NME Radio Roundup 16 November 2020: Billie Eilish, Pale Waves, Foo Fighters and more

Leave it to Billie Eilish and her brother and collaborator FINNEAS to craft a song around French philosopher René Descartes’ timeless axiom “I think, therefore I am.” The dark electropop track is an “existential banger”, filled with pithy lyrics that see the pop star slamming fake friends: “I’m not your friend or anything / Damn, you think that you’re the man / I think, therefore, I am.”

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music

The Mancunion band have kicked off their new era with the nostalgic ‘Change’, a mellow pop-punk belter in the vein of early noughties Avril Lavigne gems. Over the guitar-driven production, Heather Baron-Gracie cries about a painful breakup: I’m being so irrational, don’t know what to do / Just trying my best to get over you.” Heartache aside, ‘Change’ is shaping up to be an exciting preview of Pale Waves’ sophomore album.

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music

Foo Fighters showcase a different side of the band on ‘Shame Shame’, the lead single from their upcoming 10th studio album, ‘Medicine At Midnight’. It’s an eccentric, funk-flecked tune driven by frontman Dave Grohl’s understated vocals, that’s definitely not your usual Foos release; but it still sounds pretty damn good to us.

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music

What happens when two effortlessly cool artists collide? An explosion of sophisticated charm, that’s what. With its dreamy pastel-hued melody, and Lava La Rue and Deb Never’s silky voices, ‘Angel’ is the epitome of chilled-out bliss. Their collab is paired with an equally tranquil visual that follows the artists as they wander through a psychedelic desert.

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music

‘Fair Chance’ is one of the more somber cuts on Thundercat’s album ‘It Is What It Is’; but in the hands of Floating Points, the track slinks its way onto the dancefloor, a beat inching up over Thundercat’s twinkly basslines. Sam Shepherd handles Thundercat’s falsetto and Ty Dolla $ign and Lil B’s vocal contributions with a light but ethereal touch, keeping just the slightest tinge of melancholy.

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music

Co-signed by Charli XCX, up-and-coming emo-pop princess Daine delivers broody but breathtaking offerings that straddle gothic pop and emo rap. Her latest, ‘Angel Numbers’, is produced by PC Music’s Danny L Harle and appears on the Filipino-Australian artist’s double A-side release, ‘Ascension / Angel Numbers’.

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music

Miley Cyrus fans have known for years now that the pop star is a hell of a cover singer (if you’ve not seen her destroy Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’, better late than never). But this year, Cyrus reminded us all that she can make old gold by taking on rock classics by Hall & Oates, Blondie, The Cranberries and more – and earning praise from the original artists along the way. So it made total sense that Cyrus would nod again to her rock forebears by releasing a remix of her single ‘Midnight Sky’ – which is actually the song crossed with ‘Edge of Seventeen’ by the iconic Stevie Nicks. The mashup takes the disco-indebted sparkle of ‘Midnight Sky’ and adds rock grit that you didn’t know it needed.

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music

In March, Bree Runway asked her musical “mommy” Missy Elliott to jump on the remix for her song ‘APESHIT’. Misdemeanour did her one better, collaborating with the rising star on a whole new song, ‘ATM’. Over a bouncy, Neptunesian beat, Missy playfully tries on a British accent for size and references her own classic hit ‘Work It’. It’s a standout on a mixtape already packed with them: ‘2000AND4EVA’ also includes ‘Gucci’ featuring the husky-voiced Maliibu Miitch and the gloriously throwback ‘Little Nokia’.

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music

‘Come With Me’ opens Stats’ new album ‘Powys 1999’ with a blast of freaky funk-pop that urges you to follow bandleader Ed Seed on a glorious journey of discovery. It’s an irresistible invitation aboard Stats’ wild ride, which Phoebe Waller-Bridge has cosigned – the Fleabag creator has said she considers the band’s song ‘Lose It’ the series’ unofficial anthem.

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music

On paper, the lyrics of Kiwi Jr.’s ‘Cooler Returns’ reads like a mildly anxious stream-of-consciousness that careens from an uncomfortable Super Bowl Sunday to being “strung out on the back of your ATV / throwing dead birds into the air”. But the song’s also a jangly, indie rock earworm that’ll lodge itself in that part of your brain that loves Pavement. Expect more from the Toronto rock band on their album of the same title, out next January on Sub Pop.

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music

It’s a breezy new song to mark a fresh chapter for the Scottish band, who have recently returned without founding bassist Gerard Love. Featuring Euros Childs of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, who joined Teenage Fanclub following Love’s exit in 2018, ‘Home’ is a bittersweet tune with a trace of sunshine.

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music

In September, Brisbane DJ Young Franco dropped ‘Two Feet’, a slinky collaboration with US rapper Pell and crooner Dana Williams. A month later, he’s gotten Dan Shake to give it a thumping four-to-the-floor remix, chopping up Williams’ honeyed hook and transforming the tune into a proper dancefloor heater.

Listen: Spotify | Apple Music