Atlanta producer and singer ABRA has had a pretty quiet year after releasing a great EP and being included on our Best New Bands list in 2016, but today she’s released a new track as a part of Adult Swim’s Singles Series. (Thankfully that’s still going on, even as their DOOM partnership weirdly fell apart this morning.) It’s a cavernous and cool-sounding one called “Novacane” that puts more of an emphasis on her production skills with a teeth-chattering beat and some snapping breakdowns.
Read the rest of this article at Stereogum
Afrikan Boy – Wot It Do?
Afrikan Boy first broke through when he appeared on M.I.A.‘s Kala in 2007. He subsequently became one of the first artists to sign to her label, N.E.E.T. Recordings, and released his debut album in 2014. However, more recently, he took a break from music to study for a psychology degree at a London university as well as delivering workshops in film, music, and drama. This year has seen Afrikan Boy return with new material, including the energy boosting “Wot It Do?” the video for which is premiering above via The FADER.
In the visual, Afrikan Boy channels the energy and bounce of the song as he dances on rooftops around London, bringing in people of all ages to vibe with him and his music. Speaking to The FADER via email, he explained that the concept for the video is about removing the lines from reality. “Everyone puts their reality out through various screens and we all crop out elements of things we don’t want to send out to the world,” he explained. “The concept grew from the expression to create something a little rough around the edges whilst still being smooth.”
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DJDS – Love
DJDS and Empress Of have teamed up to cover Lana Del Rey’s Lust for Life song “Love.” Listen to it and check out the single’s cover art below. DJDS and Empress Of are big fans of Del Rey’s music. “There’s a story about L.A. in there that pulled us all in,” DJDS said in a statement. “We just wanted to try our own version, put our sound in it and pay tribute to a piece of work that really inspired us this year.” Earlier this year, the group tapped Empress Of and Khalid for their new song “Why Don’t You Come On.”
Read the rest of this article at Pitchfork
Cigarettes After Sex – Each Time You Fall In Love
Five years ago, ambient pop group Cigarettes After Sex released their first EP, I. Since then, they’ve steadily grown their following and are finally readying their debut self-titled full-length. With the album out June 9th on Partisan Records, the band have today shared the latest preview, “Each Time You Fall In Love.”
The dreamy love song features an airy, hypnotic melody that aids the telling of a tale of pain resulting from always looking to get something more from relationships over time. “[It’s] mostly about how I was never able to find myself completely satisfied with any romance or love affair that I had been through,” lead singer Greg Gonzalez said via a press release. “It was as if I was always on the lookout for something more and it had gotten me into plenty of trouble over time.”
Read the rest of this article at Consequence of Sound
Sufjan Stevens – Tonya Harding (in D major)
According to the essay accompanying his new one-off single, Sufjan Stevenshas been trying to write “Tonya Harding” for almost 30 years. Listening to the track, especially paired with its stunning music video, it’s hard to believe he ever struggled with it. In a discography filled with epic travelogues and tear-stained diary entries, “Tonya Harding” feels graceful and effortless: a series of verses unfolding with a warm, lilting candor. Telling the story of the Olympic figure skater who, among other things, was accused of conspiring an attack on a competing skater, Sufjan takes the tone of a pep-talking friend. “This world is a bitch, girl,” he sings sweetly. “Don’t end up in a ditch, girl.”
“Tonya Harding” is not Sufjan’s first character study, but it’s his first following the creative overhaul of Carrie & Lowell, the 2015 album that found him profiling himself and his family with exacting detail. Using that autobiographical record as a template, “Tonya Harding” eschews the writerly moves of his past. He doesn’t extend Harding’s story into a metaphor; he doesn’t psychoanalyze her childhood; he doesn’t wrap her into a larger narrative. Instead, he lets Tonya do the talking.
Sufjan released two equally powerful versions of “Tonya Harding”—a grander, more tragic rendition (in the key of D major) and a stripped-back approach (in Eb major). Both arrangements suit his strikingly literal couplets (“Well, she took quite a beating/So you’re not above cheating”) with melodies that drift and dance between his words. Here, Sufjan doesn’t draw any new conclusions about Harding’s story or aim to present her in a different light. Instead, he offers a simple tribute, as just one troubled American singing to another.
Read the rest of this article at Pitchfork
