Mdou Moctar: “Funeral for Justice”
His virtuosity is put to as good a use as it’s ever been, in service of some major grumpiness at the pan-African political establishment: “Retake control of your resource rich countries”, translates Matador. Easy for him to say, sure, but he’s taken total control of his own talent, so we might as well give him a shot at running the World Bank.
Tulenkey, Chief Osei Bonsu: “Angry Nkrumah”
Kwame Nkrumah was Ghana’s first President; Tulenkey raps from his PoV and finds plenty of reasons to be mad about his nation’s current political state (as explained here by a YouTuber with no head, a chipmunked voice, and a laugh track.) As a pan-Africanist, Nkrumah would probably enjoy his countrymen appropriating amapiano, though.
Illit: “Magnetic”
Not even the most shameless East Asian NewJeans rip-off of Spring 2024 (Dave Moore is doing a heroic job keeping track of these, among a dozen other things.) But thanks to the pop scientists at Belift Lab (cousin label to Hybe), this might be the most accurate reconstitution of exactly what made NJ the most exciting Korean act of recent years, down to the onomatopoeias (their hearts go lub-dub, not rat-a-tat, there’s a big difference), except completely lacking in innocence. Given the streams this has already earned, that doesn’t seem to matter much.
NMIXX: “Soñar (Breaker)”
Second-tier K-girl group makes a real push for the A-list with a genuinely interesting vocal mixx (color-coded here), featuring mains Lily and Haewon playing out a powerhouse/sweetheart dichotomy and the maknaes getting in tickled oohs. Plus turning the snares up is always a good idea.
La Luz: “Strange World”
Seattle band who’ve been toiling for over a decade but whom I’d never heard until they recently signed to Sub Pop. Much of what they do fits into their new label’s tradition—the basic but insistent groove, the woolliness—while their reverby harmonies are a fine complement.
Brennan Wedl: “Fake Cowboy” (live)
Also on Sub Pop: country now apparently, from someone who lives in Tennessee at least. The lyrics are classic Americana from a (don’t say hipster) young urban bohemian PoV—a meet-grungy in an East Nashville American Legion bar helps both parties make it through the night—and compare favorably to those of your favorite Americana dabbler unless that’s Adrianne Lenker. The tonalities are very Sub Pop.
The Paranoid Style: “I Love the Sound of Structured Class”
Maybe their best tune since the early EPs: ominous, unsettling, maybe not revolutionary but indicative of revolutionary times; certainly it gives the guitar solo something to work with. “Structured” you can take for granted from them.
Chayce Beckham: “23”
More minor key rumination with… a country song about how constant drinking is not actually great? By an Idol winner? Both words and singing are simple but direct—he’s 23 (and drunk) now, but will he ever be 24 (and sober)?—with his palatably scuzzed baritone making his apology convincing, to his mama at least.
Atmos Blaq: “Mfana Wase Dobsi”
By one of the producers responsible for defining 3-step, this quickly settles into that sound, then opens up into something stranger, detouring through deep house into going no-step for a time. Still maintains that slight sense of mystery an emerging genre has.
Nora Toure: “Dede”
Norway-based Togolese singer gets close to perfecting the amapiano-bedroom R&B fusion that this blog will switch to wall-to-wall coverage of as soon as someone gets it right, lacking only a proper melody; I thought they gave those out for free on every Oslo street corner.
Future, Metro Boomin, Kendrick Lamar: “Like That”
Like a siren, K. Dot casually lures in J. Cole to get shipwrecked, presumably because he has nothing else to do. Whether investing in lab-grown beef is a better use of a listless emperor’s resources than, say, releasing a somewhat meandering double album to dis one’s exes and also a Kardashian, well, I’ll try to work that out by next week. Future, for his part, absolutely does not care about any of that nerd shit.
Ariana Grande: “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)”
I’m not in any hurry to listen to thealbum, but low-key emoting Max Martin inspirational pathetibangers seems like about the best thing she could be doing with her career at this point. (Definitely better than acting in reductive music video digestions of Eternal Sunshine the movie.)
Red Velvet: “Chill Kill”
I can use their refusal to change with the times. This sounds like a late 2010s period piece: classic maximalism, with wub bass and a minor verse into a major chorus that goes I-II (even MORE major) IV-iv (are they creeps? weirdos? just psychos?) Sometimes the old jeans still fit.