🐣 GIRAFFAGE — SLOWLY FEAT. MATOSIC

The freefall bounce of this track, the fun of it, the joy of it, the muted sparkle of its soft pastel ping pong arpeggios, the thick modulating synths, the glooping subtle heartbeat boom of the kicks, the unexpected switches that it goes through, the undeniable romance effusing from it. The first dynamic twist, the staccato chords alongside acrobatic synth bassline, the vocals panning left to right with each word, the fizzling catapulting energy of this part, and the chorus launching like a jet ski on sapphire teal seas, the simple French touch feel of the beat allowing those rich synths and the croon of the vocals to truly sparkle, tropical summer atmosphere bubbling up like heat distortion.

And! Another dramatic turn, the energy toning down from this azure beachtime clarity to something tinged with much more slow, much more ache, Giraffage and co-producing feature-spot Matosic opening up a glittering dreamworld halfway through 'Slowly', the glisten of digital synth keys and the gorgeous major-minor jazz-lounge chords in their complexity glassy wonderful in this new quiet space of the track, exuding a very vintage R&B atmosphere, with its snapping fingerclicks and pitch-shifted vocal and tinkling chimes, the texture made even more nuanced with the sound of birdsong trickling in, a sprinkle of nature in the midst of this cradle of loving electronics, the whole thing a physiological heart-pumping reaction to a crush and the idealist hopeful infatuated thoughts that go with it.

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• 🔔 'Slowly', featuring New York-based producer Michael Matosic aka Matosic, is taken from Giraffage's upcoming debut album, Too Real, scheduled for release on 20th October via Counter Records.

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ARIANA GRANDE & THE WEEKND – LOVE ME HARDER (BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD FLIP)

Call it a flip, call it a remix, call it a re-rub, rub-a-fuckin-dub-reworking – whatever: It's a different angle on an existing song. And in this instance Blackbird Blackbird has improved upon the original. The Weeknd teamed up with maybe-heir-to-Mariah's-throne (if that exists) Ariana Grande for the sexual epic, 'Love Me Harder' – the video is a pretty standard allusion to orgasms, a sleek drawn-out euphemism. Hm. We see this everywhere. New mouths sing about old things.

But it's ok, everyone does it. It's just great that people want to remix songs like this, people who can see the promise and potential in the words and vocals and take these energies, this human spirit, and place them in a new setting, a new musical vessel from which they can shine a different light.

As such, San Francisco-based producer Blackbird Blackbird's version of 'Love Me Harder' features pitch-shifted vocals, sometimes low and rich, sometimes high and chipmunk-like, sometimes fluctuating dynamically between the two, set in a gently swaying fantasy world of feeling. Fragmented beats mark out the sensual journey, rolling melodic snares and rattling hi-hats playing above gloopy heart-boom kicks. Soft electric piano chords mutate into fizzing tremolo synths, winding and wiggling through your mind and conjuring a hazy, narcotic lust – A far cry from the crescendoing fireworks of the original.

Attentive breaks in the beat appear throughout, making the track gloriously slow and considerate, allowing you to better hear delicate music box twinklings. It's an honest reworking, more true yet with more fantastical elements throughout (take the chipmunk vocals, for instance), a variation on the idealistic elements at work in 'Love Me Harder'. And there also seems to be a sample of a dog whining, which basically feels like the perfect epithet for longing lust.

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HOT FLASH HEAT WAVE – DIRTY DREAMER (XXX)

There's a reason why this kind of music never really took off, or in fact wasn't even born out of a cold country. Well, actually, who knows the actual direct correlation, but basically it's very sunny music and it is & will be eternally associated with California. Which is where this four piece, Hot Flash Heat Wave, come from – specifically, San Francisco.

But location-schmocation, right? 'Dirty Dreamer (XXX)' is a lo-fi nu-doo-wop coastal groove, claps and stabs of golden guitar following a timeless pattern that is soaked in nostalgic americana. Vocals cut through in distorted serrations of sound, a who-the-fuck-cares lassitude simmering within, even though it's filled with hum-along hooks. Speaking of which, dig that bright guitar lick that pops up as a pre-verse treat, utterly dripping with cool.

More slapdashery arrives towards the end of the track, where a guitar solo breezes in a virtuosic tangle, something so totally satisfying about that sound: the perfect excitedly euphoric crescendo to a track seemingly inspired by swift, raucous romances.

