Give Pop A Chance's Best Of July Round-Up: INCLUDING 15-TRACK MIX!

ENJOY THE GIVE-POP-A-CHANCE JULY 2012 MIX BELOW!



Azealia Banks finally dropped her mixtape Fantasea this month, to a gleeful response from this blogger. A mix of bass-heavy hip hop, underground dance and house, working with a plethora of brilliant underground producers, highlights including the camp, high fashion house anthem "Fierce" (0:00 in the mix), and brilliantly explicit moombahton flirtation "Esta Noche" (42:41), penned by Munchi.


Bat For Lashes also finally released a new single, a simple piano and voice lament, the heartbreaking "Laura" (28:42).


If you've not heard Grimes latest work with producers Blood Diamonds, the track "Phone Sex" is as balearic and blissful as it is dark and disturbing, sweetened considerably by some pretty steel drums and poppy beat. Whilst you're checking this out, the Unicorn Kid remix (45:52) is also worth a listen or 10; the kid only goes from strength to strength, his production values having never sounded more chart friendly, whilst never losing the 90s rave vibe that gives everything he touches such a joyously euphoric sound.


Anyone missing their indiepop need look no further than The Crookes, whose debut record Hold Fast is pumped with youthful energy and earworm hooks. Particularly exciting is single "Maybe in the Dark" (26:14), oozing the same desperate teenage woes of their equally likeable peers The Heartbreaks.


After opening many a recent set with the track, Crystal Castles (10:46) finally shared a studio version of the dark, difficult and foreboding "Plague", sounding like a rave caught in a tornado, with Alice Glass crying "I am the plague!" with trademark alarming gusto in the chorus.


Etta Bond's free EP Emergency Room, produced at the dirty dubstep hands of 22 year old London producer Raf Riley, made early preview "Ask Me To Stay", seem like the weak pleas of an innocent girl in comparison to aggressive anthems about vomiting, fake tan and kissing on the tube. "Boring Bitches" (3:06) is a clear standout, with Etta's enraged party girl rant at said bitches and a drop to make you bleed from the eyes.


Pnau getting access to some of Elton John's back catalogue was a bizarre project, but a successful, lush sounding one, with Pnau merging slick 70s disco sounds with a gorgeous 80s warmpad sheen, particularly on the heartbreakingly beautiful tragic disco anthem "Sad" (23:00).


My favourite remix of the month has got to go to the Krystal Klear mix of the latest Marina & The Diamonds single "Power & Control" (32:58). The Manc producer takes the initially plodding track and turns it into a 1992 house banger, complete with token bubbling organ basslines and bright piano hits.


Passion Pit returned to their early bubblegum hyperpop tendencies of early tracks like "Smile Upon Me" for a brief moment on their sophomore effort Gossamer, for the cut and paste joy of "I'll Be Alright" (18:39), which stands out like a blinding ray of sunshine on a generally emotionally heavy album. Although lyrically its just as paranoid as the rest of the record, you wouldn't guess by all the cheery melodies flying around.


The debut album by electronic bass band Purity Ring however had no shortage of highlights, with the gory words and meatgrinder bassline of "Fineshrine" (7:19) and hypnotic middle eastern bells and sugar sweet melodies of "Amenamy" (36:21) proving to be amoungst the best.


Just when you thought M83's "Midnight City" (14:59) had done its fair share of rounds, eerie electropop act Saint Saviour posts a cover so good that it will undoubtedly do its own fair share. But with haunting synth pads, distant cooing vocals and an addictive rework of the already addictive main refrain, it almost deserves to stand on its own as an original work, such is the creativity on show here.


Bass producers Lunice and Hudson Mohawke's duo project TNGHT also had released its first EP, and the dance world is already trembling under the weight of the brass bass line in "Higher Ground" (39:44).


But the real event of July was The xx finally releasing their comeback single, "Angels" (50:09). Read my review of it here.

