Charli XCX ft. Rita Ora – ‘Doing It’

Chris Kelly: The expertly-crafted mall pop nostalgia of Charli’s Sucker takes the more saccharine moments of Sky Ferreira’s Night Time, My Time to their logical conclusions. With that in mind, ‘Doing It’ is just fine… as it was on the record. Rita Ora is subtraction by addition — stop trying to make her a thing. (5)

Son Raw: It takes a lot more than this for a major label pop song to register in my mind, but it’s well crafted and I probably wouldn’t turn off the radio if I heard it while scanning stations. Thankfully, I own a phone and a pair of headphones so that scenario would never happen in 2015. (5)

Alex Macpherson: Charli XCX feels like she’s perpetually teetering on the edge of greatness – which she’s now done from a variety of angles without ever quite getting there. There’s no denying she can write a catchy hook, but her songwriting is all focus-grouped signifiers and none of the detail that would help form a connection to her or give any impression that something’s at stake for her in her hedonism. There’s a disconnect, too, between Charli’s heavily-underlined battering-ram vocal “character” and the oddly anonymous songwriting. Bizarrely enough, Rita Ora – as character-free and uninteresting as ever – is an improvement, allowing the song to just be enjoyable whatevia without demanding that you buy into Charli XCX, The Pop Star wholesale. (6)

Claire Lobenfeld: Charli’s had a grip on me since ‘Nuclear Seasons’ and she is the coolest for saying she wants to sell tampons as merch, but I feel super apathetic about this track. It’s cute and way better than ‘Break the Rules’ – which is a huge bummer of a song, by the way – it’s just not for me. She has such a knack for bombast and this is so lukewarm. Can’t deal, either, with who she has been aligning herself with. Iggy and now Rita? Nah. (1)

Scott Wilson: Nothing is likely to make me less excited to hear something than if Rita Ora’s involved, and this isn’t doing much to change my opinion. I have to admit to having a bit of soft spot for Charlie XCX, and this is the kind of trash I could happily play in the background – until Ora’s flat verse turns up to ruin the party. (5)

William Skar: Charli XCX is generally better at melodrama than good-time spangle, but this is absolutely stuffed with great ideas – liquid lamé production, G-funk bass, ample Lauperisms. Exactly the sort of whizz-bang pop I want to be listening to in 2015. (9)

Brad Stabler: It’s hard to curb one’s bias here – Charli XCX is someone who’s routinely delivered disdainful results ever since she tried on a kitchen sink for her debut LP, then proceeded to piss glitter all over the place with Icona Pop. To her credit, she’s always dipped into a surprisingly wide range of good taste as inspiration, but she can never pull her influences together into something other than a diabetic coma. But her singles now don’t even seem like they’re made for anyone. ‘Doing It’ isn’t as bad as ‘Break the Rules’, but it’s still as confused and poorly cobbled together. Really, who actually likes this? (2)

Mikey IQ Jones: Ugh, everything about this vapid and hollow tune just left me numb. Charli’s got a lot of potential to be bringing serious pop weight, but she just keeps dispensing soft serve fluff like this and I’m at a point where I just don’t care any longer. Deliver upon us the proper banger we all know that you have in your system before it’s too late, and stop with the vapid garbage. You’ve already been here long enough; as it stands, I just feel like I’ve been locked in a Forever 21 fitting room from which I can never escape. (3)

Tayyab Amin: It took me three listens to figure out what Rita Ora actually did on this track and I don’t tune into drivetime Capital FM – I’m pretty sure this single wasn’t made for me. Mids are crowded enough to bludgeon their way in and stick to a fair few people’s heads before the song is forgotten forever. And that’s okay. (4)

4.4

Anushka ft. Trim – ‘Kisses’ (Dark0 Remix)

Claire Lobenfeld: This is so great – Dark0 brought this into an extra romantic place. There is something so genuine about wanting to wake up to be kissed by the person that you love. The combination of the liquid electronics behind it and the honeyed vocals is so completely sweet, it makes me want to start looking for a Valentine now. “Should I follow, should I leave”? Too real. This is gonna be my jam and I couldn’t be further from being in love. That’s when you know this kind of song is hitting right. (8)

Son Raw: The real revelation here is hearing Dark0’s new-age video game synths paired to an R&B vocal – he’s been slotted in with the instrumental Grime crowd, but this is proof that his melodies are ready for prime time and that it’s time to consider him outside of that sphere. The original goes for a sugar rush but overplays its hand, so it’s nice to hear that chorus parred down so a sense of melancholy can seep through. Plus the world can never have enough Trim guest spots. (8)

