Firstly on our Sound Selection, we have Fall by Kinships, a relatively new duo in the world of music having released their first song Splitting Hairs earlier this year. Fall follows up on their debut with a mellifluous production which incorporates soft ear-pleasing female and male vocals within a climbing-like progression that ends softly, leaving us in hope for more great music.
Neil Frances Tuesday
Neil Frances, a well-regarded duo comprised of Jordan Feller and Marc Gilfry, have unveiled their freshest song Tuesday. It’s a throwback-feel song, bringing a groovy mood and revealing the beauty of 90s French house that we have come to love over the years — without compromising on quality.
Talking about the song, Marc said: “Tuesday could be any day. Call us escapists, but the song was written based on a longing for simplicity. On some level, it’s too simple a desire given the current state of the world. But maybe we should all be allowed a moment or two of escape in order to come back stronger. So it’s bittersweet that we release this song at this time. Take it as a welcome break, but don’t get too sucked in, remember that there is work to be done.”
Christina Munsey habits
After the release of her 2020 debut EP for me, or for you, it’s hard to know what to expect from Christina Munsey — the gifted eighteen-year-old singer-songwriter. In her latest piece, habits Munsey brings out a mystical-like vibe with dreamy vocals leading on from the great start she had with her first EP. Having presented habits, we are eager to see what is next for Munsey.
Run the Jewels have shared a new video for their 2 Chainz-featuring RTJ4 track, ‘Out of Sight’. Directed by Ninian Doff, the clip was filmed over the course of three weeks in four cities on two different continents. It features the cast of the director’s new British comedy movieGet Duked! as they attempt to steal the sculpted hands featured on the album’s cover. Check it out below.
The duo’s most recent studio album, RTJ4, was released back in June. It features guest spots from Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de La Rocha, Pharrell, 2 Chainz, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, and Mavis Staples. More recently, Run the Jewels and Travis Barker teamed up for a collaborative single called ‘Forever’.
FKA twigs has unveiled a new video for her song ‘Sad Day’, from her 2019 album MAGDALENE. Produced by Doomsday and directed by Hiro Murai, known for his collaborations with Donald Glover on Atlanta and Guava Island, it marks the filmmaker’s first music video since Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America’.The six-minute visual sees twigs engaging in an epic sword battle with Teake, a dancer she cast through social media. Check it out below.
According to a press release, the alternative R&B artist has been training as a sword-fighter for three years under the guidance of Master Wu of the Shaolin Wushu Centre. “Everything I’ve previously done with my body, all the training and dancing, has led to this point,” twigs said.
twigs recently teamed up with 645AR for the joint single ‘Sum Bout U’, as well as with Ty Dolla $ign on ‘Ego Death’.
The Roots’ Black Thought has shared a new, star-studded track featuring Pusha-T, Killer Mike, Swizz Beatz, and producer Sean Cane of the duo Sean C & LV. Titled ‘Good Morning’ and originally teased in a tweet posted earlier this week, it’s part of the rapper’s recently announced album, Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane & Able. Take a listen below.
Speaking of the new song, Black Thought told Variety that it “speaks to an awakening”. He continued: “It’s a stellar lineup of features on one record – the level of dimension and different energy you get in one densely packed moment is unprecedented for the Roots and Black Thought up to this point. The energy of the production, whatever iconic thing it is that Swizz (Beatz) does elevating the chorus, juxtaposed with what Pusha T and Killer Mike bring to the equation… I felt as if it was a no-brainer.”
“On any given day, the space that I occupy in the world is somewhere between a Killer Mike and a Pusha T, between an activist and a street hero, a man of the people and a man of the streets — that’s my origin story,” he added. “I feel like both of their energies represent my own creative bipolarity.”
Black Thought’s upcoming LP is the latest in his Streams of Thought series; the first instalment came out in 2018. In addition to the new single and the previously released ‘Thought Vs. Everbody’, it features appearances from Portugal. The Man, ScHoolboy Q, and more.
A$AP Ferg has shared a new song featuring Lil Waye and Jay Gwuapo. It’s called ‘No Ceilings’ and it was produced by AXL Beats. It comes with an accompanying music video directed by Eif Rivera, which you can watch below.
The song’s title seems to be a reference to Wayne’s 2009 mixtape of the same name: “Like Wayne I got no ceilings!” Ferg raps just before Wayne jumps in for his verse.
BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez have joined forces for a new collaborative track called ‘Ice Cream’. Co-written by Ariana Grande and Victoria Monét, it marks the second single from the K-pop group’s debut full-length album. Check it out below, alongside a colourful accompanying music video.
Preceded by a series of EPs and a feature on Lady Gaga’s Chromatica, BLACKPINK’s debut LP, titled The Album, comes out October 2 via YG Entertainment/Interscope. It includes the previously released single ‘How You Like That’, which was released back in June.
Selena Gomez put out her most recent album, Rare, in January of this year. A few weeks later, she unveiled a new single called ‘Feel Me’.
The Smashing Pumpkins have released two new songs, ‘Cyr’ and ‘The Colour of Love’, out now via Sumerian. Check them out below, along with a visual for ‘Cyr’ directed by Linda Strawberry.
Along with the new singles, The Smashing Pumpkins have also confirmed that a new album is on the way, featuring the current line-up of Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlin, and longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder.
