News Tracks: Temples, Thundercat, Dudley Corporation, And More

Hello everyone, and here’s wishing you a very happy Friday!

Whether you’re optimistically clad in shorts and making the most of seaside living at The Great Escape, or simply holed up at home, you’re going to need some musical recommendations, right? We’ve got your back here! As usual, being the generous rabble they are, the DIY writers have got together and had a good old bicker about the things we think you deserve to hear. These selections should keep you happy for, well, at least until next week’s Tracks.

Temples - Colours To Life

You know Temples, right? The psychedelic four piece that - with only one single out - managed to support Suede and The Vaccines, will be playing with The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park, and also at every single festival near you this summer? Of course you know them, but to call them ‘psychedelic’ and place them as mere members of this ever-so-blooming scene is an underestimation. Their second single ‘Colours To Life’ explains in four minutes of gloomy vocals and bouncy bass lines why they’re more leaders than followers. This relaxed take of themselves brings all the instruments together, demonstrating an evolved way of structuring the sound bubble now with two guitars and smart occurrences of keywords that spark just the exact amount of glitter needed to make the trip as enjoyable as memorable. Oh and there’s glitter in the video too! Loads of it. (Carolina Faruolo)

SFV Acid - PT Sex

SFV Acid is a Californian producer, who creates off-kilter music of an almost avant-garde persuasion. It would seem he is an avid fan of anagrams. As for what the PT bit stands for, well, Psychedelic Trance maybe, or Phosphorescent Two-Step? Your guess is as good as mine really, because I’m sure as hell not googling it. SFV Acid apparently chose to record his debut LP ‘The Dwell’ in a Starbucks, and this, ‘PT Sex’ is another sneak preview of the strangeness to come. Just a bit sleazy, it lurches and chimes alongside a repetitive and lulling background. It’s like the atmospheric theme music to a low-budget version of Channel 4’s ‘Dogging Tales’, but more like ‘Eyes Wide Shut’, and with more badger masks and spinning shapes. Probably on acid, as well. (El Hunt)

Huskies - Whatever Together

Do you miss The Drums? Or do you just need one more song to complete your summer-indie-pop-playlist so you can go out in the sun and love life? Huskies, hailing from Nottingham, have penned a most apt song for your time in the sun with your friends. It breezes along with all the reasons why you fell in love with guitar-driven, laid back pop in the first place. You’ll soon be singing it back to your friends as you frolick outside. Fans of Jaws and The Drums take note of these notes being twanged-out by Huskies, they are here to stay and make you sway. (Jack Parker)

Dudley Corporation - Everyone Does Everything Wrong pt. II

It’s been almost five years since we last heard from Dublin’s Dudley Corporation. Back when ‘Year Of The Husband’ was released we didn’t quite feel the bottomless remorse that a trip down to Argos has come to demand, Gordon Brown was giving New Labour a decidedly grey pallor, and Michael Jackson was still thrashing out the T&Cs of that comeback tour. None of this, however, seems to matter to the three-piece affectionately known as The Corpo. Their distinctive brand of math-pop seems to exist in a bubble so willfully outside of the zeitgeist as to propel them towards timelessness, and the title track from their latest LP is the sprawling jewel in its labyrinthine crown. Like the album that spawns it, the abstention from 4/4 is reminiscent of Deerhoof at their explosive, mercurial best. There is a sumptuous warmth, however, in the tone and production that means the band’s technical prowess avoids coming off as clinical, while Dudley Colley’s vocal cadences swell and fall away with gorgeous, Buckleyesque ease. When the group finally put four to the floor and let rip at the 2-minute point, you’ll struggle to stay in your seat. Make sure you tune up that air guitar. (David Zammit)

Everyone Does Everything Wrong II by The Dudley Corporation

Thundercat - Oh Sheit It’s X

‘Get Lucky’ has left us longing for the discotheque, and this latest cut from ‘Apocalypse’ provides Thundercat’s own twist on the fail-safe combination of shape-shifting bass lines, falsetto vocals and a plunking rhythm. An extremely talented bassist, Thundercat mixes his jazz roots with wildly modern production from collabarator Flying Lotus and he’s as experimental as ever. “I just wanna party” goes ‘Oh Sheit It’s X’s chorus, and it’s a tough effort to stay put in your chair once that slap bassy interlude sashays into the club with all the presence and rhythm of a flare-clad Disco Stu.(El Hunt)

Tall Ships - Phosphorescence

Mere moments before Tall Ships play Great Escape Festival in Brighton, they bring us their brand new video for ‘Phosphorescence’. A particular highlight on their debut album ‘Everything Touching’ (released by the ever reliable folks at Big Scary Monsters); as each new layer joins we are immersed in a soundscape that is built, unbelievably, around a three note riff – suddenly finding ourselves “lost in something bigger than us”. If you’re not sold by the time the anthemic chorus hits, the xylophone is sure to win you over! The three-piece are regular slot holders at plenty of festivals, so if you’ve not managed to witness them on stage yet – make sure you do this summer. (Joe Dickinson - @DickinsonSound)