Maria Minerva wont be a new name to those who slavishly consult blogs for their new music fix and I suspect this song has been online for a few weeks at least already. But that’s no reason not to draw attention to its coquettish allure.

And prescience is irrelevant when you’re discussing an artist so clearly tied to constructions of memory. Minerva’s music has the personalised feel of someone cannibalising her recent past, a life perpetually folding into sound. And typically, “Gloria” furthers that perception. Coming on like the longing for a nearly-sexual encounter, it’s the breathless holding on to the thought of a coulda-woulda-shoulda locked somewhere in a past that can’t quite be reached. Perhaps the most universal desire of all…

And so, lying alone at night, with the pornography of your past to retreat into, who needs the new? Let Minerva lead you down that road…

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Maria Minerva – “Gloria”

(Photo)

I don’t care about production values, I care about songs. I’d like to assume that’s the common ground that Gorgeous Bully and I share, but they’re probably far smarter than that.

“Bullring” is a ‘song’, no doubt. But it also embraces ‘lo-fi’ as an instrument, not just a consequence of circumstance. I wouldn’t want to hear “Bullring” cleaned up, because it’s charms are in its imperfections, in the possibilities it suggests not in what it actually is. Absence is its essence. And it’s that contrariness that keeps drawing me back. 

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Gorgeous Bully – “Bullring”

(Photo)

Remember when Fleetwood Mac were derided, the pariah of our precious underground?

And then remember when everyone just thought nothing of them at all?

Of course you don’t, and neither does Sophia Knapp. Be thankful for the capricious mistress of our recent histories.

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Sophia Knapp – “Close To Me”

(Photo: Wipe Your Face)

via

Iceage and Sexdrome throw a jagged curveball in the face of those who thought they had the latter pegged.

The sound of a glass held to a squat wall, the terror and ecstasy of the other side filtering through with barely suppressed desire.

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War – “Brodermordet”

(Photo)

Get me a hotline to indie Hollywood.

There’s a Noah Baumbach film missing a song.

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Weird Rivers – “Something Of A Secret”

(Photo: Cool Hand Luke)

Black Dice barge back into view with some Liars-inflected weirdo-disco skronk.

You can dance to it, but you’ve probably not enough limbs. Or you’ve too many. Either way, best of luck to you.

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Black Dice – “Pigs”

(Photo)

Four things to note here, in no particular order:

1. Mac DeMarco is Canadian and is signed to Captured Tracks.

2. The Canadian government’s art funding policies are a kiss on the face, right around the ears, to the World. The World thanks the Canadian government for the never-ending golden rivers of beautiful MP3s it harvests.

3. The accelerated interior history of Captured Tracks is starting to read like a condensed retelling of the history of independent music. In every sense, a perfectly curated label. A certain kind of kid will be wearing their T shirts forever.

4. People have been falling in lust to the sentiment of “Baby’s Wearin’ Blue Jeans” since sometime around the mid 1950s. That instinct shows no sign of abating.

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Mac DeMarco – “Baby’s Wearin’ Blue Jeans”

(Photo: Cheridan Chard)

No-one who knows anything about Destroyer will be surprised with his intoxicating version of New Order’s “Leave Me Alone”.

Dan Bejar has spent the best part of his career spitting out ever-broadening variations of the 80s pop he ingested in bulk in his youth, cryptically revealing his hand in the oblique references that bleed throughout his own poetry. While Destroyer has always been a cultural cannibal, he’s never a copyist, remaining distinctly singular even when drawing so heavily on his love affair with certain music. And “Leave Me Alone” is no different, the point where he meets his heroes head on, teeth out, but ready to love. Always ready to love.

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Destroyer – “Leave Me Alone”

(Photo: Barry Falk)

The last installment in this year’s scurrilous act of revisionism.

Now, where’s the Future?

1. Ice Age – “You’re Blessed”

I get the Death In June references and the flirtations with dubious imagery and the icey intensity spilling over into ramshackle chaos. But how Ice Age ended up sounding like Futureheads by accident and it being the most gratifying and sophisticated moment on New Brigade makes me think hardcore just found exit velocity for creative entrophy. All it takes is geographic isolation and a strong sense of self.

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Ice Age – “You’re Blessed”

2. A$AP Rocky – “Palace”

$3m chong and rising.

