Roundup, April #3

There’s loads of good stuff this week as we round up our favourite new releases, from squelchy synthpop to naughty post-punk. Listen below. 

Follow our Roundup Selections playlist on Spotify to stay updated on what we have on repeat.

Hot Chip – Down

The latest single from UK synthpop group Hot Chip is full of 70’s funk energy, opening with a motown swing and slick bass guitar before exploding in synths and whining guitar. It’s somewhat of a return to their funk influenced early work, but with a current edge and killer bassline. 

Viagra Boys – Ain’t No Thief 

The newest from Stolkholm post-punk rockers Viagra Boys is fucking cool. With lashings of 90’s Aphex Twin industrial drill’n’bass and chugging, distorted guitars, Ain’t No Thief is a total riot. As the first single off their forthcoming album Cave World, this Pelle Gunnerfeldt produced number hits, well, harder than ever.

Purity Ring – Graves 

Oh, Purity Ring. The nostalgia of 2012’s witch-house boom, the intersection of emo sensibilities with trendy trap sounds that was just too cool to be true. Ten years later, they’ve lightened up a bit. Graves is a hyperpop adjacent cut that takes their usually glacial lo-fi trap into a brighter, more optimistic direction. Sweet and reflective, Graves is Purity Ring at their most blurred out and ethereal, just this time they’re all smiles. 

Bolis Pupul – Neon Buddha 

Having just released one of the year’s best dance albums so far with creative partner Charlotte Adigéry, Belgium-Chinese artist Bolis Pupul’s first solo track of the year is a sumptuously sticky serving of acidic synthpop. Squelchy and minimal, Neon Buddah is machine funk at its twistiest, strangest, and most delicious. 

PinkPantheress, WILLOW – Where You Are 

Is it just us, or is WILLOW everywhere these days? The merit of popping up on tracks with everyone from Siiickbrain to Camila Cabello is that she gets to try on genres for style, and as the featured artist on PinkPantheress’s latest, this time she’s trying on UKG for size. Where You Are is a dreamy, sort of gazey love ballad from the TikTok sensation turned rising drum’n’bass pop crossover star, on which she trades saccharine light verses with a gloriously forlorn Willow, whose delivery on the track is quite impressive.