SONG OF THE MONTH: The xx - "Angels"

30 seconds into the lead single from Coexist, the music cynic that lurks in the back of your subconscious emerges, to usher in a sinking feeling. You haven't fallen in love instantly. As the track floats by like a single cloud in the night sky, you're waiting for that breathtakingly subtle moment to hit you, and when you're listening to the new xx song, the expectations were always going to be ridiculously high.


But then Romy Madley Croft sings the line "they would be as in love with you as I am", and the single guitar line, that oh so familiar sound soaked lovingly in reverb, warm and comforting, yet with a hint of melancholy, slides up to an unexpectedly positive cadence. And your heart skips a beat. That moment has arrived, and you are in finally in love with "Angels", and all it took was that mere instant to convince you. And it doesn't stop there.


Unlike a lot of the band's debut, "Angels" is not a song about sex. It's not a song that's trying to seduce you, or let you in on its lustful secrets, it's trying to explain to you a completely different notion entirely, and it genuinely sounds as if its the very first time its ever been encountered. With repeat listens (and there will be many of them for all of us) you can hear a clear change in Croft's tone, before her tone was subdued yet suggestive, her youthful dryness and disinterest dripping with effortless cool, but now, her voice cracks and shivers, afraid to soar, but not ashamed of the words she is singing.


The second verse brings along such trodden ground as "Every day I am learning about you the things that no one else sees", but Croft delivers every word as if it has never been sung before in pop music. It's no wonder that musically, it's the band's sparsest song to date, it doesn't need to do anything more than it does. Dusty percussion dives in and out, rumbling into crescendos that go nowhere, but its acts less as a rhythmical device, more as sound design. It is a heart jumping, it is limbs shaking, a mind racing; the drums represent the sheer impact of what Croft is so angelically describing.


With every listen, "Angels" helps you fall further in love with it, and the band itself. As Croft repeats "love, love, love...", and the song evaporates into thin air, you realise that 2 minutes and 53 seconds has felt like half an hour. Yes, expectations for "Coexist" are ridiculously high, but the effortlessness of "Angels" suggests the band have no need to try and meet these expecatations, as they will, and will surpass them, by default.

Popdar: Best New Music - 30/07

Sadly, this week is almost entirely a no-show week for exciting releases, but there are some recent releases that may have slipped under the radar for some of you.


ANGEL HAZE - RESERVATION (MIXTAPE)
FREE DOWNLOAD.


Although they're all getting at each others throats, it is nothing short of a delight (for me anyway) that in the wake of Princess Azealia's rise and rise, so many young female rappers, mainly from NY admittedly, are receiving widespread attention in 2012. Whilst some of them are all attitude with little to say (I'm looking at you Kreayshawn and Dominique Young Unique), others, like Angel Haze, have a bit more than skimpy underwear, a diss dictionary and monopoly money in their suitcase. 


The Reservation mixtape is decidedly old school in its productions, but 20 year old rapper is Ms Haze's flow is not cheap and flashy, but intelligent, sharp and compelling. She comfortably sings "I run New York" in "New York", and the relaxed but focused verse rapping is much more convincing than a louder, more obnoxious rapper. Unlike other NY rap divas, she doesn't focus all her attention on her peers, but on colossal bass highlight "Werkin' Girls" she sums her position in one fell swoop: "You can cut the fake shit, I'm not a motherfuckin' actor". Low key cuts like "This is Me" and "Sufferings First" could not be further from fake, the perception in her lyrics exceeding her 20 years of age.


If Azealia Banks' frills and fun approach doesn't win you over to female hip hop, Angel Haze gives you something deeper to get your teeth into. 


For fans of: Lil Kim, Missy Elliot, Azealia Banks,



ETTA BOND/RAF RILEY - EMERGENCY ROOM (EP)
FREE DOWNLOAD

If you thought Etta Bond displayed a satisfying bite when she calls her ex a "bitch" in "Ask Me To Stay", then brace yourself for her first EP, produced by future bass/post dubstep producer Raf Riley, who gives every track a broken glass edge with merciless shuddering beats leading the way beneath uncomfortable but addictive electronics, jagged and sharp as broken glass. And placing a saxophone solo on "Baddy" has surely never proved to be a sound so gloriously out of place, and yet still somehow perfectly placed, in dubstep before.

