NEW MUSIC: Frankmusik - By Nicole (Highlights)

Frankmusik is some kind of modern pop hero, and quite possibly the UK's guiding light for truly independent music. After a year of using social media to share his every move, emotion and frustration during the process of making this album, it would be a bummer if "By Nicole" was anything less than exceptional. Luckily it's more than exceptional.

I'm not here to review the album in detail, but I will tell you it's his most colourful, organic and human sounding effort yet. Whilst still being essentially electropop, live instruments pop up everywhere, weaving a delicate 3-dimensional tapestry that the "Do It In The A.M." Frank would never have considered. Take the lilting guitars on the verses of "Misdemeanor" and "These Streets" - gorgeous. And the double bass/marimba texture on the verses "Go"? Subtle but somehow breathtaking.

"Misdemeanor", "Go" and first single "These Streets" are my album highlights because they are the sound of an artist simultaneously at his artistic and commercial peak. Their big pop choruses could easily stand out on his exceptional debut Complete Me, with a warmth and maturity that Vince wasn't in touch with back when he recorded it. On "Misdemeanor", Frank talks of conquering his fear of getting older at one point, admitting "the future's a place I feel I don't belong", whilst "Go" could well be about the same girl from "Confusion Girl", but this time Vince is wiser, wryly encouraging Ms Confusion to "go and do what your friends say, they didn't like me anyway."

But best of all is "These Streets". It might not seem like an obvious first single, with its subtle, subdued "Black and Gold"-esque pulse, but placed at the very end of a focused, reflective and forward thinking album, it comes across as the perfect curtain call, or perhaps the perfect 'to be continued'. It's a break-up song, like so many of Vince's are, but when he says "strangers pass by where you were once there by my side", he shrugs it off with a sweet "I've got these streets". 

After 7 years of Vince singing mournful tales of 'what if?', and even one unconvincing (yet beautiful) track named "Final Song (To You)", this finally feels like the end of this chapter and the beginning of a new one for Vince, musically and lyrically. And judging by the raw, idea-crammed By Nicole, there is so much more new inspiration in him, growing by the second and bursting to be expressed.

Below is the one take video of "These Streets". It features nothing more than Vince standing under a bridge somewhere in London (on the route of the 152, if you pay attention), but I dare you not to fall slightly in love with this man whilst watching it.

FOR FANS OF: Sam Sparro, Bastille, The 1975

- Joe Copplestone, 28.04.14

Robert DeLong - Global Concepts

Who knew such a pretty skinny blonde boy could make such a goliath track? The bubbly verses of "Global Concepts" seem relatively tame and full of self doubting questions, but when DeLong vows to "make you fucking dance" all hell breaks loose. An obnoxiously loud Moombahton synth lead squirms like an earthworm on the pavement, and a raw, tribal drum beat pounds until it causes cracks to form (DeLong is a drummer and he doesn't hide it, despite his electro leanings). The song has the kind of genre-fucking semi-electronic vibe of Tom Vek, but the aggressive pounding of "Global Concepts" would most certainly knock Mr Vek's glasses right off. Robert DeLong's debut album Just Movement came out this week, and there's plenty more jittery electronics and schizophrenic beats to be found there.

FOR FANS OF: Tom Vek, Frankmusik, The Presets

Top 10 Tracks of June 2013.

10
You & I
Crystal Fighters

In characteristically chirpy form, "You & I" has "festival favourite" written all over it, as much as it sounds like there is moss growing on the instruments. A sunny synth hook lifts the track at its climax and it stays at that level of euphoria for its duration.

9
Music Is Life
Elliphant

Something a bit more commercial from our favourite eccentric rasta-Swedish female rapper. It's a bit Gwen Stefani, a bit Nicki Minaj, very 90s and very catchy. Elliphant is the very definition of an artist - she doesn't limit herself to one style of music, because she's lucky enough that whatever she touches will sound like her. Heir to M.I.A?

8
You Changed (feat. Beyonce & Michelle)
Kelly Rowland

"Ladies y'all wanna do it again?" chirps up Beyonce playfully as the ridiculously fun "You've Changed" kicks in. The answer is resolutely yes, and although the "Love On Top" soul/funk swagger of the song suits Ms Carter the best, hearing the three of them lampoon the same man, as three independent strong black woman, rather than the girls of their DC heyday, serves as a much better swansong than the dull "Nuclear".

