Roundup, February #4
From massive trap house remixes to post-punk informed New Wave, we roundup our favourite releases of the week. In no particular order:
Mura Masa with Shygirl, PinkPantheress and Lil Uzi Vert – Bbycakes
Grammy Award winning producer Mura Masa is one of the hottest new talents in underground pop and hip-hop, having secured a name for himself as a remix guru of note. Masa previously worked with Shygirl on their reworking of Lady Gaga’s Sour Candy and with PinkPantheress as producer on Just For Me. On Bbycakes, he rallies these collaborators together with Lil Uzi Vert on a bubblegum kuduro bop that serves as the latest single from his upcoming album. The track offers a potential look at the future sound of hip-hop and R&B, fusing pop’s current hyperpop direction with the West African informed beat template that has been arising in recent hip-hop.
David Guetta, Kodak Black – Super Gremlin
Say what you will about David Guetta, but there’s no denying the French producer’s masterful skillset. Who else could possibly re-imagine American rapper Kodak Black’s piano-laced gangster trap as sweaty, propulsive tech house in a way that honours the original’s potent bars? With his remix of Super Gremlin, Guetta places Black’s verses over a sizzling house beat and throws in some of his naughtiest 2010’s EDM signatures. Think whining hoover synth build ups, filthy bass drops and squelchy modular phrases. Play this one loud with a vodka Redbull.
Hannah Diamond – Staring At The Ceiling
Hyperpop and PC Music darling Hannah Diamond’s new single plays with EDM tropes in a way that her previous bubblegum leaning cyber rave hasn’t before, but it makes perfect sense. In the tradition of hyperpop’s saturation of popular music’s most guilty pleasures, Staring At The Ceiling is full of processed, tuned Chainsmokers style vocal samples, programmed finger snaps and trippy half-time break beats. It’s a new take for Diamond’s sound, but one that feels like a natural progression in her trajectory as one of hyperpop’s original icons.
Hercules & Love Affair – Grace
Nu-disco and New Wave band Hercules & Love Affair have delivered some of the most prominent tracks at the height of the electroclash boom, which their sonic aesthetic fit well into. Who can resist the louche, sinful throb of Painted Eyes? On their new single Grace, the first single off the upcoming album Amber, they embrace their inherent romanticism like never before. Underscored by melancholic guitar riffs and rolling drums, Grace is a sullen and forlorn take for Hercules & Love Affair that signals a shift into post-punk territory for the band.
Sonikku – Lifestyle
London producer and DJ Sonikku has established a space for himself during the crest of the hyperpop / new rave wave with his metallic, rubbery bass music formulations and the blessings of peer and collaborator, SOPHIE. On Lifestyle, Sonikku shows no signs of stopping the party with a vibrating, propulsive bassline and a slippery house beat that pays homage to the sounds that his departed peer pioneered while also continuing the legacy of the style further onto the dancefloor. This one is club ready, in every sense of the phrase.