Not that Etta's performances are any less jagged and sharp than her productions. "Ask Me To Stay" seems endlessly tame in comparison to the hedonistic, 'crazy bitch' persona she displays everywhere else on this EP. She's got the hangover from hell in "Resolve", in which beats and bass churn like a alcohol-poisoned stomach as Etta moans about "cold pizza for breakfast", whilst the alarming but brilliant "Boring Bitches" pays tribute to girls who don't dance for fear their "fake tan's gonna run and shit", but the insane drop, courtesy of Riley, could surely even get the Queen on her feet. 


Hopes of further exposure are high, with even Jessie J championing her, having tweeted that "Boring Bitches" is 'her tune'. Maybe she's right, although perhaps not in the way she thinks. And that's why we need Etta Bond in 2012. There are too many of these boring bitches dominating the charts of late, and what we need is a girl who in no way wants to "sit down and act like a lady".

For fans of: Benga, Lily Allen, Katy B



DELILAH - FROM THE ROOTS UP (LP)
OUT NOW

It seems unlikely that anyone reading this is unfamiliar with creamy voiced Paloma Ayana, aka Delilah, but in case there was any confusion, she killed it on Chase & Status' "Time", and her debut record "From The Roots Up" is out today.

Whilst her voice is undoubtedly an acquired taste, Delilah's performance on her debut is all the more enjoyable due to its limitations. Her sparse trip-hoppy/post dub productions leave her voice completely uncovered 95% of the time. On recent single "Inside My Love", Delilah strains the top of her range to hit sky high head voice notes, and as a result her voice sounds vulnerable and desperate, perfect for the misty and lustful tones of the track.

"From The Roots Up" has its share of distinctly 'pleasant' love songs, but compared to the more seductive material there is no contest; Delilah has a voice to seduce and entrance rather than to preach, and there is nothing wrong with that. "Go" is still the album's stroke of genius, with a bassline that rumbles like distant thunder and a genius reinterpretation of the verse in Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody", and the floating, beautiful "Breathe" still manages to be sexy despite its lyrics flirting with suffocation and suicide. It's a shame that elsewhere, she sounds uncomfortable on tracks like "Shades of Grey" and "Only You", on which her thin, wispy voice struggles to sound warm and inviting.


Delilah might have a distinct, inimitable voice, but material wise, she is still finding her feet. But there is still enough on her debut to suggest she can work beyond her soulful roots in its follow up, and hopefully play on her infinitely more satisfying underground dance flirtations, which fit her like a glove.


For fans of: Portishead, Katy B




TNGHT - TNGHT (EP)
OUT NOW ON ITUNES

Two incredibly forward thinking, massively creative and unfairly unknown producers, Lunice and Hudson Mohawke, collaborate here to make an EP which is already twice as hyped as their original projects.


Not without good reason. Hudson Mohawke's playful and startling melodies and quirky sounds are tamed yet enhanced by Lunice's sparse but dynamic beats, and the result is an EP of genre-bending bass music that repels trends as much as it sets them. Expect all 5 of these tracks to feature on a good deal of mixtapes in the future.

I personally hear Azealia Banks snapping up "Bugg'n". What about you?


For fans of: Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, SBTRKT

Pop Comment: Passion Pit vs. Purity Ring

It's the age old musical argument, at least in pop music... which is ultimately better, the grow-er or the show-er? Two great releases this week emerge triumphant, after a moderate drought of decent new releases over the last month: Passion Pit's second full length Gossamer and Purity Ring's long-awaited debut Shrines.

Although both are from the overflowing pot of 'post-electropop' bands, the two acts have little in common, but I compare them because I believe both to be of End-Of-Year-List quality for entirely different reasons, both of which I can appreciate.

