Round-up Tracks: Foals, Robyn & La Bagatelle Magique, & More

From ominous organs to the first crunch of thunder, everything about Foals’ ‘What Went Down’ is more than just a return. It’s a band seizing the momentum of their headline-worthy ‘Holy Fire’ and burying the flag in higher climes. What began as a ‘what if’ is now an absolute certainty - we’re witnessing one of the country’s biggest bands racing to the top.

An unrelenting force it might be, but ‘What Went Down’ isn’t just brash and loud. It has Yannis Philippakis barking about a “port wine stain” like a middle-class murderer on the loose. It shows dynamism and depth before going for the breathless jugular. Above anything else, it’s quintessential Foals, a band with hundreds of neat quirks that when packed together, form something unstoppable.

Opening the group’s fourth album, it’s without doubt the most in-your-face, all-affirming song Foals could have returned with. A galloping synth mid-section reaches for the skies, before Yannis breaks it down with possessed “you’re the apple of my eye” chants. Across five minutes, Foals seem to channel every aspect of their absorbing split-personality - it results in their biggest track to date, hands down. (Jamie Milton)

It’s a bloody travesty, but we all do it sometimes - we forget just how banging songs like ‘Dancing on My Own’ and ‘Every Heartbeat’ really are. Like a pantomime fairy godmother, Robyn has developed a knack of appearing in giant glittering plumes of smoke to remind us she’s brilliant whenever shit hits the fan. Last year she pulled the same stunt with Röyksopp and Robyn - her collaborative project with Norwegian electro giants Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland - and re-established herself as the dancefloor’s head honco. Now with new outlet La Bagatelle Magique - which translates roughly to ‘The Magic Trifle - she’s done it again.

La Bagatelle Magique is a project with a difference, too. Half-way through writing with bandmate Markus Jägerstedt, Robyn’s long-time producer Christian Falk - who she’s worked with since forever - very sadly passed away. Falk’s influence remains all over La Bagatelle Magique, though, and the pair carried on using his pre-programmed samples and synths to complete the work. It formed part of their grieving process, Robyn told Annie Mac last night on Radio 1, and beneath ‘Love is Free’s haze of head-rush euphoria, there’s a genuine, emotional core. Glitching and pounding, latin flourishes cover the track like the fall-out from confetti guns. “You never know what you’re getting, cos you can’t control it and you can unthink it,” chants Robyn. Whatever runaway dance train she hopped aboard to make ‘Love Is Free,’ it headed down the best track imaginable, and the destination is perfect. (El Hunt)

Back when they first announced their debut ‘My Love Is Cool,’ Wolf Alice gave a knowing tap of the nose in response to questions about the album title. You’ll see, they said, just wait. ‘Freazy,’ with its unfazed chorus declaration “our love is cool,” forms a big chunk of the answer.

Echoing over a bendy, spaghetti-legged bass-line special from Theo Ellis, Joff Oddie’s subtly manning the whammy pedal to killer effect, while Joel Amey scuffs and pebble-kicks ‘Freazy’ along. As with everything else Wolf Alice set their collective minds to, the gang mentality is out in full force, and the energy is as addictive like a never-ending sherbet dib-dab. Compared with the powerhouse force of ‘Giant Peach,’ ‘Freazy’ lives at the more sugary end of Wolf Alice’s broad spectrum, but it creeps up regardless, turning into yet another gigantic song that grabs you by both shoulders in the sneakiest game of Grandma’s Footsteps ever. With the bullseye hitting singles stacking up, we’ve more than got the gist; ‘My Love Is Cool’ is one of the most exciting debut records released in years. (El Hunt)

Universal truth: when Beck wants to be a pop star, nobody can touch him. The discourse that placed Hansen in the role of The Man around his 2015 Grammy Award win for ‘Morning Phase’ never sat right. Sure, the record in question may have been one of his more ‘serious’ works, but when aiming in the right direction, Beck is a pop polymath - a legitimate genius without peer.

He’s been promising a return to direct immediacy since the point ‘Morning Phase’ was announced. A second album would follow - one that played up to his mainstream hugging brilliance. Something in the lineage of ‘The New Pollution’, ‘Devil’s Haircut’ and ‘Girl’. If ‘Dreams’ is the first sign of it, then that’s no outlandish statement. Beck still knows where it’s at.