Alex Macpherson: A ‘Kisses For Breakfast’ knock-off over a Slackk demo from a few years ago with an adequate Trim verse copy-and-pasted in? Not so much “less than the sum of its parts” as “pointless combination of second-hand parts”. (4)

Chris Kelly: What a difference a remix can make: Dark0 turns some forgettable Brownswood AlunaGeorge-core into heartbroken R’n’G and adds a bit of gravity with a Trim feature. So much for instrumental grime producers not working with vocalists… (8)

Mikey IQ Jones: This one really let me down; I dug the original quite a bit – particularly that chopped up background vocal’s upward-spiraling horizon – but Dark0’s not really doing much for me on this remix, and even Trim can’t salvage what ends up being a pretty lackluster affair. All parties have done better elsewhere, and in terms of a remix, that’s about the worst thing I could say. Better luck next time, guys. (6)

Tayyab Amin: I wanna hear that Sweet Boy Pop, something perhaps un(der)explored on reflection of hype-blog ‘alt-RnB’ and synthpop. I wanna hear Trim come in on this for the first time again, the juxtaposition of his delivery and content is so tight. I wanna go swimming in Anushka’s voice but I can’t swim so catch me contently drowning in it. (8)

Scott Wilson: I was pretty sceptical that Dark0’s style of production would work with vocals, but the melodies and Trim’s verse work pretty much perfectly with the original vocals. On the strength of this Dark0 could end up being an unexpected but welcome addition to the mainstream very soon. (8)

Brad Stabler: After having a banner year, it’s unfortunate to see Dark0 turn in a snoozer with this remix. Granted, that’s not entirely his fault– the original tune is thoroughly pleasant R&B, interesting in moments but not something to give a whirl over and over. Dark0 is at his best (see Fate) when he’s not tethered to something else, his celestial productions given the proper space to sprawl out and take a few lefts and pauses where they need to be. So right here there’s no room for him to expand, a guest Trim verse (that’s way too damn short) included. (6)

William Skar: The time is surely ripe for a nu-grime-era Sugababes – a sufficiently sassy vehicle to take weightless into the Top 20 (plus I’d love to read Dark0 dispensing Karmmm Kommandments in Top Of The Pops magazine). Anyway, as Dark0 tracks go, this isn’t particularly exceptional, and I’m not even sure it trumps the original, but the man can cook up a sturdy B+ in his sleep.  (6)

6.9

ILoveMakonnen – ‘Super Clean’

Scott Wilson: I could sink into Makkonen’s voice and the strung out production like a marshmallow. (8)

Tayyab Amin: Makonnen is part-Drake, part-ODB and part-Sugarhill Gang on this. Rap along to these inane lyrical ramblings without grinning and laughing inside or out, dare you. (8)

Alex Macpherson: Blurring the lines between rap and song isn’t worth shit if you can neither rap nor sing, and Makonnen is wholly inept at both. Pretty beat, though. (4)

Claire Lobenfeld: I am going to waffle on Makonnen forever. He is the most charming, best panda bear of the rap and R&B game and I am so enamored of him as a person. But when he dishes out vocals like this, I am just not certain that I can be totally on board. The beat is lovely, but the whole package isn’t hitting it. It didn’t make this bitch go down, like he does whenever he’s on a Father track. (5)

William Skar: Sorry to raid the 2011 Critical Toolbox, but if this isn’t cloudwave, what is? I’ll probably have forgotten about this by March, but, for now, it’s on heavier rotation than a lead gyroscope. (8)

Chris Kelly: Makonnen recreates Bay Area rap in his own image: based freestyles and hyphy slap go 20,000 leagues under the sea and re-emerge somewhere in the throat of a forgotten emo vocalist. (7)

Son Raw: The Bay Area’s Hyphy movement had so many ideas that rappers are still grabbing choruses and slang a decade on.  Unfortunately, Makonnen’s mumbling isn’t nearly as interesting as E-40’s twists and turns, KeakdaSneak’s growl or Turf Talk’s yelp. Plus, thizz is a way better drug than syrup. (4)

Brad Stabler: Everything here walks a fine line between being too cheesy for its own good, and being good precisely because of that. Makonnen’s afternoon nap flow is just the right amount of cool he’s shown before, but then you hit that bit about periods, dodge a couple of callbacks, and avoid doing a spit take. That all happens over the tamest beat he’s ever rapped over. I want to say this is an exercise in control, but I’m not sure if I like it. Which is why I’m still listening to it.  (7)

