News Tracks: Django Django, Scott Walker, The Internet And More

We know you’re busy people, and the last thing we want is for you to worry that you might have missed some of the brilliant new tunes that hit the internet during the week. But fear not, because the DIY writers and radio presenters have duked it out for you, and after much deliberation and a little bit of name calling, we present for your aural pleasure, this week’s Tracks.

Django Django – Life’s A Beach (Steve Mason Priests Of Sound Remix)
Django Django console themselves over missing out on the Mercury Music prize by getting fellow Scot Steve Mason to remix forthcoming single ‘Life’s a Beach’. Never one to show restraint, the ex Beta Band frontman channels the spirit of King Tubby and batters the track with oodles of spaced out trumpets and dub echo. The brilliantly trippy result sounds like something that could have come straight from Primal Scream’s ‘Vanishing Point’ LP and adds further fuel to the theory that they must be putting something strange in the water North of the Border. (Rick Skilbeck)



Scott Walker – Epizootics!
There are a select number of musicians who have long since transcended mere musicianship to become something more approaching an enigma. Scott Walker is perhaps the most enigmatic musical figure of them all. Scott has attained almost mythical status throughout his career progression from 60s pop idol to present-day sonic auteur. It is records like ‘Epizootics!’ the lead track from new album ‘Bish Bosch’ that show why he is so revered.

It is an astonishing 10-minute piece of work. As abstruse and oblique as ever it is an intoxicating mix of freeform jazz with a dark and sinister core. The low rumble of an instrument called a tubax adds the tension, which is brightened by some wonderfully powerful horn fanfares. All the while Scott’s tremulous croon tells the lyrical story, his voice soaring and gliding as the mood fluctuates. An extraordinary record from this most singularly unique and compelling of artists. (Martyn Young)



Blackbird Blackbird - Happy With you (Yalls Remix)
So, the original (available on Blackbird Blackbird’s Bandcamp) is real great; deftly done and kinda sombre, and there’s mostly always a place for deftly done and kinda sombre, but not on a Friday afternoon. Yalls are down with that, Yalls speed and chop it, Yalls trade deft for kinda daft, trade sombre for sombrero. This is as playful and catchy as playing catch with Katy Perry; most of the vocals stripped out, just ‘it’s a dream, it’s a dream’ repeating over and over amongst a barrage of handclaps, making us dance hard, and dance happy. (Dave Rowlinson)



Hildamay - Sons Of The Brave
I’ve had the pleasure of hearing these guys from early on working with BBC Introducing in Kent and seeing them grow from playing local pubs to onstage at Reading & Leeds and Hevy festival. The hole in my heart left by the splitting of Thrice has been filled with the strong vocals and layered heavy riffs of Hildamay. ‘Sons Of The Brave’ is the first single from the new album ‘Miles Away’ that was released on Monday. If the new single is anything to go by, they can wave goodbye to the days of local venues and say hello to the thirst for new UK rock music. Bands such as Turbowolf and Hawk Eyes have shown the way and Hildamay are following close behind. (Elise Cobain – Alive And Amplified)



Nils Bech – When You Looked At Me
Before we get started here, a quick word of warning: The video, should you choose to hunt it down is NSFW, unless your work happens to involve a naked ballet dude swanning about, which, to be honest, almost nobodies work does. Okay, so aside from balletic full-frontal, what do we have here? We’ve got something seriously beautiful from Norwegian, Nils Bech; echoes of a heartbroken Sufjan, grandiose strings and a lyric wracked with self-doubt – that glorious thing when English isn’t first language so the lyrics seem so clean cut, without metaphor or cloaking, and therefore more brutally honest for it. (Dave Rowlinson)



The Internet – Give It Time
Following their mainstream breakthrough last year, 2012 has seen much less controversy for Odd Future, but rather more great music. It is often difficult to keep up with the wealth of ideas and projects stemming from the collective though. As a case in point, immediately following an excellent new Earl Sweatshirt cut comes ’Give It Time’, a new track by The Internet. The duo of Syd Tha Kid and Matt Martians represent the slightly more cerebral, more musical side of Odd Future and this comes across wonderfully on this understated jazzy guitar led piece of soul. Its smokey sultriness is deeply alluring. You can add this to the increasingly long list of great Odd Future related tracks we have heard this year.

internet - Give It Time by The Internet OFWGKTA

Chvrches – Science And Vision
With every new track Glasgow’s Chvrches let us in on, we get a teeny bit more excited. This time around, as ‘Science And Vision’ unveils itself, we’re once again treated Lauren Mayberry’s exquisite vocal positively soaring over a mesh of synths to glorious effect. It’s polished without ever risking losing the heart. Yet again, the trio prove, emphatically, that they’re worth the feverish anticipation. (Simone Scott Warren)