• If you liked this, you should most definitely check out the very recently released self-titled Hot Flash Heat Wave EP, where you'll find this and four more tracks of the same quality calibre.

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BIEBER – SAINT PEPSI

First, Saint Pepsi – the Long Island producer with his roots in the familial vibe of vaporwave – took care of Carly Rae Jepsen's 'Call Me Maybe' in a steamy, slow edit of the track; now, especially for Valentine's Day – or V-Day like some dotty old war veteran – he's remixed a Justin Bieber track; yep that's right – BIEBER. Taking vocals from the troubled Canadian child star's 'Boyfriend', Saint Pepsi (real name Ryan DeRobertis) has created a wonderful slow jam simply called 'Bieber'.

There's something wonderful about the track, something unique despite its apparent simplicity; but in the vein of the new punk that he is (and many affiliated with vaporwave in general, or more specifically with the collective New Generation), samples come from everywhere and anywhere, are used in any which way, and the intent of the song is contentious or as innocent as you want it to be. So there. Now listen up to 'Bieber' if you haven't already and share it with all of your friends because I'm sure they'll like it. Despite the utter meh-ness of the original, this takes Bieber's best feature (his voice) with none of the putrid production that goes with it and turns it into something fun AND good.

Beginning with a sparklingly cheesy intro, we're led into a world of slow-jam heaven with choral voices singing as you saunter along the way. Bieber's voice appears altered, low-register, at first, crooning over percussion and warm muffled synths that gradually thicken as the song goes on, rolling R&B snares skittering over thumping kicks. Even Bieber's rap is in there, the end of which includes his own catchphrase "swaggie" – and which Saint Pepsi throws at you again later. What the hell swaggie? Jesus H. Some aching synth solo beeps towards the end of the track – notes bending with an almost sarcastic lilt – adding candy-coloured electro fun.

So whether you think this is a joke or whether it's serious or if it angers you and you want to shove your own head through your laptop and jump out your window – that's up to you. The facts here are these: firstly, the song is a vast improvement on its original; secondly, it's clear that Saint Pepsi is going to continue to sample whatever takes his fancy – whether it's an emo band, Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, or anything else in the public domain. Not only is it simply about doing what you want, sticking to no genre and feeling free to capture any mood or summon any feeling, but also the truth is, copyright laws aside, everything in the public eye ceases to belong to its owner the moment it is released to the masses. So just enjoy it or don't – it's your life.

PSSST… Saint Pepsi plays his debut West Coast (USA) show in San Francisco on 15th February, can you make it?

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WEEKEND ROSARIES [VIDEO]

What no picture/image/photo? Well, no. It's just something I'm trying out. BEAR with me (yes: to all those who are always asking people to obscenely "BARE" with them, it is actually spelt "bear"). In any case, there's still a video up above this writing to watch. Sure is. Anyway, enough blabbering.

This is a video for a song called 'Rosaries' by San Francisco-based trio - the first names of which are Shaun, Kevin & Abe - Weekend. A very ungoogleable name if I may say so and also not to be confused with The Weeknd. These guys are very different. Always up for a bit of shoegazin' sound myself, I full-screened the video and watched the lonely guy at the centre of this video live his nocturnal life (it cut a little close to the bone actually). Whilst I watched with a vague unease, I found the music not only fitting but a soothing soundtrack to the situation: perhaps because it fit so well, perhaps cause it doesn't have any really discernible lyrics that you could ascribe to this man's predicament. I dunno.

Away from the video, just listening to the song, it's a wash of beautiful bleakness. It pervades the air with an intense ambient white noise that falls over you like a constant grey mist. It's wracked with a near-suffocating cloud of endless reverb that works by attaching feelings of muffled hope and faint shades of despair to the song; an all-encompassing feeling which, if you've felt before, you should hear teeming in this track. Sparks of Western-movie guitar twang in the midst of this ambient storm - a touch of the leaping human heart - as a thumping beat drives it forward, growing increasingly developed with rolling hi-hat and the slap-crash of a snare in the last third.

It comes from Weekend's 2nd album Jinx, already out in the USA on Slumberland Records, but released internationally via the band's own label, Strange Dog Records, on 25th November. I'd link to the Strange Dog Records site but you wouldn't believe how ungoogleable that is also. Dog records - as in World Records won by dogs - which are strange.

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