Sampha – ‘Too Much’

Chal Ravens: Sampha’s voice is a charm; this is charming. And although it’s a treat to hear it uninterrupted by Drake’s content-free verbiage, I actually just want that beat to kick in. (6)

Joseph Morpurgo: I can’t help imagining Jose Gonzalez peeping through the studio window, cradling his albatross shaped millstone, and muttering this under his quavering breath. Still, even if it ends up taking Sampha down with it, ‘Too Much’ is convincing and affecting, and just on the right side of mawkish. (7)

Tam Gunn: Just gonna be the guy everyone hates here and say that I never really got the whole Sampha thing. He’s got a nice voice, and ‘Too Much’ is one of the only tracks on the second half of Nothing Was The Same that doesn’t feel like a chore, but he’s never stood out for me the way some vocalists do. It’s just nice. And this is nice. I know no one likes hearing that they’re just nice, but that’s all this stirs in me, sorry. (6)

Josh Hall: I’m not sure how Sampha gets a free pass on this stuff. This is just like his last EP – a really humourless musical theatre score. Phenomenally dull. (3)

5.5

Darkstar – ‘You Don’t Need a Weatherman (Cult/Zomby Remix)’

Josh Hall: I like to imagine that Kollaps is actually just Zomby professing his love for Neubauten. I really want to love Darkstar but the vocals have always been a real sticking point for me, so I particularly appreciate how this is practically an instrumental. This is also just absolutely beautifully produced, with really perfect bass tones. (7)

Joseph Morpurgo:  I found News From Nowhere too florid and With Love too greyscale, and this remix blends those palettes to superior effect. The drum programming is pretty perfunctory, but the rolling ambience is lovely, in a Global Communications sort of way (6)

Chal Ravens: “Stirring”, isn’t it? A little aimless, possibly. The Darkstar album seems to have been overlooked this year, which is a shame because a) it’s very good and b) it does all this sort of “emotive” stuff without the need for scare quotes. The remix is decent enough but I’m not incited to buy it. (5)

Tam Gunn: Until the drums kick in this sounds a lot like Yagya, dub techno’s most underrated man. I’m not sure how well the vocals sit here – they sound a little loud and jarring compared to the backing – but it’s a really nice track overall. There’s that word again, eh? (7)

6.3

Gunplay – ‘Kush’ (ft. Lil Wayne and Rick Ross)

Josh Hall: Gunplay seems to consistently get better production than he deserves (see also “Drop Da Tint”). He sounds really unconvincing here, and Rick Ross is characteristically embarrassing. (5)

Joseph Morpurgo: After Danny Brown’s ‘Kush Coma’, here’s another drug song that glitters like coral rather than sounding like a total bummer – but that’s about all it’s got going for it. “Body-builder” Lil Wayne sounds weedy, and, given his usual bombast, Gunplay’s sing-song performance is a stopped Glock. Rozay fares best, but no-one’s really rolling their sleeves up higher than the wrist on this one. (2)

Chal Ravens: A basic yet entirely serviceable smoker’s tune, but with the exception of Wayne’s wibbly Autotuned bit, the verses are absolute bobbins, aren’t they? (4)

Tam Gunn: Has Gunplay dropped the ball this year? I hope not, but he was phenomenal in 2012 and nothing’s really stirred me since ‘Bible on the Dash’. Wayne’s verse isn’t bad for Wayne in 2013 – sure, he’s still incapable of finishing a verse without dropping a simile that’s either totally head-scratching or just plain gross, but “come ride me like a turnpike” isn’t a patch on, say, “these hoes got pussies like craters”- while Gunplay’s just fine. Beat’s great, the organ reminds me a bit of Drake’s ‘Uptown’. I zoned out by the time Ross got involved. (6)

4.3

Future – ‘Real and True’

Joseph Morpurgo: There’s probably a good song in here somewhere , much in the same way there’s probably a good man in here somewhere, but there’s just too much bad politics going on for this to be anything other than a botch-job. (3)

Tam Gunn: This sounds like The Lion King. Miley and Future’s duet on Bangerz was fine with just them two – who invited Mr. Hudson? (4)

Josh Hall: Seldom have a group of people taken themselves so seriously while doing something so silly. (3)

Chal Ravens: This is what it would feel like to be bagged up in one of those ‘do not eat’ silicon packets; I feel sort of… dessicated. No amount of AutoTune overload can save this one. Do not resuscitate. (2)

3

Snowbird – ‘Porcelain’

Tam Gunn: Just does something unexceptional really, really well. (7)

Chal Ravens: Oddly, it’s the piano that sabotages this one. It’s far too straight-laced and Lloyd Webber-ish for a vocal and melody that’s so unusual and (obviously) Cocteaus-ish. Alison Goldfrapp does this stuff so much better. (4)

Joseph Morpurgo: From ‘Kush’ to Bush. Lush mush. (5)

Josh Hall: This has the potential to be one of the most exciting Bella Union projects in ages. Every time it threatens to veer into sop it takes another unexpected direction. Lovely. (7)

5.8

Jeremy Deller – ‘Voodoo Ray’ (Optimo Remix)

Joseph Morpurgo: The artwork for this reads “Ooh-oo-hoo-ah-ha-ha yeah”. The artwork does not lie. (7)

Josh Hall: This is enormous fun from start to finish. A remix of a cover is satisfyingly meta, and I really like how Twitch pays homage to the original as much as he reworks the cover, not relying too heavily on the steel drum parts. (8)

Chal Ravens:  The sound of the retromania serpent eating its own tail, possibly, but to great effect! Could have done with even more steel drums, but this is the the sort of weirdo shit my subconscious pines for when I’m struggling to make it through another ill-advised night of tech-fucking-house. (7)

Tam Gunn: I’ll be honest, I thought this was going to be total balls for the first 30 seconds, then before you know it there’s that delayed vocal, chick-chick-chicka hi-hats, banging piano with wiggy synth shit over the top, and all of a sudden even the steel drums make sense. Brilliant stuff, top marks for all involved. (9)

7.8

Super Electric Party Machine – ‘Lagerfield’ (ft. Cunty Savage and MikeQ)

Tam Gunn: “Man I’m hot – literally”? Pretty much every couplet on this is brilliant, and I’m so down with Karl Lagerfield as a hook. Extra points for being recorded in a shed. (7)

Joseph Morpurgo: Great fried-to-goodness vocals, pitchshifting fuckery that doesn’t suck, a dash of footwork dysphoria…yeah, this knocks. and does it on its own terms too. (7)

Chal Ravens: The separate elements are great – plenty of low-end weight tempered by flutters of distant percussion and silky squiggles – but it doesn’t take off. The rap was recorded into a Macbook microphone, right? That works. (6)

Josh Hall: I genuinely can’t decide whether this is hilarious brilliance or laughable stupidity, and it therefore gets a score exactly in the middle. (5)

6.3

Final scores:

Jeremy Deller – ‘Voodoo Ray’ (Optimo Remix) (7.8)
Darkstar – ‘You Don’t Need a Weatherman (Cult/Zomby Remix)’ (6.3)
Super Electric Party Machine – ‘Lagerfield’ (ft. Cunty Savage and MikeQ) (6.3)
Snowbird – ‘Porcelain’ (5.8)
Sampha – ‘Too Much’ (5.5)
Gunplay – ‘Kush’ (ft. Lil Wayne and Rick Ross) (4.3)
Future – ‘Real & True’ (ft. Miley Cyrus & Mr. Hudson) (3)