L.A.B make a curious return with their cover of Casanova. Photo / Supplied
L.A.B make a curious return with their cover of Casanova. Photo / Supplied
Stay Golden
By Erny Belle
Erny Belle heads towards her sophomore album with another strangely sultry, weird hip-swaying swoon of a song. Its striking video has the singer letting her dress do all the heavy lifting, and the clip comes complete with Tahitian dancers and extra cowbell. – Russell Baillie
Casanova
By L.A.B
Having not released anything all year and about to head to Britain and Europe, the once-prolific L.A.B make a curious return with their cover of a song that was a big hit in 1987 for US New Jack Swing trio Le Vert. The roots-pop outfit have certainly made it their own with a lyrical edit that leaves just enough for the song to retain the title. Gone is the marriage proposal vibe of the original, seemingly overpainted by the band’s need to get those trademark stacked-harmony hooks in the mix. – Russell Baillie
Decoding rap lyrics can often be more interesting than the music itself, and that’s the case with this in which Drake and SZA diss former flames and a few others along the way over a backdrop of synths and a glitching beat. More spoken word and shapeless Autotuned R&B than rap, but bound to exercise those weaselling out who might be referred to here and needing “someone to micromanage you” (that’s Drake speaking about some “bitches”) and as “you dirty hos” (that’s among SZA’s contributions). Interest alights on Drake and SZA having been former lovers and just how gentle this sounds despite the insults and coded references. – Graham Reid
Tightropes
By Office Dog
Tāmaki Makaurau based band Office Dog, a three-piece fronted by Dunedin-ite singer-guitarist Kane Strang, who has three albums under his own name, have just released debut long-player, Spiel. It’s gritty with emotion and this track exemplifies these qualities. – Nico Penny
Mamy Blue
by Roger Whittaker
According to Spotify at least, the late Roger Whittaker’s biggest song ever is Albany, a stirring ode to highlander Gordon McKenzie, sung in German for the many fans which kept his career going in his latter decades. It even got a Teutonic techno makeover. But his earliest, grooviest moment remains Mamy Blue, a song that was the one-hit for Spanish one-hit wonders Los Pop-Tops before Whittaker delivered his lushly orchestrated take in 1971, which now sounds like it was trying to keep up with the Tom Joneses. Still, its charm endured all the way to the soundtrack of Alfonso Cuarón’s 2018 autobiographical move Roma. But it’s his later faster funkier live version on which Kenyan-born Whittaker really gets reveals the soul man under the polar-neck and velvet lapels. – Russell Baillie
Shostakovich, Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and String Orchestra, Op.35.
By Dmitri Shostakovich piano. Ludovic Vaillant trumpet. French National Radio Orchestra, Andre Cluytens conductor
A writer of famously – and justifiably – grumpy music, Shostakovich may not have been big on celebrating birthdays. Nevertheless, the great man turns 117 on September 25. October 15, meanwhile, marks 90 years since the debut of the Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, one of the composer’s most-performed works, and played here with Shosty himself at the piano. Happy birthday! – Richard Betts
