If you’ve been having a hard time keeping up with new music these days, you’re not alone. No matter how devoted a sound junkie you may be, we’re inundated with so many new bands and songs, it’s easy to miss out on something amazing. There’s just too much damn music out there to keep up with all of it!
Thankfully, Crave’s music staff is here to help. We’ve pulled contributions from our music writers from around the world to bring you a killer weekly mixtape playlist. Here’s how it works – each week we’ll deliver a handful of must-listen tracks, most of them new, some of them classics, all of them awesome. Get a leg up on the best new tracks on the circuit with this week’s playlist featuring new tracks from Andrew Bird and Fiona Apple, Hospital Ships, Lower Spectrum, Humans and more.
Andrew Bird & Fiona Apple – ‘Left-Handed Kisses’
Andrew Bird possesses the delicate soul of Father John Misty, though free of the sardonic bite that never quite allows a guard-down approach. With the arrival of his forthcoming twelfth record Are You Serious on April 1st, the palette expands – with a little help from friends.
“My inclination was to write a song about why I can’t write a simple love song,” Bird explained in an official statement. “The song began as an internal dialogue.” The dialogue soon became external, with Fiona Apple lending her voice to counter Bird’s. “I don’t believe everything happens for a reason,” Bird begins. “To us romantics out here, that amounts to high treason,” Apple counters. Tales of trauma, resentment, abandonment and sorrow permeate most of Apple’s work, though here she places a higher demand instead of a victim’s lament. “The point your song here misses is, if you really love me, you’d risk more than a few fifty-cent words in your backhanded love song,” she sings.
– Johnny Firecloud, Crave Music Editor
Lower Spectrum – ‘Masquerade’
My first reaction after hearing this was a literal outburst of “PHWOAR”. Not an entirely sophisticated response to what is an impeccably sophisticated piece of work, I know. But it does encapsulate just how many levels the Perth producer’s newest creation is operating on.
There’s that thumping bass, that staccato gospel sample, the distorted ‘50s style doo-wops, the brass and those wailing synths which build to such a frequency that you feel as if you’re being lifted up to some sort of higher plane. It’s at once cerebral and emotive, burrowing its way into your head and your heart with each listen.
– Nastassia Baroni, Australian Editor
LAFAWNDAH – ‘Ally’
LAFAWNDAH is everything. This Parisian performance artist cum music maker is a master. The video for Ally is replete with rich symbology and ritual. She wanders through the desert, tightening a rope around her clenched fist. The sun melts into an oblong fire-disk, as her patterned garb flags in the wind.
All of this is accompanied by her signature sound – a careful amalgam of off-kilter house electronica and pan-cultural sonics. Make sure you chase this mythical adventurist as she runs amidst and across the normally divided worlds of art, culture and language. In my opinion, she is the illest. Keep an eye out my babies.
– Luke Bodley, Australian Contributer
Hospital Ships – ‘You and I’
Imagine a time traveler gone awry, stuck in a blur of ages, watching the world live, die and cycle endlessly with only the sounds of Sigur Ros and The Flaming Lips to keep him company. This is the sensation of Crave’s latest track premiere, the latest offering from Hospital Ships in anticipation of their new LP The Past Is Not a Flood.
The Kansas-based project is driven by nucleus Jordan Geiger – he of a kaleidoscope of projects including Shearwater, The Appleseed Cast, and Des Ark. Geiger has teamed up with longtime collaborator Thor Harris of Swans for this collection, produced by John Congleton (St. Vincent, Modest Mouse, etc) and due out March 11 on Graveface.
– Johnny Firecloud, Crave Music Editor
Humans – ‘Water Water’
Vancouver duo Humans will release the Water Water EP March 4 on Mom + Pop and Haven Sounds, and the title track is a captivating first taste of what’s to come. Built from a song the duo had been singing en route to the beach for years, the multilayered recording employs handclaps, analogue synths and a captivating groove through the song’s ten-minute span.
Humans are nominated for a 2016 Juno Award for Electronic Album of the Year for their LP Noontide, and with what we’re hearing thus far, Water Water may soon be due for some award accolades as well.
– Johnny Firecloud, Crave Music Editor
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – ‘Need to Know’
The truth would be too much, Mack believes, which is why we’re only hearing what we “Need to Know,” which features Macklemore’s former opening act, Chance the Rapper, sharing a wish to “go back to the day before I became famous overnight.” This is the standout single from Macklemore’s latest LP, the undeniably powerful but racial-appropriation lightning rod This Unruly Mess I’ve Made. The chorus likely means something entirely different to Chance, who in “Need to Know” remarks on how white fans now call him ‘nigga’ at his shows. The juxtaposition – as well as Chance’s connective thread to the strongest tracks on Kanye’s Pablo circus – make this listen that much more compelling. Good luck getting the hook out of your head.
– Johnny Firecloud, Crave Music Editor