7
Pendulum
Pure Bathing Culture

A lot of shoegazey dreampop makes the rounds every summer, but Pure Bathing Culture actually live up to their name. Unafraid to be anthemic, the song vaguely recalls Beach House's emotional last two records, but unlike that band, PBC aren't afraid to drop the melancholy altogether, and "Pendulum"'s tapestry of guitars is nothing less than euphoric.

6
Tongues feat. Kopps
Joywave

Bringing some swagger to a Hot Chip-esque disco sound, Joywave's "Tongues" has a jagged electropop beat and a quirky and instantly recognisable vocal hook that has "advert phenomenon" written all over it. There are only a handful of tracks that can boast "indie classic" before time has passed, but this is one track that instantly declares it's here to stay.

5
Help Me Lose My Mind feat. London Grammar
Disclosure

Say what you like about Disclosure, they've got their finger right on the zeitgeist's pulse. 2013 newcomers London Grammar are absurdly talented songwriters with an absurdly talented singer, Hannah Reid. The band released the time-stands-still-while-it-plays ballad "Hey Now" in January, built up a crazy amount of online and underground hype, but not enough to warrant having "made it" (but enough to suggest they probably will), and lo-and-behold, just 6 months later, men of the moment Disclosure have got that ethereal, haunting voice on the closing track of their record. It's a collaboration that luckily benefits them both. Hannah's voice is always wonderful, goes without saying, but Disclosure drop a silky yet subdued beat and liquid bassline that Ms Reid soars gently above, and the track is amoungst the best of both groups' catalogues.

4
Chasing Shadows
Frankmusik

After his tamer US-friendly sophomore effort, Frankmusik's third record "Between" is a glorious return to crazy. Back are the slightly unhinged Freddie Mercury excursions into ridiculously high falsetto, back are the hypertechnopop beats and burbling synths, and most importantly, back is the fun. Sporting a Passion Pit-esque cutesy vocal sample and probably the most joyous chorus of his since "Confusion Girl", "Did Love" is my personal favourite off the record, BUT the real emotional peak of the record comes with it's opening track, the melodramatic, thunderously over the top power ballad "Chasing Shadows", which is one of the most poignant tracks the man has ever written.

3
American Girl
Bonnie McKee

Singer/songwriter Bonnie McKee's cheesy powerpop anthem "American Girl" sounds a lot like Katy Perry and Ke$ha. And so it should. She's been writing for them for years. "American Girl", free to download by the way, unheard of for a song of this calibre (at least in terms of $$$), is a greatest hits of every hook she has (most likely) been behind over the last 5 years. "I'll never say that I'm sorry, I am an American Girl" she yells at the climax, and knowing how long the 29-year old has been working behind the scenes, it's impossible not to be won over. She's written so many big "Teenage Dream" style songs over the years, she deserves to keep one for herself. And it's a belter. And if that's not enough, check out the cameo-saturated video - she's certainly not short on popstar references.

2
Defeated No More feat. Ed Macfarlane
Disclosure

Something a little experimental but thoroughly brilliant from the Disclosure boys. Friendly Fires' Ed Macfarlane's performance on the slightly slower and lustrous "Defeated No More" is so distinct that the track feels like a full blown Friendly Fires collaboration. It's warm pulsating pads and tropical, soulful vibe meshes with the dance duo's deep house basslines and crisp beats like a match made in Ibiza heaven. The longest track on the album, and appropriately so, as its glorious "Pala" groove gets the time to breathe it deserves.

1
High Society
Betty Who

Hailing from Australia, who seem to be doing pretty well for themselves economically whilst the rest of us weep into our Poundland Rice Krispies, it's no wonder Betty Who sounds so elated. But the dramatic synthpop Ms Who brings overseas is downright infectious, and "High Society" has the euphoric energy to make even the most dreary of us feel high on life. But in fact, it's the burbling basslines taken from Robyn's best shouts, hooks the size of China and a rally for us all to drink "Chardonnay through the day". It's a joyous slice of pop heaven that'll make any europop fan's heart skip a beat, and there's plenty more where that came from on her FREE "The Movement" EP, available to download on her website.