Welcome to another edition of 5-on-5, where we bring together five fresh tracks from around the world! In this edition, we take a look at Ty Segall’s single, who already has an album, Post Malone’s surprisingly cool new track, metalcore band Patriots, a sexy anthem by Brooke Candy and a great double-track by flamenco pop artist, Rosalia.
Radio - Ty Segall
GENRE: GARAGE ROCK / PSYCH ROCK
Another single off of Ty Segall’s album, ‘First Taste’, (which came out 2 August) Radio takes a more 60s psych route with reverberating guitars and piano. The fuzzy drive of the guitar is essential to the energy of this song as Ty Segall sings about what he dubs “a science non-fiction”. In a press release, he stated, “We live in a Cronenberg film. It has Videodrome saxoheadphones. I am a slave to the new radio and so are you.” It lacks the type of raw originality from his previous single Taste, but still a decent cut from the album. ‘First Taste’ is out now on all streaming platforms.
RATING:
3 / 5
Goodbyes - Post Malone (Ft. Young Thug)
GENRE: POP / TRAP / EMO RAP
Post Malone is one of the modern artists out there that I know have churned out some earworm-y hits (rockstar feat. 21 Savage being one of them), but have generally been more on the blander side of pop. With Goodbyes, it feels like a whole new incarnation of Post Malone, with a darker shade, and a grittier macabre side. The vocal performance from him sounds like it belongs in an emo rock song in the best way possible. There is so much heart gushing out of the hook (I want you out of my head) that is both chilling and tantalising. The autotune, the production and the more nocturnal beats on Goodbyes give the song a full body for Malone’s self-destructive expressions. The only thing that is really stopping Goodbyes from being great is the Young Thug feature. Starting off pretty strong at first as a complementary narrative to Post Malone’s lamentations, it quickly swerves into tumultuous waters filled with awkward falsettos and just really weird lyrics about filling up garages with blue diamonds? Maybe it’s supposed to continue that narrative of extreme jealousy coming from Post Malone but it doesn’t actually succeed in adding anything cooler to the song. Overall, an amazing new path for Post Malone that makes me excited for more stuff from this artist that I usually feel indifferent about.
RATING:
4 / 5
Undignified - Patriots
GENRE: POST-HARDCORE / METALCORE Malaysian post-hardcore/metalcore band, Patriots, has been known to go hard while coating themselves all over with sugary melodies. With Undignified there’s a more well-defined sense of aggression, a coarser grim outlook that throws the band around many musical passages while maintaing that really tight sense of tune. Like in previous singles, there is a seamless switch-up between the sing-song refrain and the shouts. In addition to that, the band creates this interesting, funereal sound with synths playing in certain verses. I also love the breakdown at the end that comes after the woman’s voice says “Tapi awak terlalu baik”. From the demonic vocal layers that envelops that voice to the immediate headbang extravaganza that follows it, everything feels impeccable and wonderfully mixed. Patriots like to call themselves pop mosh, and this moshing circle feels more fine-tuned and exciting than any of their previous cuts, while still keeping the pop affectation. Their upcoming album, “SEPARATION”, is coming out September 2019. RATING: 4.5 / 5
XXXTC - Brooke Candy ft. Charli XCX & Maliibu Miitch
GENRE: R&B / POP / HIP HOP
Extremely sexual and deliberately carnal, XXXTC was made by Brooke Candy to be a “stripper anthem”. Based upon an interview with Billboard, XXXTC came out of a four-day writing session with Ashnikko (another amazing pop artist you all should definitely check out) and Oscar Scheller, and you can see that kind of no-holds-barred attitude from this song. It’s deeply illicit and wonderfully danceable with an in-your-face bass and samples of moans. However, the song still feels slightly loose to me, with Maliibu Mitch really serving the best part of the song while the others just kind of fade into the whole production, including Charli XCX, whose collaboration doesn’t go more than a couple of verses. XXXTC is a single off of Brooke Candy’s upcoming album, “Sexorcism”, coming September 2019.
RATING:
3.5 / 5
Fucking Money Man ( Milionària + Dio$ No$ Libre Del Dinero) - Rosalia
GENRE: FLAMENCO POP / R&B
After the mediocre yet catchy foray into bombastic R&B with Aute Couture, Rosalia’s double-track Fucking Money Man sees her returning to her more subversive, post-modern style especially found in her previous album El Mal Querer. There’s a deceivingly poppy veneer to the first half of this song, but if you listen to it long enough you can sense that disturbingly cheery undertone to the song as Rosalia sings about excessive wealth. As if the fact that she’s singing in Catalan isn’t amazing enough (for a person like me who rarely hears the Catalan language and is only familiar with Spanish even though Spain has a lot of languages), the transition into a darker ballad where Rosalia sings about freeing ourselves from the shackles of money is pretty profound. Although the message is evocative, there’s something about the first part of the song that overstays it’s welcome and can get a bit bland for me. Even the darker ballad in the second half only barely makes up for it. Still, a decently subversive piece of art from Rosalia.
RATING:
3.5 / 5