Tuesday, April 11, 2017

New Music Friday (NMF) Thoughts from April 7 - featuring Harry Styles, Grace Mitchell, The Aces, etc.

harrysimpact.tumblr.com
(Harry has the song of the week)
NMF Thoughts is a weekly section where I type my thoughts about all the new music that comes out on Friday as I listen to it. It's basic live tweeting that gets compiled so it's less annoying. All thoughts are subject to change with future listening. ENJOY!


The trop-pop shit song of the week is by some people named Fake Pictures and called "Two Princes". It samples some rock song (NB: apparently it's a Spin Doctors song) that is on the tip of my tongue but turns it into a pineappley mess





I listened to one song on The Chainsmokers new album out today called "Break Up Every Night". It's about a girl wanting to break up with The Chainsmokers dude before wanting to "fuck me back to life"... if I were her, I would stick to her guns and just break up with these losers

Sigrid is a new Norwegian artist whose single "Don't Kill My Vibe" has made some impressive waves across the world. It makes sense since it's a monster of a song with a powerful chorus that would make Kelly Clarkson envious. Today, remixer Gryffin has turned it into a Chainsmokers song. How sad 😭 

Banks has made a surprising return with her new single "Crowded Places". A minimalist ballad that is strangely romantic for Banks, but quite enjoyable for a Friday morning

JP Cooper made a genuinely amazing song last year about the least appreciate month called "September Song". His new single however, is boring and unimpressive soul pop. One hit wonder alert...

LANY have won the synth band promoting an album with their new song "It Was Love", a song that hits you right where it hurts

Dutch EDM raver Tiesto has remixed the tropical Selena Gomez song into a dreamy anthem before going to safe bass heavy territory for the chorus. It's an improvement for sure but when do you think we'll get a proper Selena single?

The She Wolf herself SHAKIRA has returned. Her Spanish single "Me enamoré" is wonderful radio-friendly pop that sounds just weird enough to be interesting. Just like "She Wolf" don't you think? A true revolutionary.



The artwork for Theia's song "Treat You Right" involves her face studded with a rose. Lovely. The song is pleasant but sounds like everything else on Spotify.

English singer Kate Nash made one of my favorite songs in 2007 "Foundations". She seems to have cleaned up the language since then but her new single "Call Me" strikes the perfect balance of bratty and romantic. 

Tara Carosielli has made a nice industrial pop song called "Holloway Road" that sounds like early Charli XCX. It explodes by the end in a magnificent synth storm.

Skylar Fri has made a downtempo ballad banger "Better" that's quite beautiful in how straightforward and orchestral it is

Ruth B. is back with another boring song, this one's a piano ballad... 😪

Dave is a very ordinarily- named UK rapper who has a single called "Revenge" out which is too weird to be good or bad, it's just there.

RAC has roped in Charli XCX's BFF and Vampire Weekend member Rostam on their bass heavy and wonderfully strange "This Song".

Norwegian superstar Astrid S has already made one of the best songs this year with "Breathe" but her new song "Bloodstream" has a strange structure, going from beat heavy verses to dreamy distorted choruses and just as cool as her last single . There is a whole EP coming soon!!!!




Beth Ditto is the front woman of rock-pop group Gossip. She made a really amazing electropop EP 6 years ago but it looks like she is officially setting on a solo journey with new single "Fire" that sounds like Elle King and Adele had an angry baby together. It's quite something. 

Halsey has started her new album promo with a pretty great music video for new single "Now or Never". It's safe to say that it's a creative dead end when you realize the chorus is Rihanna's "Needed Me" but it sets up the hopeless fountain kingdom era quite well.



Bright Sparks are a pop duo who featured on Tiesto's breezy "On My Way" and have a pretty chill electro feel evident on their song "Wildfire". They amp up the poptastic element on their new single "Supernatural" with harder beats and cascading synths. Get excited for these guys!

Spelling bee losers LVNDSCAPE and Kaptan have come in this Friday with a quite interesting country-EDM-trop pop song called "Walk Away" that you expect to be horrible but ends up being elegant and danceable so I guess don't judge a book by its cover

Scarlet Pleasure are a Swedish trio that make bass heavy funky synth pop who sort of disappeared in 2015. They've come back with "Deja Vu" and it's a pretty good song with a little too much going on. In a couple more releases, they should feel more relaxed and create something really amazing 

The face-lacking songstress Elohim is back with new song "Skinny Legs". It takes a long while to get going but it's just off kilter and menacing enough to be interesting. It's not as good as "Hallucinating" but anything we can get from Elohim must be appreciated.

Living breathing Swedish cartoon Dolly Style have returned with their first ballad-banger titled "Bye Bye Bby Boo" Trust me, it's actually a brilliant and heartfelt breakup anthem that will exceed your expectations. 

Singer-songwriter Sarah Hudson has written a lot of your favorite songs including tracks for Katy Perry, Iggy Azalea, and Charli XCX. Today she releases her EP "Songs from the Sea", the most Pisces collection of pop songs whose lyricism references mermaids, tarot cards, and gypsies. It's really hard to pick a favorite but "Gypsy Girl" is one of the most fascinating songs of the past decade and "Voices" is the deep house banger that pushes the pop envelope (the lyric video is quite sexy as well ;).





Jai Wolf has returned with a brilliant synth banger titled "Starlight". It's hazy and dreamy and gives you tingles with 80's synths and drums all over the place. Seriously, what a song!

My favorite French act YELLE IS BACK. Their new single "Interpassion" sounds exactly like what you want from Yelle in 2017. The best line is "Do you speak Portuguese" and the Made in China refrain. You can always count on the French can't you?


The Aces are an all female band with a California rock-pop feel that play instruments who released the fantastic "Stuck" last year. While they've been building hype since then, "Physical" is only their second release, about wanting something more than a physical relationship and is a solid 9/10 on first listen. If you like HAIM and MUNA (like any sane human being) these girls are right up your alley


Remember "Jitter" by Grace Mitchell? That bonkermazing song from 2015 that had French randomly thrown in? Well she has finally made another magnificent song. It's called "Now" and starts off boring before erupting into fast paced synth pop that I dare say sounds like some of Girls Aloud's weirder songs. There is no higher praise I can give. 

All right, it's time to talk about Harry Styles debut single, the six minute long opus "Sign of The Times". You already know it's gonna be a hit but you hope it's just a pop juggernaut to match his cultural effect. It's a piano and guitar driven torch ballad that progresses to a pretty massive chorus. The obvious Beatles and Queen references are there but it's really when he goes up an octave that we get a true pop sense of Harry's music. It's not what I was expecting but might even be better than I thought. We'll have to see where he goes from here but you know what? At least it's better than Zayn and Niall's debut singles.





I've compiled the songs into a playlist that you can listen to, with the dud at the beginning and Harry's killer single at the bottom. There is also a lasting list that I will keep going for all of 2017 here!


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