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John Preston’s picks the seven best new tracks of the week.
HARD FEELINGS, ‘You Always Know’
Amy Douglas and Joe Goddard’s first album together as HARD FEELINGS is a work of pure, utter joy. Classic, big lunged house artists such as Eve Gallagher, Liz Torres and Billie Ray Martin (Electribe 101) are all called to mind on this immaculate and thrilling collection of elegant bangers that run the gamut from impassioned gospel house to hi-energy rattlers.
Lily Konigsberg, ‘Alone’
Lily Konigsberg’s gleaming debut album Lily We Need to Talk Now jumps effortlessly from genre to genre with skilled coherence. Synth pop, indie guitar stomps and ambient orchestral all feature with Konigsberg’s skilled storytelling and performances knitting seemingly disparate pieces together into one of the best records of the year.
Charlotte Adigery, Bolis Pupul, ‘Blenda’
More tight, electro funk from Adigery and Pupul that narrates an ongoing social commentary which this time around puts a spotlight on race and immigration. Not that you’d notice necessarily, such is the heft of the burbling, acid house flecked groove of this inspired and intelligent collaboration.
Confidence Man, ‘Holiday’
As big and dumb as it may admittedly be, ‘Holiday’ cements itself as a stone-cold anthem the second you hear it. You certainly aren’t going to forget that massive chorus in a hurry, you’re not supposed to, and Confidence Man have surely ticked every single box required for a somewhat unseasonal global smash.
Beach House, ‘Superstar’
Returning with a double album released in four parts, Beach House become more ambitious on each subsequent outing. Slow-mo electronica and sad guitars still dominate the soundscape and the song writing just gets better and better. ‘Superstar’ in particular is a standout track that builds to a woozy and deprived climax.
Banoffee, ‘Take A Pill’
Although Banoffee’s brilliant second album Tear Tracks is unexpectedly more experimental when it comes to acoustic instrumentation, there is still plenty of the PC-music madness that warps its frequently melancholic edges. ‘Take A Pill’ may be a sister track to ‘St Vincent’s Pills’ but it still makes its point in simultaneously trite and devastating fashion.
Georgia, ‘The Thrill (After Hours)’
2020’s Seeking Thrills feels like a long time ago now, being released just before the pandemic, but Georgia is celebrating slightly freer times with deep house re-workings of four of Seeking Thrills‘ best tracks. ‘The Thrill (After House)’ has become an episodic and pulsating dance-floor monster with Georgia’s vocals beautifully laid across it.
