed Sheeran - Autumn Leaves (J-Kraken Remix)
Despite being rather heavy on the old bongos, this is a lovely re-tooling of Ed's Autumn Leaves. It even withstands the addition of pan pipes. Just.






4) Ronika - Marathon
Plucky pop archivist Ronika released her debut album, Selectadisc, earlier this year and it's still a pleasure to listen to when the mood for an 80s disco revival hits me.

Marathon isn't the strongest track on the record but the video's a lot of fun.





5) Kate Pierson - Mister Sister
Unbelievably Kate Pierson of the B-52s has never made a solo album UNTIL NOW. Believably, the album features "input" from definitely-not-spread-too-thin songwriting person Sia.

The first single is a spritely new wave "transgender anthem" called Mister Sister. The lyric video features Fred Armisen off of Portlandia doing some amusing business at a table.





6) Slow Knights - Without You
Slow Knights is a side-project of Scissor Sister Del Marquis. His new single has vocals from Rod Thomas, aka Bright Light Bright Light, and part-time actress Bridget Barkan.

It's a midtempo "my world would end without you" love ballad, which would make a really good track 12 on a mixtape.





7) Låpsley - Falling Short
Liverpudlian singer-songwriter Låpsley, aka Holly Fletcher, landed on the BBC Sound of 2015 longlist last week and it's easy to see why. A cross between London Grammar and the xx, she makes minimalism mesmerising.





8) Charli XCX - Breaking Up
I know Charli XCX is all lip curls and punk attitude these days but this song just reminds me of Shampoo.





9) Hippie Sabotage - Waiting Too Long
Fresh from the success of their Habits (Stay High) remix (which, despite being unofficial, broke Tove Lo in the UK and US) Hippie Sabotage have uploaded this song to Soundcloud.

Appropriately enough, it sounds like the comedown from Tove's narcotic advenures. Meandering, drowsy and melancholy - it suggests interesting things from the band in 2015.




10) Listenbee - Save Me
If you liked Waves or Prayer In C, this is going to be right up your street, into your driveway and peering through the kitchen window.

Listenbee is a new singer from NYC, signed to Kiesza's label, and that's about all I can tell you. She opened her Facebook and Twitter pages just 6 days ago. Before that... nothing. Mysterious.





11) Leo Kalyan - Full Circle
"With your eyes closed, the sounds are enough to make you feel like you’re flying," said influential pop blog Pigeons and Planes, and who am I to disagree?





12) K Michelle - https://soundcloud.com/nxnnyxsets/08-k-michelle-something-about-the-night">Something About The Night
This was recommended on Twitter by the one and only Nicola Roberts - aka the only member of Girls Aloud with a modicum of taste.

You may remember K Michelle for her Missy Elliot-featuring single Fakin' It in 2009 but, let's face it, you probably dont't. This song is head and shoulders above that formulaic number, though. And the video - a six-minute mini biopic of Billie Holliday - will take your breath away.

And that's all we have time for. Hope you found something you liked.

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Ed Sheeran goes Strictly Ballroom

Growing up is rubbish. Earlier today, my son had a major tantrum at school when he had to put away a toy train and learn maths. Poor thing. He doesn't realise it's only going to get worse.

Ed Sheeran's got a few years on my four-year-old but he's still finding out that life sucks. His second album, x, is more world-weary, more cynical, more bruised than his multi-platinum debut. The tales of hotel room hanky panky in Don't are great tittle-tattle, but a broken heart beats beneath them.

Ed Sheeran - Don't

On the flip side, Ed has come of age in his writing if not his love-life. The sleek, uptempo singles have shown he can hold his own with producers like Pharrell (not entirely unexpected given his previous flirtations with hip-hop) but one song stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Thinking Out Loud is a big old love song ripped straight from the classic English songbook. In fact, it's basically When I'm 64 without the cloying sentimentality. And the reason for that is Sheeran's vocal performance. "Darling, I will love you until we are 70," he sings with a shredded larynx Joe Cocker would have been proud of.

More than anything, the song is the sound of a writer flexing his muscles for the first time and realising he can punch above his weight. Thinking Out Loud is Sheeran's Somebody Like You. It's that good.

He's obviously proud of it, too. For the first time in the X campaign, he stars in the video. And what a video - with Sheeran spinning his partner around a ballroom with unexpected grace (and an even more unexpected waistcoat).

And, for bonus pop points, it fits into a videographic template for British male artists unveiling a big ballad - from Robbie ice skating on She's The One to Will Young getting his goggles on for Friday's Child.

It's a 10 from Len.

Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud

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Six people who aren't Ed Sheeran in the new Ed Sheeran video

He might be number one for the 700th week in a row [subs - please check] but Ed Sheeran isn't one to go around showing off. In fact, he's even taken the George Michael approach to music videos, appearing on camera as infrequently as possible.

For Sing, the role of Ed was played by a Muppet; and the follow-up has even less ginger goodness.

Don't, directed by Emil Nava (Jessie J's Price Tag; Ellie Goulding's I Need Your Love) features just a few blink-and-you'll-miss-them cameos from the nation's number one artist, framed by a rags to riches story on the streets of LA.

But which one of our plucky cast members is the real Ed? Here is a handy guide.

So there you go... You can watch the video in all it's muted-toned glory below.

Ed Sheeran - Don't

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