Sunday 11 August 2013

New Tracks: Manic Street Preachers, The Weeknd, Cerebral Ballzy and A$AP Ferg


The Manic Street Preachers have released the second song to drop from their upcoming album "Rewind The Film." It follows on from the release of the title track from the album (which features Richard Hawley) as the first single, and it's called "Show Me The Wonder." The song is an exceptionally upbeat, bombastic brass- lead affair, with punchy horns leading the charge with vigour and summery dramatism, whilst high brow, slightly twangy acoustic chords make up the rest of the melody. Lyrically it sees Nicky Wire on familiar territory, as James Dean Bradfield coos in his ever strong and soulful delivery "Is heaven a place where nothing ever happens? Is it to much to ask to disbelieve everything?", and then in the chorus "I've seen the birthplace of our universe." It's a song that truly sees the band burst back into life.

"Rewind The Film" is due to be released on the 16th September via Sony.



Depraved Canadian R'n'B visionary Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, has returned with a brand new track that goes by the name of "Love in the Sky." At just under two minutes long it's a surprisingly short venture, but it contains all the hazy beauty, mysterious vibes and debauched story telling of his best work. Tesfaye's gorgeous falsetto swoons over a fractured beat of lo- fi, funky guitar picking and cloudy, cavernous synths. You know he's in fine lyrical fettle when he conjures pieces of prose like this:

""And I'm flying all over the world and I'm killin' these shows/ but I'm always getting high 'cause my confidence is low/ And I'm always in a rush, ain't got no time to fuck slow/ and even if I did it's not something I know/ But I'm sure I'd make you cum 2 or 3 times in a row/ and I'm sure you would've left with that pussy in control."

The track comes from Tesfaye's upcoming full- length "Kiss Land", which he says is "Like a Horror movie." Business as usual, then. Watch this space.



Raucous young DC noise- punks Cerebral Ballzy have released a new single called "Another Day." It's a typically raw, fuzzy and violent affair, but this time its catchy, punchy three chord progressions and ethereal, spacious vocals see it attain a rather more controlled and well managed piece of fury. It's a song that sees the band transcend further into straight up noise- rock territory than Hardcore, especially when considering the sludgy, hefty interlude that worms it's way in a minute before the end.

I was a big fan of the band's 2011 debut but if "Another Day" is anything to go by then new material from Cerebral Ballzy will be more developed, thought out but just as urgent and captivating. I can't wait to see what they do next.



A$AP Ferg, perhaps the second most renowned member of the A$AP crew, has dropped a new track called "Hood Pope", and against all expectations I actually quite like it. Over a stoned, mellow trap beat the song sees Ferg assume a sort of Nate Dogg/ a more soulful Old Dirty Bastard type intonation as he half raps, half sings his verses. Lyrically he does indulge in the kind of narcissistic "Swag rap" that his counterpart A$AP Rocky is so famed for, but he incorporates a strangely meaningful kind of story telling here, as he raps "you talkin about riding with them, fighting with them, they ain't your friends", before going on to talk about how he hopes his son doesn't end up living a rough life on the streets.


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