Usher – Climax (produced by Diplo)

Well, here’s something I wasn’t expected to cover this morning – Usher’s new song, produced by Diplo and written by Glasser / Cass McCombs producer Ariel Rechtshaid. A lot of the coverage has tended toward “OMG Is This GoOD??” novelty, so I’d like to take a brief moment to point out that this record is great, and we should expect it to be.

Though often let down by appalling production, Usher has one of the best voices in modern R&B (Dat Girl, seriously, may be one of the best club tracks of recent years), and Diplo is actually an incredibly intelligent and instinctive music maker, regardless of his brainless imitators, and Ariel Rechtshaid is an absolute boss.

What’s remarkable about this tune, other than the three-worlds-colliding topline, is how restrained and subtle it is, with a lovely melody, subtle vocal control, some stunning arrangements and impressive use of silence. Diplo wrote “It’s some next level electro-soul. Seriously the best record I’ve been part of. Really proud of it” of the collaboration, and he should be.