Round-up Tracks: Charli XCX, SBTRKT & More

The reference points are there to be poked and prodded at, but make no mistake: Charli XCX is riding a wave, fast-becoming the Massive Deal she’s always hinted at being. ‘Break The Rules’ places ‘Song 2’ in a present day club environment and it sounds unashamedly massive. Throw in a “don’t give a fuck” attitude and rebellious streak and - whisper it - she might’ve topped the summer-defining ‘Boom Clap’ and ‘Fancy’. It’s been a breakthrough year for Charli, not that 2013 wasn’t mindblowingly busy. Last year’s ‘True Romance’ LP came off more like a mixtape than a proper full-length, in places. It digested everything exciting about music in that year and projected its own stance in glitter-doused, splintered parts. Some bits sounded amazing, others made less sense. ‘Break The Rules’ - when placed alongside ‘Boom Clap’ - sounds like one of the country’s best songwriters coming into her own. It’s a marquee moment for an artist that’s only going to get better, more exciting, more capable of flicking a switch and changing things up faster than the cultural zeitgeist can say ‘What’s going on here, then?’. (Jamie Milton)

‘Disco/Very’ proves very clearly that Warpaint are capable of effortlessly morphing into a gargantuan, industrial beast of clanking electronic force at a moment’s notice, and their latest collaboration with Aaron Jerome only cements that argument. ‘War Drums’ is hard-hitting from the off, switching lanes between mangled blooping sequences and driving, frantic drums like a Crazy Taxi running on silly juice. Theresa Wayman leads with her misted vocals, but SBTRKT chops them up and disjoints them again as quickly as any melody builds. This is intriguing, inventive and captivating stuff. SBTRKT and Warpaint are set to play Reading’s NME/Radio One back to back this evening. Wait. Is that the smell of a potential on-stage collaboration lingering in the air? (El Hunt)

It’s good to have Ben Howard back. After revealing the first taster from his upcoming second album in the form of ‘End of the Affair’, Mr Howard is once again teasing his fans with another fantastic offering. Moving away from the acoustic centre of ‘Every Kingdom’, title track ‘I Forgot Where We Were’, sees Ben move into more electronic realms, and to great effect. The song oozes confidence on the creator’s behalf; it is a brooding, hazy affair, showcasing the sonic leaps Howard has made following the success of his debut record. The final minute of the track works brilliantly as a piece of instrumentation, and bodes well for the sound of the forthcoming record as a collective piece. Welcome back, Ben. (Joe Sweeting)

Charlie Tait is a Sydney-raised, Dalston-residing producer that initially broke out with the sweeping, bubbling up debut track ‘Intuition’. His first effort has its head in the sand - a beach comber, road tripping aesthetic leads it, but it’s tied together with inventive loops that clear out cobwebs in the conscience. Tait might have been expected to follow that up with a similarly light, easy-on-the-ear production. He’s done the opposite. ‘Weight of the World’ lives somewhere between the grizzly aesthetic of Forest Swords and an industrial force of Fuck Buttons. That’s the initial burst. Soon enough it slithers into a more sparse arrangement, coming off like a vital extension from Ben Khan et al.’s blog pop stampede. But there’s darkness within the piece, cuss words swept under the carpet by a wall of synth. A subtle, instrumental chorus sits in there somewhere too. Throughout, whether he’s making testing or soothing music, Tait’s proving himself to be a producer that forces himself - and any willing listeners - into brilliantly uncomfortable surroundings. (Jamie Milton)

There’s a particular kind of beat that hits so hard that every bass pound thumps into your ribcage, and every snare sounds violent and crisp, like a weighty damp salmon slapping against a corrugated roof. That’s an apt summary of EL-P’s production on ‘Blockbuster Night Part 1’ right there. It is truly fiilllthy in a way that justifies elongating the word for extra emphasis on just how heavy and dirty Run The Jewels sound. This is part 1, and just an appetizer in the grand scheme of things. The sequel promises to be an ultraviolent horrorshow. (Connie Lingus)

Tags: Charli XCX, SBTRKT, Listen, Features