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.
The ebbs and flows of the music industry are confounding in their unknowable movements. That crap’s all well and good, but sometimes you just have to call it when you see it: this was an awesome week for new music. It was so good, in fact, that we had a bit of a knockout, drag-out fight as to what our Album of the Week was going to be.
Brian Eno ultimately came out victorious with his superb new full-length FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE, but there was strong competition from a band that I personally wouldn’t have thought was one to put up much of a creative fight against a giant like Eno. That would be The 1975, whose most recent LP Being Funny in a Foreign Language, just might be their best yet.
They’re not the only ones either: the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Waxahatchee/Jess Williamson duo Plains have great albums. So do The Big Moon, whose new LP Here Is Everything, also narrowly missed out on AOTW contention. It’s the kind of week you beg for as a music fan, and those good feelings extend over to the singles world.
Still, there are only eight songs that can make this list. Here is all the best new music from the week, compiled into The Far Out Playlist.
Best new music: October 8th – 15th
Liam Gallagher – ‘Too Good for Giving Up’
Liam Gallagher has released his single, ‘Too Good For Giving Up’, which comes as part of a campaign where he’s asking fans, “How are you? Out of 10?” in a bid to support the mental health charity Talk Club. Gallagher is doing his bit to help win the battle against suicide, with all UK profits from the track will be donated to the organisation for six months.
Fans of Gallagher will already be familiar with the song as it appeared on his latest album, C’mon You Know, but with it released under these circumstances, the material is heard in a completely different light.
Weyes Blood – ‘Grapevine’
Weyes Blood is back. Her second single, ‘Grapevine’, from her forthcoming album, And In the Darkness Hearts Aglow, picks up where ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody’ left off. It soars with the same casual effortlessness that the swaying voice of Weyes Blood always offers. With a waltzing melody, it gently proves that Marvin Gaye didn’t retire the word “grapevine” from all future use in music after all.
Like the first single, the track shows that Weyes Blood is embracing a wandering verse structure. The topline melody is a roaming one in ‘Grapevine’ with a chorus barely making itself known. However, it whisks you along all the same and allows the track to follow its whims towards the bitter end of a relationship.
The Backseat Lovers – ‘Slowing Down’
American indie rockers The Backseat Lovers, who shot to fame thanks to the viral stardom of their single ‘Kilby Girl’, are preparing to release their second studio album later this month. Waiting to Spill is a classic about-face, trading in the more guitar-heavy sounds of their debut When We Were Friends for dense arrangements, acoustic guitars, and a lighter sound. It’s a wonderful record, one that shows off a band that’s more than just a single TikTok sound.
To prove it, the band has released their third preview of the new LP in the form of the new single, ‘Slowing Down’. Airy and slightly eerier, ‘Slowing Down’ comes crashing in towards the end of Waiting to Spill. After seven tracks that take on a more languid pace, ‘Slowing Down’ (somewhat ironically, considering its title) ramps up the excitement once again. A true slow burn of a track, ‘Slowing Down’ keeps gaining momentum as it grows more and more intense.
Dry Cleaning – ‘No Decent Shoes for Rain’
Later this month, English indie rockers Dry Cleaning will officially drop their sophomore album Stumpwork. It’s a remarkably quick turnaround from a band that just released their debut a year ago, and the follow-up promises to be just as intriguing as the band’s first album, New Long Leg.
With the same angular riffs and monosyllabic drawl from singer Florence Shaw, ‘No Decent Shoes for Rain’ slinks and unfurls at a snail’s pace, the perfect tempo for a Dry Cleaning track. Across five minutes, Shaw drops references to everything from poundcake to roller skates, getting more surreal with each new verse.
Plains – ‘Hurricane’
New indie country duo Plains, made up of Waxahatchee leader Katie Crutchfield and solo star Jess Williams, are preparing to release their debut album, I Walked With You A Ways, later this week. Just to make sure we’re all still paying attention, which I hope you all are, the pair have dropped one final single before the LP’s release, ‘Hurricane’.
If you gravitate more towards the Waxahatchee side of the Plains equation, especially the singer’s most recent album Saint Cloud, then you’ll love ‘Hurricane’. Whereas the band’s previous two singles, ‘Problem with It’ and ‘Abilene’, were pretty heavy on country influences, ‘Hurricane’ has that potent mix of folk and indie that Waxahatchee is best known for. It also features Crutchfield as the lead singer, a change of pace from the mostly Williamson-focused ‘Abilene’.
Blink-182 – ‘Edging’
Blink-182 have shared their brand-new single, ‘Edging’, their first since the return of Tom DeLonge. The official announcement of DeLonge’s return was confirmed earlier this week when the pop-punkers announced he’d come home. He left the group in 2015 to pursue other interests and was replaced by Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba, who previously hinted DeLonge was back in Blink in July.
DeLonge takes the reigns from the off-set on ‘Edging’, and in the first verse, he sings: “I ain’t that cool, a little fucked in the head, They’ll be hangin’ me quick when I’m back from the dead.” While Blink-182 aren’t at their best or reinventing the wheel, there’s no denying ‘Edging’ is a nostalgia trip.
Bleached – ‘Flip It’
American indie punks Bleached, the Los Angeles band fronted by sisters Jessica and Jennifer Clavin, have dropped their first new music in two years with the brand new single ‘Flip It’.
A righteous blast of snotty pop punk and scuzzy indie rock, ‘Flip It’ channels everything from Valley Girl ditziness to the sun and surf of California beaches, no matter how fake L.A. might be. The track could have fit right at home on the Clueless soundtrack, but it’s not really a throwback track either. It’s the kind of song that makes you miss the warmer days of summer now that fall is coming in.
Bruce Springsteen – ‘Nightshift’ (The Commodores cover)
Following his 20 studio album, Letter to You, released in 2020, Bruce Springsteen will release his next LP on November 11th. Titled, Only The Strong Survive, the album will be comprised of R&B and soul covers from the likes of the Four Tops and the Temptations.
The all-American musician has released his second single, ‘Nightshift’. The track originally appeared on the Commodores’ titular album from 1985 and was written as a tribute to Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson, who both died the year before. Springsteen’s version is accompanied by a brass band, strings, and backing vocals, making it a triumphantly soulful rendition that retains the qualities of the original track.
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