new (and old) music friday #44: slayyyter, hannah diamond, VINCINT, charli xcx

why i decided to make another anchor "podcast" when my throat feels like it's closing up is beyond me, but nevertheless, i'm (sort of) pleased to present 38 minutes of me rambling on about the new albums from charli xcx*, slayyyter and MUNA, as well as two (2) tangents about ticket prices and why bridesmaids is still one of the best films ever made.

listen to it here, but maybe read my last post first for some ~context~ about why these songs have been important to me.

(*i'm horrified that in the podcast i neglected to mention next level charli, the impeccable opener of charli xcx's third album that could easily be considered one of her best songs. think of it as Classic Charli: plenty of references to partying and fast cars over a beat that absolutely BANGS.)

new (and old) music friday #11: the weeknd, george michael, tove lo, pet shop boys

my last new music friday came in the form of a podcast, but this week it's back to basics with a good old written post about my favourite new - and old - releases.

1. the weeknd

the 80s resurgence of late shows no signs of slowing down, with the release of starboy, the latest release from the weeknd. though it came out in november, it was only in the last month that i got into it after hearing lead single starboy in a (depressingly empty) club one night. the influence of dance pioneers daft punk can be heard on this track, as well as i can feel it coming, a smooth-as-silk ode to a lover, but it's secrets, which samples tears for fears excellent 1983 track, pale shelter, that is my current favourite. 

2. george michael

news of the legend's passing on christmas day shocked the world, with my best friend and i, both home for the festive season, finding out the news while drinking in a local pub. luckily we got to watch some of our old classmates from high school embarrass themselves doing karaoke, which softened the blow slightly, but in a year where we lost so many important queer icons, it did ruin the night ever so slightly. the last few weeks have seen me revisit some of my favourite tracks from the man himself as well as his band wham!, including club tropicana, wake me up before you go-go, young guns (go for it!) and careless whisper, which is, in my opinion, one of the best pop songs ever created. 

3. tove lo

after reading this article on autostraddle, a link in the comments redirected me to fairy dust, the film accompanying swedish songstress tove lo's second album, lady wood. though i didn't really understand what was going on for the majority of the video, it did remind me of her ability to create an excellent pop song, specifically true disaster, influence, cool girl and lady wood. 

4. pet shop boys

though i've discussed this band at length before, i rediscovered them on new year's eve, which was spent alone listening to everything from 80s cheese a la rick astley to fame monster-era lady gaga, and listening to electric and super at full volume got me ridiculously excited to see the pet shop boys live with my mother next month. 

5. hannah diamond

again, i've talked about PC music here in the past, but hannah diamond's latest track, fade away has reminded me of how much i love them. a bittersweet ode to a lover who just won't commit, the songs lyrics contrast brilliantly with the party-ready beats the collective has become known for, while the video has all the makings of those lyric videos people would upload to youtube before spotify became a thing. here's to hoping that 2017 brings a full length album from hannah, but in the meantime i'll have this song on repeat.

6. peter gabriel

oh the things one can discover when browsing the internet, specifically peter gabriel's 1986 album, and his best selling to date, so. annoyingly, the album can't be found on spotify, but i did stumble upon a full length version uploaded to youtube. it was only after re-reading this clash interview with the 1975, and hearing matty profess his love of the album, that inspired me to finally listen to it. i didn't know what to expect, but as soon as red rain began, i got that feeling deep inside where you just know that an album is going to resonate with you for years to come. side note: this quote full on made me cry (nothing new there) because it literally sums up all my feelings towards pop music:

“what do you want from pop?” he asks. “huge sentiment. the ability to lose yourself. if you believe the person delivering that, it’s pure.” like ‘1989’ or carly rae jepsen’s ‘E.MO.TION’, Album Two is an ode to the ’80s, but healy insists that his ’80s revival is the place where he “naturally arrives”. he talks about ’80s’ ideals and unabashed sonic excess, rather than specific 808s or The Terminator. “who didn’t like ‘i wanna dance with somebody’ or ‘so’ by Peter gabriel? we had permission to love,” he says. healy might not have a song titled ‘new romantics’ but if london’s blitz club was active now, it would be the 1975 who’d brush shoulder-pads with boy george and spandau ballet. he grabs his heart. he’d let me hold it if he could. “that's where my love for life lives: inside a big pop song."

that seems like an appropriate place to end - because how can i really top that - and as usual, a playlist with these songs (and more) can be found here. 

