Each week on the FACT Singles Club, a selection of our writers work their way through the new music of the week gone by.
With the way individual tracks are now consumed, the idea of what constitutes a single has shifted dramatically in the last half a decade, and its for this reason that the songs reviewed across the next pages are a combination of 12″ vinyl releases, mixtape cuts, Soundcloud uploads and more. All are treated equally – well, most of the time. It’s a pretty quiet Singles Club this week (don’t worry – no one’s shacked up, it’s just that everyone is on holiday), but there’s still room for Danny Brown, Gila Monsta, Skream, Antwon and Miley.
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Danny Brown – ‘ODB’
Chris Kelly: With OLD finally set for release, it’s a relief to see that the delay hasn’t caused Brown to streamline his sound. ‘ODB’ is filthy but playful (“Think about me and masturbate with the faucet”) and manages to distill his whole persona into one hook: “But in the end I’m just a dirty old man / With a pill in my mouth and my dick in my hand.” Paul White’s funhouse psychedelia fits hand-in-glove, too. (7)
John Twells: He might be doing a few too many feature spots at the moment but look what happens when you unleash Danny Brown on one of his own tracks. ‘ODB’ is fire, from the genius, druggy Paul White beat to Brown’s own pummeling flow. Just give us the album already – enough stalling! (8)
Laurent Fintoni: The pairing up of these two, the larger than life rapper and the quiet, nerdy producer, is the stuff hip-hop history is made of really. And on record it’s a fuckin’ corker. UGHHHHHH. (7)
7.3
Skream feat. Sam Frank – ‘Rollercoaster’
Chris Kelly: No one expected Skream to do dubstep forever, but this type of disco pastiche — no matter how impeccably produced — just feels entirely soulless. (4)
Laurent Fintoni: There’s always the chance someone whose music you like might chooses to move in directions you don’t necessarily agree with or enjoy much. (4)
John Twells: Cocaine’s a helluva drug. (3)
3.7
Lil Twist feat. Justin Bieber & Miley Cyrus – ‘Twerk’
John Twells: I’m not outraged by this, or even disgusted. I don’t really care. If the girl wants to twerk, let her twerk. (3)
Laurent Fintoni: Dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance. Probably derived from work. (2)
Chris Kelly: Do you ever get the sense that some musicians are just trolling their audience? (5)
3.3
Antwon – ‘Dying in the Pussy’
Chris Kelly: On a good day, Antwon is one of the only guys in rap that can out-raunch Danny Brown, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, or Kanye circa ‘I’m In It’. I wish he did more here than one verse, but shout-out to DJ Sexplay for a terrifying beat and a stellar handle. (6)
John Twells: The world needs to be way more into Antwon than it currently is, and ‘Dying in the Pussy’ is a great example why. The beat’s a kind of darker, sino-tinged take on Dead Prez’s ‘Hip Hop’ but that’s hardly a negative, and Antwon’s comical turn is just the right side of weird. Bonus points for the video. (8)
Laurent Fintoni: So wait, this isn’t a joke? I saw the video and assumed it was another internet gold nugget… Not quite sure how I feel finding out the truth behind it – my score is entirely based on my opinion of the track before I learnt this. (8)
7.3
Gila Monsta – ‘switchinupposition’
Laurent Fintoni: This is nice, though the reliance on the myriad tropes that are popular in hip hop beats today is a little grating. (6)
John Twells: Gila Monsta’s been putting in work lately, and if you don’t know who he is yet y’all need to check out Gorgeous Children, kind of immediately. ‘switchinupposition’ is all kinds of good stuff – a tweaky Freddie Gibbs snip, saturated 808 bass drops, suspense movie snippets. Dude knows what I like, and I want more. (9)
Chris Kelly: In less capable hands, the 808 would drown all the brilliant detail and intricacies on this one. Thankfully, Gila Monsta never loses sight of his anxiety-inducing samples; his chopping-and-screwing of Gibbs adds an extra dollop of menace. (7)
7.3
Final scores:
Antwon – ‘Dying in the Pussy’ (7.3)
Danny Brown – ‘ODB’ (7.3)
Gila Monsta – ‘switchinupposition’ (7.3)
Skream feat. Sam Frank – ‘Rollercoaster’ (3.7)
Lil Twist feat. Justin Bieber & Miley Cyrus – ‘Twerk’ (3.3)
