Today is New Music Friday, which means there’s loads of new songs in the world.
Here are the 10 single songs released today I loved the most.
See the New Music section for all the of tracks and albums featured this week.
We are an independent publication – become a member and support Nialler9
1.
Róisín Murphy
CooCool
As rumoured Róisín Murphy has an album on the way with revered electronic music auteur and frequent collaborator DJ Koze.
The album is also the first release on Murphy’s deal with Ninja Tune, and ‘CooCool’ is the project’s first single, and easily the best song released this week, a melting kaleidoscopic electronic soul track with a warming emotional effect.
2.
Baxter Dury, JGrrey
Aylesbury Boy
Slipping into Baxter Dury’s world is a sleazy seedy place to occupy every now and again. As the lead single from his seventh Paul White-produced album I Thought I Was Better Than You (June 2nd on Heavenly), ‘Aylesbury Boy’ is a loping grubby song featuring JGrrey on vocals alongside Mr Dury.
“This song is about coming from one place and arriving at another without fitting in to either, and I think of these people like characters from Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away.”
3.
Alan Braxe, Annie
Never Coming Back
Always a nice surprise to hear the voice of Norwegian alt-pop artist Annie pop up on my music feed, and here, she’s adding vocal atmosphere to a smooth French disco vibe from producer Alan Braxe.
Braxe and his long-time collaborator DJ Falcon enlisted with Panda Bear last year on some great tracks.
4.
Fever Ray
Even It Out
On the day that Swedish avant electronic provocateur Karin Dreijer releases their first album in five years with Radical Romantics, there’s a clear marker of the murkier things featured within on ‘Even It Out’ a track which features co-production by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (they also worked on the song ‘North’ on the record)
‘Even It Out’ is a clash of new wave, electro, synth pop and industrial textures with a video that takes influence from Susan Sontag and John Waters’ films specifically – Divine’s portrayal of Dawn Davenport in Waters’ cult classic Female Trouble.
It’s basically the audio equivalent of that scene in Tár when Lydia berates the small schoolchild for bullying her daughter, as it features the lyrics “This is for Zacharias / Who bullied my kid in high school / There’s no room for you / And we know where you live.”
It comes from a real life situation where Dreijer ended up moving her child to another school because the bullying wasn’t being addressed.
“We were in meetings and meetings and meetings, talking about how to take care of this, how they were trying to solve this situation, but they never did. So it ended up that my kid had to change schools. That’s something I still feel very bad about. That’s something you feel as a parent: that you’re never doing enough.
“So this [song] is a bit like going back and trying to make things right,” they continued. “I think it’s so important to take back your self-respect when you have been wronged. It’s a very tricky thing: How do you overcome a situation like this? When will you ever feel okay about it? There has to be some punishment for a person who behaves like this, for a bully, and it didn’t really happen.”
The video also features cameos from Reznor and Ross.
5.
Samuel Powell
Saturn
A big Jon Hopkins-esque effort from Irish producer Samuel Powell. ‘Saturn’ feels content to roam around its own celestial path without coming to close to the atmosphere.
Powell described it as a sister track to his recent ‘Vespers’ song. “Organic sounds have been swapped out for something more synthetic and cold without sacrificing the evolving nature of the piece.”
6.
Tebi Rex
IMTHEBEST
Kildare rap/pop duo Matt Ó and Max Zanga aka Tebi Rex might have taken a year and a bit of a break in releasing together (and releasing solo as Filmore! and Matt O’Fada in that time), but they haven’t lost their insane gift for ultra-pop earworm melodies as heard on ‘IMTHEBEST’.
“Red flags a flaggin’ / she knew half way through her naggin,” is a great line.
7.
Local Boy
Teeth
Normally a creator of slacker indie pop, Dubliner Jake Hurley aka Local Boy here tightens things up on ‘Teeth’, a more streamlined indie pop song that works so well because of its tight vocal hooks.
The song is from an upcoming EP, on Burner Reocrds, that follows his two long players of late Local Boy Helps Himself (2021) and Local Boy Climbs the Ladder (2022).
Some UK dates incoming:
Brighton, Late Music Bar, 16th March
London, Old Blue Last, 17th March
Manchester, The Castle, 18th March
8.
Dijon
Coogie
Baltimore artist Dijon showed on his 2021 debut album Absolutely that he had a gift for painting nuanced and self-sustaining songs out of broad R&B brushstrokes.
Like the live videos from that album, ‘Coogie’ feels like something unfurling out of a live jam as the engineer hit record.
Follow on Instagram.
9.
girlfriend.
Trust
It’s been about four years since the Dublin band girlfriend. released outside the confines of a compilation until recently
For their second single of the year, ‘Trust’ is a refinement of the shoegaze and lo-fi grunge rock music on tracks like ‘Spitkissing’.
‘Repent’ was the band’s first song in a while and was released in December.
10.
Christine And The Queens
Be Honest
The artist Christine and The Queens is back doing what he does best with an elegant theatrical synth pop single as a trailer for a forthcoming Paranoïa, Angels, True Love album. There’s a hopeful heaviness to the mood here that suggests there’s going to be more substance to this album that the admittedly first act of Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue) from last year.
Nialler9 Weekly Playlist
Nialler9 New Music Playlist
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, hit up the Irish section for individual track features
For this and more Irish songs, follow the Nialler9 New Irish Spotify playlist.
