TRACK OF THE WEEK
Trim
RPG
Roll Deep alumnus Trim is arguably grime’s finest lyricist but his sheer willfulness means he’s unlikely to be co-signed by Drake any time soon. He has, however, been co-signed by Blake (James), who provides RPG’s slippery, confounding beat. Trim tames it instantly with a winning juxtaposition of extreme violence and comic mundanity: one minute he’s describing a drive-by shooting, the next he’s rapping about biscuits and unintentionally sinister 80s talking bear Teddy Ruxpin. Proof that we could all do with a little Trim now and then.
Prophets Of Rage
Prophets Of Rage
With their balding pates, it would be easy to mock this Public Enemy/Cypress Hill/Rage Against The Machine supergroup as a collective mid-life crisis. Prophets of rage? Prophets of old age more like! And yet this debut single rocks harder and more righteously than anything else released this week. Even if you’re beyond the point where smashing the system feels like a realistic possibility, it might inspire you to retweet a radical hashtag. Take that, capitalist suckers!
Lolawolf ft Miley Cyrus
Teardrop
Miley Cyrus and Lolawolf’s Zoe Kravitz have a lot in common, not least the numerous crimes against music and fashion perpetrated by their dads in the early 90s. But they’re doing their best to atone for the sins of the fathers with this spellbinding minimalist tearjerker, a duet in which you’re never quite certain who’s shedding the tears and who’s doing the jerking. Are you gonna go their way? You should.
Rag’N’Bone Man
Human
When is everybody going to stop being impressed by the fact that young British dudes can sing like storied Delta bluesmen? It’s a learned technique. Rick Astley was doing it years ago, but at least he didn’t have to tattoo the word “SOUL” on his knuckles to convince himself he was being authentic. Speak of the devil...
Rick Astley
Dance
Anyone who only knows the Lancashire lothario as the punchline to an old internet joke should get a load of these stats: eight Top 10 singles, 40m records sold, and his current album went straight in at No 1. He’s also got the brass balls to call his new single Dance when it was his crap jiving that made him a laughing stock in the first place. It might make most of the other stuff he plays on his Magic FM show sound edgy by comparison, but you can’t deny its innocent, heart-warming sentiment. That Rick Astley, he’s never gonna let you down.
