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.
Looking across the new music world, there are some distinct winners this week. My favourite happens to be Miley Cyrus, who scored her second number one in both the US and the UK this week with ‘Flowers’. That track didn’t qualify for this particular playlist, but I’m still enjoying it as of the writing of this article. We’ll see if that changes.
Elsewhere, we gave Dan Auerbach’s non-Black Keys band The Arcs our Album of the Week for their sweet and psychedelic ode to their late bandmate Richard Swift, Electrophonic Chronic. Albums from the likes of Gena Rose Bruce, Hotel Lux, and JW Francis were also solid additions to the new music canon.
Over on the singles side, we had plenty of awesome new songs to parse through 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, January 23rd – 29th:
Sløtface – ‘Nose’
Norwegian pop-punk band Sløtface are back with their rousing new single ‘Nose’, which sees them relay an account of anxiety over a sultry beat. It’s an anthem that takes a decidedly Jungian approach to Tame Impala-esque beats. Offering up a dichotomous mix of psychological introspection and sexy electronica.
The song is a mishmash of sound and sentiment. It doesn’t quite tackle anxiety in the same way that a mindful breathing exercise video would. Instead, it offers a symbolic explanation alongside a studio beat that seems to belong to a different song. The result isn’t quite as complimentary as ice cream on a warm desert; in fact, it can prove jarring, but it’s interesting, nevertheless.
Grandmas House – ‘Desire’
Bristol punks Grandmas House have delivered the rousing new single ‘Desire’ and announced their long-awaited next EP, Who Am I, which arrives on March 3rd via Brace Yourself Records.
An atmospheric piece, ‘Desire’ channels the gothic edge of the post-punk genre, placing a pulsating bassline at the heart of the track in a way that Siouxsie Sioux and The Chameleons would be proud of. Played by Zoë Zinsmeister, the four-string leads the charge here, dictating the flow of energy as any piece of post-punk of worth should.
Matt Maltese – ‘Driving Just to Drive’
Matt Maltese has been on the rise for some time, and his viral hit, ‘As The World Caves In’, has been played over 270 million times on Spotify alone, earning the songwriter a string of famous fans that includes the likes of Doja Cat and Frank Ocean. Now, he’s back with the title track from his upcoming album, ‘Driving Just To Drive’.
His latest offering is a beautiful late-night meditation about moving on. The track begins with Maltese lamenting, “Walking back without a song, I hear the cars, I smell the exhaust”, over his funeral procession like piano chords. This is a song about not having a song, and the deep yearning in his quivering voice makes it more evocative.
Willie J Healey – ‘Thank You’ (ft. Jamie T)
It’s that instant soul hook; it bates you into its fat rumbling bass stream like a cider-flowing picnic to a famished wasp. Oxfordshire songwriter Willie J Healey has teamed up with Jamie T in style with the slapping new soul single ‘Thank You’ from his forthcoming album, Bunny.
The song brings a visceral new edge to the world of soul, as Healey pairs the old tenets of Gospel singing choruses, prominent bass, string synth soundboards, and sultry vocals with decidedly cutting-edge production and hybridising indie verses to create something far away from an R&B pastiche and invigoratingly fresh.
Deary – ‘Fairground’
Last year, Deary celebrated the 18th birthday of Sonic Cathedral – the label that bought us BDRMM, Molly, and Lorelle Meets the Obsolete – with a show at The Social, London. Remarkably, that was just their second live performance, having come together amid the grim lockdown of winter 2021. Now, they’ve released their debut single, a wave of pastel tones and concrete breakbeats titled ‘Fairground’.
It’s not often you get knocked back quite so profoundly by a debut single. Vibrant and forward-thinking, ‘Fairground’ conjures (but never gives in to) a fog of nostalgia through a combination of rusted synths, cathedral-esque vocals and super-compressed beats. Think William Byrd meets Bowery Electric, and you’re nearing the mark.
Slowthai – ‘Selfish’
Northampton’s finest Slowthai (real name Tyron Frampton) has announced details of his third album Ugly, and shared the fiery new single, ‘Selfish’.
‘Selfish’ is the first sample of Ugly, and an abrasive punk track that sees Slowthai emotionally unload. When he leans into this part of his artistry, Frampton is at his most effective, and Ugly will finally allow this side of him to flourish for a full record. Additionally, it also confirms Slowthai isn’t a standard rapper, and he’s unwilling to restrict himself to hip-hop.
Motörhead – ‘Greedy Bastards’
Motörhead have released another studio outtake from the recording sessions for their 22nd and final album, Bad Magic. The provocative, political number burns slow but bright as late frontman Lemmy Kilmister delivers a poignant and evocative spoken-word passage as an attack on dishonest politicians.
a grungey, Crazy Horse-style guitar run plays in the background like a revving engine before the track kicks off with a drum beat. At 30 seconds in, Lemmy’s sorely-missed vocals take on the brooding lyrics: “Don’t ask me how I feel today/ I only want to get away/ I don’t understand the words you want to hear me say.”
Gorillaz – ‘Silent Running’ (ft. Adeleye Omotayo)
We’re now officially less than a month away from the latest Gorillaz album, Cracker Island. After the massive success of the album’s first Tame Impala-featuring single, ‘New Gold’, we’ve also heard the groovy tones of singles like ‘Baby Queen’ and ‘Skinny Ape’. Now, we’re getting yet another preview of the album with ‘Silent Running’.
Part electro-pop and part funk-rock, ‘Silent Running’ doesn’t do anything flashy. Instead, it just glides with a kind of ease that feels effortless for Damon Albarn. Adeleye Omotayo’s wordless vocal inflictions add just the right amount of soul to the track.
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