Features Tracks: Laura Marling, Savages, Gold Panda And More

It’s Friday, Friday (gotta get down on Friday) and everybody’s looking forward to the weekend. And what better way to welcome in the bliss of two whole days of sweet freedom than having the best tracks of the week delivered to you on a shiny platter by the writers at DIY?

You’re not dreaming, because that’s exactly what we’ve gone and done. With a bumper line-up bursting with gems, the likes of Laura Marling and Savages are all present and correct for your listening pleasure. We recommend enjoying the below with an optimistic summer mojito. You deserve it, go on.

Savages - Shut Up

Taylor Swift tried to do the whole dramatic monologue thing once. She stalked angst-filled through the desert moaning about her boyfriend. All the while she had perfectly dip-died locks, and come on, we all know that shit would frazzle in about 5 minutes flat. Savages, meanwhile, aren’t moaning about boys or looking unbelievably pristine, they’re too busy kicking ass. “Silence yourself!” orders Jehnny Beth to end her hypnotising, shadowey monologue, and in kicks an angry young brute of a track, with a domineering bass line, crashing cymbals, and a backdrop of paranoia from anxious, fidgety guitar. ‘Shut Up’ gets a bit existential, and it’s certainly not instantly gratifying. That is probably what makes it so brilliant. This is yet more evidence that Savages are more than just a buzzband, and if debut ‘Silence Yourself’ emerges in similar fashion, it’ll be one of the most captivating releases of the year. Catch Savages on tour next month, but take your iPhone out at your peril. (El Hunt)

Laura Marling - Master Hunter

While previous releases ‘The Beast’ and ‘All My Rage’ have hinted at an angrier, more aggressive Laura Marling, it’s latest single ‘Master Hunter’ that really sees her let rip. Laura’s in full predatory mode, and she’s taking her anger out on whatever percussion she can find. “Wrestling the rope from darkness is no fucking life that I would choose” she sings, her voice bursting with forceful anger and ferocity that’s normally reserved for an argument. Sneaking in a Bob Dylan reference (“You want a woman who will call your name? It ain’t me, babe”) and themes of death, ‘Master Hunter’ sees Laura firmly eschewing the ditsy lullabys of her debut and building on the folky, crashing dramatics that she’s been gravitating towards ever since. It’s about time. (Rosie Lord)

Gold Panda - Brazil

Although we haven’t heard from Gold Panda in the form of an album since 2010’s ‘Lucky Shiner’, he’s been keeping us waiting with new material dropping every so often. Last year’s ‘Trust’ EP hinted at a more isolated sound and comparisons to Aphex Twin made even more prominent, especially with ‘Casyam_59#02’ However, Derwin’s back with a more lively offering – ‘Brazil’, the first single from ‘Half Of Where You Live’. Carnival season may be over in Brazil but this emits a laid-back carnival vibe with tropical beats and the repeated sample of someone saying “Brazil”. Very much like the country, the track exudes a warmth that makes you wish you could be stretched out on the sand on Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, basking in the sun. If this is anything to go by, Gold Panda’s second album is going to be a welcome follow up to ‘Lucky Shiner’. (Aurora Mitchell)

Thundercat - Heartbreaks + Setbacks

Thundercat’s ‘Heartbreaks + Setbacks’ is that rare and treasured thing, a piece of music that is both gloriously progressive and inventive as well as equally soulful and moving. The lead track from his forthcoming second album ‘Apocalypse’ it sees the renowned bass virtuoso Stephen Bruner once again joining up with his long standing musical ally Flying Lotus as well as Brainfeeder’s Mono/Poly to create something a bit special. There’s a distinct human quality here within the dizzying sounds. It’s hopeful and spiritual, ‘Maybe this could be our chance for us to see, maybe we’ll figure out where we’re supposed to be,’ sings Bruner in a supremely gorgeous soulful voice which gracefully floats over his reliably impressive bass sounds. The production by Flying Lotus is perfectly pitched, both classically tinged and futuristic this is future soul music on an entirely different plane. (Martyn Young)

GRIM - Little Fizz

Irishman Laurence McDaid’s choice of moniker proves to be a shrewd one, his debut placing the singer as the narrator of an utterly disturbing admonishment of some unnamed foe. Don’t be alarmed, however; you’ll revel in each and every one of its iniquities. As the growling, grunge bass plods steadily onward, slowly navigating a swirling mix of backwards guitars and reversed, skittering snare drums, McDaid’s textures are as unsettling as his lyrical disgust: “Let yourself enjoy the filth”. Cymbals crash but are aborted abruptly, giving the song a clinical feel, bereft of catharsis but bristling with tension. When his vocals eventually float in, a little over a minute in to the track, their stoic, near-monotone menace suggests the omniscient speaker has been there along, watching and waiting. The song’s highlight, however, comes at the 2.40 mark. The bottom falls out and McDaid’s bruised falsetto is allowed to flicker briefly before the looped beats again wrest control and stutter towards the finish line. GRIM has been named by the Daily Mirror as one of Northern Ireland’s top ten “Sounds of 2013”. On this evidence, he’ll be around for a long time beyond that. (David Zammitt - @davezambo)

