TRACK OF THE WEEK
Hejira
I Don’t Belong To Anyone
Now that MIA has hinted that she’s retiring from music to set up her own cab firm – watch your backs, Uber – there’s a sudden shortage of batshit sloganeering global magpie pop on the racks. Stepping into the breach are Hejira, who’ve abandoned their previous tasteful neo-soul for raw, jerky Afro-funk. Junkyard drums rattle and basslines ping back in your face, while Rahel Debebe-Dessalegne’s vocal functions as a joyous repudiation of both possessive boyfriends and restrictive borders. The Illuminati are already meeting to deny it a visa and/or a Grammy.
Wyclef Jean ft Young Thug
I Swear
He said he’d be gone till November, and true to his word the 90s renaissance rapper best known for saying “one time” in the vicinity of Lauryn Hill is back, riding the coattails of unlikely disciple Young Thug. I Swear’s off-the-shelf tropical pop isn’t a patch on the duo’s previous hook-up from Thug’s album Jeffery, but it does feature Wyclef manfully attempting to rhyme “on the corner” with “marijuana” so all is not lost. Two times.
Cabbage
Necroflat In The Palace
To the astonishment of medical professionals, Fat White Family appear to have procreated. Their stunted offspring are Cabbage, a band of Manchester scallywags on a mission to cause offence – in this case by insinuating that certain members of the royal family get their kicks by rogering cadavers. The accompanying gutter-punk chug is crude, malformed, regressive and various other things Cabbage are likely to take as compliments.
Kiiara
Feels
Not to be confused with Ciara, Kiesza or indeed Kia-Ora, Kiiara is a hotly tipped singer from Illinois whose mournful modern pop comes laced with traces of punk attitude and trap realness. Whether or not you believe the video’s suggestion that Kiiara has a weed farm in her kitchen is immaterial; her sad-eyed scowl holds for three minutes, and that’s enough.
Party Supplies
This Life
This New York duo’s glowering swagger suggests a lengthy pedigree in the alt-rock shadows. But google “Party Supplies Brooklyn” and all you get is a firm promising to make your birthday celebrations go with a swing. Maybe it’s the same guys, but given the sleaze and desperation that oozes from this track, let’s hope not they’re not in charge of anyone’s bouncy castle.
