The best new tracks, picked by our staff
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Rated by THE FACE: a playlist featuring Charli xcx & Billie Eilish, George Daniel, Two Shell and High Vis.
Music
Words: Jade Wickes,
Davy Reed
Photography: Samuel Bradley
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Listen to this weekly playlist, lovingly curated by THE FACE’s editorial team.
Charli xcx – Guess ft. Billie Eilish
After the Girl, so confusing remix with Lorde, we thought Charli couldn’t possibly raise the bar. But she’s once again proved that she has some of the world’s biggest pop stars at her fingertips – which is useful, considering Brat summer was declared dead last week after Kamala Harris hopped on it for her presidential campaign. But Charli, ever the cultural innovator, has already come back with a bang. Guess, which as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of Brat, is a sexy, sweaty, bonafide club track produced by divisive electroclash revivalist The Dare. It’s only made better Billie’s verse, which – like her recent single Lunch – is unapologetically horny. I hope Charli keeps rolling this album out until the new year. JW
George Daniel – Screen Cleaner
George Daniel aka George from The 1975 aka Mr. xcx has dropped his debut solo track, and this hard-hitting house banger marks the second release from his brand new dance label, dh2. Eyewitnesses report that Screen Cleaner has been going off at his DJ sets. DR
Two Shell – Round ft. Sugababes
Ravers love Sugababes, so it makes perfect sense for them to hop on a dance track. Still, it’s intriguing that they’ve officially collaborated with the semi-anonymous oddballs Two Shell, who drop a lot of pop edits but seem uncomfortable with the well-oiled music industry machine. On Round, which features freshly recorded vocals from Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan, fragments of melody from Sugababes’ 2002 hit Round Round are spurted out across a moody, euphoric club beat that has potential to blow up at the late summer festivals. DR
A$AP Rocky — Highjack ft. Jessica Pratt
As you can see from this week’s Rated by THE FACE picks, it’s been a big week for collabs. But none of them have been as surprising as this particular link-up. Pratt’s enchanting indie-folk vibe couldn’t be further from Rocky’s abrasive bars (he opens with: “Fuck your ho ’cause she like that /Yeah, bitch, fat ass, pretty, I might wife that”), but then again, he knows his way around gentler alternative music. “I love just different sounds and whatnot. [Jessica Pratt] kind of gave me this kind of Portishead meets Stevie Nicks vibe a little bit,” he told Zane Lowe. “So I always fucked with her as a artist.” Towards the end of Highjack, Pratt swoops in a with touch of poignant poetry: “Been gone so long /I’m back to stay /Bearing is lost /Our liking is changed /And when I’m gone /You wish you stayed”, ending the track on a strangely melancholic note. It somehow works. Here’s hoping for weird surprises on Rocky’s new album, Don’t Be Dumb, which is out at the end of the month. JW
High Vis – Mind’s a Lie
High Vis emerged from the UK’s hardcore punk circuit, and they’ve merged that aggro energy with elements of Stones Roses-esque bagginess and jangly indie pop. Mind’s a Lie, the first single from the band’s next album Guided Tour, throws elements of euphoric house music and a sugary-sweet vocal sample from London singer Ell Murphy into the mix. Frontman Graham Sayle, meanwhile, belts it out as if he’s still commanding a brutal moshpit in a sticky-floored rock bar. It sounds amazing. DR
Ravyn Lenae – One Wish ft. Childish Gambino
R&B starlet Ravyn Lenae, whose new album Bird’s Eye is out next week, bares her soul on this Donald Glover collab. It’s a particularly vulnerable, introspective song, as she excavates her relationship (or lack thereof) with an absent dad. “I can’t forgive you /No matter how hard I try /I can’t forget you,” she sings against twangy guitar riffs in this moving song-slash-confessional. “The lyrics remember my 10th birthday and feeling upset he couldn’t make it,” Lenae says. “It was important for me to address these built-up emotions in order for us to now be on a path of genuinely learning about each other and rekindling.” JW
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