News This Week In New Music (12th April 2014)

Before giving out any weekly accolades, this round up begins with a special tribute to Dessert’s new song ‘Player’, and more specifically the website designed for the sole purpose of playing the song. Any interactive environment that contains booming blog-pop and a 3D dog is an absolute winner. Perhaps Soundcloud players and Vevo premieres should be shoehorned for dog players, complete with wagging tails and tongues that can be stretched with the click of a mouse. This week wasn’t exactly quiet, but it did seem like the nifty trick of “good song, plus dog” worked a charm, distraction music site’s attention for a good solid ten minutes, at the very least.

Elsewhere in new music, the likes of Eyedress and Bayou emerged with mixtapes (the former being downloadable for free). The latter led with a monstrous futuregasm of a song, unparalleled compared to everything he’d put his name to before. We also had the pleasure of premiering ‘Lights’, the final SOHN session for label 4AD. All good things must come to an end.

TRACK OF THE WEEK
Douglas Dare - Swim


The art for Douglas Dare’s ‘Whelm’ debut takes him to the coast. Growing up in Bridport, a town in the South West of England, he had all the rocky terrain and gloomy sea air required to contribute to his dark, muggy take on songwriting. On ‘Swim’ it reaches its peak, grim realities nestling up against punching electronic percussion and the most beautiful, sweeping piano lines. Like crashing amongst the waves, this song feels dangerous. Its impact is true, permanent.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Alice Boman - What


Keeping it coastal, Alice Boman’s new video hones in at the same isolation that Douglas Dare’s music seems so firmly interlocked with. ‘What’ is less hazardous, though. There’s comfort in the isolation this Swedish songwriter experiences, nothing but a labrador by her side as she strolls down a deserted beach. Quiet isolation has its place, ‘What’ proving that it’s often your own thoughts that can be the most beautiful.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK
FRAME


Out with the old, in with the new. FRAME - aka Brooklyn’s Caitlin Frame - is a revivalist in nature. She gets her kicks from glorious, Blondie-channelling power ballads, but there’s more to it. ‘Polarizer’ - her latest single, recently premiered on DIY - sees her absorbing decades-old influences and giving them a freak-out, modern day aesthetic. Like how Dev Hynes reestablishes funk, FRAME might be the individual to do this with shameless, glammed-up pop.