Little Fizz by GRIM

Hookworms - Radio Tokyo

Typically going against the musical grain, Leeds krauty-rockers Hookworms have quickly followed the release of their debut album Pearl Mystic with the announcement of a brand new single. ‘Radio Tokyo’, set to come out on the Too Pure Singles Club on 27th May, sees a slight departure from the downbeat, droning sound heard on the five-piece’s first record - instead going for a lighter, catchier, and - shocker horror - more FUN sound. Reverby guitar and pounding drums break out into vocalist MJ’s echoing shouts, before upbeat, dancing key sounds take over. It’s still suitably intense and noisy (which will keep their more moody fans more than happy), but it also shows them impressively branching out towards an exciting new direction. (Jake May - @basementfever)

All About She ft. VV Brown - Bullets

U-turns might be political suicide, but this lady is for all for turning. Supporting Little Dragon has obviously left VV Brown with achingly cool dance music on the mind. Lending her honeyed vocals to ‘All About She’ – a London trio that share label space with Tinie Tempah – VV Brown has gone house queen on us, and the result is an exciting and unexpected change in direction. ‘Bullet’ is unrelentingly euphoric, pounding and seductive, with a deep sultry bassline that will bring down the dance tents come summer. She scrapped her second album ‘Lollipops & Politics’ last year because creatively it wasn’t what she wanted, and perhaps ‘Bullets’ is a hint of things to come. It’s tricky to predict what VV Brown will do next, but her extra-curricular activities in the dance world bode well for that elusive second album. (El Hunt)

Pusha T - Numbers On The Boards

Former Clipse MC Pusha T’s ‘Numbers On The Boards’ is a piece of minimal and intense hip hop that distils the form into its most simple and compelling state. Kanye West trailed the song on twitter as a response to Jay Z’s recently posted ‘Open Letter’, a track railing against political criticism of his trip to Cuba and his business dealings involving the New York Nets. Perhaps this is Kanye and Pusha T’s show of solidarity. “Our family Hov brought that real hip hop shit this morning so me and Pusha wanna keep that feeling going,” he said before unveiling this minimal beauty produced by Don Cannon in collaboration with West. The song itself briefly samples Jay-Z’s 1997 track ‘Intro/A Million & One Questions/Rhyme No More’ and it features Pusha T delivering an excellent slice of ultra confident straight up hip-hop over a rattling and juddering beat. The track provides an excellent taster ahead of Pusha’s forthcoming album ‘My Name Is My Name’. (Martyn Young)

Laurel Halo - Throw

2012 brought a lot of albums with new and interesting ideas to the realm of electronic music. One such album was Laurel Halo’s ‘Quarantine’ – a transfixing debut that dealt with ambient, techno and vocal manipulation, very much a product of the inspiration that Halo draws from science fiction. New track ‘Throw’, set to be on Halo’s upcoming EP ‘Behind The Green Door’, is more indebted to one of her other influences; Detroit techno. The mechanistic, pulsating rhythm offset by heavily reverbed piano strokes that linger is, undoubtedly, the centrepiece of the track. Laurel Halo has a knack for mixing often dark and morbid subjects with beauty in her compositions, and whilst a lot of that lays in her voice, which is missing here, the piano line has a haunting beauty that more than makes up for it. (Aurora Mitchell)

The Hood Internet - Phoenix (1901) x R. Kelly (Ignition)

There are some mash-ups that just inexplicably stay with you for years and years. I still remember The Strokes vs Christina Aguilera and Green Day vs The Timelords(?!) being staples of the 6th form stereo. I can’t listen to Pulp’s Help The Aged without waiting for Ali G to start rapping over it. Enter to the fray The Hood Internet’s collision of R Kelly’s ‘Ignition (Remix) and Phoenix’s ‘1901’.

No strangers to unlikely combinations having previously mixed The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart with the likes of Asher Roth and T-Pain, The Hood Internet have taken the surprise Coachella collaboration and made it just as innately thrilling and downright fun as it appeared when the footage first beamed its way through ether from the other side of the Atlantic. Once you feat your ears on this, don’t bet against it feeling weird in the future hearing R. Kelly without ample backing from some serious Gallic pop chops. (Gareth Ware)