The Top Five Tracks to Hear This Weekend
Pack your party pants and these five songs because it's time for the weekend dance.
Young Dreams want us to follow in their footprints, HAIM just keep on giving and Mumford & Sons are hopelessly wandering towards claiming funniest music video of the year.
1. 'Footprints' - Young Dreams
The new release from Norweigan pop wizards Young Dreams is another slice from the bouyant harmony pie that is their album Between Places. Despite coming in at only a tad over four minutes long, it does not waste any of this time, dealing with young love, angst and moving on against a driving drumline, bubbly vocals and hooks that leave us all dreaming of happier things. If music this joyous can be made in a country that gets almost no light for half of the year then I for one am buying a one-way ticket to Norway.
2. 'Nothing Less' - No Regular Play
This is the perfect house music for your weekend, nay for any weekend. This track is timeless. From the opening horns it becomes clear that there is something different about 'Nothing Less', a funky playfulness ready to take over your ears and your body and have you moving something along to the beat. This something will swiftly become everything as arms, hips and legs will be flailing everywhere as they are carried by the introduction of the exquisite synths that take over the track. As soon as it hits dancing time, just keep this on repeat and nobody will be unhappy. This is the type of music that memories are made to.
3. 'Strong Enough' - HAIM
I know we included this trio last week but they just keep on giving sonic gifts that have to be shared. This week they gave Australia two parting gifts. Not only did they announce the long-awaited release date of their debut album Days Are Gone (Friday, 27 September) but they followed that up today with an early morning visit to Triple J's Tom and Alex to do 'Like a Version'.
The L.A. trio opted to restyle Sheryl Crow's 'Strong Enough' and their electric guitar transforms Crow's heartfelt piece of acoustic rock into a driving anthem sure to be played post-break-ups for years to come. The lovely people over at Triple J are letting us all download it for free as well so you can easily add it to your playlist for this weekend and all of the weekends in the future.
4. 'JSMN' - Badboxes
'JSMN' confuses but in a beautiful way. It's captivating melody transports us to an ethereal musical Eden for two and a half minutes. You want it to last so much longer yet if it did then the song's perfection would be shattered. Luckily once you reopen your eyes and realise you can press repeat, your dilemma is somewhat quelled and you can once again concentrate on how natural this song is to your ears. The accompanying video is also eponymous with the track, mixing cuts of nature, pretty people and mesmerising employment of split screen.
5. 'Hopeless Wanderer' - Mumford & Sons
Just about every video clip Mumford & Sons have ever made follows a fairly predictable pattern, and their latest for 'Hopeless Wanderer' isn't much different. Mottled light shining through golden leaves? Check. Impossibly whimsical vests? Check. Banjo-led hoedowns in Ye Olde Barns? Check. Jason Bateman and SNL's Will Forte wearing fake beards and thrusting their crotches at each other? Check.
Hang on. What?
That's right — Mumford & Sons have procured the services of some of the world's funniest comic actors for a pitch-perfect parody of their own pastoral proclivities in a move that suggests M&S might not take themselves too seriously after all. Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte, Jason Bateman and Ed Helms go all out here, and their utterly straight-faced commitment to the bit is amazing. I couldn't keep a straight face watching it, so goodness knows how they were able to while filming.
Truly, you haven't lived until you've seen Sudeikis fall to his knees on a dusty road because of all the feelz, and Bateman's furious banjo shredding is the most metal thing you'll ever see.
By Matthew Watson and Hugh Robertson.
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