Marking the band’s first new music in two years, both songs were recorded in Chicago and produced by Corgan himself. “‘Cyr’ is dystopic folly,” Corgan said in a statement. “One soul against the world sort of stuff, set against a backdrop of shifting loyalties and sped up time. To me it stands as both hopeful and dismissive of what is and isn’t possible with faith.”
Speaking about the song’s video, Linda Strawberry commented: “This is a goth fever dream of pent up emotion—an artistic visual release attempting to create a momentary escape from the emotional black cloud hanging over all of us this year. A dark seduction filmed in quarantine at a social distance.”
The Smashing Pumpkins’ last album was 2018’s Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1, while Corgan released his most recent solo album, Cotillions, last year.
The Weeknd and Calvin Harris have joined forces for a new song called ‘Over Now’. It comes with an accompanying CGI-animated video directed by Emil Nava. Check it out below.
Harris released his most recent studio album, Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1, in 2017. He followed it up with a series of EPs, including a collaborative project with Normani in 2018. Earlier this year, he put out three EPs under the moniker Love Regenerator.
Ty Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj have joined forces once again for a new song called ‘Expensive’. It’s presumably taken from Ty’s upcoming album, Dream House. Check it out below.
The two artists have teamed up before, first on Jason Derulo’s 2017 song ‘Swalla’ and later on Megan Thee Stallion’s 2019 hit ‘Hot Girl Summer’, which was followed by a Munachi Osegbu-directed video featuring appearances from Rico Nasty, La La Anthony, Ari Lennox, Summer Walker, and others.
Earlier this year, Ty Dolla $ign released ‘Fair Chance’ with Thundercat and Lil B, ‘Ego Death’ with Kanye West, FKA twigs, Skrillex, and serpentwithfeet, and ‘Doors Unlocked’ with Murda Beatz and Polo G. Nicki Minaj was recently featured on the track ‘Move Ya Hips’ with ASAP Ferg and MadeinTYO.
In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on August 28th, 2020:
Katy Perry,Smile
Katy Perry is back with her sixth studio album, Smile, out now via Capitol Records. Following 2017’s Witness, the pop singer describes her new album as being about the “journey towards the light, with stories of resilience, hope, and love” and “finding the light at the end of the tunnel”. Preceded by the singles ‘Daisies’ and ‘Smile’, it features production credits from Stargate, Charlie Puth, Zedd, Peter Karlsson, and more. “I’m going to put out a record this year, quarantined or not, because we ain’t gonna let no coronavirus stop us from dancing, even if we’re dancing in our homes,” she said in a statement accompanying the release of ‘Daisies’.
Angel Olsen,Whole New Mess
Angel Olsen has returned with a new album called Whole New Mess, out now via Jagjaguwar. The follow-up to last year’s sonically ambitiousAll Mirrors, it includes 11 tracks, nine of which are stripped-back versions of songs that ended up making it on that album. Recorded in October 2018 at The Unknown, Phil Elverum’s church-turned-studio, it marks Olsen’s first new material recorded and released without any bandmates since 2012’s Half Way Home. “I had gone through this breakup, but it was so much bigger than that — I’d lost friendships, too,” Olsen said in a press release. “When you get out of a relationship, you have to examine who you are or were in all the relationships. I wanted to record when I was still processing these feelings. These are the personal takes, encapsulated in a moment.”
Samia,The Baby
New York-based singer-songwriter Samia has come through with her debut studio album, The Baby, via Grand Jury Music. Hippo Campus’ Jake Luppen and Nathan Stocker helped produced the record, along with Caleb Hindz and Lars Stalfors (Foster the People, Soccer Mommy). It includes the previously released singles ‘Is There Something In The Movies?’, ‘Fit N Full’, ‘Big Wheel’, ‘Stellate’, and ‘Trpitych’. Speaking about how the first two singles relate to the album as a whole, Samia said in our Artist Spotlight interview: “They’re kinda representative of either end of the emotional spectrum of the album. Fit N Full is written from the perspective of the most falsely confident version of myself and Movies is probably the most honestly vulnerable and pleading.”
Kelly Lee Owens, Inner Song
Kelly Lee Owens has released her sophomore effort, Inner Song, via Smalltown Supersound. According to a statement by Owens, the album is a result of “the hardest three years of my life, my creative life, and everything I’d worked for up to that point was deeply impacted. I wasn’t sure if I could make anything anymore, and it took quite a lot of courage to get to a point where I could create again.” Speaking about the title and inspiration for the album, which borrows from an album by the free-jazz artist Alan Silva, she added that it “really reflects what it felt like to make this record. I did a lot of inner work in the past few years, and this is a true reflection of that.”
Disclosure,ENERGY
Disclosure, the duo of brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, have served up their third studio album, ENERGY, via Capitol Records. Featuring Kehlani, Syd, Common, Kelis, slowthai, Mick Jenkins, Channel Tres, Aminé, Fatoumata Diawara, and Cameroon’s Blick Bassy, the LP includes the previously released singles ‘My High’, ‘Douha (Mali Mali)’, and ‘Birthday’. The release of the follow-up to 2015’s Caracal will notably include environmentally friendly physical editions, with the group using “vegetable and water-based inks and varnishes, and opt for a mixture of recycled and FSC approved cardboard” in place of plastic hard-cases for both the CD and cassette formats.
Katy Perry
Angel Olsen
New York-based singer-songwriter 
Kelly Lee Owens
Disclosure
