ListenUp
New music from Vagabon, Ragers, Lonleyspeck and an Erykah Badu-inspired mixtape
The Shins: Painting a Hole
The fourth preview release from their forthcoming album Heartworms, “Painting a Hole” is a refreshing burst of psychedelic energy from The Shins. With kooky catchiness, pounding drums and a divinely palatable eccentricity, it distances itself from the previous three singles—with James Mercer putting his vocals to a pointed use. It gives reason to be excited about the band’s first album since 2012.
Ragers: Swirl
Canadian outfit Ragers bends genres on the regular and their new track “Swirl” is no exception. Featuring vocals by Lou Phelps (coincidently KAYTRANADA’s brother), the song blends electronic with rap—and there’s a deep, spacey groove to boot. The end result is a sexy, lush and glittery tune that will have you moving in your seat.
Lonelyspeck: Settle
With a spacey, minimal melody and poetic lyrics, Lonelyspeck’s (aka Sione Bouts Teumohenga) new track “Settle” is mesmerizing. From the artist’s second EP, Lave, the song’s lyrics are sparse and delivered with a vulnerability and tenderness. With unexpected beats and morphed sound effects, Lonelyspeck’s music is something between ambient, experimental and alt-pop—and yet impossible to categorize, in the best way.
TEREZA: BADUOLOGY
German DJ TEREZA celebrated the queen Erykah Badu’s birthday yesterday by sharing a mixtape of the singer/songwriter/musician’s music. The one hour mix, called BADUOLOGY, features songs that she’s sampled, as well as skits and tracks she’s featured on—for example, right after “Love of My Life Worldwide”(which features Queen Latifah, Bahamadia and Angie Stone) comes the track sampled, “Funk You Up” by The Sequence. With a career spanning two decades, Badu has plenty of work to choose from and TEREZA has chosen and edited the mixtape in a sublime way.
Vagabon: Cold Apartment
On her slowly building track “Cold Apartment” Vagabon (aka Lætitia Tamko) creates tremendous fervor thanks to her unfaltering vocals and the triumphant guitars and booming drums. A heartbreakingly lonely mood rises to a place of defiance. The track is from the NYC-based, Cameroon-born musician’s debut record called Infinite Worlds.
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.
