You need badass new music? We’ve got badass new music. Crave has put out a Voltron call to our on-staff music contributors from around the world to bring you a killer weekly mixtape, and inspire your soul with some fantastically delicious sounds.
Open your ears and feast on a wide assortment of goodness from Run The Jewels, No Zu, Doe Paoro and more. If you see something you haven’t heard, that’s a good thing. That’s why we’re doing this. Trust us with your ears, and we’ll bring you the goods. Check out this week’s playlist below:
No Zu – ‘Ui Yia Uia’
Body builders, taxidermy and solid gold steez everywhere in this super stylised clip from Melbourne “heat beat” collective No Zu. Oozing cool with it’s tropical percussion laden post-punk disco driven sound and onomatopoeic vocal hooks, Ui Yia Uia peaks with some low key chic mumbling from Becky “Sui Zhen” Freeman, as she lists off the signs of the Zodiac over the churning bass heavy beat of the track. Steamy, sweaty and heavy with the funk, this is track sounds like the beginning of a Fear & Loathing-esque Lizard littered trip, which coming from me is high praise indeed.
Mike Carr, Aus Staff Writer
David Bowie – ‘Blackstar’
When David Bowie releases a song, humanity should have evolved a Pavlovian response by now to drop everything and listen. The legend has shared a piece of his haunting new track “Blackstar,” the theme for the upcoming heist series “The Last Panthers”. It’s the first commercial production for which Bowie has written in two decades.
No details are yet available on when the entire song will be released, though the series will get a European premiere on November 12th. Series directer Johan Renck explained how “Blackstar” came to be:
“I showed Mr. Bowie the two first episodes in the rough state they were at the time, and he liked what he saw very much,” Renck said in a statement. “We discussed the various aspects of the show; naturally the plot line, but also the underlying currents of guilt and personality flaws. We talked about the dark heart of Europe. We talked about the biblical aspects of human nature. He asked if there was anything else to see, so I showed him the first concept board I had just made for the title sequence – images from the show laced with chimaeras and demons from the worlds of Bosch and Grunewald. That’s when he said go – it all fits. Then he played me his new song ‘Blackstar.'”
Johnny Firecloud, Crave Music Editor
KLP – Recover
KLP aka Kristy Lee Peters is one of those multi-talented, prolific, gorgeous young people who make you feel like a garbage human by comparison. Radio host, DJ, producer, singer-songwriter, former girl-band member and all round gem of a human KLP’s latest offering to society is this tidy little banger Recover.
Bristling with catchy “Na na na na na na na hey hey”s and a lightning fast percussive hook, Recover is contemporary pop kicked directly in the dick and I am so here for it. The track also features the rap stylings of local MC Remi which takes the track to the proverbial 11.
TL;DR KLP slays my life.
Mitch Feltscheer, Aus Editor
Run The Jewels – ‘Rubble Kings’
This mix needs some muscle, so I’m rolling with the spankin’ new single from Run The Jewels. There’s no half-stepping in the way Killer Mike and El-P blast spitfire lyrical cannons through a rush of percussion on “Rubble Kings Theme (Dynamite)”. The track was made for Rubber Kings, a documentary New York City hip-hop as it evolved through the late ’60s and ’70s – check out the trailer. “Rubble Kings Theme” is also part of Adult Swim’s Singles series, offering one new song for download each week.
Johnny Firecloud, Crave Music Editor
The Cesarians – ‘Control’
London outfit The Cesarians have returned with their second album in six years, the crowdfunded Pure White Speed, and with it comes the official release of a favourite of the band’s live shows, ‘Control.’
On a personal note, I’m currently languishing in that awkward pre-30s stage of my life wherein those around me aren’t so much holding onto their youth as they are grasping for it, desperately trying to shuffle up the remnants of what once was and prolong the inevitability of adult responsibility despite such attempts veering further into regrettable territory. ‘Control’ is an ode to transformative years such as these, and in many ways provides an encouraging anthem for those who find themselves pissing in the wind as the years pass them by, with frontman Charlie Finke bellowing: “You’re never young forever, no matter how hard you try.”
Despite the members of The Cesarians having seemingly each passed that 30-year milestone some time ago, ‘Control’ still serves as a perfect antidote for those feeling downhearted about their age creeping upon them. So all of us, then.
Paul Tamburro, Crave UK Editor
Doe Paoro – ‘Hypotheticals’
Pledging my adoration of ‘Hypotheticals’ at this early stage in the song’s life cycle will come back to bite me once the inevitable remix of the track is released, stripping it of its magic in favour of creating a synth behemoth that Doe Paoro herself will likely struggle to compete with in the future.
Rest assured that this isn’t fatalistic but rather realistic, as ‘Hypotheticals’ is too good for some preening bedroom DJ turned stadium filler to not tamper with. Beginning with a slow, ambient crawl before transforming into a grandiose pop song, Paoro has taken what she learned after spending time in Justin Vernon’s Wisconsin recording studio, and mixed Bon Iver’s haunting, pained melodies with music you can dance to. If you’re that way inclined.
Paul Tamburro, Crave UK Editor
GL – ‘Number One’
Get. Into. The. Groove. Because Melbourne duo GL have gathered up all those residual 1980s Madonna vibes and packaged them together in a banger of a new single ‘Number One’.
The duo, Graeme Pogson and Ella Thompson, garnered glowing reviews following their Australian festival sets this year, including Thompson’s stint as part of Mark Ronson’s all-star band, and with this sparkling new tune in tow they’re set to continue the trend.
Retro dance floor ready pop at its best, Number One features a smattering of synths, steady drum machines and some soaring Material Girl-esque vocals. Wrap your ears around it right now.
Nastassia Baroni, Aus Editor
