Single of the week
Deaf Wish : The Rat is Back
Mid-tempo noise-punk that accurately conveys the revulsion of a rat invading your personal space? Yes please. When it comes to rat infestations, scenes of ‘70s and ‘80s-NYC spring to mind. ‘The Rat is Back’ fittingly invokes NY art-punks Richard Hell, Television and Sonic Youth. The vocal tone is strangely rapt, presumably the outcome of sleep-deprived delirium, while the arrangement moves from a leanly textured state of surveillance into a dissonant collision of guitar chords and bass notes. What stands out most of all is how listenable it all is; how positively charming.
Bodega : Charlie
Writing about death is tricky business as the topic has a way of infiltrating every inch of a song’s surface. Taken from Bodega’s debut LP, ‘Charlie’ is a jangly rock song that acts as a rebuilding effort. Instead of dealing with death in terms of abstraction or sodden sentimentality, it’s an impressionistic retelling of moments shared with the departed and a glimpse of what’s happened in their absence. The NY band promises to honour the titular subject’s example while musing about our tendency to operate with only a vague understanding of who or what we’re trying to be.
Meek Mill ft Miguel : Stay Woke
On his first release since being freed from prison in April, Meek laments the systemic oppression of black Americans, citing everything from police brutality and drug epidemics to the way deprivation causes minorities to fight amongst each other. It’s sombre territory, but Meek sounds lithe and ready to take on the machine. Miguel’s optimistic chorus suffers under the weight of maudlin production, which evokes a Linkin Park ballad. Still, ‘Stay Woke’ acts as a compelling preview of what’s to come from the Philadelphia denizen.
Let’s Eat Grandma : I Will be Waiting
Although modestly proportioned, this has arena-packing potential. Where acts like London Grammar go all-out in search of a euphoric lift, the Norwich duo come at pop music from an off-kilter angle to create something more durable. Rich in assonant vocal phrasing, ‘I Will Be Waiting’ is a furtive anthem in the making.