Gossamer is very wordy, as Passion Pit have always been, but even wordier this time round as the focus on hooks seems dwindling, and frontman Michael Angelakos seems to put a lot more emphasis on storytelling in his lyrics.

Funnily enough, soundwise Gossamer is closer in sound to the band's smashing debut EP, drenched in "Sleepyhead" chipmunk voices, particularly on "I'll Be Alright", a hyperactive blinding ray of sunshine masquerading as a pop song. But whilst the sound might be brighter, rawer and more in your face than the sleek, commercial Manners, the songs are actually darker, with confessions like "I'm so self loathing that it's hard for me to see" on said "I'll Be Alright". It's these dark lyrical tones that tend to overshadow big melodies, but with repeat listens, the bittersweet taste of the record becomes more-ish. "Constant Conversations" and "Love is Greed" in particular benefit from a second listen, as their gorgeous melodies shine brighter once the impact of the lyrics has sunk in.

Shrines on the other hand wears its bittersweetness on its sleeve, and its razor sharp witchy hip hop beats and aching synth lines are instantly dark but irresistably catchy. Lyrically it is obscure but alarming, its impact doubled by the sweet indie-girl croons of Megan James. Phrases like "ears ringing, teeth clicking" on jittery breakthrough track "Ungirthed" and "cut open my sternum and poke my little ribs around" on the colossal and brilliant "Fineshrine", never become any more comfortable to listen to. The album is 38 minutes, short, sweet and occasionally shocking.


Yet Shrines makes sense whether it be one track here, or another there. It's all great, but in the space of a whole album, tracks like "Belispeak" and "Shuck" tend to sound like rehashes. It's a great sound to rehash, and just as enjoyable, but the feeling that you've heard a song previously on the album can be hard to shake. However, the trio of gritty "Fineshrine", "Ungirthed" and the blissful "Amenamy", is a fine, fine one, and "Obedear" later on, makes a hat trick a quad trick of four truly perfect, instantly loveable tracks, which is more than can be said for Gossamer, which, "I'll Be Alright" aside, is hard to pick favourites from until you dive back in a few times.

Both will make my end of year top 20 albums no doubt, but whilst I love travelling Gossamer's shy but beautifully paved twee-synth roads to its heart, I won't be taking long journies with Shrines. However, I will probably have a drunken dancefloor euphoria moment with each one of the 11 tracks separately before the year is out. As for Gossamer, as much as the album as a whole makes sense, only "I'll Be Alright" could end up being my most overplayed song of the year, if only for the heart-stopping opening 20 seconds. Try it yourself...

Pop Comment: Kendrick Lamar's "Swimming Pools"

It's been a while since I posted about a track, mainly because I've been listening to music recently that is dominated by its rhythms, its bass, designed to make you dance, not discuss.

Kendrick Lamar's "Swimming Pools", with its jittery beats, binge drinking topic, and earworm hook "I got a swimming pool full of liquor, then they dive in it", could indeed pass as another drunk hip hop swag-them to make the students fuck themselves up and dance to. But if they took a moment to listen, as in listen, they would hear a sadness, a hopelessness in the words, even in the dark opening chords that put any non-drunk listener on edge with their gorgeous, tingling unease.

Lamar sings of people "living their life in bottles" because they want to "fit in like "what's my problem?"". Whilst the dangerously addictive chorus seems to shamelessly glorify alcohol abuse, the verses sound doubtful, scared even; "if I take another one down, Imma drowning some poison, abusing my limit" he rants nervously. Most tellingly however, is the way the song ends abruptly with a second of white noise.

So yes, this track is heavy and addictive, possibly one of the most perfectly written of the year, but the subject matter itself is also very addictive. It won't change any attitudes, fans will still drink too much to this tune, but the fact Lamar seems to realize this when rapping the futile warnings makes it all the more bleak.

I think I'll put this on my "going out" playlist. Sad isn't it?