PC music: pop, parody or just pure genius?

the beauty of PC music is that nobody is quite sure what it actually is, or what it represents, and if that was what its founder AG cook was aiming for, he certainly succeeded. created in 2013 by a group of london-based visual artists, musicians and more, PC music is a record label that hasn’t actually signed any artists. those on the roster include danny l harle, lipgloss twins and hannah diamond, the latter of which was recently featured in i-d magazine and has collaborated with watch brand baby g. who doesn’t remember owning, or lusting after, one of those in the late 90s/early 2000s?

a quick look at hannah diamond's video for hi, released last november, shows she is big on nostalgia, particularly for the early 2000s - everything from her bright pink bedroom to the air max trainers and diamanté encrusted nails. her music too, along with all the other artists on the label, is reminiscent of those clubland compilation CDs teenagers all over the country used to listen to, most likely before downing a litre or two of frosty jacks before a big night out down at the park. a prime example of this is the track beautiful by AG cook himself, reminiscent of dance acts such as special d and ultrabeat. a listen to any of the clubland compilations reveals many similarities, from the high pitched female vocals to the thumping bass lines. for those reasons alone, PC music could potentially back all sorts of potentially unpleasant memories for all the teens that have now (hopefully) grown out of these antics. nevertheless, there’s something incredibly new and fresh about this collective’s sound.

perhaps it's because, as sam wolfson of the guardian said, they are taking "the most critically ridiculed music from the past decade and packaging it as the future". as the cost of living continues to increase and our day to day lives become ever more stressful, this music harks back to simpler times, and no matter how embarrassing our clothes and hairstyles were, it will hold many memories for those who were a part of the scene. what PC music do though, is propel it into the future. take QT, a "made-up pop singer sent from an alternate planet to promote a fictional energy drink of the same name", according to i-d magazine. the guardian describes her as "halfway between a product and a prank", and it’s certainly hard to ascertain what exactly she, or rather her producers, is trying to get across. her track, hey QT, was produced by AG cook and SOPHIE (the stage name of samuel long), and so was her image. QT is first and foremost a product designer and is developing her own energy drink, the very one being promoted in her music video. it’s this blurring of the imaginary and reality that has me, and many others intrigued by PC music. don’t be fooled though, because SOPHIE takes his craft incredibly seriously. “my primary concern is: what’s the most sonically exciting thing i can imagine? then i try to make that,” he said.

image is everything, and the inspiration for said image comes from “kawaii” (meaning “cute” in japanese) culture. hannah diamond’s background is actually in image making and retouching, and she shot pop starlet charli XCX’s recent campaign for impulse. again, a blurring of this super polished, hyper-reality and the real world of music. “i'm more concerned with using the images as a hyper real communication companion for the music, as opposed to trying to make myself shiny for the sake of it!” says diamond of her image.   

it’s also interesting to look at what this image says about the male-dominated, macho world of dance and house music, the latter of which has seen a staggeringly large revival in the last year or two. “instead of fetishising bass, deep tans and the FHM pin-ups who adorn videos on youtube channel majestic casual, PC music pays homage to a more innocent teen-girl culture,” says lanre bakare. both diamond and label mate GFOTY (that’s girlfriend of the year to you and me) have expressed how much creative freedom they, and other female artists on the label, have, with diamond declaring, “i honestly can't think of a label where female artists have so much creative control over their representation, tbh!”

so if we are really living in a time where "anything goes", PC music should be the biggest testament to this. but opinions are still divided about the london-based collective and whether they really are the next big thing in music, or technology or fashion. a commenter on a guardian article described them as a blend of ”j-pop, 90's chart club music, hyper produced europop weirdness and carly rae jepsen” and as far as i’m concerned, this can only be a good thing, though whether the masses will agree remains to be seen.