Songs you may have missed: Mini midweek edition

Here's a round-up of some of the better tracks you / I may have overlooked recently.

1) Beck - Wow
Sadly not a cover of the Kylie "classic", but very good nonetheless.




2) Years & Years - Meteorite
I'm including this single, taken from the Bridget Jones soundtrack, mainly (but not solely) because of Olly's quote on the press release:

"If there's anyone I'd like to be it's Bridget - a wanton sex goddess with a very bad man between her thighs."




3) LOOP - Losing My Mind
Very, very accessible pop from this London newcomer, who rather brilliantly stylises her name as "L∞P".






4) Tove Lo - Under The Influence (ft Wiz Khalifa)
The opening track from Tove Lo's second album, Lady Wood, is a textbook subtlebanger. Gone are Tove's sweeping dramatics, in comes a smooth and sleek house beat. Is this a good thing? I'll get back to you.




5) CAPPA - Next Ex
A song that wouldn't feel out of place on Carly Rae Jepsen's Emotions B Side album. Yes, it is that good.





6) Christine and the Queens - Sorry (Beyonce cover)
One of the absolute highlights of Radio 1's Live Lounge month.




7) Robyn - Dancing On My Own (Paul Andrews Streetlight Mix)
Calum Scott's miserable cover of Dancing On My Own is proof you can't destroy a good melody. But what if you took that melody and put it over the backing track to Journey's Don't Stop Believing? It would become invincible, that's what.

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New music Friday comes up trumps

Imagine how narked Låpsley must be this morning. She spent two years slaving over her debut album, Long Way Home, slowly building her profile, eventually making the Radio 1 playlist and scoring an all-important Live Lounge slot the day before her record hit the shelves.

The stars were aligning perfectly, then Kendrick Lamar pops up out of nowhere, releases an album of cast-offs and steals all the headlines. Damn you, Lamar. Damn you to heck.

Of course, in the era of streaming, no-one needs to decide between Låpsley and Kendrick's albums. We all have them both. And while they couldn't be more different musically, both artists have a lot in common DNA - attention to detail, a flair for drama and a unique voice. Oh, and they're both fans of the oboe (Låpsley used to play one in Liverpool’s Sefton Youth Orchestra, Kendrick put an oboe solo on To Pimp A Butterfly).

If you need a primer, here's Låpsley's heartwrenching new video, Love Is Blind:


Amd her stately cover of Zayn's Pillowtalk (I love those 1990s Steve Silk Hurley synth strings):


And Kendrick's entire Untitled Unmastered album:


And if that wasn't enough new music for you, Years & Years have released a sexed-up version of the former number 22 "hit", Desire. This one features Tove Lo, and there's a lot of heavy petting in the video. Good grief.

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Discopop Directory: Top 10 Albums of 2015

Happy new year! And now that 2015 is finally behind us, here is a "definitive" list of the year's best albums, as dictated by my iTunes play counts.

I'm afraid it's bad news for Adele.

10) Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon
The modern flourishes and hip-hop beats have been erased, allowing Lana to plunge headfirst into her oily black pool of languorous melodrama. The songs are stronger, the melodies more memorable, her vocals more confidently authored. And anyone who accuses her of being submissive isn’t listening properly. “The truth is,” she sighs. "I never bought into your bullshit.” Well, quite.




9) Wolf Alice - Our Love Is Cool
Wolf Alice were so confident in their debut album that they left off their best single - Moaning Lisa Smile. The fact you don’t miss it only validates their chutzpah. Four years in the making, My Love Is Cool mixes up the grunge-lite of their early EPs with ethereal, melodic rock and - on Freazy - blissed out psych-pop. A surprisingly accessible rock record.




8) Years & Years - Communion
Olly Alexander paints a depressing picture of 21st century romance, with lyrics like "I'll do what you like if you stay the night" and "Let me take your heart / Love you in the dark / No one has to see." But, to be honest, I didn't notice until I wrote this list. The words wash over you - but the music is crisp, smart and surprisingly deep.




7) Ibeyi - Ibeyi
French-Cuban twins Lisa and Naomi Díaz sing in a mixture of Yoruba and English, mixing deep soul with African tradition, Cuban jazz and electronic samples. It shouldn't work - but the result is one of the most textured, original albums of the year.





6) Chvrches - Every Open Eye
Juddering synth-pop with a soft centre, thanks to Lauren Mayberry’s songbird vocals, which somehow manage to convey strength and vulnerability at the same time. Every Open Eye is essentially a streamlined version of Chvrches' debut album, with value-addded stadium-ready choruses. Even the one where the bloke sings isn’t that bad.




5) Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
The best record, lyrically-speaking, of the year. It opens with Courtney trying to stop a suicidal teenager jumping off a building - only to discover he’s just admiring the view. Later, she trains an acerbic eye on people moving to the suburbs and buying organic vegetables. It’s like a Woody Allen film, set to sloppy lo-fi punk. In other words: Magnificent.




4) Carly Rae Jepsen - E•MO•TION
In the making of this album, Carly Rae Jepsen recorded and rejected songs with Swedish pop overlord Max Martin. That should give you an idea of the quality threshold. She beats Taylor Swift at her own game, crafting a hazy 80s wonderland, full of reverberant saxophones and ridiculous synth hits - but never puts her baby toe over the cheese threshold. The lyrics constantly subvert pop cliche ("I think I broke up with my boyfriend today - but I've got worse problems"), while Your Type is a more heartbreaking than 7.8 million Adele albums combined.




3) Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
Police violence, white fear, black hypocrisy, media manipulation, the devil's temptation, fame, sex, depression, income tax... Is there a topic To Pimp A Butterfly doesn't tackle? The year's biggest album - conceptually and musically - is initially hard to digest, but proffers fresh rewards every time you listen. Bonus points for extended use of jazz clarinet.




2) Janet Jackson - Unbreakable
A solid gold return to form after a run of hopeless misfires. What changed? Well, for the first time since The Velvet Rope, Janet has something to say - musing on the nature of love and loss after a decidedly dark decade. Broken Hearts Heal, her tribute to Michael, is philosophical ("Broken hearts live longer") without being cloying; while Lessons Learned is a nuanced examination of domestic abuse. Add to that the slinky No Sleeep and the Sly Stone tribute Gon B Alright and you have an album as classy as it is catchy. (Although you could trim off tracks 11, 12, 13 and 15 and never miss them).



1) Tove Styrke - Kiddo
Fierce, funny and irresistible - Kiddo is Swedish pop with the autopilot smashed to smithereens. Tove Styrke mocks her Swedish Idol background ("Hijack the idea of a girl that obeys / Ha-ha-ha-ha oh my / Laugh it in the face") and spits venom at the self-obsessed ("I hope you hit the ground hard when you fell for yourself.") If you like the kilter of your pop set to "off", this is a perfect package.

Well, there you go. If you'd asked me before I consulted iTunes, I'd have said Kendrick Lamar would be number one, and that Marina and the Diamonds or The Staves would creep into the Top 10. But there you go, the play counts don't lie. Turns out I really, really like the Tove Styrke album - and the Years & Years one is good for doing the dishes to. Take that, 2015.

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Video: Years and Years - Eyes Shut

Eyes Shut has been knocking around the Years & Years setlist for ages, having first appeared on the band's Real EP in February 2014, when they were signed to boutique pop label Kitsune. It was subsequently re-recorded for their major-label debut, Communion, earlier this year and now it is finally being given a full single release.

You can see why the band are so keen to revisit it - Eyes Shut is the heart of the album, a touching, moving piano ballad that packs a huge emotional wallop in the midst of all that effervescent froth. It sees singer Olly Alexander confront his shyness, and discuss the "public disguise" he wears to keep his sanity.

The video illustrates that beautifully - as Alexander walks through a derelict building and a broken city, isolated from those around him.


It's also worth checking out this acoustic version of the song which, if anything, is superior to the studio recording.

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Songs you may have missed megapost

Oh man, it's been ages since I did one a "songs you may have missed" post, and the backlog is ridiculous...

For the uninitiated, this is a dumping ground treasure trove of songs I've liked, but failed to write about on the blog. That failure is a personal one, not a comment on their quality.

So saddle up. There are 12 songs to get through here and I've kept the write-ups short because, frankly, who reads this crap anyway?

1) Foals - What Went Down
Heavy like cadmium. Best thing they've done since Inhaler.




2) Miguel - Coffee (ft WALE)
Coffee is a metaphor for sex, you know.



3) Selena Gomez - Good For You (ft A$AP Rocky)
Recorded in 45 minutes. Will remain in your in your head for 45 days.




4) Nero - Two Minds
In which Nero finally realise that dubstep is a musical dead end.




5) Carly Rae Jepsen - E·MO·TION
Carly Rae Jepsen's new album is shaping up to be a masterpiece. Who;d have thought?




6) Mark Ronson - I Can't Lose (ft Keyone Starr)
All the melody of Snoop Dogg's Ain't No Fun (If the Homies Can' Have None) with none of the misogyny. Result.





7) Years & Years - Foundation
In 2020, we're all going to look back on Years & Years' time in the spotlight and wonder "what was going on there?"




8) Fassine - Sunshine
Doomsday disco, darker than a House of Cards box set.




9) Shura - White Light
The video edit isn't as good as the full 7-minute masterpiece.




