PICK OF THE WEEK
S.Chu
The Prelim EP (S.Chu Music)
Simon Chu cut his teeth working with grime acts like Kano, but it is in funky house that he is coming into his own. Following last year's sleek vocal anthem You Got Me comes the first of three EPs. Tribal Widow blends a rattling rhythm like twigs clattering against a window with sleek, ominous synth hits and far-off, cut-up bursts of a male choir. Meanwhile, Quickfoot adds even wilder percussive elements to Chu's sonic palette, snares and drum fills clicking seamlessly into the groove.
ALSO OUT THIS WEEK
Lauren Pritchard
Painkillers (Universal/Island)
Tennessee's Lauren Pritchard's backstory screams "authentic" (what with the running away from home as a teenager and winding up living in LA with Lisa Marie Presley), but her collaborators signpost MOR tedium. Producer Eg White has made a living from making bores like James Morrison even more lifeless. But in Pritchard's case talent wins out over gloss. When she sings about throwing up and dangerous driving, she sounds convincing, not canned. Ultimately, this winds up being rather moving.
Cooly G
Up In My Head/Phat Si (Hyperdub)
There might not be a greater gap between an artist's music and their public persona as those of reigning diva of London house, Cooly G. Her Twitter account (twitter.com/COOLYG) is hilariously grumpy but the dreamy broken beats and sultry vocals of her production sound like the work of a much more chilled-out person. A-side Up In My Head sticks to that template, but the elemental Phat Si is a bracing shock to the system. Thunderclap beats and bass set the scene before some ridiculously exciting synths begin striking like lightning.
Ne-Yo
Beautiful Monster (Mercury)
Is the Jane Austen of R&B losing his mind? Given that Ne-Yo's forte to date has been his formalist, detailed dissection of matters of the heart, the news that Beautiful Monster trails a concept album about superheroes elicits a "yikes". Not that you'd be able to tell from the single, which initially seems underwritten by Ne-Yo's standards; he of all people should not be lagging behind Lady Gaga in the pensmanship stakes. A few radio plays later and it sinks in quite nicely, though: you suspect Ne-Yo's too polite to really let us down.
Ellie Goulding
The Writer (Polydor)
The early hype around the terminally dull Ellie Goulding remains a mystery: there is nothing distinctive about this pound shop reincarnation of Beth Orton bar some incredibly annoying affectations. Goulding is sadly far from alone among current vocalists in mistaking "singing like a toddler" for "possessing a quirky character", but it's a trend that needs to stop several years ago. Here, she beseeches her boyfriend to be the artist and write a song for her, presumably because she's just realised that she doesn't have anything to say.
