Bok Bok feat. Kelela – ‘Melba’s Call’

Brad Rose: Kelela’s not done much wrong in the past year and ‘Melba’s Call’ keeps the momentum going.  She’s the highlight here (surprise surprise), but the bass lines and synth leads are so danky I feel like I need a shower, which is a good thing.  (8)

John Twells: Bok Bok’s bringing the funk here and I don’t mind one bit. This one’s some distance from last year’s Cut 4 Me collabs but the two still sound like a match made in the back room of some sort of seedy, members only club. Should come bundled with a velvet smoking jacket. (8)

Sophie Kindreich: The funk flourishes on this are a side of Bok Bok’s production that we first heard on ‘MJT’, and I’m feeling it just as much this time round – the elasticity of the track complements Kelela’s acrobatic voice perfectly. She hopscotches over the demanding instrumental with great ease and control which is testament to her talent as a vocalist because a weaker singer would have been overpowered. It’s a lot better than ‘The High’, which would have fared better if Gifted & Blessed knew even half as much as Bok Bok does about how to build and release tension or manipulate space on a record. (9)

Aimee Cliff: Smooth funk abducted and beamed back to earth by aliens. (8)

Joe Muggs: Seems like Bok Bok is having the exact same trouble that Joker did when he started doing vocal tracks – as a club producer/DJ he can’t resist the urge for the key sounds to punch their way to the front of the mix, and that just gets in the way of the song. Shame, as it’s one of the stronger songs from Kelela so far. (6)

Chris Kelly: Like their Cut 4 Me collaboration, ‘Melba’s Call’ revolves around a bit of Club Rez digi-funk. This one, however, plays with expectations and white space in new ways, and I’m never quite sure where to focus. I’m up for the challenge. (9)

Josh Hall: Amazingly, ‘Night Slugs does ersatz Dam-Funk’ didn’t work out. (5)

7.6 

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Machinedrum – ‘Back Seat Ho’ (Rustie Remix)

Sophie Kindreich: This is the most forgettable entry in this week’s Singles Club – quite a feat when you’re up against a concentrated effort from FKA Twigs and Inc. (2)

Brad Rose: I was optimistic about this just because Rustie’s been on such a run, but this is a pointless bore (which describes Machinedrum generally, as it were). I’ve had naps that were more interesting.  (3)

Aimee Cliff: Bashes the original into shape with as much subtlety as a stampede. (7)

Joe Muggs: Absolutely ridiculously great beat, but “ho ho ho” gets a bit wearing after a while, and where’s the loony rave synths? (6)

Josh Hall: Using vocal samples like that makes you look like a child giggling at the word ‘sex’. (4)

John Twells: I love Rustie but I’m not sure what happened here, he seems to have run out of steam a little bit. I’m failing to see the point – maybe it just needs more slap bass. (4)

Chris Kelly: TNGHT, is that you? (3) 

4.1

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inc. & FKA Twigs – ‘FKA x inc.’

Audio here

Josh Hall: No World was colossally dull, but this was an instant buy. FKA Twigs seems to exist half in this world and half in the next, and that’s an admirable characteristic for a pop star. She’s even good enough to make inc (relatively) interesting. (7)

Joe Muggs: Almost perfect. The only thing it’s lacking is a song. The video is hilarious though. (7)

Sophie Kindreich: Please, enough with this twee r&b already. Is this supposed to be compelling? I can enjoy both of these acts in small doses, but in coming together they seem to be playing to each other’s weaknesses rather than their strengths. Gonna have to listen to twice as much K. Michelle as usual to rid myself of the memory of this. (3)

Aimee Cliff: This one takes a few listens to sink in properly, but once it does it’s totally engulfing. Just like its chorus’s weak insistence of “I’m never gonna be the one” it’s wispy and intangible like a mirage, but just as spell-binding. (8)

Chris Kelly: It’s easy to paint any greyscale R&B as derivative of The XX and The Weeknd, but this is quite nice. A bit more straight-forward than Twigs’ Arca-produced tracks, but just as seductive and melancholy. (6)

Brad Rose: The song is decent enough but the video is hilarious. Slow-motion smoking! Mysterious deserts! Slow-motion showers! Art school kids eh? (5)

John Twells: It’s a bit lazy not even giving this a name, c’mon guys. I don’t mind the track at all but it sort of washes through my ears and then disappears into the atmosphere. It’s so damned gauzy it’s barely even there. (5)

5.9

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Evian Christ – ‘Waterfall’

