News Tracks: JUNGLE, BANKS & more

It’s that wonderfully overwhelming time of week where roughly two trillion new tracks have made their way onto the internet, and it’s a bit of a task to sift on through. It’d be handy if Mary Berry would invent some sort of magically culinary machine that could separate the tasty from the rest at the push of a button, but in lieu of such a creation, the DIY scribes have done their darnedest to pick out the best music of this week.

JUNGLE - Time

The clock’s ticking on JUNGLE time. The point where everything will fall into place and the ambitious, shadowed London duo make good on early, insanely exciting promise. That’s the presumed route. But even if ‘Time’ doesn’t crash headfirst into the upper heights of the charts, JUNGLE will have produced the absolute, defining sound of the summer. Tough to put a finger on but above anything else led by a hot-footed, danceable take on funk, it’s bold, decisive and forward-thinking. It’s impossible to ignore. (Jamie Milton)

BANKS - Drowning

BANKS just keeps on dishing out the tunes, doesn’t she? Her latest track ‘Drowning’ is one of her strongest offerings yet, built from a syrupy-viscous metallic ooze, that pulls down with magnetic force into immersive deeps. Continuing a trend of successive powerhouse collaborators - SOHN, Shlohmo and Jamie Woon - this time around BANKS is produced by Al Shux; the London-based producer who has previously worked with Lana Del Rey, and is also behind Jay-Z’s ‘Empire State of Mind’. Heartbreak is a solid subject for a ballad, and one that occasionally borders on slightly predictable sentiments that belong in soppy Hallmark cards rather than on stereos. Jillian Banks, however, continually makes an old topic sound new. ‘From the girl who made you soup and tied your shoes when you were hurting, you are not deserving’ she sings over a pulsing underbelly of dripping vocal manipulation, and it sounds believable and vulnerable, like she’s stooped over her freshly and lovingly prepared miso, delicately seasoning it with a solitary tear rolling down her cheek. (El Hunt)

Superfood - Happy (Pharrell cover)

There’s no doubt that Pharrell can whip-up cracking pop tunes as easily and abundantly as Channel 4 can stick on infinite repeats of Come Dine with Me. But ‘Happy’ – well – doesn’t make me all too happy. It’s so sickly-sweet in its attempt to induce pop hysteria that it comes across as manufactured and synthetic; as well as slightly vacuous with its Kindergarten mantra of: ‘clap along if you feel’. As fantastic as ever, however, Superfood have swooped in and produced quite the heroic rendition of Pharrell’s tune. Filled with syncopated clapping, descending harmonies and a blasé-lounge jazz solo, it’s been given the instrumental boost that the original needs. More importantly, it’s filled with inter-band smiles and Este-esque head-bopping; coating it in a genuine infectiousness that leaves you more downright jubilant than happy. (Kyle MacNeill)

The Orwells - Gotta Get Down

Featuring snippets from Lords of Dogtown, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Orwells have chosen to present their new track at a sort of virtual drive-in. Very nifty if you ask me. There are penny skateboards, low-level practical jokes, and a suspicious looking ciggie all hidden away in the bank of looping images, and ‘Gotta Get Down’ smells of import incense, sweat, and the lingering smell of contraband. It sounds like the kind of Pixies-induced riffery that Clueless’ Travis Birkenstock might put on a lovingly assembled mixtape for Tai Frasier, and blasts out at walkman-tinny volume, packed full of clashing cymbals and angsty notebook lyrics like ‘don’t leave me, sit back down’. Yet another indication that forthcoming debut album ‘The Disgraceland’ is going to be a stonker, The Orwells do throwback rock the right way. (El Hunt)

You can hear ‘Gotta Get Down’ at The Disgraceland Drive-in right here.

Happyness - Leave The Party

Following up their indie- come – slacker –pop jaunt ‘Great Minds Think Alike, All Brains Taste The Same’ ; a two minute burst through jangly guitars, whooping melodies and plenty of ‘oooo’s, comes ‘Leave The Party’ – the latest cut from the London trio’s debut album ‘Weird Little Birthday’. It’s less to the point than the aforementioned tongue twisting title, ebbing into whimsical, lethargic, Sparklehorse –echoing territory where guitar’s quietly quiver and vocals come across in washed out whispers. Despite the despondent lyricism (it’s about going to a party and killing people), it’s just as charming as their previous tracks. There’s a quality of warmth and fuzziness to it with every shot of reverb, every fluttering guitar twang, every trickling organ sound that culminate in morbidity having never sounded so… well…pleasant. (Laura Eley)

Violent Beauregarde – I Love You

Violent Beauregarde is an electronic music producer from Bath in the South West of England. His Soundcloud is comprised of an impressive backlog of material, with sounds coming from anything between Chillwave, House, Garage and Electronica. Taken from his third EP, I Dream In Third Person, his track ‘I Love You’ falls into this last category. Haunting synthesisers create a sorrowful mood, reflected in the sentiment expressed by a vocal sample, which repeats ‘You’re the only reason that I’m still here’. Interestingly, the vocal (sampled presumably from a 1920’s American film) sounds almost out of tune, but actually adds a quirky hook to the melody. All the while, a powerful lo-fi drum machine pounds away, framing the ambient progression. If you like the soundtrack for Ryan Gosling’s Drive (2011) you’ll

love this 80’s synth pop number from Violent Beauregarde. (Patrick Benjamin Heardman)

Lust For Youth – Armida

Hannes Norrvide has been merging desolation and romance for a while now under the Lust for Youth name. His lo-fi songs have perfectly represented the bleak winter months that infest where he resides in Copenhagen. Recently his solo project has changed to a trio with the additions of Loke Rahbek and Malthe Fischer, as well as Soho Rezanejad providing vocals on ‘Armida’. This latest song is the moment that the first buoyant shards of sunlight pierce their way through their drab city, as its clinical and melodic synths combine with an industrial beat skilfully. There may still be a lingering darkness at work here, but it is most definitely Lust For Youth’s most accessible song to date. ‘International’ then, is a fitting name for their forthcoming album. (Sam Cornforth)

Soft Walls - Guided Through

Faux Discx owner and Cold Pumas guitarist Dan Reeves returns with his second album as Soft Walls, titled ‘No Time’, on July 29 following 2012’s self-titled debut LP. Having dropped the ”The” in front of the name and signed with Chicago garage/psych label Trouble in Mind, Reeves’ first offering from the LP ‘Guided Through’ is a mesmerizing piece of psych. Hazy, repetitive, and with Reeves’ vocals buried under fuzzy guitars it certainly bodes well for the LP. (Johan Alm)