FEATURE: Tracks of the Week - 7/2/14

*Originally published for The Line of Best Fit (7/2/14)

Fresh music to sink your teeth into: our selection of the week’s best new music from the last seven days.

Hitting us with her poppiest cut to date, burgeoning Swedish/Barbadian artist Naomi Pilgrim dropped the immediately catchy, “Rainmakers”. Retaining her velvet RnB coo whilst opting for a more washed-out electronic sound, the track is the last piece in the puzzle of her self-titled debut EP (streaming now) and another exciting, upfront track.

It was all doom and gloom when we heard “Dust Hung Heavy” by new Manchester duo Shield Patterns, but we welcomed this beautiful melancholia. Blushing with dark synths, banshee vocals, electronic blinks and rumbling percussion, “Dust Hung Heavy” nicely straddles the line between the synthetic and the organic – enthralling from start to finish.

Another purveyor of the alt. RnB that’s currently dominating music blogs (our hand goes up too) was SLK’s debut follow-up, “Be”. Proving that she’s not just a one off, “Be” is one helluva song, bulging with gallantly slow beats, nipped samples and polished vocals. Though it takes a bite of the neo-soul that Jessie Ware and Laura Welsh produce, it makes its own kind of impact by turning down the tempo.

Elusive Manchester producer Oceaán can hardly put a foot wrong. His latest track, “To Lose” (a taste of what’s to come on his forthcoming debut EP), showed off his self-styled brand of subtle, slow-mo electronic music: its fingers in future garage, neo soul and, yet again, that omnipotent alt RnB. With clouded synths and misshapen croons fidgeting over crisp beats, there’s a wee nod to Jai Paul’s mysterious and warped creations, and we love every bit of it.

Lastly, the opening beats and heavy-loaded vocals on Cyril Hahn and Javeon’s ”Breaking” were an early weekend tease, bristling as they do with undulating, deep house rhythms. A warm chorus carried by Javeon’s husky voice swells with buzzy, tumbling samples – a sound not shy to Hahn’s PMR labelmates, Disclosure.

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

LISTEN: Woman's Hour - Darkest Place [Oceaán remix]

*Originally published for The Line of Best Fit (7/10/13)

Oceaán caught our attention earlier this year with the smooth and silky ‘Need U’. Now the Manchester producer delivers a delicate remix of ‘Darkest Place’ by electronic minimalists, Woman’s Hour.

There is a real sense of partnership in Oceaán’s reworking of ‘Darkest Place’; Fiona Burgess’ naked vocals swim fluidly between “Oliver Cean”'s soulful hums. Finger snaps build to scurrying rhythms and harmonies glint in the background.

What is so attractive about the remix is that the original is instantly recognisable –  just kissed with a new warmth – likely found basking in clubbers’ afterglow or accompanying late-night drives.