Aimee Cliff: This feels like Evian Christ’s own Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. What made his early stuff so incredible were the endless possibilities and contortions it explored inside a very restrained, minimalist framework – but this post-Yeezus sound is like an unruly and imperfect attempt at opulence. All stuttering pianos and explosive mechanics, it’s so frantic it feels like it could fall apart at any second. I love it. (9)

John Twells: Post-Yeezus anyone? I preferred the hazy stuff, this sounds a bit like TNGHT on a ragga tip. (6)

Josh Hall: This is deranged and brilliant. The ice cream van synths around the one minute mark, and the incredible last couple of seconds – it’s all gold. (8)

Joe Muggs: Love every sound on this, especially the “itchy helicopter” in the breakdown, but the structure seems pretty arbitrary. I don’t think Kevin Martin’s too nervous just yet. (7)

Sophie Kindreich: Dubbel Dutch and Evian Christ are two club producers doing really cool things with dancehall vocals, but where the former tends to keep things on a strictly Carnival tip, the latter tends to mutate them into something that’s more ‘Daddy Devil’ Vybz than Dre Skull. That is to say it’s terrifying – there’s a seriously strong carousel-in-an-abandoned-theme-park vibe to this. I could do without the piano around the two minute mark but I can’t wait to lose my shit to this in a club. (8)

Chris Kelly: The noisy, experimental hip-hop field that Evian Christ operates in has certainly gotten crowded in the last few years; thankfully, his new material has grown with the times. Chopped-and-screwed touches are out, trance-inspired instrumental breaks are in. This one does a lot in 4 minutes and is just as pneumatic and queasy as Kings and Them. (7) 

7.5

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100s – ’10 Freaky Hoes’

Joe Muggs: This MC is absolute piss. OK track though. (2)

John Twells: Yep, this is more like it – 100s dipping his toe into the g-funk continuum and concocting some kind of bizarre future-retro hybrid rap. The fact that this isn’t plastered all over the radio is astounding. It’s basically ‘Sensual Seduction’ part two, right? (8)

Josh Hall: Maybe I’m feeling particularly prudish this week, but this can fuck off even more violently than the Machinedrum track, and for the same reasons. (3)

Sophie Kindreich: Those Nate-Dogg-on-a-213-hook backing vocals, the glistening synth work, the ‘Freaky Tales’-esque storytelling: this might be a shameless pimp rap throwback but it’s also 100% flames. I know he only does talkbox on this (and out to the Vaughn Oliver guy for making this sound so good), but producing for West Coast cats like 100s is territory I’d really, really like to see Redinho move into. Songs like this make me wish I had a car. (10)

Brad Rose: Exactly what I want from West Coast hip-hop… that slow moving, funky-as-hell groove is just so goddamn smooth.  Bonus points for having the best hair in the biz.  (7)

Chris Kelly: For all the golden era nostalgia, there’s never quite enough G-funk. Welcome to 2014: Redinho on talkbox on a Fool’s Gold rap track. (6)

6

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Sicko Mobb – ‘Pump Fakin’

Brad Rose: This may just be the same thing over and over for three minutes but goddamn if it isn’t great. Party jam of 2014 so far. (7)

Sophie Kindreich: Given the strength of ‘Maserati’, a new Sicko Mobb x Cicero track was always gonna deliver and this is as syrupy and jubilant as you’d expect from either of the parties involved. Trying to decipher the lyrics concealed beneath thick layers of autotune is no easy task, but Lil Ceno in particular has some really funny bars: “Thot bitch/do one of us and get passed around” suggests that Sicko Mobb are the Midwest’s answer to the ATL Twins, whilst “we ridin’ foreign, you’re ridin’ on the bus” is some prayer-hands-emoji-inducing level of ether. I can’t wait for these kids to take over the world. (8)

Joe Muggs: Wow, this is what I imagine jacking up caffeine would be like. (4)

Chris Kelly: Undeniable. Each track is more out there than the last. Relentlessly fun. (8)

John Twells: Sicko Mobb are running things right now (when you’re commanding a multi-million dollar deal from Sony you’re probably onto something…) and while ‘Pump Fakin’ ain’t exactly ‘Remember Me’ (that’s a 10/10 right there), it’s still another prime example of why bop is set to dominate in 2014. (7)

6.8

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Final scores:

Bok Bok feat. Kelela – ‘Melba’s Call’ (7.6)
Evian Christ – ‘Waterfall’ (7.5)
Sicko Mobb – ‘Pump Fakin’ (6.8)
100s – ’10 Freaky Hoes’ (6)
inc. & FKA Twigs – ‘FKA x inc.’ (5.9)
Machinedrum – ‘Back Seat Ho’ (Rustie Remix) (4.1)

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