This week's new music, from a new Tyler video to Purity Ring jams and 'hostep'
SONG OF THE WEEK: Purity Ring - 'Grammy'
Rap records often have a lot of filler, and Soulja Boi's The DeAndre Way (2010) is no exception. Tucked away as the last track was the mediocre Ester Dean collab 'Grammy', which now sees a reworking from spooky-sounding Canadian duo Purity Ring. Megan James and Corin Roddick breathe new life and fire into the track, turning Soulja Boy's woe-is-me plea for industry recognition into a forceful and clear-eyed cry, with Megan speak-rapping and resignedly intoning lyrics like "Tell me what do you want from me".
VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Tyler, The Creator - 'Domo 23'
Tyler the Creator follows in the footsteps of LL Cool J, Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (and Christina Aguilera in making a boxing-themed video for his new single 'Domo 23', where he brawls with Domo Genesis in bleached dreads and a lamé codpiece. Watching the ringside is another incarnation of Tyler, this time in a GOLF-branded hat and ice cream-coloured casuals, as Eart Sweatshirt referees and Wrestling Tyler emerges victorious. It's not as confusing as it sounds. His third album Wolf is released on April 2 - check out the three separate covers here.
MIX OF THE WEEK: Montag - 'Porn Archives Lo-Fi Mix'
Montreal artist Montag made this fantastic compilation of gay porn soundtracks from the 70s and 80s, ranging from zippy disco to wide-lensed proto-electronica. While dissociated from the original images - including genre classics like 'Turned On' (1982) and 'Games' (1983) - it has an urban throb and feels pleasingly sleazey, especially the movies' woven-in sex pants and clipped dialogue. Thanks to XLR8R's Patric Fallon, whose tweet-out turned me on to this.
COMEBACK OF THE WEEK: CocoRosie - 'Gravedigress'
Their first new material since their excellent 2012 single 'We Are On Fire', this is Sierra and Bianca Cassidy's first proper single taken from their new album Tales of a Grass Widow. After the grandiose unevenness of 2010's Grey Oceans, it shows that their purple patch may be yet to come, as it sees a return to the hip hop-influences of their best album, 2007's The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn with a skittering boom-kack beat that wouldn't feel out of place on the new Justin Timberlake record. Apparently it's all about the conversation between a female grave-digger and an abandoned child (roles played by Sierra and Bianca, respectively), but it feels just as good to let the odd imagery wash over you.
COVER OF THE WEEK: The xx - I Miss You
As the band put it on their Tumblr account, they covered a song by a Texan while in Texas. Vocalists Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim turn Beyoncé's Frank Ocean-penned ballad into a lingering call-and-response, with gorgeously lingering plucked frets and the band's trademark spatial chasms. This was their Valentines Day gift to us; try not to cry.
VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - ''PONPONPON'' Flashmob in Paris
In the week where everyone from Azealia to, er, Matt & Kim had their take on 'Harlem Shake', I discovered a viral video which was even more exhilarating. That's right. With all the wow-factor of a 2006 T-Mobile advert, dozens of French fans congregated in Paris' Place de l'Opéra to give a dance cover of J-Pop Dazed covergirl Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's delirious 2011 hit 'PONPONPON', with squats and belly rubs aplenty.
AWFUL NEW GENRE NAME OF THE WEEK: "Hostep".
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