Mikey IQ Jones: Huh? I’ll be honest in admitting that I’m not a huge fan of Makonnen outside of CORPORATION’s blend of Rupert Homes ‘Escape (The Pina Colada Song)’ with ‘Tuesday’, which is one of the most easy, breezy, ridiculously fun jams I’d heard on 2014. That loop vibes hard, but seriously, NOTHING HAPPENS here. It’s lazy as fuck and I’m done with tracks like this. Dude can’t be bothered, and neither can I. (4)

6.1

Marilyn Manson – ‘Cupid Carries a Gun’

Son Raw: White people strip clubs need music too, I guess. (5)

Brad Stabler: Sounds like what Death Note fans will look like in twenty years. (2)

Alex Macpherson: “She fucks like a comet” – cold and lifeless, then? Wholly understandable; Marilyn Manson’s decrepit sex-growls make you long only for a future of asexual reproduction and no human contact ever again. (0)

Mikey IQ Jones: When did Marilyn Manson start making dad rock that sounds like Beck and Jack White embarrassing both you and themselves at a drunken karaoke party? What’s most tragic about this is that while he doesn’t need to provoke or titillate this deep into his career, I’d still hope that a performer like Manson would at least try to bring some sort of personality or at LEAST theatricality to what he’s doing in this autumnal phase of his career. Trent Reznor’s figured out a way to redefine his work to newer audiences, and it’s a shame that one of his most notorious former colleagues isn’t managing a similar feat. Dude also fails to realize that he’ll never be more frightening than Jack White’s Michael Jackson on rock vibe because White looks more freakish now than Manson himself EVER did. Oof. (5)

William Skar: 1998: A ten-year-old William Skar encounters the Mechanical Animals cover in Our Price and, terrified, vows to never, ever listen to a Marilyn Manson record. 2015: A 26-year-old William Skar finally gets round to it, and is surprised to learn the Pale Emperor trades in bloodless plod-rock with about as much venom as The Haunted Hathaways. (3)

Chris Kelly: The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing us to write about Marilyn Manson in 2015. Trading goth schlock for Southern gothic, Manson does well by borrowing from Nick Cave rather than aiming for Hot Topic jock jams. (5)

Tayyab Amin: Although it’s not particularly offensive, and pretty perfect for some sort of ident or transitional cinematic sequence, at least I now know what a bastardisation of Tom Waits and Queens of the Stone Age sounds like. (5)

Scott Wilson: The terrible lyric about “witch drums” is as by the numbers as Marilyn Manson gets. The one positive thing I could say about this is that if you block out 90 per cent of the musical elements you can almost imagine you’re listening to Nick Cave, but this is about as tired as Marilyn Manson looks these days. (2)

Claire Lobenfeld: Jack White mimesis or not, the man who made ‘Cake and Sodomy’ can do whatever he wants in my book. Luh u 4eva, Brian Warner. (7)

3.8

Terror Danjah & Zed Bias ft. Olivia Louise – ‘Telepathy’

Alex Macpherson: Pastoral synths make for a nice counterpoint to grumbling bass, but while this sounds like it’d make for a moment to savour in the mix, it lacks something in isolation. Olivia Louise feels under-utilised – compare to the ne plus ultra of Terror Danjah vocal tracks, ‘Full Attention’, for example – and while it’s a welcome vibe, it’s not really anything more. (6)

Mikey IQ Jones: At the start of the whole quiet storm soul renaissance brought on by new jacks like Jessie Ware, Quadron, Rhye and the like, I’d once said that if you’re fronting like a Loose Ends outtake, I’m down to at least give you a shot. The same can probably be said here, but replace Loose Ends with Artful Dodger. This is completely safe and honestly a bit forgettable, but it does what it does quite well and hits a lot of my aesthetic sweet spots, so I have trouble hating on this too hard. I’m going to be nice because now I just want to listen to this jam on repeat for a while, and that’s always a good thing. (7)

William Skar: The grime/garage gramps aren’t doing much to hide their vintage here – some production polish aside, there’s no real reason why this bit of soulful stick’n’click couldn’t have come out on Locked On in 2001. Qualified praise, then – but I’ve certainly seen fainter. Tip: the Champion remix on the flip knocks this into a cocked hat. (6)

Tayyab Amin: Sounds like an almost-banger that came and went along time ago – and it’s not translating well to today. (5)

