Green Lung
Call of the Coven
Imagine, if you can, a young Ozzy Osbourne. A young, beautiful Ozzy with freshly brushed raven locks, pouring his curves into some real ale-stained double denim and heading out for a moonlit stroll in Epping Forest with some weed bought from a lad outside Chingford station. Who knows what madness will await him? Who knows what mighty riffage will be hiding behind that massive oak tree? This is heavy metal how it should be done, with lashings of occult camp and some sweet solstice swagger.
Holly Herndon
Eternal
When it comes to “interesting” collaborations, getting a sentient computer on a track has got to be up there with Dappy and Brian May teaming up on the largely forgotten – for some strange reason – 2012 effort Rockstar. Experimental electronic wizard Holly Herndon has plunged deep into the tech-cosmos and palled up with a nice bit of artificial intelligence for the glitchy, Enya-does-Berghain banger Eternal, which is as creepy as it is fascinating.
Kiefer Sutherland
Something You Love
Imagine what a Kiefer Sutherland song sounds like. Go on, it’s not hard. There are nights under the stars in there, right? Maybe some drinks with old friends. Don Henley’s leather jacket. A goddamn company cutback. And who’s that? Why, it’s Bruce Springsteen looking on from a Chevy, giving a slow-motion wink of approval and driving off into the New Jersey sunset! Follow that up with more growling than from the cages of Battersea Dogs Home and you’ve manifested Something You Love.
Arcade Fire
Baby Mine
Is there a scene more heart-wrenching in 20th-century cinema than that of Dumbo being yanked away from his mother’s loving trunk? The answer of course is a very strong “no”. It’s hard to tell whether the forthcoming live-action version of the Disney classic will be quite so gutting, but Arcade Fire are doing the best they can to bring on all of the emotions with their deeply soppy, razzle-dazzled version of lullaby Baby Mine.
Nasty Cherry
Win
With artwork resembling an MC Escher treatment of one of the most iconic magazine covers of all time – the 1993 Rolling Stone where Janet Jackson invented the hand bra – it’s clear this new girl group know their pop history. Svengali-ed by Charli XCX and sounding like a Kelly Clarkson B-side sung by Dua Lipa, Win is the very best kind of chart trash.
