FEATURE: Tracks of the Week - 17.01.14

*Originally published for The Line of Best Fit (17/1/14)

2014 continues to bring us new musical goodies. Here’s our pick of the best music from the past seven days. 

First up, we premiered the lush electronic pulses of “Night Touch”, the new single by Texan outfit, Orthy. Wood blocks chatter and thick melodies waft around layers of house synths and beats, whilst heady vocal harmonies escape from a Beach Boys blueprint. A track to get lost in and lost to.

Norwegian singer/songwriter Kari Jahnsen, who goes under the pseudonym of Farao, yanked once again at the heartstrings on, “The Hours.” Ms Jahnsen pens deeply calm, emotional music; the type that makes you avert a stranger’s glance for the sheer embarrassment of welling up in public. This track is yet another impressive piece, with pump organs, frilly guitars and Janhsen’s unparalleled vocal beating at the core.

At the other end of the spectrum was the latest cut by rising Chicago songstress, Jean Deaux. Pulling BBC Sound Poll man Sampha onto the boards and co-vocals, Deaux delicately pours her soulful voice over layers of fidgety RnB. It’s an upbeat affair that in some ways sounds more like a pure Sampha creation, save for Deaux’s gorgeous chants of “I’ve gotta find you”.

Portland band Rare Monk let us reveal their new single, “Splice”. Its measured percussion and piles of hazy vocal make for slow-burner soon turned on its head by colossal tom rolls and sonic reverberations.

Finally, Liberian/Nigerian/Scottish trio Young Fathers unleashed the mighty, “GET UP”. Preceding the release of their new album, DEAD, “GET UP” knocks itself around jabs of dissonance and consonance, replete with warm afrobeat rhythms, rap barks and vehement foghorn blasts. Just try to get your head around it.

Listen to our selection of the week’s best new music below:

LISTEN: Glass Animals - Woozy [feat. Jean Deaux]

*Originally published for The Line of Best Fit (5/11/13)

It’s been more than a year since Oxford’s Glass Animals unleashed the unnerving, electronic sounds of 'Cocoa Hooves'. 'Exxus' ran in a similar vein. But a balmy, unexpected collaboration with Chicago rapper Jean Deaux proves we still haven’t worked them out yet, and neither have they.

What is clear, however, is the quartet’s love for experimentation. Where 'Golden Antlers' touched upon post-dubstep, new song 'Woozy' is an intelligent jazz/electronica/hip-hop hybrid, replete with brush-taps, fluid bass and Jean Deaux’s self-assured rapping.

Perhaps it’s not best to signpost genres here, but with the band’s constant evolution, a little orientation might be in order.

Glass Animals play Broadcast, Glasgow on 8 November, Concrete, London on 12 November, and a hometown show at The Jericho Tavern, Oxford on 14 November.