Loading Video…

Acre – ‘Love’

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: The dolphin noises that the snares unintentionally remind me of have made me wonder just how influential Ecco the Dolphin is on modern electronic music. (They share enough drug connections, I guess.) The Ecco the Dolphin connections here are the most interesting thing happening. (4)

Son Raw: Ten years ago, Tectonic was releasing weighty, dub-techno influenced platters by the like of 2562, and Acre’s work feels like a contemporary flip to that approach, with degraded hardware and an emphasis on emotion standing in for the last decade’s cavernous low-end and digital sheen. Beyond the aesthetic signifiers however, ‘Love’ reaches out for its titular emotion and strangles it by the neck, wringing every bit of melancholy out of the signal chain. I’m left wondering if these machines are crying out of sorrow or pain. (7)

April Clare Welsh: I like it when an intro catches you off guard, because that way you are ​at the m​ercy of the song​ ​and it’s good to hand over the reins every now and then. This track doesn’t mess about getting started on a knife-edge but also deals in the right amount of tension and drama, moving quickly from a brash, grainy clamour to a pacifying ambient drone. ​And t​he ethereal siren ​makes me think of ​some kind lost island subcontinent where mechanised dolphins rule the sea​s, which is always nice.​​​​​​ (9)

Claire Lobenfeld: This wasn’t long enough! Right at its end, it could have really exploded into something much bigger, leaning on the brightness it had already developed and taking it to a higher level of its already-engrossing subdued euphoria. And even if it hadn’t climbed another peak it would have maintained a lovely meditativeness it was working with it. Come back to me, track! (7)

6.8

Negative Gemini – ‘You Never Knew’

April Clare Welsh: Although I was nearly put off by the clunky name, I’m really into this, particularly​ because it has ​a shoegaze ​vibe to it and wouldn’t feel out of place on ​that Sci-Fi Lo-Fi ​comp​ Rob Da Bank did a few years ago​ (which I thought was great, even if hundreds​ of haters​ didn’t). ​It’s the classic combo of soporific electronica​ ​spiked with a pop vocal​ – ​a glassy-yet-breathy​ one​​ – and it instantly makes me ​wish I was sitting on the top deck of a bus just so I c​ould​ gaze out of the window. The throbby vocal ​bit​ also kind of reminds me of The Crystals’ ‘​D​a ​D​oo ​Ro​n ​R​on’. (9)

Son Raw: If America discovers baggy, we’re truly fucked. Except, maybe we’re not: the swing and shuffle on that drum pattern is a glorious breath of fresh air after a decade of sulky Brooklynites crapping out stiffer than stiff post-punk patterns, and I’m a sucker for a breathy pop vocal. Bucket caps are already back in fashion anyways, so we may as well. (8)

Claire Lobenfeld: Here’s what this reminds me of: shopping in the housewares section of an Urban Outfitters for cat-shaped mugs I don’t want to admit I own; the happier parts of Drive; a sketch of what could have been if Katy Perry had actually let Anthony Gonzalez write her third album. These are all things that appeal to me, but this is not at all a show-stopper. (6)

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Lindsay French can’t sing, but she can sure write a good song. Imagine if she combined the two – she’d be the total package! (7)

7.5

Loading Video…

Haleek Maul – ‘Dead Em’

Son Raw: Shy Guy! Like too many contemporary NY rappers, this says more about the stuff Haleek Maul likes than who Haleek Maul actually is, but Shy Guy is quietly running NY right now and he knocks this one out of the park. (7)

April Clare Welsh: WTF? This track totally finished before I realised it had even​ started! (6)

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Short and overproduced enough to fool you into overpraising it. Maul’s got a good ear, but this is a solid mixtape intro if anything. (6)

Claire Lobenfeld: It’s like four different eras of Kanye West mashed into a New York rap song, huh? There’s not too much to judge in this collage, save that Maul never ceases to spit with precision. But this just makes me mad ‘Fuck It’ wasn’t up for consideration this week when there is so much on that cut to untangle and devour (and “I wish I had fucking Xanax problem so y’all talk about how I deep I am” isn’t even the peak of it!). Oh look, it took me longer to write this blurb than it took to actually listen to ‘Dead ‘Em’. (5)

6

Kamixlo – ‘Paleta’

April Claire Welsh: Talk about sonic assaults, this is full-on warfare​! Unrelenting in its line of percussive fire​, show me a person who can remain still for its duration and I’ll hand you over my life savings. I love how there’s that springy bass followed by a​ steamy ​​sex cry​ and although I haven’t been to any of those Endless nights yet, hearing this certainly makes me want to​.​ (8)

Son Raw: The kind of music that’s absolutely amazing at 4AM when a clued-in DJ drops it at an after party, and absolutely unbearable when some pretentious knob starts describing it as the fusion of doom-whatever and Third World politics. How about I shut up and just let you enjoy it. Deal? (8)

