The best songs I heard this week (aka some weekend bangerz for your earz)
New Beyonce! New SWIDT! New Jess B! Old Kanye! Not all of this is good ...
“Do you even listen to new music any more?” was a I question I was actually asked this week.
What a silly question. What else is there to do? Give Pearl Jam’s Ten another spin around the black circle? Chuck on some Jagged Little Pill and count all the spoons in the drawer? Play another Beatles record and wish John Lennon was still alive?
There’s far too much new music to be consumed to be bothered with nostalgia right now. It’s completely overwhelming and fascinating. You can spend hours every single day hunting out new tunes, and there’s always more to discover.
We live at a time when Benee can perform live for Ellen from Auckland’s Roundhead Studios, when Nicki Minaj can score a No. 1 hit then completely disappear from the charts, when a Manurewa teen can score a Jason Derulo chart-topper with a beat made in his bedroom, and when a Russian DJ can remix a sad banger that’s four years old and turn it into an upbeat behemoth.
I love it. And I always will. Here are some songs that dominated my stereo this week.
Beyonce - BLACK PARADE
The way Beyonce glides over this storming trap march, floating and flexing in equal measure, tying every single lyric into America’s Black Lives Matter movement, but using her Coachella trumpets and horns to turn this into an absolute celebration, is something to behold. That falsetto around the first minute mark, when she sings, “Being black, maybe that's the reason why they always mad,” gives me absolute chills.
Kanye - Wash us in the Blood
Look, this isn’t great Kanye. Wash Us in the Blood is a pretty generic Yeezus-era God-fearing gospel stomper with some AutoTuned warbling from Kanye’s muscle-monster toy boy Travis Scott. But wait, at the 2.25 mark, old Kanye makes a comeback, babbling about record labels signing “fake Kanyes” and trying to turn him into “Calm-Ye”. It’s proof that old Kanye still exists, and it’s fascinating watching him trying to come out again.
SWIDT - WHO R U
The story goes that INF, the country’s best rapper right now by some length, was in the studio listening to Smokey’s latest barn-flattening beat when drunk strangers interrupted their recording session. INF jumped in the booth and in one take ripped out the entire first verse for this absolute monster of a song. Through that lens, lines like, “Get the fuck out when I’m recording,” make total sense. The song’s killer video, and this making-of doco, are also essential viewing.
Sampa the Great - OMG
Yes, I realise this song is a year old, but it’s just one of many absolute scorchers I’ve found out about thanks to Michaela Coel’s must-see series I May Destroy You. It’s on Neon, it’s a black comedy about a bad night out, and if you’re not watching, you absolutely should be because Coel’s picked up the ball dropped by Issa Rae over the last couple of disappointing seasons of Insecure and turned out a mesmerizing show with a vibe all of its own and a soundtrack kicks absolute ass.
Abdul Kay, Raiza Biza, Mo Muse, JessB and Blaze the Emperor - Flying
A Kiwi rap supergroup assembled for this one, a bassy dancefloor filler that has so many references to Red Bull it was almost certainly paid for. It doesn’t matter, because that beat absolutely slaps. Plus, despite quality appearances by Abdul, Raiza and Mo (they deserve first name only status by now), this song, along with the entirety of last summer thanks to her incredible two-hour stint at Laneway, belongs to Jess B. “Life gave me lemonade,” she spits, “I’ve always had the juice.” What she said.
Hum - Inlet
No, it’s not a song, it’s a full-length album from a band that released its last record in 19-fucking-98. That’s 22 years ago! Inlet has no right to be as good as it is, but this ripped my head off from go to whoa, a shoegazey grunge grind full of guitar sludge and whiney white-boy angst. I dig it, and I’m going to listen to this a lot.
That’s it! That’s all I’ve got. Now go enjoy your weekend. That’s an order.