New Music Fridays is back with another batch of fresh sounds for your weekend.
This week features music from supremely talented singer-songwriters, along with a few of the week’s biggest singles to get your weekend started.
Rex Orange County – WHO CARES?
English singer-songwriter Alex O’Connor, known professionally as Rex Orange County, started to gain fame when he appeared on Tyler, The Creator’s Grammy-nominated 2017 album Flower Boy. His quirky combination of pop, jazz, hip-hop and soul has seen him garner hundreds of millions of streams on Spotify in the last half a decade.
His latest album, WHO CARES?, is a masterclass in wistful bedroom pop. Alex pours a lot into this music and uses intensely catchy melodies to deliver his vulnerable lyrics. At a modest 34 minutes and 55 seconds, WHO CARES? is the latest fleeting juncture in a young career that is destined for the snowy peaks of the mainstream. Expect to hear this a lot on TikTok in the coming days and weeks.
Fly Anakin – Frank
Fly Anakin’s raspy delivery incorporates old school techniques of sampling and beat-making to create a highly intriguing hybrid form of hip-hop. It’s not necessarily a nostalgic record harking back to the hip-hop golden age of the 1990s, but it’s not quite new school either, making for an absorbing listen.
The rapper’s latest record Frank came out this week and is an embodiment of that old meets new school, with a notable link-up with legendary producer Madlib. Fly Anakin’s crew Mutant Academy have been behind some of the most exciting hip-hop projects in recent times and the likes of Fly Anakin, Big Kahuna OG, and Henny L.O. are most certainly names to look out for in the future.
Lil Durk – 7220
Chicago drill/trap rapper Lil Durk is back with his seventh studio album 7220 this week, a compilation of bombastic, occasionally menacing, odes to the street life. The record holds features from Future, Gunna, Sumer Walker and Morgan Wallen, and the rapper’s popular single AHHH HA is also included on the project.
Durk releases 7220 in preparation for his upcoming US tour which kicks off in April in Phoenix with stops in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh and finishes with a homecoming show in Chicago.
Jenny Hval – Classic Objects
The cinematic sound of Oslo-based singer-songwriter Jenny Hval is back this week with her new record Classic Objects. The record only has eight songs but runs for 42 minutes, with each song lasting for around five to six minutes and evolving throughout – an interesting concept that keeps the listener guessing.
There are a lot of sonic and lyrical ideas about Hval’s emotions and experiences on display in Classic Objects; it might take a listen or two to get your head around them, but it’s a project more than worth the pursuit.
Singles
Florence + The Machine – My love
Finneas – Flume (Spotify Singles)