New music: Sky Ferreira, Emotional Orange, DJ Muggs and Mach-Hommy plus spotlight artist Lion Babe

Now Hear This

New York duo Lion Babe

There are few things more joyous than a favourite artist making a spectacular return. Sky Ferreira has done that this week, by releasing her moody, cinematic new single Downhill Lullaby“. ”You ripped me open, then you kissed me/ Blue lips and roses that you left me,“ she sings.

It's more than five years since Ferreira released her debut album Night Time, My Time, which received critical adulation but also burdened her with the pressures of how to follow it. So, she's been taking her time and the result is this superb new track, which is the first from her forthcoming album Masochism. I am very, very excited about it.

Other new releases I love this week include ”Built That Way“ from mysterious LA duo Emotional Orange (groovy hip-hop vibes), and pretty much everything on the debut album from French artist SONGE: ”Thanatonautes“ is all airy synth beats and her light, trilling vocals.

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Ty Segall's latest in a long line of albums is Deforming Lobes, a live record mixed by the legendary Steve Albini (Pixies, Nirvana) – read my review here. Also out today is the posthumous Marvin Gaye album that my colleague Alexandra Pollard did a wonderful write-up for, here.

There's a powerful debut from new face shey baba in the shape of his two-part release: ”Born Sick“ and ”Vertigo“. I've added the latter to the Now Hear This playlist because I'm obsessed with its slow, dreamy quality and his incredible voice, that drops effortlessly from a piercing falsetto to a lower, more intimate murmur.

Plenty of great rap just dropped as well: ”Superpowers“ by Col3rane feat GoldLink has a cool electronic loop that emulates a harp, and an easy tempo you can flow along with. P Money is here to educate with ”Shook“, where he schools anyone who overlooked his talent or was too late on the grime scene: ”How come only a few of you do it/ Cos if grime was easy then bare man would.“ Shout out to Complex's finest, JP Patterson, for putting me onto that one.

Cypress Hill legend DJ Muggs has a new project out today with rising star Mach-Hommy, called Tuez-les Tous (”Kill them All“), which showcases Muggs' production skills and also Mach's utterly unique flow and delivery in multiple languages. I had a quick catch up with Muggs over the phone ahead of release, (which was wonderful given I had the pleasure of interviewing B-Real and Sen Dogg barely six months ago) where we spoke about how the pair met and why they decided to make this record together.

DJ Muggs and Mach-Hommy

”It was like a little ripple,“ Muggs explains of how the project began. First they spent time talking back and forth, hanging out. ”A lot of the record is actually being made when you're not recording, you're not writing. It's when you're talking, getting food, figuring s**t out. And then you apply that good energy to the process.“

Muggs enjoys surrounding himself with people who are willing to learn new things – something Mach also believes in – and enjoys being ”a little bit uncomfortable at all times“. ”That's how I can still be doing this, for so many years,“ he says, ”you keep learning new things, pushing it, exercising the muscles“.

He worked with a few musicians to create loops, as per his usual process, to create the many different textures you can hear on the album so it sounds more like a classic record you'd play on vinyl. ”Sometimes the music is already there and I don't need to add much s**t,“ he adds of the post-production, and this was the cast with Muggs once he laid down his bars.

Gigs in London I'm hoping to check out next week include Drake's ludicrous 11-night residency at the O2 Arena, and the futuristic, post-punk rock band Black Futures at The Lexington. Also Julia Jacklin, whom I saw at Omeara a few months ago but whose exquisite album Crushing has since been released – I know the new songs will sound incredible live.

My spotlight artist this week is Lion Babe, the New York-bred funk and soul duo comprised of Jillian Hervey and Lucas Goodman. Their new album Cosmic Wind just came out and is rooted in themes of ”transformation and inevitable change“. It also features a fantastic reworking of ”West End Girls“ called 'Western World”, starring Wu-Tang Clan's Raekown. I'm premiering the video which is a fun, brilliantly shot Western themed jaunt – check it out below and read my Q&A with the guys.

Hey guys, how are you feeling about the release of your album?

We are excited, proud and so ready to share it with the world. It’s surreal it’s actually done.

Tell me a bit about the process of creating the record and any thoughts/themes you feel were driving it

Thematically it all stems from our album title “Cosmic Wind.” It explores that feeling when change is inevitably blowing your way. When you are forced into growth and transformation in all aspects of life. Musically the album is a more refined version of the core of Lion Babe, which is soul, New York and love. We fully embraced our world of creating futuristic nostalgia.

The reworking of 'West End Girls' is superb and the video's lots of fun too - what was the inspiration behind it and how did Raekwon get involved?

Thank you! Raekwon was the dream voice we heard when we were looking for a collaboration on the record. We just reached out with our fingers crossed, and next thing you know he sent us his verse. He has been amazing to work with and it’s iconic that he is in the video. Wu-Tang is no joke!

The song itself just happened one day. Most of our ideas aren’t forced when creating. Lucas (Astro Raw) was in a session with a friend Mike Bloom and they knew they had something, so I came to the studio and just started vibing. The song is about our current climate in the world. So much polarity and pain, it can feel like the Wild West all around. We wanted to take those themes to visually and sonically create something new.

Which three artists would you say you most admire and why?

There are endless artists who we admire but to name a few, Bilal because he is featured on our album, but also because he is a chameleon and has one of those distinctive voices. Erykah Badu because she is always with and ahead of time. She just represents artistic freedom to us. And last but not least Frank Ocean, his poetry and sonics are always original and inspiring.