10) Rudimental - Rumour Mill (ft Anne-Marie & Will Heard)
Slinky and subtle. Sorely needed proof that Rudimental can make good songs without shoehorning in a drum-and-bass drop.




11) Gabrielle Aplin - Light Up The Dark
Recently added to the Radio 1 playlist, and a world away from her mawkish John Lewis advert. Like KT Tunstall and Sheryl Crow got together and cancelled out each other's most boring tendencies.




12) Meghan Trainor - Like I'm Going To Lose You (ft John Legend)
Gimmick-free balladry that suggests a longevity most of us never suspected Meghan Trainor had in her.

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Shiny new things from Years & Years

Death-defying train line trespassers Years & Years have unveiled their new single Shine which, you will be disappointed to hear, is neither an ode to shoe polish nor a cover of the Take That "classic".

Instead, it's a glimmering-but-moody electropop ditty, the inevitable success of which will make Theo Hurts burst with jealousy.

Here's frontman Olly Alexander explaining the inspiration behind the song:

"The metaphor of 'shine' and 'shining' comes from the way somebody can make you feel totally brand-new and special and re-made in the light of their love, but how that can feel incredibly unstable and overwhelming and make you want to destroy yourself".

He sounds like a right barrell of laughs, doesn't he?

Listen below and gird your loins for Years & Years debut album, Communion, which is due out on 10 July.

Years & Years - Shine

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Have a listen to Years & Years' new single

"Hang on," you might be thinking. "Have briefly popular 1990s beat combo EMF been sucked through a wormhole to the present day?"

The answer, sadly, is no. The picture above is depicts synthpop trio Years and Years, and this year is going to be their... well, you know.

Sounding like Everything Everything after they've been cured of hiccups, the band make compact, dancefloor-friendly pop songs with actual, proper choruses.

Their new single, King, has been the highlight of their live set for just over a year, so there was always a sneaking suspicion it was being held back for the perfect moment. And, hey presto, just as they get tipped on all of this year's ones-to-watch lists, here it is.

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Songs you may have missed: AMA special

A semi-regular round-up of songs I should have blogged about, but didn't.

This week, I've spiced things up with a few performances from the American Music Awards, which will probably have been whisked off YouTube before this sentence ends. Take your chances below...

1) Sam Smith ft A$AP Rocky - Stay With Me
Vocal chops, he's got 'em.




2) Ariana Grande - Break Free / Love Me Harder
Vocal chops, she's got 'em.





3) Fergie - LA Love
Vocal chops, she's got 'em on a backing tape.





4) Beyonce - 7/11
The best thing about this home-made video is discovering Beyoncé's bedrom is just as messy as mine.




5) Taylor Swift - Blank Space (AMA performance)
Magic tricks, homicide and another outing for Taylor's crazy eyes acting face. Superb.




6) Take That - If You Want It
I do not want it.





7) Gwen Stefani - Spark The Fire
After the lacklustre response to Gwen's comeback single, Baby Don't Lie, this Pharrell-produced club has a lot of heavy lifting to do. Thankfully, it's a cheerleader earworm in the vein of Hollaback Girl.





8) Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk (Live on SNL)
I just checked and this song is still amazing.




9) Clean Bandit - Show Me Love
Sounds exactly like you'd expect a Clean Bandit cover of a 1990s house classic to sound. It's like Hooked on Classics all over again.





10) MNEK - The Rhythm
MNEK's Wrote A Song About You was one of this year's best singles - smart lyrical conceit, indelible melody and insane vocals. The fact that it stalled at no. 66 is a genuine travesty.

His follow-up isn't half as adventurous, but it'll probably sell a bucketload.





11) Paul Oakenfold ft Azealia Banks - Venus
After years of delays, Azealia Banks's Broke With Expensive Taste turned out to be quite good after all. And this collaboration with Paul Oakenfold (who must be about 75 now?) is an Ibiza sunset delight.

The career rehabilitation starts here.




12) Years & Years - Desire
There's an argument that the UK electro-house scene is starting to become saturated, from Disclosure downwards. But I reckon Years & Years might squeeze in a few hits before the door slams on the scene forever.

Desire, their latest single, is getting a few spins on Radio 1 and they've just made it onto MTV's "Brand New for 2015" list. Ones to watch.



13) Labrinth - Jealous
Not sure how I missed this when it came out last month, but after last night's X Factor performance, it's leapt into my consciousness (and, more importantly, the iTunes top 10). A terrifically heartfelt piece of songwriting.

An exhaustive list, I'm sure you'll agree... And there are plenty more AMA performances (Lorde, Charli XCX, Selena Gomez) that are worth checking out if you can find a valid link.

Back to business as normal tomorrow.

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