Tag: Columbia

Single review: Calvin Harris feat. Frank Ocean & Migos – ‘Slide’

Harris’ first step to making you feel fucking incredible? A pleasant bass-led loop and realisation of your financial inadequacy.

Originally published in The Edge

“All my songs in 2017 have been sonically designed to make you feel fucking incredible,” tweeted Calvin Harris shortly before dropping the least Calvin Harris thing since the transition from chicken-lobbing synth-parading goofball to Vegas-dwelling chiselled Adonis, now decorated in the facial hair department with a veritable forest, commenced after 2009’s Ready For The Weekend. As such, it is only fair that we disregard Harris’ decade of pop heritage when assessing ‘Slide,’ which invites elusive carpenter and emotional maven Frank Ocean to lead the crooning whilst Quavo and Offset of ‘Bad And Boujee’ ad-libbers Migos squeak through augmentation and their oh-so-evident riches for a verse each, and instead consider how fucking incredible it can make one feel. Continue reading “Single review: Calvin Harris feat. Frank Ocean & Migos – ‘Slide’”

It came from SoundCloud: PC Music’s internet pop invasion

Exploring the fizzy world bursting towards the charts.

Originally published in The Edge

Playing a track on SoundCloud is never as straightforward as it may seem. Once non-skippable audio promos subside to gift you 30 seconds and an abrupt ending that reminds you of the firm’s perpetually iffy situation with the industry as a whole, the real fun can begin as it catapults you down a mesmerising rabbit hole of what happens when you give seamless distribution and budget creation tools to the most idiosyncratic budding musicians. Entire self-sufficient niches have established themselves, attracting new prey in this very fashion, and singular hits, especially in the dance world, have flourished from silent launches on the platform, but few lasting trends have managed to escape through into more mainstream vistas. PC Music is ready to be the exception. Continue reading “It came from SoundCloud: PC Music’s internet pop invasion”

Single review: Danny L Harle feat. Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Super Natural’

An exquisite marriage between ultra-modern melodic oomph and delicate yet alluring pop vocals, ‘Super Natural’ is exactly what it says on the startlingly-polished tin.

Originally published in The Edge

For the uninitiated, PC Music is weird. Perhaps ideally described as a production collective set on a synthetic and garish model for a future in which dance and pop and fun and samples of distorted latex are all synonymous, its most forward-thinking and public-facing presentations to date have come courtesy of affiliate Samuel Long, aka SOPHIE – Product, his own compendium of singles and bleeps, and the Vroom Vroom EP he produced for Charli XCX to launch her label of the same name.

Eloquent in interviews without the need for child-like voice pitching, a smiling and familiar face on camera with an avid social media presence, and producing the signature nectar free from any of the potentially bitter points generally there to be unearthed, the movement has found a frontman perfect for their partnership with the venerable Columbia Records in Danny L Harle. ‘Super Natural,’ his third single of the relationship, is the best yet, catapulting the uber-contemporary brand back towards late-millennium raves. Driven by claps and firmly bleating synths rising throughout, this is as much a hyperactive club record as a stimulating, radio-nudging tune. Continue reading “Single review: Danny L Harle feat. Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Super Natural’”