‘Chanel’ – Frank Ocean
Thankfully out of step with his previous four-year wait for new music, ‘Chanel’ is Frank Ocean’s most explicit comment on sexuality since his ‘coming out’ of sorts in a blog post back in 2012. It’s an exploration of duality over the characteristically forward-thinking production that would’ve fit comfortably on last year’s Blonde. It also gets bonus points for featuring the best fashion logo based-double entendre you’re likely to hear for a while.
‘3WW’ – Alt-J
A left-field lead single from Alt-J’s forthcoming album RELAXER, ‘3WW’ sees Alt-J leaning on some of their more electronic influences and hints at an album that plays up to its subtleties every bit as much as its predecessor. It takes its time, but following the trend of their previous album openers, the pay-off is worth the wait. With guest vocals from Ellie Rowsell (of Wolf Alice fame) the track goes from a fidgety electronic groove to a sublime duet over soft string arrangements and deep, sizzling synths.
‘Lavender (Nightfall Remix)’ – BadBadNotGood ft. Kaytranada & Snoop Dogg
Snoop attracted attention from the orange nightmare and Tweeter-In-Chief himself this week by releasing this remix alongside a video showing him pretend to shoot a familiarly-fashioned clown by the name of “Ronald Krump”. Snoop Dogg adds a nice menacing touch to the sticky groove of this already great collaboration. It’s everything political rap should be in 2017 and if you-know-who’s calling for “Jail time!” you’re probably doing something right.
