Shuffling your music library can be risky if you have some guilty pleasures and album-fillers lurking between less embarrassing tracks. However, take a look at what hidden gems we found and rediscovered on shuffle this week…

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 Lighter – Miley Cyrus

Yep. You read that right. Hear it out and you’ll realise why the Princess  of Controversy has made it to this list. Lifted from her trashy 2015 album entitled ‘Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz’, this psychedelic ballad is a stand-out single that contrasts with her typically vulgar work. This song is thoughtful, trance-inducing and blissfully delicate from its first electronic swirls. In fact, big-name producer Mike Will Made-It is behind this track’s production and his soft neo-psychedelic instrumentation intricately compliments Cyrus’ sincere song-writing. Warm and intoxicating, check the track out and you’ll be surprised.

Hear it here: 

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Has It Come To This? – The Streets

Mike Skinner’s project The Streets are one of the most iconic British groups since Oasis. Perhaps they were what could have been if Liam and Noal Gallagher discovered 130bpm and pirate radio. ‘Has It Come To This?’ appeared on The Street’s debut album ‘Original Pirate Material’ and was described by NME as being “the most original, lyrical British rap in memory”. Accurately depicting the lives of real people in Britain, Mike Skinner’s lyricism managed to pioneer a new direction for UK garage in 2001. Skinner was instantly relatable through his portrayals of the thriving rave culture and ordinary human life: “Cause life moves slow / Sort yer shit out then roll / Sex, drugs ‘n’ on the dole / Some men rise, some men fall / I hear ya call, stand tall now / Has it come to this?” The song’s beat has become hugely popular amongst producers and has been sampled on many occasions. In particular, grime’s Chip, D Double E and Jammer pay homage to their genre’s roots by remixing Mike Skinner’s song for their tune ‘School Of Grime’.

Hear it here: 

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Figuring It Out – SWMRS

Formally ‘Emily’s Army’, surf punk band SWMRS released their third album ‘Drive North’ earlier this year and have come back with even more attitude. Catchy but with a thrashing guitar riff that you’d expect from the young punkers, this track was the album’s lead single for a reason. Fun lil fact now: the band was originally formed after watching the cult classic Jack Black flick School of Rock for the first time. Their sun-tinted angst and explicit humour are matched perfectly, hence why the fourpiece have attracted so much attention recently. Given our first suggestion, it would be wrong not to also give a shout to SWMRS’ gritty ode to their “punk rock queen” Miley Cyrus in their song ‘Miley’.

Hear it here: 

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Come As You Are – Little Roy

As a tribute to the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s classic album ‘Nevermind’, producers Prince Fatty and Mutant Hi-Fi collaborated with veteran reggae singer Little Roy to release ‘Battle For Seattle’ – a ten track dub album of quintessential Nirvana covers. Little Roy’s voice is perfect for filling Kurt Cobain’s brooding shoes and the cheerful reggae  doesn’t snub Nirvana’s grungy essence, instead it highlights the deep hope and love that is prevalent in Cobain’s songwriting. With a potent trombone solo and vintage instrumentation, the track is compelling and raw but uplifting and an example of how to uniquely cover a song whilst also doing justice to the original artist.

Hear it here: 

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The Homies – Cee Major

Battle rapper and producer Cee Major dropped an impressive free mixtape ‘10,000 Hours’ through Outhouse Entertainment in a fruitful move to focusing on his music career. Lead single ‘The Homies’ featured initially on SBTV and is a chilled yet hard-hitting shout-out to “The same brothers I grew with then / The same brothers I’m grown with now.”  Produced by Phocus Beats, this is straight laid-back UK hip-hop. As Cee smashes through the underground this year, the London resident delivers a track so smooth it could be a white J-Cole’s.

Hear it here: 

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Written by: James Wijesinghe