The Singles Jukebox

Young London producer gets his first proper headline role…

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[5.10]

Renato Pagnani: So the dude who did the beat for “Wearing My Rolex” returns to his grimier roots, not with straight rap but lethargic grime n’ b that sounds best when -— surprise surprise -— Wiley’s rapping over it. The issue here isn’t grime n’ b itself but rather this Charlie Brown fellow. At first I thought it was Mr. Hudson singing, just without the range or Hudson’s melodramatic chutzpah. Brown’s flat, inert melody actually does a good job of conjuring the drab-grey languor of week-long London rain, but in this instance that’s not a good thing. The wobbly drums really knock, though. More of Wiley and those drums and this could’ve been pretty great.
[4]

Martin Skidmore: The music is odd, with reverse synth tones over some diffident beats, and Wiley adds a bit of much-needed bounce. I quite like the vocal layering in parts, too. Do we call this a grime ballad? I suspect so. It’s a bit miserable in sound, but it’s interesting.
[7]

Michaelangelo Matos: Lousy chorus. Pretty good beat. Bless trying hard. Charlie as foggy and useless as the weather he laments. And then Wiley kills it for a few bars before returning the rest to terra firma. Please tell me he’s freestyled over the whole thing and posted it somewhere.
[6]

Kat Stevens: Charlie Brown reminds me of Brian Harvey and NOT in a good way; Wiley phones in his lines like he’s worried that his free minutes are about to run out. Two points given for the uber-silly Wizzy Wow remix that pretty much removes all trace of either dude.
[2]

Alfred Soto: The swirly, aqueous backbeat almost overcomes my objections to boring metaphors Auto-tuned to catatonia, despite the Gene Kelly allusion.
[5]

Anthony Easton: Pleasant, well constructed, engineered for minimal effort and maximum pleasure; I still like songs about Grace better then Gene, tho.
[8]

John Seroff: The best use of N.H. Brown’s timeless hook since Mint Royale’s go, “The Rain” found a way under my skin but not quite into my heart. If it doesn’t quite engage, it does at least tickle, latching hold of the ear and worming about over multiple listens before cleanly washing out. This all sounds like faint praise when it’s typed out, but the world needs pleasant filler and I say that with love. This will fit perfectly shoehorned in as track #9 on anyone’s “Rain” mixtape.
[7]

Chuck Eddy: Turns out I’m not a big emo-grime fan. Who knew?
[3]

Additional Scores

Matt Cibula: [4]
Edward Okulicz: [5]