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A$AP Rocky – “Palace”

3. Death Grips – “Takyon (Death Yon)”*

Rap zombie fists your dick with a brain

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Death Grips – “Takyon (Death Yon)”

4. EMA – “California”

Still now, even after a thousand listens or more, I can’t quite place EMA’s version of “California”, so oblique were its targets. Which despite its title, probably means it really is about dislocation. And yet for all the mystery, you don’t want to know what I would do to have been the ‘Stephen’ in this song…whatever being that ‘Stephen’ might have meant…

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EMA – “California”

5. Katy Perry – “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)”

While it’s impressive that Katy Perry did make the video of the year without having to make her tits explode (again), her real crowning achievement is that she’s not a cunt, when, really, that’s exactly what she should be. All things considered, that’s quite remarkable.

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Katy Perry – “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)”

6. Kindness – “Cyan”

From atop a Brixton tower block, amidst the sulfurous pulse of London in ocherous light, Kindness embraces the deep sigh of night.

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Kindness – “Cyan”

7. Milk Music – “Beyond living”

What did bored kids do before 1977? Must have been rubbish. Or maybe better? Is it the punk that makes the feelings, or the feelings that make the punk?

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Milk Music – “Beyond Living”

8. Eddy Current Suppresion Ring – “Walking In Unison”*

Flamin’ drongos find transcendence in repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition.

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Eddy Current Suppression Ring – “Walking in Unison”

9. AraabMUZIK – “Streetz Tonight”

Imagine. Craft. Dream. Master your art. Conceive brand identity. Package and present. Then when the time comes, take it to the streets and let the people vote with their feet.

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AraabMUZIK – “Streetz Tonight”

10. The Rapture – “How Deep Is Your Love?”

Rarely has there been a more appropriately named band than The Rapture. And with “How Deep Is Your Love?” they were overtaken more than ever by a truly religious hysteria.

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The Rapture – “How Deep Is Your Love”

* Liam P. Manley

(Photo: Philippe Reichert)

Measure your taste in lists.

And yet, still no The Weeknd…

1. Zomby – “Labyrinth”

“A uniquely British lament for the soulful dance music of our past.”

And there it is in a nutshell.

As with Zomby’s music, everything else feels superfluous by comparison.

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Zomby – “Labyrinth”

2. Lykke Li – “Sadness Is A Blessing”

Young, gifted and sad. Aint we all, honey. Aint we all.

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Lykke Li – “Sadness Is A Blessing”

3. Gang Gang Dance – “MindKilla”

Downtownshipfunk shoulder-barging hippie maximalist motherfuckers, staring at you square in the third eye. Don’t you dare eyeball them, son!

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Gang Gang Dance – “MindKilla”

4. Liturgy – “Generation”*

Corpse paint is blasé, time for hypnogogic White Metal

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Liturgy – “Generation”

5. Retox – “Thirty Cents Shy Of A Quarter”*

Dead Deer and Locust hybrid surfs out and screams “GEE!-TAR!-SO!-LO!”

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Retox – “Thirty Cents Shy Of A Quarter”

6. Purity Ring – “Ungirthed”^

A sonic bubble bath to dip your genitals in and the filthiest word of the year. Lit up and human stained.

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Purity Ring – “Ungirthed”

7. Thee Oh Sees – “Corrupted Coffin”*

Why do Nigel Sportsmen (and it’s always Nigel Sportsmen) use the term ‘Muppet’ as an insult? For me, there’s no higher calling.

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Thee Oh Sees – “Corrupted Coffin”

8. Women – “Bullfight”*

Whenever I hear a new Women song I say “that’s my favourite”. And I’m always right.

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Women – “Bullfight”

9. Ford & Lopatin – “Too Much MIDI (Please Forgive Me)”*

Following Camus’ concept of the artist’s journey, I can only assume that the second-half of this song’s eyes were first opened by level 4 of After Burner. Or maybe it was Ridge Racer.

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Ford and Loptain – “Too Much MIDI (Please Forgive Me)”

10. UV Race – “Burn That Cat”*

Who’s having all the good dreams? Who’s even getting sleep?

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UV Race – “Burn That Cat”

* Liam P. Manley
^ Liam P. Manley and Stephen Pietrzykowski

(Photo: Lux Lumen)