ListenUp
Ballet gets futuristic in a new Chemical Brothers video, Shamir covers soon-to-be tourmates Duran Duran, Flume + Vince Staples and more in new music
The Chemical Brothers feat. Beck: Wide Open
Building upon the thoughtful, at times haunting vocals we’ve come to expect from Beck, The Chemical Brothers’ track “Wide Open” from 2015’s Born In The Echoes delivers potent melody. The newly released accompanying music video makes a statement of its own. What commences as a beautiful dance performance by ballerina Sonoya Mizuno shifts into a surreal, science-fiction-like art piece, shot all in one take.
Shamir: Hungry Like The Wolf (Duran Duran Cover)
CH favorite Shamir has just announced he’ll be joining Duran Duran on tour, and released an acoustic cover of their wildly popular “Hungry Like The Wolf.” His rendition is tender and dreamy—turning the ’80s pop anthem into a soft ballad—with his vocals just fragile and vulnerable enough to alter the song almost entirely. Catch him at major festivals like Coachella and Bonnaroo later this year.
AMTHST: Thug Passion
LA-based singer/songwriter Nite Jewel has joined forces with Bay Area rapper/producer Droop-E (it runs in the family: his dad is E-40) for a power duo called AMTHST, and their first track “Thug Passion” is a doozie. Nite Jewel (aka Ramona Gonzalez) loves a good collab, having released music with Dam-Funk (under the name Nite-Funk) and Julia Holter. She’s responsible for the soft, dreamy vocals while Droop-E (Earl Stevens Jr) delivers background vocals that are almost like a recorded phone conversation. Altogether it’s woozy, swampy and heavy, but is counterbalanced by glittery psychedelic tinges from outer space.
Flume feat. Vince Staples + Kučka: Smoke And Retribution
Seems like the appetite for Flume’s new music can’t be satiated. “Never Be Like You,” the first single off of the 24-year-old Australian producer’s upcoming sophomore album Skin has already racked up Soundcloud plays into the millions. This week, he released another track from the album, a collaboration with rapper Vince Staples and electronic pop musician Kučka (aka Laura Jane Lowther). “Smoke And Retribution” teases Flume’s evolution as synth chords flicker and tremble between Staples’ robust rhymes.
ListenUp is a Cool Hunting series published every Sunday that rounds up the music we tweeted throughout the week, also found in Listen. Hear the year so far via Cool Hunting Spotify.
