This week’s top ten list reads like a list of last year’s Grammy nominees, with Sia, Sam Smith, and Drake crowding the top spots on the countdown. Must be a week everyone is bringing their A-game, as there’s also appearances by fan favorites Fetty Wap, Tinashe, and, prepare yourself, One Direction. Also be sure to catch the Pentatonix remake of Where Are Ü Now that the internet is officially gaga over.
With so much music to enrich your life, you’d be silly to delay listening to New Music Friday on Spotify. Take in New Music All-Stars to listen to this week’s list and weeks past in an easy to listen to format.
10.) Vivienne by Sundara Karma
There’s been studies upon studies gauging how effective is music in elevating your mood; some indicate that just the melody can have positive effects. Sundara Karma’s Vivienne has such an effect, even before the lyrics start you’re already likely to be feeling the good vibes. A love letter penned to, you guessed it, an object of affection named Vivienne, the track reflects all the emotions of holding someone as the apple of your eye. A good one to help you get moving in the morning.
9.) Magnets by Disclosure, Lorde
A huge release for Disclosure this week, Caracal, that contains collaborations with big names from today like The Weeknd, Miguel, LION BABE, and Sam Smith. A standout track is Magnets with Lorde, whose absence from new music has felt much longer than it really has been. Her signature brooding voice is at play here, with funky warpy beats provided by the EDM mavericks. As Lorde sings softly “oh no, dancing past the point of no return” it will take everything you have to resist the urge to lift your hands up and move around (the more awkwardly the better) to the beat.
8.) Let Me Through by The Dead Weather
You always expect the best when you have four forces and masterminds in rock collide- Jack White with band members from The Kills, The Raconteurs, and Queens Of The Stone Age. The song has edginess from all angles, with White pounding away on the drums and Alison Mosshart taking over on vocals. There’s no messing around as she sings in a deliberate voice, “I’m a bad. man. Let.me.through.” Also a stand out from the album Dodge & Burn is I Feel Love (Every Million Miles) which the crew debuted on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in a huge huge way.
7.) 3am by RAC, Katie Herzig
From its start there’s a decidedly Imogen Heap feel about the track’s sound, that was created with assistance from Katie Herzig. It’s clearly doctored with the help of auto-tune, but in a way that is done to create distortion, rather than to cover up imperfections. It’s not the first time the two have paired up for a song, “We Belong” was a huge hit for them, both the original and Odesza remix. As smooth as the style is on 3am, there’s no doubt the track will be warmly received too.
6.) Get Right by Arcade Fire
It would be very easy to confuse this latest with The Black Keys based on the first guitar riffs. It carries on this way for a few minutes, which is almost unsettling thinking their signature sound made famous by Neon Bible and The Suburbs (also known as 2011’s Album Of The Year) has been washed away. Fear not, however, as around the 2 minute 30 second mark the band starts to get back to its dreamy drawn out instrument break…and never comes back. It’s an enduring effect, one that will have you thirsting for the rest of the Reflektor.
5.) Sleeping Alone by The Cactus Channel, Chet Faker
A few drum taps and a draawwwwn out melody gets it started for this pensive track, the band bringing their friend Chet Faker along for vocals to help create this enjoyable level of sulking. It’s a ying and yang effort going back and forth between the musicality and interpreting the lyrics. One interpretation could be embracing adulthood, as he sings “I don’t mind…sleeping alone/My friends are all wasted, but I’m happy at home.” At the very least that’s qualification for a Buzzfeed article, perhaps 43 Signs You’re Definitely Becoming A Real Adult.
4.) Diamonds Dancing by Future, Drake
It has all the trappings to make hip hop fans lose their minds – take a rapper who took the summer over with release after release and winning a very public battle to boot, the other rapper who captures the very “now” sound of hip hop. Take those elements and add a hypnotic hook and it’s well on its way to be on perma-repeat. Leave it to the blogs to speculate who Drake’s cold-blooded verse is about (could their name rhyme with Slicky Collage perhaps?); for now just enjoy the sick outcome of these two being paired up.
3.) Writing’s On The Wall by Sam Smith
Taken his dapperness to the next level, Sam Smith opens his latest with the swells of a James Bond movie, the latest to be exact, as in following in the steps of fellow UK epic crooner, Adele, Smith has been drafted to be the artist behind the theme to Spectre, out on October 26th. Here he hits notes that can reach up to the last seat in the concert hall, but also hits on tender moments as he laments “How do I live, how do I breathe, when you’re not here I’m suffocating.”
2.) Plastic by New Order
In a stroke of genius New Order has managed to tap in the electro sounds of today, while connecting their roots which, excuse you young musicians out there, paved the way for the evolution of electronic sound. The pace is exciting and ultra sped up, like a time lapse video. Definitely one to play for those born after 1995 to give them a lesson in musical history that ought blown their minds. It’s official, they’re fantastic (and always have been).
1.) Alive by Sia
If we’ve learned anything from the phenomenal 1000 Forms of Fear is that Sia has a powerful grip on describing the many conditions of the human spirit. Here she’s faces down her struggles through perseverance with a capital P. Rich in artistry, rich in emotion, as she hits those high drawn out notes ‘Aliiiiiiiiive’ anyone who is breathing will have the hair on the back of their neck stand up on their first listen. Perfect for that last, most difficult stretch of your run.
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