Gorillaz, “Saturnz Barz”
Gorillaz dropped a surprise package of new tracks and visuals last night and one of them is #1 on YouTube’s trending list for a reason. Crying out for an animated TV series, the fictional band explores an abandoned house and things get weird. There’s a 360 version too, for those who feel stifled by the confines of a regular video frame.
Perfume Genius, “Slip Away”
Perfume Genius is really going for it with this record, isn’t he? Where third album, 2014’s Too Bright, served as a tentative breakout of sorts (lead by the very good “Queen”), upcoming release No Shape sees Mike Hadreas with his eyes set firmly on the big time. Top marks for the video too.
Rina Sawayama, “Cyber Stockholm Syndrome”
It’s been over a year now since she put out “Where U Are” and Rina has been busy being a total babe in and out of magazines, i-D Japan included. Back in the music game, the social commentator and world’s biggest Mariah Carey fan has written this nostalgia blast of a tune. “I think it sounds like Sheena Ringo and Utada Hikaru fine-sieved through Justin Timberlake and Destiny’s Child circa early/mid 2000s,” says Rina. We think she’s right.
Pega Monstro, “Partir a Loica”
A nice bit of racket-making here from Portuguese sisters Pega Monstro. The song title roughly translates as “break all the dishes” and we can only presume that the lyrics deal with some sort of kitchen-related nightmare. Anyway, it sounds good.
Blaenavon, “Alice Come Home”
Everyone’s friend Blaenavon has done a nice video of him performing live in NYC. Light dances across his face as he swishes his hair around the cool blue room and manages to stay standing having recently tweeted the following: “Every Blaenavon show is just me trying not to fall over for 35 minutes and inevitably failing.” His album That’s Your Lot will be out April 7 on Transgressive.
Tei Shi, “How Far”
How far can Tei Shi take her sultry, restrained brand of pop? Well, pretty far, by the sounds of things. The Buenos Aires-born, New York-based songstress continues her pre-debut comeback of sorts with a song all about the line towed between love and destruction. You can see her singing it from a car windscreen above.
Fazerdaze, “Lucky Girl”
The repetition and constant zoom of this lovely indie tune visual will hypnotize. The Kiwi’s debut album Morningside is out on May 5.
Leonce, “Advent”
Look at the state of the sound wave on this Soundcloud embed. That’s what you want, isn’t it? A nice bit slug of noise from good old Leonce. Go on, get that down, you.
Kelly Lee Owens ft Jenny Hval, “Anxi”
The London-based artist Owens and Norwegian Jenny Hval are something of a dream team. “Anxi” is currently soundtracking our anxiety and this accompanying animated video illustrates it quite nicely too.
LOYAL, “Tower Over All”
Beloved by DJ people such as Mistajam and Zane Lowe, LOYAL is the enigma-courting collective quietly knocking out bangers from an old lightbulb factory in Brighton. It’s full of bright ideas and the band aren’t too bad either (can we get a watt, watt?).
Credits
Text Frankie Dunn and Matthew Whitehouse