Weekender: The 10 Best Songs Of The Week

A handy recap of the best songs featured in the past seven days of our New Music Section.

Featuring glorious cuts from Sportsman, Banks, Shout Out Louds and more. Consider your Sunday listening sorted.

Banks – Before I Ever Met You

The new single from LA based singer Banks has all the makings of a future classic; brooding noir-pop with a theme so transparent, an instant connection between artist and listener is created leaving you begging for more.

Banks’ husky delivery adds a hardness to the lyrics; rolling effortlessly off of her tongue and under your skin in an act of unadulterated seduction. As thrilling as sex with a stranger and as all encompassing as a new love interest, ‘Before I Ever Met You’ should carry a health warning.

Click to read original article

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Shout Out Louds – Illusions

‘Illusions’ is vintage Shout Out Louds with razor-edged guitar hooks and cyclical drum patterns providing the rhythmic thrust for Adam Olenius’ sweet croon to float over; although the unashamedly up tempo jangles are tempered by multi-instrumentalist Bebban Stenborg’s sensitive, aching backing vocals.

Click to read original article

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

WRD – Abyss (Bobby Bell Jam remix)

One of the most criminally overlooked EP’s of 2012, Stockholm based pop collective Force Majeure dropped Keep Yr Cracked Eyes Shut by newcomersWRD to relative internet silence last spring. Here, Force Majeure alumni Bobby Bell (the ‘other half’ of El Perro Del Mar’s live act) takes Eyes Shut highlight ‘Abyss’ on a late night commute across an amphetamine fuelled jungle. The song’s dark core remains intact, but it’s outer shell expanded and reinvigorated for the dancefloor.

Click to read original article

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Evenings – Friend

Turning vocal arrangements of hushed fragmented words, rippling drum patterns and harmonic bells into a watercolor painting of one perfect instance in time, Evenings picks up where many producers stop short.

Click to read original article

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Sunless ’97 – Aurora I

London trio Sunless ’97 have, with ‘Aurora I’ the first cut from new EP Aurora, managed to combine many of the best elements of pop to create a track that transforms from a relaxing mid-tempo electronic affair, into an expansive dance party, filled with exotic drumming, starry-eyed synths and echoing vocal coos.

Click to read original article

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Sophie – Nothing More To Say

Just like the first day of your summer freedom, full of parties that seem to never end, holidays with friends and for once, the carefree feeling of getting caught up in the moment, that’s what Sophie is bringing to the party, and he plans on staying for a while.

Dare we say this is the beginning of a new genre; ‘Bubble and Squeak Bass’, if you’re cheeky, (which we are).

Click to read original article

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

MS MR – Fantasy

Weaving distinctly sullen undertones into bolshy pop hooks comes naturally to New York duo MS MR but their darker side isn’t contained solely in the music as the video for new single ‘Fantasy’ displays.

It’s precisely this kind of twisted remoulding of contemporary pop that makes us so excited about MS MR’s debut album, Second Hand Rapture, due out May 14.

Click to read original article

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

DJ Koze – Track ID Anyone? (feat. Caribou)

Delving into the deepest realms of what it means to ‘feel’ something, touching on nostalgic reference points, experimental moods that drift through dancefloors of the future, and unabashedly garnering your full attention, Amygdala - the new record from DJ Koze – performs the ultimate one man show of the most magnificent proportions.

Listen to the bewildering ‘Track ID Anyone?’ featuring a guest turn from Caribou below.

Click to read original article

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Kisses – The Hardest Part

With a freshly inked deal with pop futurists Cascine, Kisses reveal the first taster from their forthcoming album Kids In LA which is expected on 14 May.

‘The Hardest Part’ continues onwards where Kisses left us back in 2010: classy and sultry pop with a balearic twist, although the chillwave pigeon holing of yore is replaced with a more tightly wound sound and clear focused head for melody and structure. A welcome return.

Click to read original article

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Sportsman – 1980

Lifted from the new release via our signature label Best Fit Recordings, Stockholm’s Sportsman continues his quest to produce some of the most luscious and all encompassing music we’ve heard this year with the autobiographical ’1980′. The b-side to ‘Rally’ – a love lorn duet featuring ex-Those Dancing Days singer Linnea Jönsson – ’1980′ dives head first into a cool sea of balearic tinged R&B.