Grimes is Go and 14 other songs you may have missed

After a week away and a major music festival, there's plenty of great music to catch up with in this edition of "songs you may have missed". 

I've included a few clips from Glastonbury, mixed up with songs that premiered during my self-imposed blog absence.

It all begins with the welcome return of the artist currently known to her parents as Claire Boucher.

1) Grimes - Go (ft Blood Dragon)
Written for (and rejected by) Rihanna, this is the most straightforward, bubbly pop song Grimes has ever released. She describes it as a "summer jam" and she's not wrong. It's available as a free download from her website right now.




2) Ellie Goulding - I Need Your Love (acoustic at Glastonbury)
Yes, she's a fully-fledged dance diva these days but I still maintain Ellie's voice is best suited to this sort of musical arrangement. Bring on the 2018 acoustic album.




3) Usher - Good Kisser (Disclosure remix)
Better than the original. Try not to think about the lyrics.





4) Craig David - Cold
Is it time for a Craig David revival? Are you missing the Flava? Are the crowd saying Bo Selecta? Who knows, but this song is 100% not shit.

5) Amy Milner - Have It All
Newcomer Amy Milner took my breath away with this luscious, dreamy piano ballad. It's simple - almost predictably so - but there's a moment where the backing vocals kick in that indicates a compositional genius at work.

Amy is unsigned right now but she's getting some support from BBC Intriducing in her native Sussex. One to watch.






6) Becky G - Shower
This sounds like a monster hit to me. Co-written by Dr Luke, it's got a "why did no-one think of this before" lyric ('you got me singing in the shower') and a "la-da-dee" vocal hook that will burrow into your grey matter and establish an independent republic. You have been warned.





7) Jurassic 5 - Improvise (live at Glastonbury)
Gutted I missed this one... Taking four MCs and make 'em sound like one.





8) Cate Le Bon - Sisters (live at Glastonbury)
Isn't it strange how the Welsh accent occasionally sounds French when you're singing?

9) Broods - LAF
It stands for "Loose As Fuck", and it contains a Spice Girls reference in the second verse. What's not to love?





10) Kelis - Friday Fish Fry (live at Glastonbury)
One of the few performances I actually got to see at Glastonbury this year was Kelis's feel-good, big band soul revue. A highlight in the sunlight.




11) Tiann - Devil's Touch
Subtle, melodious R&B that is - praise the lord - not at all dark and depressing. An refreshing antidote to the mopey soul of Banks and Drake and their "ilk".






12) Kiesza - Giant In My Heart
A companion piece to Arcade Fire's We Exist video, with a deep house soundtrack. Heartwarming.

13) Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness (live at Glastonbury)
This is magnificent. Why they were below Jake Bugg on the bill is a mystery and a crime.





14) Sam Smith - How Will I Know (Whitney Houston cover)
Thanks, Sam, for stripping every ounce of joy and vibrancy out of this song. Thanks a bundle.





15) Wolf Alice - Radio 1 Rocks, full set
London grunge-rock revivalists Wolf Alice recorded this blistering session for Radio 1's Rock week last month, but I've only just caught up with it.

All five songs in the set are magnificent but fast forward to the end for a brand new, untitled track which is a full-throated screamathon of brilliance.

PHEW! That was a lot to get through. Well done if you persevered to the bitter end!

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Chords, Strings, We Brings, Melody

Pop boffins have proved that there are two separate Manic Street Preachers: The gurning trio of Welsh supply teachers making propah music about library books and standing up to "the man"; and the giddy Motown fans who write life-affirming love songs for Kylie.

Problem is, you never know which one you're going to get.

As luck would have it, someone recently swapped Nicky Wire's gruel and water for Coco Pops and Fanta. The result, on the band's 10th studio album Postcards From A Young Man, is a gutsy burst of string-washed stadium pop rock.

Best of all, the pompous common room preaching of If You Tolerate This has been replaced by a reflective, middle-aged meditation on life and longevity in the music industry.

"I'm no longer preaching to the converted," croons James Dean Bradfield at one point, "that congregation has long ago deserted". The song's title? All We Make Is Entertainment.

Long-term readers will know how much it pains me to say this, but the Manic Street Preachers new album isn't half bad.

Especially if you're a fan of Queen.

Manic Street Preachers - (It's Not War) Just The End Of Love



The single is out this week, and the album can be streamed on We7.

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Musical crisis of faith

Something is going very wrong in my head. I have heard the new song by the Manic Street Preachers and I like it. This is a reversal on par with Portia Di Rossi saying it was all a big misunderstanding and she loves the cock, after all.

Let me explain: The Manics are shit. Their songs consist of sixth form poetry set to fourth form rock "stylings". They claim to be socialists, but are signed to Sony - one of the world's biggest multinational corporations. Their drummer wears fingerless gloves, even though he is no longer in the 1980s.

Oh, but the single (Your Love Is Not Alone) is glorious. It's a crunchy, punchy, punk-pop parsnip - all glossy harmonies and rousing stadium-sized choruses. I suspect this turnaround has something to do with the influence of Cardigans' singer Nina Persson, who features on the song alongside regular vocalist James Dean Bradfield. That woman could sing Pink's back catalogue and I'd probably find it acceptable.

On second thoughts, maybe not.

In other news from the long held musical beliefs being turned on their head desk, the new single from Avril Lavigne is also quite good.

Yes, it tries to rhyme "delicious" with "addictive" and, no, the lyrical conceit (I don't like yours much) isn't going to be winning the nobel prize for literature any time soon...

But it finally delivers on what Lavigne always promised - fabulous fizzy girly pop which sounds like a cross between Shampoo, Toni Basil and Alanis Morisette. Except good, obviously.

Top marks to all confounding expectations-type artists concerned.

Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend MP3 (radio rip)

Manic Street Preachers feat Nina Persson - Your Love Alone Is Not Enough MP3 (radio rip)

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