Monday, Monday, so good to us with an abundance of new sounds ready to hit our lugholes. This week there’s sweet emo-tion from Oklahoma’s Ben Quad, powerful Zambian groove from Sampa The Great, Exploring Birdsong’s relationship trauma, soulful pep-talking from Nectar Woode, and a bugged-out dancefloor filler from DJ Daphni.
#1 Ben Quad – All Your Luck
Melodic alt.rock quartet Ben Quad – named after The Phantom Menace’s comedic podracer-turned-hero who liberated Anakin Skywalker – jangle their way around this sweet, lovesick emo tune that leans towards shoegaze and banjo bluegrass – no mean feat. ‘All Your Luck’ comes from the upcoming album Wisher, and the video creates a nostalgic, romantic feel with fan-shot footage of affectionate couples mixed with the band’s performance, viewed through old TVs. The Oklahoma quartet have been emo-swooning all over the shop since 2018 and if you like what you hear with ‘All Your Luck’ then you can catch ‘em live in the UK next February supporting Canadian compadres Arm’s Length.
#2 Sampa The Great – Can’t Hold Us
The rapper, musician and songwriter keeps the flame going for a new dawn of Zamrock, the psychedelic music form that was forged in Zambia in the 60s and 70s but serves as the beating heart to Sampa’s infectious, ritualistic danceable groove on ‘Can’t Hold Us’, which features likeminded vocalist-polymath Mwanjé Tembo. With a third album in the pipeline, Sampa says: “This is the declaration track. I’m saying: I’ve stepped into my power, into my sound, into my purpose. I’ve claimed this thing — Nu Zamrock — as something of my own, something I’m shaping in real time. And in this new form, with this much clarity and drive? You can’t hold us. You can’t stop us. Not anymore.”
www.instagram.com/sampa_the_great
#3 Exploring Birdsong – Romanticise
Merseyside’s Exploring Birdsong return with a prog-metal/Muse-tinged rocker, its lyrics focusing on toxic relationships, sung from the POV of the abusive perpetrator. It’s a heavy theme well-framed by the trio’s composition and video; frontwoman Lynsey Ward adds an elegantly cutting top line melody. The band say: “The opening line to the chorus is a sarcastic jab at the protagonist’s partner; ‘You could romanticise a car wreck at eighty’ – it illustrates their frustration at a tenaciously positive outlook, and is followed by ‘would you anatomise the way I’m behaving?’, shifting the blame from themselves as if their behaviour is being overly scrutinised when questioned.
“The song is written – unfortunately – from personal experience.”
www.instagram.com/exploringbirdsong
#4 Nectar Woode – Stick Fight
Let’s lighten things up with this soulful little number from Milton Keynes’ jazz-pop star Nectar Woode. Woode rounds off a busy year playing worldwide (and with acts such as Norah Jones) by supporting Joy Crookes this week and appearing at the Matt Berninger/Bastille collab charity show for Streets Of London’s Starry Night at the Royal Albert Hall on December 10. ‘Stick Fight’ is Woode’s ode to combating negative self-talk, encouraging a little self-confidence boost. “It’s a personal narrative on overthinking and the often pointless battles we fight (the ‘stick fight’) in our own minds; I wanted to show how it can be silenced quite easily and I hope you can sing, dance and let your hair down with this one,” she says.
#5 Daphni – Waiting So Long (featuring Caribou)
And we’ll round off this week’s selection with a dancefloor banger, complete with a nutty Gardeners’-World-on-E video of butterflies beating their wings to the tune, by Canadian EDM hero Dan Snaith, aka Caribou, but also aka here as DJ Daphni. Bringing the late-90s French disco vibes of Stardust, Daft Punk et al, Snaith adds a vocal to a Daphni track for the first time – and it’s sing-in-the-shower joyful.
The Butterfly theme continues as the title of Daphni’s new album, due February 6 via Jialong.
www.instagram.com/cariboumusic
LDN 