Top 10 New Tracks
Fancy something to help with the first week of advent? Take a peek at our Top 10 New Tracks, handpicked by our digital librarians! This week features the likes of Jake Among The Willows, Sōl, and more! Read on…
Teepee — Heavenly Gates
Teepee’s discography now has a well-earned guitar-led track in it. I particularly like the fingerstyle guitar at the start of the song — it is very Ben Howard-esque, which is nothing but a compliment. The track includes a lot of vocal harmonies which do add to the quality flourishes in the timbre of the piece — and paired with the reverb effect on the guitar, it creates something that can only be described as a soundscape.
The dream-pop duo have produced something that you could listen to on a rainy day, curled up next to a fire with a cup of tea. I like it, I appreciate it. Anyone for a mince pie? — Chess Warren
Sōl — Wet Clay
Sōl’s spotify info reads simply “I’ve always been told less is more”. Ironically, I would not call ‘Wet Clay’ simple in the slightest. It is packed out by a variety of different musical elements; the synth keys, ambient sounds and clicks throughout the track slot together very well. I can see his influences from artists such as Frank Ocean and Isaiah Rashad — who doesn’t love a good bit of laidback synth basslines paired with edgy lyrics? I love it…
Despite my jokes, this song is actually quite good — I’ve found myself coming back to it. I’ve added it to my playlist, and you will probably hear me playing it at 3 a.m. at my next house party. Good vibes. — Chess Warren
Jake Among The Willows — Blue Backyard
Protest songs aren’t far and few between, and, from the political to the environmental, we are living through turbulent — and, to quote Terry Pratchett — interesting times. Jake Among The Willows is clearly well aware of this on his new single ‘Blue Backyard’, a track which advocates cleaning up the oceans of the plastic pollution which is destroying coral habitats and wildlife. All these tales and tribulations come to us from a first-person narration, as if a sea animal (according to his music video, a dolphin) speaks for all other sea animals, who just want to eat, drink and breathe in their “blue backyard” without trash and human debris getting in the way. Jake has an inventive lyrical technique in the track’s important message, however, it doesn’t break away from the relatively generic and mildly forgettable tune. Its production isn’t bad — it’s a slow and steady acoustic groove — yet it doesn’t have any truly catchy hooks to drag a listener in, to make someone want to hear it again. I’d want my friends to listen to ‘Blue Backyard’ again for its important message, however, it’s tricky whenever I can’t remember the tune to begin with. — Saul Devlin
“There is a curse. They say: May you live in interesting times” — Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times
Khruangbin & Leon Bridges — Texas Sun
Oh, we’re going chill and vintage. Grammy-nominated Leon Bridges has already got some nice credentials in remaking 60’s RnB/Soul tinged music through his two albums and has skipped through various genres with classy ease and superb voicing. Combined with Khruangbin’s folksy-country-soul timbre, ‘Texas Sun’ leaves you relaxed and mellowed out. The production is brilliant, with the perfect amount of instrumentation (little hits from the triangle being a nice touch) and a cool-headed groove set against a twanging country-like telecaster which conjures an ever-changing Americana atmosphere. Bridges’ great vocal delivery sits comfortably in the middle of this mellow mix; his voice drips with the sounds of Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding. It’s as though Bridges truly understands the grasping escapism that the lyrics portray. This is a great track to lift your spirits and chill you out if you’re a little sick of Christmas songs already. — Saul Devlin
Dua Saleh — Pretty Kitten
Dua Saleh is a gender non-binary R+B singer based in Twin Cities, Minneapolis. They released their debut EP Nūr earlier this year on AGAINST GIANTS, and it was held in high regard by Pitchfork. ‘Pretty Kitten’ is the follow-up single, made in collaboration with Australian production duo FnZ, whose credits have included working with A$AP Rocky and Kanye West. The song starts off with Saleh’s warm, upbeat vocals accompanied by almost haunting, slightly off-key synth chords. The build-up leaves you expecting it to be more of a club anthem but alas, I felt a little disappointed when it dropped into a fairly generic electronic trap beat with the slurred repetition of the song title. However, it picks up when there is a return to the sung chorus the song started with. This is something that would be a cool track to have on a chilled house party playlist although I would’ve enjoyed the song more if the vocal themes were more focused. — Rachel G Davies
Oscar Lang — Christmas Is Home
‘Christmas Is Home’ is a retro-tinged, jolly evocation of the holiday season from Dirty Hit’s Oscar Lang. Of course, it’s hard to come up with a Christmas song that isn’t forgettable nowadays — we still live in an era when “the old songs are the best”, according to Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’. Despite clichés being a Christmas song staple even before the latter song was released, it’s more of a case of how they are presented to a modern audience that determines whether they deserve classic status. The lyrics don’t come across as too twee, fortunately, although I enjoy how the music has been somewhat updated to incorporate the intimacy and the whimsical rose-tintedness of bedroom-pop as a modern subgenre. Plus, I like how *ahem* punchy the drums sound throughout. — Rachel G Davies
Saturday’s Heroes — This Is the End
“melodic punk rock” band Saturday’s Heroes certainly bring the noise with this scrumptious slice of chugging guitar pop that fills up two minutes with a great deal of pent-up energy as the lyrics are shouted effectively and viscerally. The Swedish band has been around for more than a decade — which should have evoked something like stylistic originality. This is not the case; Saturday’s Heroes appear, at times, to be derivative of other, more popular folk-rock bands. This doesn’t take away from any level of enjoyment: even at such a short length, I, for one did not want ‘This Is the End’ to end. — Joe Waters
Rallie & Coal — Prom Queen Crown
if you are into the roughage-laced sound of strings being struck by a human hand, and syrup-like vocals cascading over the top then this one could be for you. Rallie & Coal’s ‘Prom Queen Crown’ is nicely produced, featuring fantastically rhythmic guitar lines. Though I have a warning to the duo: just because you’re from Sweden, it doesn’t give you a free pass to make boring, clichéd acoustic guitar pop. It should be no surprise, then, that it’d fit nicely into the UK top 40. Why not give it a go! — Joe Waters
Oh Wonder — This Christmas
I applaud Oh Wonder’s efforts to make a Christmas song, it’s just a shame that it sounds rather similar to a lot of the rest of their catalogue. The steady piano chords that underscore the lilting chorus are not utterly misplaced but I feel like the instrumentation doesn’t really scream ‘Christmas!!’ exactly. What’s the point of doing a song like this if you don’t embrace the aesthetic? It certainly eludes me. Where are the Jingles? Have they misplaced the Chimes? — Joe Waters
Wax and Digital — Basement Revolver
Wax and Digital come through with an appropriately icy tune for these winter months (they are from Canada, I guess it’s even icier over there). This song contains a lot of interesting guitar tones and the vocals have interesting processing in the chorus. I honestly thought that the vocals were actually a saxophone, so they clearly have an interesting, if an unconventional, process involved in the production of their sound. It’s a solid tune and I enjoyed it quite a bit so make sure to stick it on your yuletide stereo! — Joe Waters
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure to let us know! Follow us, leave a comment, share, or use the ‘applause’ function here on Medium!
Catch these bangers, and more, on URY1350’s Spotify!
