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: Shield Patterns, Circuit Diagram, Over Sands

*Originally published for The Line of Best Fit (5/2/14 - 7/2/14)

Shield Patterns - "Dust Hung Heavy"

Electronic duo Shield Patterns reveal “Dust Hung Heavy”, the dark and emotive lead single off their forthcoming debut album.

Keys drip, samples loop, and beats drag their heavy feet on this stunning new cut from Manchester-based pair, with Claire Brentnall’s sensual vocals weaving between all the doom and gloom. There’s a real mix of the natural and synthetic: primal-like beats and intermittent breaths meet with unsettled synths, slowly but steadily bewitching the listener.




Circuit Diagram (feat. Touchy Mob) - "Motown"

Germany-based electronic act Circuit Diagram premiere “Motown” today on Best Fit, featuring doped-out vocals by underground Berlin-based singer Touchy Mob.

The urgency of the track’s live pulse hints at influences of Krautrock, whilst lush-layered synths bust neo-psychedelia with buzzy, buoyant bass lines. Touchy Mob’s dreamy, monochrome vocals simmer just above the surface, allowing the song’s weighty rhythms to carry them through until the end.

Circuit Diagrams Motown EP is out via No Counter Records on 31 March.




Over Sands - "Tune Out"

“The song below was written in a beach house, situated in a nature reserve in Essex”, begins an email from London-based duo Over Sands. “We collected field recordings from the area and used them to create some of the layers of synthesised sounds you can hear.” Let’s give it a try, then.

In short, within seconds “Tune Out” reveals itself as a stunning, majestic debut from the two brothers. Guitar lines flutter amongst lilting, earnest vocals; synths heat and cool; shuffle-pop rhythms hover, and a transient collection of sounds glide in their own natural directions.

Not a far cry from MONEY’s distinctive celestial makeup, “Tune Out” will transport you to somewhere in the heavens. We’re excited to hear more.