This week’s list is demanding of your eyes as well as your ears. Settle in and watch out (emphasis on watch).
Track 1. Frank Ocean – Provider
Frank Ocean is a provider, because Frank keeps delivering. At this rate we can compile a new album solely based off these rogue singles that Ocean has delivered via his Blonded Radio streaming show. “Provider” dropped on the 007 episode, and trust us, that the song is a real bonding experience for any fan of Frank Ocean.
Track 2. Halsey – Bad At love
Still streaming Halsey’s Billboard-topping record Hopeless Fountain Kingdom? So are we. “Bad at Love” is the latest music video to come out since Kingdom was released in June. It’s set in an arid desert with police officers dressed in all white, and an orange drop-top Cadillac.
Track 3. Saint Mesa – Lion
Here’s a song that you would hear in a cinematic setting, as it fits perfectly on a movie soundtrack. If the sound and setup don’t pull you in, guess what? Mesa plays the keys, electric guitar, rain stick, and orchestrated a whole horn section for this single.
Track 4. DRAM, A$AP Rocky, Juicy J – Gilligan
As much fun as the song is already, the music video just elevated it to the world of surrealism. Best way to describe this NSFW music video is suburban 1960s living meeting up with a fashion look-book. The fine art photographer Nadia Lee Cohen directed this gem of a music video for DRAM and company.
Track 5. The Academic – Bear Claws
The Academic are a four-piece indie rock band from Ireland. The band has just recently finished recording their debut album at Abbey Road Studios, which is set to be out sometime in early 2018. I got the chance to check them out as they were doing a showcase at the Berlin music venue in New York City, and this was the band’s first performance ever in New York. This is a band that you need to hear live; it’s something that doesn’t happen often, but their recordings do not do them justice.
Track 6. Brockhampton – Gummy
The musical collective known as Brockhampton has already dropped two albums in 2017, and there is another album due sometime soon. The band is self-described as a boy band, formed in the forums of KanyeToThe.com. The genre for this group cannot be clearly defined, as they progress from ballads to hardcore to hip-hop. You need to check them out and keep them on your list of up-and-comers.
Track 7. Jessie Ware – Selfish Love
“Selfish Love” is an epic operatic ballad from the songstress Jessie Ware. This new video extends the same mood and feel of sunsetting on a tropical island, or the end of summer.
Bonus Track. St. Vincent – New York
This track first appeared on our seventh playlist. It’s super simple and short, but this just-released music video is highly produced (and directed by Alex Da Corte) with so much going on that you’ll watch it at least twice. To quote my co-worker Rich Bellis,
when they panned out to show her perched on The Wall at Houston, I gagggggggeeeddddddd
Take the Spotify playlist with you below.
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