Round-up Tracks: Santigold, Weezer, & More

Take an unbiased dip into Santigold’s back catalogue, and whatever gets pulled out of the lucky dip is likely to be left-field pop gold. From the unmistakable plucked synthetics of ‘Disparate Youth’ set against those claustrophobic snares, to the Karen O featuring ‘Go,’ Santigold is in possession of a discerning ear for unexplored avenues. Returning like an old friend earlier this year - minus any sort of pomp or fanfare - the Philly-born musician rocked up at Latitude wearing a fried breakfast and gingham tablecloth, no less. Now she’s announced her new record, ’99¢‘ just as casually, driving along in her car, over speaker-phone while chatting to Zane Lowe. “99¢ is a good price for me and my life!” she joked.

For all its low-key arrival, ‘Can’t Get Enough of Myself’ sounds like pressure bottled confidence. This isn’t a brag track, reaching for the lofty heights of cocky-draws towers, but it’s unapologeticaly self-assured all the same. “All I wanna do is what I do well, “ Santigold says matter-of-factly over tootling flutes, and squelching, bouncy castle basslines, “ain’t a gambler but honey I’d put money on myself.” Produced by Patrik Berger (the Robyn, Charli XCX and Lana del Rey collaborator, rather than the retired Czech footballer) and featuring B.C, Santigold has every right to be sure of herself. (El Hunt)

Eight seconds in, before Rivers Cuomo’s vocals have even kicked in, and ‘Do You Wanna Get High?’ couldn’t be by anyone else. Weezer are at their best when, well, sounding like Weezer, and as this sounds Very Much like Weezer, it’s brilliant. Take the wiry guitars of ‘Pinkerton’, the punkish pop sensibilities of ‘The Green Album’ and the claustrophobic melancholy of ‘Maladroit’, pop ‘em in a blender, and it’d probably end up something like this.

“Do you wanna get high?,” Rivers asks, over a sluggish beat, his vocals colliding magically with those oh-so-familiar sounds behind him. “It’s like we’re falling in love.” A drug-fuelled relationship he may well be alluding to (yeah, we’ve been on Lyric Genius too), but yes, yes we are. (Emma Swann)

‘Bent (Roi’s Song)’ is the latest glimpse of what to expect from DIIV’s upcoming new album, and following on from ‘Dopamine,’ there’s still a understanding of exactly how to quickly trigger those reward neurotransmitters. The guitars idle and foot-scuff their way up and down fretboards, and though this builds on the foundations of previous album ‘Oshin,’ it’s far more expansive, and less eager to duck into hiding behind muddied layers of reverb. Zachary Cole Smith’s drawling vocals come to the fore, too, and the dark confiding heart of ‘Bent (Roi’s Song)’ is unmissable. “I saw you with a very loose grip on your tight ship,” he drawls, “and I lost you when you said one hit couldn’t hurt a bit.” A song for everyone who has made a stumble or wrong turn, it’s a very upfront piece of songwriting; both in the melodic clarity, and the lyrical honesty. (El Hunt)

Despite their punchline-baiting tendency to be pegged as a bunch of miseries, Coldplay have never been afraid to show a toothy grin from time to time. Both ‘X&Y’ and ‘Viva La Vida’ showcased a band who revel in the juxtaposition of delirious joy alongside their grump, and while last year’s ‘Ghost Stories’ might have been a bit of a mope-fest, it was sort of forgivable what with that whole, y’know, ‘Gwenyth Paltrow divorce’ thing.

‘Adventure Of A Lifetime’, though, is the most flamboyant they’ve ever been. Shimmering, tropical melodies pair up with their technicolour new aesthetic, and it’s knitted together with a fidgety guitar line straight out of Friendly Fires’ post-travelling playbook. ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’ is billed as the “sunnier” half of ‘Ghost Stories’ - on this first evidence, it might finally put those memes of misery to bed. (Tom Connick)

Sliding back into view with ‘Better,’ this is the first new material we’ve heard from Banks in a fair while, and it’s a typically minimal, intimate affair. Banks cries “I can love you better than she can,” over a slightly chaotic construction of her own, echoed, warped vocals, even making a cheeky lyrical nod to her previous single ‘Warm Water’ later on. This time, though, the water’s freezing cold and unforgiving; an apt match for a Banks track that finds a new edge to her emotional outpourings. (El Hunt)

Tags: Santigold, Weezer, Listen, Features