Like the lead single from the second album MGMT’s management wanted but never received, there are so many ideas buzzing throughout five minutes of sugar crush vibes other acts would string them out for a whole record. Tempo changes, pseudo drops, psychedelic haze and all out euphoria all hook themselves to that trademark guitar shrug. With a Hyde Park set to come before the end of the week, it’s safe to start hoping - will Beck bring the pop show to the big stage in London? If he does, the party starts here. (Stephen Ackroyd)

Where 2014’s ‘God’s Whisper’ – a standout track from Raury’s ‘Indigo Child’ debut mixtape - took to the heavens, its evil counterpart ‘Devil’s Whisper’ plunges into the depths of hell. It’s a retort straight from the Devil’s mouth as Raury enlists help from a darker source.

The components of ‘Devil’s Whisper’ are largely the same as those featured on its more righteous counterpart; the simple acoustic guitar backed by gospel choruses, and primal chanting throughout. It’s a testament (bible pun unintended) to Raury’s ability to bend every crevasse of his musical know-how to his will, because ‘Devil’s Whisper’ - despite sharing the same foundations - is a completely different beast. ‘God’s Whisper’ was uplifting and empowering, but ‘Devil’s Whisper’ takes that power and turns it on its head, using clever, visual lyricism and thunderous foreboding beats. Underpinned by additional ominous synth lines, the snarled lyrics and repeated chorus’ of ‘you better run from the devil’ fills Raury’s previous declaration - ‘saviour’ - with doubt.

As tension builds to a head, Raury unleashes his most powerful weapon, a short but venomous rap; challenging and embodying God at the same time, with boasts of punishment and potential. The unpredictability of Raury’s music is his most striking weapon. ‘Devil’s Whisper’ is unsettling insight in the psyche of Raury’s dark side, and yet another impressive layer to his unpredictable, diverse artistry. (Henry Boon)

Like an actual cat out prowling in the middle of the night, Thundercat has always been a hard one to pin down. From the glossy, borderline jazz-fusion vibes of his 2011 debut The Golden Age of Apocalypse to his recent work on Kasami Washington’s sprawling jazz odyssey, his work has been diverse and fresh, but one word always remains: jazz.

On ‘Them Changes’ - the first track to appear from his surprise new mini-album ‘The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam’ - them changes aren’t immediately apparent, and that’s absolutely fine. There’s that unbelievably sultry, wibbly-wobbly bassline that squelches and sponges like feet at a rain soaked festival, and there’s that gorgeous croon of his that pleads “somebody help, ‘cause I can’t find my way”.

Then, like the burst of sunshine that radiates on the album artwork, a blissful piano melody rises like an early dawn before a subtle bit of sax reignites the engine. There’s something undeniably pop about this latest offering from Thundercat - maybe it’s all that time he’s been spending with Kendrick, but ‘Them Changes’ is an addictive, sexy pop banger of the highest order. Like a crack of actual thunder, Thundercat has suddenly become interesting again, transforming himself into an entirely different beast just in time for those twilight summer nights. (Tom Walters)

Starting out as Saint Pepsi - before being duly threatened with legal action - Ryan DeRobertis always had an eye for going beyond sample wizardry. It didn’t take long for bloggy hype tracks to morph into actual pop juggernauts. Sticking resolutely to the funk school of thought, ‘Can’t You See’ is the first time that he’s truly struck gold, arriving with something bold and original, as well as mind-blowingly fun.

The sticking point for this Skylar Spence track is its positivity. “I’m in love with my own reflection, woo! I can hardly keep myself together” is a rare breed of chorus. It brims with positivity, practically chokes on its own sense of self-worth. It’s boastful, in-your-face and defiantly personal. Talk of losing friends and going through ups and downs doesn’t matter in the end, because DeRobertis finds his eureka moment, and he wants the whole world to know about it. A breathless rush of energy, it’s the dose of positivity this year’s been holding out for. (Jamie Milton)

Tags: Features, Foals, Listen