New Music Weekly #36 | Jack White, CupcakKe, The Men
New Music Weekly is your one stop shop for new releases in the world of music each and every week. From the best of the best, to some of the rest, Mark Conroy is here to give you the low down on what you might have missed. This week: CupakKe, Jack White, Busdriver & More…
CupcakKe ‘2 Minutes’
The flirty, filthy yet irrepressibly sex-positive rapper CupcakKE dropped her third studio album this week and it’s her strongest collection of songs to date. ‘2 minutes’ is a particular highlight, with the fiery piano ballad being something of an outlier on an album otherwise filled with feisty bangers. Lyrically it’s also a surprisingly earnest and heartfelt look at self-determination and accepting that suffering is only a setback to success. The pain of life seeps into the supposedly joyous moments but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be enjoyed “I done placed so many flowers on different graves/I tell my dates now, don’t bring a rose” CuppaKke spits in her most sincere tone yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR43oVBm3rM
The Men ‘Maybe I’m Crazy’
The pitch-black, murky rock of The Men return after a couple year absence. ‘Maybe I’m Crazy’ dropped this past week, along with an announcement that it will act as the lead single for a new album entitled Drift (out February 2). The track title is suitable as the acerbic atmospherics and dirge of a guitar line could very well supply the soundtrack for questioning one’s sanity. There’s also a hint of dance-punk in its veins but not enough to mask the caustic pain found in the lyrics.
Jack White ‘Connected by Love’
Former White Stripe Jack White released two songs this week, both of which will be appearing on Boarding House Reach, his first solo album since 2014’s overproduced Lazeretto. With its own accompanying visual to boot, ‘Connected by Love’ is clearly the one meant to register as the hard hitting lead-single. An expensive sounding, bombastic piece of synth fused-rock, the song has some a-list instrumentalists but perhaps it leans too heavily on its influences. While far from a failure, ‘Connected by love’ finds White re-threading baby boomer riffs, channelling The Doors and overreaching for the cheap seats with some cheesy choral support. As for the lyrics, in case you didn’t get it by the title the narrator might just feel connected by love: “Yes, I know we’re connected, connect, connected by love / Yeah, I wanna be directed by your love / Connected by love” White informs us astutely.
Busdriver ‘Gush’
A truly original voice, Busdriver was hailed as one of rap’s brightest prospects a couple years ago, but he hasn’t been up to much since a mixtape way back in 2015. The explosive, art-rap ‘Gush’ was this week’s pleasant surprise. Busdriver flows are chock full of bravado as he spits them rapid-fire. The beat behind him is an infectiously groovy reminder that rap production in 2017 doesn’t have to be dominated by trap.
This Fresh Hell ‘Intact’
Dublin-based producer Des Garvey or This Fresh Hell has teamed up with singer-songwriter Niamh McGoldrick for his debut single ‘Intact’. The track is a sinister slice of atmospheric house. Recalling the haunting and spectral sonics of the likes of Arca and Forest Swords, Garvey is an exciting outlier in the world of Irish electronic music. ‘Intact’ sounds a neon-infused descent into the darkest depths of your psyche, but one in which you still come out of it dancing your socks off.
Ryan Hemsworth – ‘Four Seasons’ (Feat. NewAgeMuzik)
When Canadian producer Ryan Hemsworth dropped his newest song, he said he was giving us some “WINTER HEAT” on social media. It’s a fitting description, as the trappy energy and vibrant warmth of the vocal deliveries is like a hot water bottle that will comfort us in the coldest of January nights.
Børns – “Blue Madonna” (Feat. Lana Del Rey)
Synth-pop outfit dropped their latest album Blue Madonna this past week and its filled to the brim with ’80s throwback gems. Lana Del Rey features on two of the tracks, one of them being the sumptuous title track that has an ice cold, glacial groove that glides slowly but confidently.