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Asking ‘Paleta’ to be more than battering ram music is like expecting a steak to be a croissant: redundant. Just sink your teeth into it and expect no further dimensions. (6)

Claire Lobenfeld: Did I know that I needed reggaeton through the PAN lens in my life? Nope. Am I happy to have it now? Extremely. To have the essential percussiveness of what makes reggaeton so unwaveringly celebratory (even when it’s not) be finessed into something so punishing but still perfectly party-primed is a feat for anyone who everything to be beat-oriented but unconfined to genre. Wow. I love it. (8)

7.5

Puff Daddy & The Family – ‘Workin’

Claire Lobenfeld: Ughhhhhh, what is this poor attempt at 2015 Drake mimesis? I don’t have a problem with Puff adhering to trends — ‘Hello, Good Morning’ in all of its DJ Khaled-ing was great! This just makes me look back at the large chunk of my adolescence I spent genuflecting at the altar of Bad Boy wondering if that little girl would be upset right now. If you’re listening to this, it’s too late, Young Claire. (2)

Son Raw: Is there a moniker Sean Combs CAN’T bring back from the dead? Imagine how MA$E and Carl Thomas feel; this is like finding your long lost dad 20 years later and learning he’d just packed up shop and started a new family. Anyways, this is dead on arrival – “don’t bother me I’m working” is possibly the most joyless chorus ever written. (2)

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: “Shout out my people with a job!” I never fail to be inspired by Puff, who’s dialled down his Rozay-mandated eccentric millionaire persona here for a joint that sounds like a really good Forever album track (those exist, for real) but a mind-boggling choice for a single. I want to get another job ’cause I like Puff recognising my hustle aka typing these quietly at my desk. (7)

April Clare Welsh: ​​I had totally forgotten P Diddy existed but I’m glad he’s back and even better that he’s back as Puff Daddy. This is all dark, minimal and slow-burning and I’m quite excited to hear the album, it must be said.​ (8)

4.8

Loading Video…

Jessie Ware – ‘A Dream Is A Wish’

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Gorgeously sung but as far as Disney covers, not a patch on Lana Del Rey’s ‘Once Upon A Dream’ aka the best part of Maleficent. (4)

Son Raw: “Your honor, in the case of contemporary society vs. the global entertainment industry, I hope to prove that the current economics of capitalism force artists to degrade themselves by committing to trite, meaningless drivel to gain financial security, undermining any artistic integrity. Exhibit A: this bullshit.

The prosecution is seeking the maximum penalty: give Banksy the master tape and let him have at it.” (0)

April Clare Welsh: This feels like a strangely theatrical move for a singer who has built her foundations around the ideas of sonic restraint and self-containment, ​but then I ​read that ​she was a “massive Disney fan” and it ​all ​made sense. Call me a cynic or whatever, but I just don’t like Disney enough for a whole album of this shit (even if the comp has a couple of my faves on it)​ and I think it’s weird that album sales don’t go to charity​ or anything​​; ​I guess the whole exercise ​just ​feels a bit too self-indulgent​ and also, it’s not like they’ve done ANYTHING to rework the songs into new versions. (4)

Claire Lobenfeld: If you told me when ‘Nervous’ came out that a half a decade later Jessie Ware would be covering Cinderella sappiness for a Disney comp, I would have scrunched my face up so tight because of that lunacy it would stayed that way forever. This is not to say she doesn’t sound flawless on this song (she does!), but it’s still weird as hell.

I just want to know why this collection needs to exist. Have you looked at the tracklisting? Fall Out Boy covers a song from The Jungle Book! Did you know Pete Wentz’s kid with Ashlee Simpson is NAMED AFTER THE MAIN CHARACTER FROM THIS MOVIE?! Did you know they let Jessie J cover ‘Part Of Your World’ from The Little Mermaid, which is just an unfortunate pairing, as she doesn’t sit on the same level as so many other pop starlets, at least not Stateside.

What is going on here? You know what? Props to you, Jessie Ware. They gave you a perfect song and you sound beautiful on it. It doesn’t stop me from thinking about you singing this to a mouse in a little cap who is one of your only friends except for his fellow woodland creatures who helped you clean up the house and make a dress and and and UGHHHH I just had a flashback to having more chores than my younger sister and being referred to as “Cinderella” ~lovingly~ by my father and — GOOD WORK, DISNEY. You’ve fired off every all of my memory receptors in one fell swoop. That’s how they get us, right? (5)

3.3

Final scores:

Kamixlo – ‘Paleta’ (7.5)
Negative Gemini – ‘You Never Knew’ (7.5)
Acre – ‘Love’ (6.8)
Haleek Maul – ‘Dead Em’ (6)
Puff Daddy & The Family – ‘Workin’ (4.8)
Jessie Ware – ‘A Dream Is A Wish’ (3.3)