BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition - January 2020

The Playlist
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Lil Uzi Vert
Futsal Shuffle
2020
We have to give
credit to Lil Uzi
for featuring
Vancouver’s own
Nardwuar on a
surefire hit song,
closing the track
with a sample
from one of his
many encounters
with the plaidclad
interview
king. Predictably
unorthodox, with
skittering techno
synths reminiscent
of old soccer
videos set to
rave music.
The Weeknd
Blinding Lights
Perfect for his
new shades-toting
80s pimp
and/or Scarface
drug kingpin
look, The
Weeknd teams
up once again
with pop savant
Max Martin for
an electrifying
and upbeat
synthpop track
that never loses
the mysterious,
dark and twisted
essence that
makes him so
unique. Abel rolls
through Vegas
and struggles
with romance
once again.
Kaytranada
(Ft. Kali Uchis)
10%
Kali Uchis wants
her money.
Kaytranada’s
funk-inspired hiphop
production
has the ability
to make anyone
sound like their
absolute coolest
selves, but Uchis’
permanently
aloof and confident
delivery
never needed
much of a lift
in that department
anyway.
Sometimes all
you need is a
pounding house
groove and a
great bassline.
Grimes
My Name
Is Dark
Grimes, in her
perfect, completely
bonkers
way, described
this track on
Twitter as “a very
not pg13 ethereal
Shadow of the
Colossus demon
nu-metal song
about insomnia.”
“Imminent annihilation
sounds so
dope,” she sings
in her jarringly
cutesy voice, just
one of the many
thoughts that
crosses her mind
when she lies
awake at night.
Stormzy
(Ft. Headie One)
Audacity
This is surprisingly
the first
collaboration
between the
smooth-voiced
alt-R&B duo and
the king of styrofoam
cups and
Auto-crooned
raps. Main
vocalist Daniel
Daley sounds
eerily like Drake,
right down to
the emotionally
distant flexes, as
he trades verses
with Future over
a slow-jam beat
from producer
Nineteen85.
Tame Impala
Posthumous
Forgiveness
A track that originally
debuted
in the Mortal
Kombat 11 trailer,
the ever-menacing
Savage slices
up his opponents
like Liu Kang in
the full version.
Dropping quite a
few references
to the gaming
franchise
amongst his
usual deadpan
humour and
quotables, this
is over four minutes
of straight
bars.
Khruangbin
(Ft. Leon Bridges)
Texas Sun
The uncategorizable
Texas trio
team up with one
of the smoothest
vocalists in the
game for the title
track of an upcoming
EP about
all things Lone
Star State. With
cover art depicting
an open road,
Khruangbin step
into folksy country
and Americana
territory as
Bridges sweetly
sings about driving
through every
Texas locale with
the girl of his
dreams.
Teyana
Taylor
We Got Love
Conceptualized
during Kanye
West’s 2018 Wyoming
Sessions,
the track finally
materializes minus
the original
verse from Mr.
West but still
brimming with
his personality in
the production
featuring heavy
percussion, orchestral
strings
and a gospel
choir. Taylor is
a star in and of
herself, rap-singing
and flexing
about the love in
her life instead
of her material
possessions.
Okay Kaya
Asexual
Wellbeing
Norwegian
bedroom-pop
artist Okay Kaya
uses some of
the year’s most
vivid, allusive
and bluntly
humorous lyrics
to construct a
pulsating and
self-deprecating
anthem about
being there for
a lover, vegan
peanut butter
chocolate ice
cream in hand,
even if the sexual
side of the
relationship isn’t
as fun as it could
be. The many instrumental
quirks
are strangely
infectious.
La Roux
Gullible Fool
The second single
from the first
La Roux album in
six years, this is
a full seven minutes
of the retro-pop
mastery
that we’ve come
to know from
Elly Jackson. An
uptempo piano
ballad that grows
into a deliciously
rhythmic synthfunk
jam session,
Jackson pounds
the keys and
criticizes herself
for getting too
optimistic about
the future of a
relationship once
again.
JANUARY 2020 BEATROUTE 23