TRACK OF THE WEEK
Mike Will Made-It ft Kendrick Lamar, Gucci Mane, Rae Sremmurd
Perfect Pint
Despite the potentially huge UK crossover appeal, the perfect pint in question here has nothing to do with thirst-quenching lager on a blazing bank holiday. Instead, trap beat-handler Mike Will Made-It and his superstar coterie raise their cups to a well-mixed purple drank, that mind-warping, body-zonking cocktail of potent cough syrup, sweet soda and hard candy. The result is an impish, skeletal cyber-hymn that now comes with an acid-fried road-trip video. Cheers!
Ne-Yo
Another Love Song
After a two-year furlough, the R&B hitmaker returns with a full-spectrum summery disco cut that confidently layers his mellow vocals, a rubberband bassline and some Chic-y guitar licks into one creamy pop Viennetta. It all sounds great, right up until you notice it was co-produced by Dr Luke. ANGRYFACE EMOJI.
Kwaye
Little Ones
To quote Bane: that’s a lovely, lovely voice! After a languid minute or so of table-setting atmospherics, Little Ones interlaces the potent pipes of Kwaye with 80s-inflected waveform chords and a restless New Order guitar line. The hot young London thing ably proves he can do soaring, conspiratorial and sexy until eventually the synth superstructure falls away, leaving only an emotionally charged a cappella. Swoonworthy.
Neiked ft Mimi
Call Me
Swedish producer Victor Rådström – a man who inexplicably doesn’t release tracks under that awesome name – follows up his Top 5 hit Sexual with a streamlined, steel-drum-assisted mellow-banger that sounds surprisingly wholesome considering it is mostly concerned with a 4am booty call.
Take That
New Day
Somewhere, there is a strategic spreadsheet outlining TT’s current album campaign and we’ve just reached the box marked “wacky video time!” That means New Day – a platitudinal chain-gang trudge artlessly gussied up with mandolins and Mellotron flutes – gets an incongruous promo where various horror-movie monster knock-offs terrorise Gaz, Mark and Howard in a pastoral paganfest. Thriller, it ain’t.
