- Words Darcy Culverhouse
Press play on the latest edition of NOTION NOW, the playlist featuring the freshest tracks you need to hear.
If it isn’t a Fred again.. and Skepta summer yet, then it probably is now. Fresh from Big Smoke festival, where the budding duo linked with grime icon D Double E to tease the fifth instalment of their Victory Lap mixes, they’ve released the new single, ‘Back 2 Back’. The track is a warped, bass-heavy and synth-soaked weapon, which Skeppy slides across as slickly as ever.
TikTok’s new golden boy sombr has finally dropped his debut album, I Barely Know Her. The viral ‘back to friends’, which has been streamed over 670 million times, and ‘12 to 12’, featuring a cameo from Addison Rae in the music video, are both on the tracklist. However, the real standout is ‘i wish i knew how to quit you’: a full-throttle romantic cut where sombr’s soulful vocals soar over a pounding drumline.
London’s own Bar Italia have announced their new album Some Like It Hot, lead by the frenetic new single ‘Fundraiser’ and an accompanying video featuring Peep Show cult hero Matt King (Super Hans), strutting through cobbled London streets with a post-punk swagger. Meanwhile, Wolf Alice just released a record, called The Clearing, with ‘Just Two Girls’ catching attention for its breezy melody and silky piano chords. Expect this one to soar to number one.
Stateside, 18-year-old firestarter Nettspend drops ‘Stressed’, a glitchy, kaleidoscopic explosion of internet rage rap, punk and digicore madness. On the other end of the hip-hop spectrum sits Earl Sweatshirt, who’s back and in a reflective mood on ‘TOURMALINE’, where fatherhood musings unravel over a cello-laced beat from Therevada.
Back in London, Croydon’s Kairo Keyz drops his New Jazz EP, a project that bends subtle trap foundations into leftfield melodies. Standout ‘3AM IN SOUTH’ sees him glide over twisted 808s like they’re nothing. In Liverpool, Luvcat gets all sugar sweet with ‘Blushing’, while Laufey continues her retro pop reign on ‘Mr. Eclectic’, which could be straight from the ’60s. And for the ravers, Issey Cross is back with a DnB banger called ‘Butterflies’, her featherlight vocals darting through breakbeat chaos and simultaneously curing any loneliness on the dancefloor.