Claire Lobenfeld: Super easy to listen to, I just wish there would be more R&B-garage hybrids and this leaves me at half-mast. It’s super pleasant, though. (7)

Scott Wilson: This certainly isn’t either Zed Bias or Terror Danjah’s best work – the vocal sample feels like a bit of an afterthought rather than a integral part, but it’s still a pretty solid piece of garage nonetheless. (6)

Brad Stabler: Speaking of curbing bias – I’ll be the first admit that this hits a nostaglic sweet spot, even if it doesn’t surprise anyone who’s even remotely familiar with late-90s, early aughts garage (or Zed Bias’ discography, in general). It always feels good to hear woodblock drums again. What I can’t figure out is why it took so long for this one to see the light of day, and after all the steps UK production has taken over the past year alone, it feels a little late to the party. (7)

Son Raw: The Drop in dance music has been mutilated beyond recognition over the past few years but in the hands of the master, it’s still an incredibly effective tool. Like the best of Zed Bias’ tunes, this is all about tension and release with the build ups giving way to the darkest and slinkiest of 2-step before swelling back up. Terror Danjah’s contributions aren’t as immediately apparent but he nudges things darker and harsher and the G-funk synths on the intro and outro are more than welcome. This stuff still sounds like the future. (9)

6.6

Dipset – ‘Have My Money’

Tayyab Amin: I decided to let this marinate a little longer, accentuating the flavours, though my issue is it didn’t initially provide a case for me to bother. I’m all about the beat on here, which sounds like it’s simply from a time rather than dated. But with Cam on about Mariah and Jim Jones talking that old-but-still-relevant spiel, this is just a warm-up and not an especially great one at that. (6)

Alex Macpherson: Sounds less like a new Dipset single than something they found in the vaults. Storm noises, dusty beats, snatches of sax, laconic hook – it’s a pure nostalgia trip. But it doesn’t feel craven or lazy; it’s lovingly crafted, and it feels like Dipset going back to their roots because they know that’s what they do best – the rap equivalent of last year’s Toni Braxton and Babyface album, perhaps. (7)

Chris Kelly: I don’t care how much cred I lose: as good as Cam’s verse is here, I’d rather listen to ‘Dipshits’. At least that one got me excited for a Dipset reunion. (4)

Claire Lobenfeld: Here is the key to understanding my Cam’ron allegiance: He is the only rapper my Upstate New York white-as-hell mom can identify by voice. I love him. This sucks. Like Walker said on FACT Radio last Friday, there’s no urgency here and that’s the best part about Dipset. Until we get something on the level of ‘Salute’, there’s no reunion in my I-Went-To-Sam-Goody-When-It-Opened-For-The-Day-To-Buy-Confessions-of-Fire-book. (1)

William Skar: ‘Salute’ is the sort of arch-belter it takes half-a-decade to follow-up, and although this is much meeker, it’s pretty great – jasmine-scented psychedelia, elevated by the sort of spirited goofiness you expect from Cam’n’fam. (7)

Mikey IQ Jones: It’s great that Dipset are back, but this left me shrugging hard; everyone here seems to be phoning it in, and the conceit’s a bit dusty, not as in fingers but rather as in cleaning out Grandpa’s attic. Sorry guys – I hope they have your money, but you aren’t getting mine. (5)

Son Raw: It’s hard to imagine Dipset as a New York rap classicist act ala Bootcamp Clique but here we are. They may not have the zeitgeist in a chokehold like they did for the half of the aughts but they can still rap slick and Cam’s still got one of the best ears for beats in hip-hop. I’m cautiously optimistic for the mixtape. (7)

Scott Wilson: Leaving aside the slightly tasteless reference to Cam’ron’s ebola masks, this is pretty good – it’s looking like this might be at least one reunion that won’t suck in 2015. (8)

Brad Stabler: It doesn’t explode like ‘Salute’ did, but Dipset stills sounds like they could run it if they stepped up from here and added a bit more energy, as long as they don’t wait five years to do this again. (7)

5.8

Final scores:

Anushka ft. Trim – ‘Kisses’ (Dark0 Remix) (6.9)
Terror Danjah & Zed Bias ft. Olivia Louise – ‘Telepathy’ (6.6)
ILoveMakonnen – ‘Super Clean’ (6.1)
Dipset – ‘Have My Money’ (5.8)
Charli XCX ft. Rita Ora – ‘Doing It’ (4.4)
Marilyn Manson – ‘Cupid Carries a Gun’ (3.8)