Hot & Not, Mid & Meh: Iona’s Weekly Tracks (23rd Feb ‘24)
HOT
‘I Could Drive You Crazy’ — Sierra Farrell: In the week Beyoncé turned country (more on that below) I scarcely expected this; to fall completely in love with a country-folk track, from an artist I’ve never heard of, that sounds like an American O’Hooley & Tidow song; raw but perfectly produced with a delicious balance of instrumentation and songcraft. Heartfelt, heartbreaking, and just plain wonderful, easily my favourite of the week.
‘Spontaneous Rot’ — Coffins: They’re back and they’re disgusting and it’s fantastic. Japanese extreme metal legends Coffins drop a truly grimy slice of death with a few lovely, doomy shades in the back half for a winningly horrible track.
‘Become One’ — In Flames: Last year’s ‘Foregone’ was a serious return to form for melodeath founders In Flames, who’d spent most of the 2010s piddling about at half-energy. This B-side never even made the original release, and it’s stunningly good, benefitting hugely from a lead guitarist (Chris Broderick) who can really shred.
‘Capricorn’ — Vampire Weekend: A Beatles-ey mini-epic; lots of charming piano arpeggios, strange electronic experimentation, marshalling drums, and haunting vocals.
‘Dive’ — Holly Humberstone: Still ploughing the indie folk-pop trough, Ms Humberstone has a way of surprising me with her quality every time.
NOT
‘Dark Matter’ — Pearl Jam: I’d have spent better time staring at the ceiling in dead silence blowing bubbles with my spit.
‘Operator’ — Profiler: Reservations about nu-metal getting a revival and reconsideration as a whole aside, if we could leave this particular stone unturned — the nu-metal that sloughed off the rougher, odder edges to become the limply-written and deeply bland radio rock of the early 2000s — that’d be grand.
‘Bittersweet’ — Gunna: Mush-mouthed, rough flow, aiming hard for sincerity but let down by the awkward bars and awkward-er delivery; it’s a Gunna single all right.
MIDS & MEHS
‘Head Head Honcho’ — Kim Petras: Twice as filthy (somehow) as the original ‘Slut Pop’, but nothing on that was as oddly sunny as this. I still prefer Kim Petras when she’s lovelorn (‘Heart To Break’, ‘Reminds Me’) or just silly (‘Coconuts’) than this, but the goofy, breezy tone goes a long way to make the sheer horniness less overwhelming.
‘TEXAS HOLD ‘EM’ — Beyoncé: It’s worth recalling The Carters to mind here; just because Beyoncé *can* rap doesn’t solely guarantee a great record. Same here on a mostly dull country-pop track that’s barely enlivened by Bee’s vocal quirks. Where the queen goes we all follow, it’s true, but that doesn’t make this diverting pivot to country any less oddly cynical.
‘yes, and?’ — Ariana Grande feat. Mariah Carey: I wished Ariana had done a lot more with this song on first release; adding a forgettable verse from Mariah and unaltered samples from Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ wasn’t what I had in mind.
‘Lovers in a Past Life’ — Calvin Harris feat. Rag’n’Bone Man: RnB Man is carrying this middling dance track, singing his heart out on a song that really doesn’t deserve him.
‘Idle Hands’ — Kerry King: Hearty congratulations to Mr King for A) griping in the press about Slayer’s break-up for 5 years, B) failing to release any music in that time, and C) finally putting out this middling Slayer-soundalike (having apparently told his new singer to sound as close to Tom Araya as legally possible) in the exact same week Slayer themselves tepidly announced a handful of reunion shows. Just a bit of a mess, really.
‘Training Season’ — Dua Lipa: What’s the phrase… “Good but no ‘Houdini’.”
’27 Club’ — Tierra Whack: ‘Lookin’ for something to commit to / Suicide’ is an insanely hard bar to throw out. Otherwise, this is mostly a bit of a meander, but Tierra’s always worth a try if you like your hip-hop on the strange side.
‘Eyes Wide Open’ — Kittie: I never ‘got’ Kittie even when I owned ‘Spit’ back in the day — they had a unique metallic sound but the songs were often too jagged and atonal to really grip. This newer stuff isn’t exactly classics in the making, but it hits a lot harder than it used to, and no-one has a voice quite like Morgan Lander.
© Sam Iona Burgess, 2024
