Essential Listening: This week’s best new music
Welcome back to Essential Listening, a place where we compile all the best new music of the week into the definitive tome of modern music: The Far Out Playlist.
There are plenty of weeks when good new music is hard to come by. New albums are few and far between, singles are relatively unimpressive, and you just sit on your hands waiting for the next crop of fresh tunes. I’m happy to report that this was not one of those weeks.
In a heated competition for Album of the Week, Yo La Tengo had to pull out a five-star effort in order to take home the prize with their latest LP, This Stupid World. Across the board, from a surprise release by Flume to brilliant new full plays from the likes of Tennis, Andy Shauf, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, it’s been a great week for new music.
That includes the single releases as well. Since our Far Out Playlist is limited to only eight songs, there are some great tracks that aren’t being recognised this week. Genghar’s ‘A Ladder’, Depeche Mode’s Ghosts Again’, Nicholas Allbrook’s ‘Jackie’, Yonaka’s ‘PANIC’, Daughters’ ‘Party’, Dream Wife’s ‘Hot (Don’t Date a Musician)’, Phil Selway’s ‘Strange Dance’ and Gilla Band’s ‘Sports Days’ were all in contention. We could literally make a second Far Out Playlist with the number of quality singles we got this week.
Still, only eight tracks can make it onto this list. Here is all the best new music of the week, compiled into the Far Out Playlist.
Best new music, February 6th – 12th:
Billie Marten – ‘Nothing But Mine’
British folk singer-songwriter Billie Marten has a new album, Drop Cherries, coming out in April. We’ve already been given the first taste of the LP with the stirring single ‘This Is How We Move’. Now, we’re getting our second look into the new album with the latest single, ‘Nothing But Mine’.
Like ‘This Is How We Move’, ‘Nothing But Mine’ rides high on Marten’s singular ability to float through her songs like a benevolent spirit. She hits a bit harder here as she slams out a few piano chords, but once the song’s ethereal slide guitars come to the fore, Marten finds that signature weightless quality that surrounds all of her music. In ways obvious and subtle, ‘Nothing But Mine’ also connects back to Marten’s previous album, 2021’s Flora Fauna.
bdrmm – ‘It’s Just a Bit of Blood’
Hull’s blossoming shoegaze/noise rock group bdrmm has announced a new deal on Mogwai’s Rock Action label. The band’s first order of business has come in the form of a brand new single, ‘It’s Just a Bit of Blood’, which sets the tone for their second full-length LP, I Don’t Know.
The intense track carries the DNA pressed into the first record to pasture’s new. Dark, brooding and ethereal guitar melodies in the intro break out violently into a heavier onslaught, which is reprised in ripples throughout the track with the addition of Ryan Smith’s delicate yet assertive lyrical verve.
Peter Gabriel – ‘The Court’
There is a wonderfully strange promotional rollout that Peter Gabriel is implementing for his new album, i/o. Every time there is another full moon, Gabriel will release new music. Since full moons happen roughly once every month, there’s a good chance that fans will know when the next Peter Gabriel song will come out.
Lunar preoccupations aside, the February full moon means that we’ve got another Gabriel track to parse through. This time, it’s a world-music song called ‘The Court’. Part ambient soundscape, part percussion-heavy backing track, and part electronica futurism, ‘The Court’ has an ominous mood that surrounds it. Featuring a host of traditional and non-traditional instruments mixed in with samples and other synthetic sounds, ‘The Court’ proves the notion that Gabriel is always moving into the future.
Sleaford Mods – ‘Force 10 From Navarone’ (ft. Florence Shaw)
English post-punk masters Sleaford Mods have returned to share their new single, ‘Force 10 From Navarone’, the newest preview of their upcoming LP UK GRIM. This time, the duo have continued their recent trend of collaborating with like-minded artists by tapping Dry Cleaning vocalist Florence Shaw to add her distinctive voice to the song.
Fusing the signature hard-pounding style of Sleaford Mods with the angular surrealism of Dry Cleaning, ‘Force 10 From Navarone’ will surely please anyone who is dedicated to the slightly-stilted bounce that both bands have perfected. As someone who has seen Dry Cleaning twice now in a single calendar year, I’m going to have to agree when Sleaford Mods say that Shaw was essential to the new song.
Indigo De Souza – ‘Younger & Dumber’
American indie rock explorer Indigo De Souza has already gifted us with two wonderful full-length albums, I Love My Mom and Any Shape You Take. It has been said that once the muse calls, you must answer. For De Souza, the muse called not long after the release of Any Shape You Take. That means that we’re getting De Souza’s third album, All of This Will End, later this year.
To get our first preview of the new LP, De Souza has shared the album’s epic closing track, ‘Younger & Dumber’. More contemplative and acoustic than De Souza’s previous material, ‘Younger & Dumber’ never sacrifices the psychedelic edge and wonderful wit that De Souza has made her own. Like her previous album closer ‘Kill Me’, ‘Younger & Dumber’ builds to a palpable crescendo that feels both awe-inspiring and inevitable. The song makes a strong case for De Souza to make a leap away from rock and more towards the folk/country idiom. She’s damn good at it, as can be heard in the intoxicating and haunting lines in the pedal steel guitar that floats around the song’s arrangement.
Squid – ‘Swing (In A Dream)’
Dynamic Brighton post-punks Squid have returned with their most expansive single yet, ‘Swing (In a Dream)’. Not finished there, the band has also announced the much anticipated second album, O Monolith, which will be released on June 9th via Warp.
The new single is a customarily wonky number. It’s comprised of syncopated rhythms, gritty guitars, and electronic textures, with some jazz-inspired brass thrown in for good measure. One of the group’s catchiest cuts, there is lot is going on, but the band pull it together well, instantly immersing the listener.
Bartees Strange – ‘Tisched Off’
Rather than keeping the good things to himself, Strange is gifting us with two new songs to kick off 2023 in style. As a part of the ongoing Sub Pop Singles Club series, which has stretched all the way back to grunge pioneers like Nirvana and Mudhoney, Strange has dropped two new songs, ‘Keekee’in’ and ‘Tisched Off’.
For ‘Tisched Off’, Strange gets into a bit dancier territory. Bringing the drums and heavy bass back to the fore after leaving them by the wayside for ‘Keekee’in’, ‘Tisched Off’ has some killer cowbell and dancefloor-ready rhythms. Despite coming off as just wanting to have a good time, Strange has a very specific target in his sights.
Beck – ‘Thinking About You’
Eclectic singer-songwriter Beck has shared a brand new single titled ‘Thinking About You’. The stripped-back acoustic ballad currently appears as a stand-alone single with no follow-up to 2019’s Hyperspace announced at this juncture. The track comes as Beck’s first new music since his cover of Neil Young’s ‘Old Man’ last September.
‘Thinking About You’ arrives on the plaintive end of the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter’s diverse oeuvre. In the lyrics, Beck sings desperately: “Don’t treat me like a stranger, the other side of love,” adding later in the track that he has “crossed seven oceans,” presumably to get to the right side of love.
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