This is a post moved from my old blog: https://uzulblog.wixsite.com/uzul
I’ve gotta say, 2018 has been coming through with hot releases all through the year, what with Superorganism’s debut album in March, Childish Gambino’s ‘Feels like Summer’ singles in June, and now a genre-blurring mixture of album teasers. (Let’s just ignore the fact that ‘I Love It’ was just released - Kanye, you can do better than Lil Pump.)
Let’s start off with the elephant in the room: The 1975. They’ve been consistently feeding their fans singles, which kicked off in May of this year with ‘Give Yourself a Try’. Despite the rhythm (at first) piercing through my soul, it’s a lively song with reflective and insightful lyrics about the reality of getting older.
The next song, and undoubtedly my favourite, was ‘Love If if We Made it’. I can’t tell if it’s the ‘Robbers’-style drumming, the abrupt burst of singing at the beginning or the choir coming in at the chorus which makes it so amazing. It’s probably all three. Whilst being an amazingly put together songs, The 1975 don’t let down their usual image of covering political issues in a beautifully emotional way that touches the heartstrings of fans. Multiple times in the song Donald Trump quotes are sung, such as the iconic ‘Thank you Kanye, very cool’ and perhaps the more meaningful ‘I moved on her like a bitch’ to show the harshness and rawness of his words.
‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’ took me by complete surprise at first, because of its backbeat. It reminded me of one of those Instagram dance songs, like ‘Controlla’ by Drake. Of course there’s no problem with that; it’s just very out of character for The 1975. However, Matty Healy’s iconic Mancunian voice and floaty sound effects bring the song back to the authentic yet fresh feel of the band.
Which finally brings us onto the latest release of the singles, ‘Sincerity is Scary’, which was only released a couple of days ago. As soon as you hear the repeated plummeting sound at the beginning followed by the lilting trumpets and piano, you know you’re in for a good song. Again, it’s highly political and critical of modern society, but also sounds moving and beautiful (not a surprise coming from The 1975, right?). Much like ‘If I Believe You’ in their 2016 album, a gospel choir perfectly backs up and compliments Matty’s voice with stronger, more powerful vocals.
Oops. This wasn’t supposed to be a rave about the 1975. I only planned to talk about one of their songs, not four. Should we move along?
Just a couple of nights ago Joji came out with yet another addictively good song, titled ‘Slow Dancing in the Dark’. Yep, it sounds just as romantic as the title. The dreamy, subtle melody sounds as if it came straight from the 80s, but is brought back into modernity by the static beat commonly used in rap songs of today. Oh, and the music video’s pretty great too. You should check that out.
It’s crazy to think that Joji came from a background of making meme videos on YouTube to making hit songs in the space of just a few years, and as time has passed, his releases have got better and better. ‘Yeah Right’ came out in May 2018, and has the ‘this is so sad but I’ll still dance to it’ kind of feeling for those late nights where you’re getting deep for no particular reason.
If you just want a night of constant dancing and no sadness, Dizzee Rascal’s new EP release ‘Don’t Gas Me’ is perfect for whether you’re with a few people or just wanna dance on your own. The first track, which shares its name with the title of the release, emulates classic garage music with the tinny baseline and somewhat cocky lyrics. It’s always good to hype yourself up. ‘Patterning Vibez’ sounds almost tacky with the old mobile phone melody at the beginning, but as soon as the beat kicks in it’s as if you’re back in the ‘Bassline Junkie’ days.
Whether you want to revisit how music used to be with Dizzee Rascal or just want to relax to Joji, there have been some really great new releases for anyone in any mood. 2018 can only bring more great tunes!
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