Aziya
Blood
Songs that truly thrive on a car stereo are few and far between, but what Aziya has done with this skyscraping chorus is guaranteed to make you want to roll down your windows, crack open the sunroof and start smacking the steering wheel in time with the beat. If you don’t have a car, just steal one. Whoever pulls you over is bound to understand. (Note: do not steal a car – Ed)
Jessie Ware
Hot N Heavy
Having perfected a voice-to-breath ratio that hits like a pleasing breeze, Jessie Ware’s latest doesn’t stray far from the formula that made What’s Your Pleasure? the darling of so many 2020 album of the year lists. While Hot N Heavy may not exactly replicate a balmy summer sunset on the balcony of a Balearic villa, it’s as close as we can hope for given current travel guidelines.
WH Lung
Pearl in the Palm
Would anyone in their right mind ever pose the question: “What would it sound like if LCD Soundsystem had written Funkytown?” No. Should we be glad that – whether by accident or design – WH Lung have somehow stumbled across the answer? Yes. And if the driving, hypnotic build of Pearl in the Palm is anything to go by, their upcoming album, Vanities, will be a peach, too.
Bullet for My Valentine
Knives
If summertime singles are a little light for your tastes, Bullet for My Valentine are back with a sonic onslaught; a masterclass in showing just how much noise four blokes can make when they get their shoulders behind it and shove. There is no shortage of ideas crammed into Knives, either: gymnastic guitar riffs, snarling vocals and more drum hits in four minutes than across most albums.
Billen Ted ft Mae Muller
When You’re Out
The production team that helped TikTok star Nathan Evans turn a 19th-century sea shanty into a 21st-century chart-topper, Billen Ted are now working a similar grift on a Kisstory classic – Kandi’s Don’t Think I’m Not – lifting the chorus wholesale and slapping on the type of ubiquitous pop bassline that sounds as if it’s being thwacked out on plastic gas pipes with a ping-pong paddle.
