News Tracks: Jessie Ware, Mudhoney, Factory Floor And More

You might not have noticed, but for most of us, it’s snowing. And the best way to celebrate a snowy weekend? Well, if you’re in London, you need to head to the Old Blue Last to our show with Dan Croll tonight. But if you’re not, maybe you’d like to stay home, drinking wine by a crackling fire, and enjoying the bleak midwinter with a soundtrack so of the moment even the snow is jealous of how cool you are.

And if you wanted any help putting that plan into fruition, then for your aural pleasure, our lovely writers and radio presenters have put together their picks of the week’s new music. Without any further delay, let’s get on with Tracks…

Jessie Ware - If You’re Never Gonna Move (Two Inch Punch Remix)

There haven’t been many more remix-able artists to emerge in the last few years than Jessie Ware. The number of great Jessie Ware remixes is rising with each release but this latest version from esteemed London producer Two Inch Punch trumps the lot of them.

It’s easy to see why producers find Ware’s music so adaptable and ripe for re-working; her perfectly poised voice is malleable to any sound. On this version of the newly renamed ‘110%’ now entitled ‘If You’re Never Gonna Move’ Two Inch Punch strips everything right back leaving only Ware’s vocals set against a diaphanous background of shimmering synths and finger clicks. An utterly gorgeous reworking that does what all the best remixes should do. (Martyn Young)

Factory Floor - Fall Back

The first single from their long-awaited full-length, Factory Floor are in typically fierce form on Fall Back. Signed to DFA in 2011, this undoubtedly sees the London trio draw on the sounds that have become the label’s fabric. It’s far more hostile than standard dance-punk fare, however; an eight and a half minute onslaught of throbbing two-note synths, battering 4/4 kick drums and mangled, breathy spoken-word vocals that sound like a female HAL, distorting as she repeatedly presses for a response to her menacing interrogation: ‘Did it feel like you were going to fall back?’ Anyone who has marvelled at James Murphy’s ability to vault the hi-hat into truly divine territory will savour the glorious crispness of the agit-disco cymbal work, spraying like ice cold water; fizzing and spurting forth as Messrs Gurnsey, Butler & Colk dial up the intensity of their ferocious machine to the brink of malfunction. (David Zammitt)

Mudhoney - The Only Son Of A Widow From Nain

Sometimes it is hard to comprehend the length of a band’s career. In the case of Seattle’s Mudhoney, they’ve now been together for a remarkable 25 years, a feat that was near unthinkable when they were careering through stages across the world with reckless abandon in those early pre-grunge days as Sub Pop Pioneers.

‘Vanishing Point’ is their forthcoming ninth studio album and first for four years, and proceeding it is ‘The Only Son Of A Widow From Nain’ a fittingly riff laden beast of a record. Front man Mark Arm is as relentlessly unhinged as ever while whip smart buzz saw riffs dominate. The lyrics are obliquely bonkers and pleasingly complement the sheer deranged brilliance of this excellent comeback. (Martyn Young)

Doldrums – Anomaly

It’s a wonder what bounces around that odd mind of Doldrums’ Airick Woodhead sometimes. Just look at the peculiar world he’s drawn up for latest single ‘Anomaly.’ In this world, doctors drug traumatised patients to help them revisit their own ideas of paradise in their dreams. Things go awry when everybody’s fantasies merge into an interconnected world of orgies and mass murder: it’s basically ‘Inception’ meets ‘the Matrix’ meets the plot of Agatha Christie’s next book.

And if listening to ‘Anomaly’ is anything to go by, it seems everyone was dozing off to a synth strewn soundtrack of early New Order, ‘Visions’ era Grimes and Zola Jesus, all being fronted by an androgynous Avey Tare. It starts off with ominous harmonies and drum rolls but sleekly disperses into an electro stomper afterwards. In retrospect, that dream world doesn’t sound half bad now, does it? (Alex Yau)

Gemini Club - Can’t Believe You Said That

For those of you that tune into Alive And Amplified on a Thursday evening from 7pm on DIY Radio, you’ll know that we’ve already begun browsing the hoards of talent playing at SXSW this year. And on a first sweep, this band have stood out among the rest. The Chicago trio are doing the electro-indie thing, but with a spin that makes them far more interesting than those already out there. Apparently ‘wild’ in their live performances, we’re looking forward to being able to catch them in the UK soon. (Elise Cobain – Alive And Amplified)