Listening Post #6

Yo, so, what’s the hip-haps? You’ve stumbled upon this, the Listening Post, the PearShaped crew’s medium for promoting random tracks which are cool, forgotten, new or underrated. I hope you enjoy the following bounty of bangers that I’ve sourced for you, our beloved readers, over these last two weeks:

1.  Pender Street Steppers – Air Care

I don’t know why but Vancouver really doesn’t occur to me as a factory for quality house artists - both members of Pender Street Steppers embody my wrongness. Their work as an ensemble isn’t fit to be played on the warehouse scene, but its introspective vibrations are beautiful for some alone time with good earphones. Progressive, tantalising and supremely subtle, Air Care is a stupidly lovely addition to their already admirable portfolio of tracks.

2.  Haus – Haze

Having only just released their second single, Blinded, Haus have a lot to prove. This, their debut (which I prefer to the new release) is a super tight piece by the five-man band from the capital. The ever-present “ooh ooh’s” give off a this-belongs-on-Made-In-Chelsea vibe, however the intensity of the instrumental says otherwise. They’re quite Foals-y and I can’t wait for their next release.

3.  Grimes – Kill V. Maim

Grimes’ new album is out! Grimes’ new album is out! Grimes’ new album is out! ß That was me the other week when the queen of eccentric electro burst back into my life. Her new LP is pretty awesome and so I included one of my favourites in this week’s column. Kill V. Maim smashes together K-Pop and American teen-pop in the vocals whilst grounding the instrumental in a slightly rockier, poppier style than Grimes’ previous travails. This track epitomises one of the things I love about the Canadian – no matter how weird her songs get, I can’t get enough.

4.  Bonzai – Doses

I can’t find much written about Bonzai, which is frustrating because she’s most intriguing! Doses combines grime, garage, pop and tonnes of attitude – it’s quite the musical cauldron Bonzai has going here. Her vocals jump between casual rapping, deranged singing and glorious mellifluousness. The beat incorporates sharp percussion (this is where it gets its garage element), dragged out electro interludes and spatters of dub – odd but enveloping.

5.  Lafawndah – Butter

World travelled singer/producer, Lafawndah, is one of the edgiest characters I’ve read about on the music scene in 2015. Both her background as a multi-lingual art historian from Paris who’s lived everywhere you could imagine, and her ridiculously unique style of music are almost overwhelming. Butter is actually quite a simple track, for her, and its 90’s cheap production blends with her flawless vocals to magnificent effect. I have no clue what situation would fit this track – I imagine it’s a track played in arty bars in the exotics.