Features Tracks: Temples, CYMBALS, Diplo & More

By the time you’re reading this, it’ll probably be dark outside. Don’t despair though, because the DIY writers have been up to their usual old tricks, and have had a huddle round a roaring fire with hot toddies and a spirit of healthy debate. These are the tracks most worthy of your attention this week, all picked out by the discerning ears of our excellent gang of scribes.

Temples – Mesmerise

At a first glance, Kettering - situated in the East Midlands near the A14 – may seem about as enchanting as a Tarot reader that uses Top Trumps. But delve deeper, and you’ll find that its name actually, rather incredibly means ‘Ketter’s people’. Delve even deeper, and you’ll strike the true gold; it’s home to psychedelic four-piece Temples, who’ve been busy warping minds with spacey wig outs ever since last November’s release of ‘Shelter Song’. New track ‘Mesmerise’ continues this trendy trend; it mixes carousel synths and bassy drums with the usual glossy sheen, making it sound as if it’s been recorded in a cathedral more spacious than Jabba the Hutt’s Ford Transit. They sure have taken their sweet time with an album - with its release date finally being announced as early February next year – but as ‘Mesmerise’’s name suggests, it’s going to be one hell of a hypnotic trip, surfing on the magic carpet of their exotic sounds. Jump on it. (Kyle MacNeill)

Grizzly Bear x Diplo - Will Calls

Fridays are built for unexpected remixes; the kind that’d usually be met with a scoff and a ‘Pah! Yeah right’. On paper, Diplo x Grizzly Bear sounds like some ungodly act that should only be spared for the worst party of all time, or maybe the apocalypse. But bloody hell, it actually sounds really good. The track features on ‘Shields B-sides’, as part of Grizzly Bear’s extended version of 2012 LP ‘Shields’. Remixes also come from Nicolas Jaar, Liars & more. Diplo’s take on ‘Will Calls’ transports a perfectly peaceful track into giant, Ibiza-ready territory. It proves that anything - anything in the world - can be achieved with a remix. (Jamie Milton)

Cymbals – Erosion

The first pick from the London quartet’s upcoming LP is sheer shoegazy, disco- bliss. Jack Cleverly’s coolly vivacious vocal is bathed in beachy guitar jangles, which culminate in a beautiful fuzz-warped riff complete with head-bobbing chord changes. Where ‘The Natural World’ oozed a bizarre sense of diversity with its random synth freak-outs, sparse arrangements and falsetto wails, ‘Erosion’ is a more fluid, tighter, cohesive effort. There’s something tropical yet woozy yet synth-pop about the whole ensemble – the bright beginnings of what we’re sure will be a brilliant album. (Laura Eley)

Xiu Xiu - Stupid In The Dark

So often music is about building things up. One texture on top of another, the resulting song is a proud-standing tower of building bricks, existing where only a spot of carpet lay before. Xiu Xiu’s ‘Stupid In The Dark’ is like a musically gifted toddler using a Fisherprice keyboard like a wrecking ball, and smashing the whole tower down to the ground. Screeching synths jar like newly manicured nails ripping down a cold blackboard, it’s chaotic, claustrophobic and as odd as we’d expect from Xiu Xiu. The forthcoming ‘Angel Guts: Red Classroom’ is named after a Japanese pornographic film, and from the title alone, it sounds pure nasty. Jamie Stewart said that this new album represents ‘the death of Xiu Xiu,’ and this is certainly music that seems to implode devastatingly inwards on itself. (El Hunt)

Evian Christ – Salt Carousel

Well then, Evian Christ has certainly turned it up a notch since working with Kanye West. New track ‘Salt Carousel’ starts off with an intro that feels like a continuation from the Kings And Them EP with its ambient atmospherics but it soon transforms. A garbled, high-pitched, almost demonic vocal sample suddenly cuts in, introducing a much more maximalist sound from Christ. Just when it feels like the punctuated, heavy bassline and scattering beat are too much – an echoed voice shouting “Go” into the distance sees the track segue into a tranquil, ambient sound briefly before being fiercely jolted back into maximalist territory. ‘Salt Carousel’ is a rougher and more ambitious edge to Evian Christ that shows he’s not messing around. (Aurora Mitchell)

Charlie Snacks – Money Machine

Norwich is a strange place: a beguilingly gorgeous city - see the way the post-Fordist, Detroitish Magdalen Street bleeds into the cobbled charm of Elm Hill, the eternal battle for skyline domination between the castle and the cathedral, the lazy bends of the River Wensum rolling past playing and multistorey carparks - that’s been reduced in the national psyche to nothing more than the inbred breeding ground of Alan Partridge and Delia Smith in her LET’S BE ‘AVIN YOU pomp, a distant and distanced punchline to weak jokes, a city without culture that tried to become a City of Culture. In fact, it’s geographical displacement makes Norwich what it is, its lack of proximity to any other artistic hub results in a sense of commonality and comradeship that runs through the gallery spaces and gig venues, the booksellers and artisan breadmakers. Charlie Snacks, barista and rapper, is a man entrenched in the rejuvenation of the Fine City. On last year’s Mickel Jordins Scrap Raps, Snacks showed us his playful side, happy to demonstrate his ability to rap happily about post-spliff cups of tea and videogames. After a brief hiatus - he’s been in the studio working on the upcoming ‘Tin Rat’ mixtape - he’s back with a track that’s swapped the comfy, cosy Dilla-isms of the debut for something more indebted to trap. ‘Money Machine’ sounds like a million bucks and looks like it too: it’s Shane Meadows getting ratchet with Juicy J, its exciting and dark and it makes you want to ball out with a bally on. In the best way possible. (Josh Baines)

Axxa/Abraxas– I Almost Fell

Captured Tracks have a bit of a knack for unearthing rough around the edges songwriters, whether that is the gruff Elvis impersonations that got Mac DeMarco signed, or the glistening dreampop that they spotted taking shape in Zachary Cole Smith’s mind, they have an eye for these things. Their latest signing Ben Asbury aka Axxa/Abraxas is no exception, after discovering his shabby home recordings they sent him into the studio with Jarvis Tarveniere (Woods) to bring his vivid ideas into colourful psychedelic life. Judging by the hypnotic guitar work and trembling falsetto on this bright and terribly exciting debut single, the Brooklyn label may have discovered another gem. (Samuel Cornforth)

Wishbone – Deer Park

Wishbone is three dudes from the acclaimed West Midlands band Laced, kicking back and kicking out the jams. You know the drill; letting loose a little. ‘Deer Park’ is the perfect introduction to their side project and is for fans of the slightly out of tune, slighty pissed off emo rock that bands like Basement used to do so well. So like I said, you know the drill: turn Wishbone up loud and moan along to your heart’s content. (Jack Parker)

Deer Park (Demo) by Wishbone