10 songs you need in your life this week

Aside from a few scattered features, Lance Skiiiwalker’s had a quiet past five years. The Chicago R&B singer returned in September with the first chapter of Tales From the Telescope, reintroducing his slinky, psychedelic production and he’s returned once again with its second chapter. The EP’s opener, “Peso,” is a dreamy collaboration with TDE labelmate SiR that flips Tupac’s “Do For Love.” Lance dreams of solitude and self-reflection, crooning: “Be somewhere you can’t find me / Oh, now, with happiness around me.” —BC

TikTok’s algorithm is really hit or miss. Sometimes it will serve you three straight livestreams of QAnon supporters, then you’ll get gold, like the guy who plugs synthesizers into mushrooms and transforms their signals into audible sound. I doubt that Tyondai Braxton utilized similar fungal delights in the composition of “Phonolydian,” one of two new singles from the ex-Battles frontman, but the effect is similar: there’s a deeply organic feeling behind the song even when it’s bound to its glitchy rhythms and third-eye opening melodies, reminiscent of Geinoh Yamashirogumi, the Japanese collective behind the Akira soundtrack. – JD

The demise of Chromatics may have been a kick in the teeth for melancholic disco fans but the splintering of its individual members looks set to keep the pity party going. "Twilight" is a cover of the Elliot Smith original by ex-Chromatics lead singer Ruth Radelet. Her take on the From a Basement on the Hill is pretty loyal to the original, which is to say that it's an emotional gut punch, a gentle breeze of sadness floating through the air waiting to knock down anyone who comes into contact with it. Radelet doesn't overplay her hand, knowing that simply letting Smith's tale of unrequited love and addiction is enough. It's this restraint, something Chromatics also used to great effect, that makes the cover work so well. —DR

In just over 2 and a half minutes, Soduh cycles through three different flows and talks to himself with four voices that only get weirder as the song goes on. “Pet Detective,” a standout from his latest project Gatoraide Two, is the Baltimore rapper at his most unsettling. On paper, the murmured threats, dark jokes, and WWE references don’t scan as eerie, but Soduh’s expressionless voice makes them ghastly. When he chants “follow me now” at the end of the song, it’s far from a kind request.—BC

Les Rallizes Dénudés were quite possibly the coolest band to ever walk the earth. Formed in 1967 at Kyoto’s Doshisha University, they were shoegaze decades before shoegaze existed. Where many western punk groups espouse Communist ideals, multiple members of Rallizes were actually in Japan’s Red Army, and bassist ​​Moriaki Wakabayashi helped hijack a plane. The band played together live for 21 years and reunited for three more in the ‘90s, but they never put out an official release. The vast majority of recorded Rallizes material was bootlegged from live shows or archived from aborted studio takes. This past weekend, on the two-year anniversary of enigmatic frontman Takashi Mizutani’s death, the band’s surviving members and Mizutani’s estate released “White Awakening,” a Rallizes classic, in its first official iteration. Cleaner than it’s ever sounded before, the four-chord, meandering ballad is strikingly gentle. Mizutani’s lyrics are pure poetry, especially his final lines, translated roughly into English here, courtesy of Reddit: “Even the tracks of the wind in its own wake / For my heart wavers / Wrapped in the scent of light / ​​I went away and left everything behind but you.” —RH

The original version of “Ghetto Youth” on Vybz Kartel’s 2011 album Kingston Story contains an extended outro that’s among the album’s most affecting moments. Kartel is silent, letting his psalm to the residence of the impoverished linger in our hearts; to keep it there, producer Dre Skull brings up a swelling synthesized orchestra. The new acoustic version of “Ghetto Youth,” released last week on Kingston Story’ s deluxe edition, stretches the outro’s feeling for the song’s duration by taking things down to a smolder and stripping away all pop sonic vestiges, foregrounding Vybz’s sermon. Whereas the original was an anthem, the new composition is quiet and unrelenting, like a conscience. – JD

Joshua Bassett has, throughout the year, found himself at the center of social dissection thanks to his supposed past relationship with one of pop music’s newest stars. Every song from either party has been squeezed of every ounce of possible information to further the investigations of their fervent fans – sometimes at the expense of actually appreciating the music itself. “Secret” comes as the second song on a three-track release and shows Bassett hitting an exciting stride as a pop performer. Producer Davis Naish puts a bounce in the song’s mysterious flare. The track has a killer chorus, complete with haunting ambiguity: “Oh, your secret's safe with me / And him, and all of our friends you told / Oh, you don't even know, I know.” But it’s the bridge that takes the heavy shots. “When "Woe is me" stops working,” Bassett predicts. “I bet your songs won't sound the same.” – LP

Throughout her career, MARINA has shown that she can do pop on a major scale with intoxicating precision. But on her latest release, “Happy Loner,” the singer and songwriter slows down, stripping back the upbeat production she does so well for a simple piano melody. Sharing the single at the end of the year, MARINA captures a familiar craving for isolation, singing: “I'm sick of it all, I wanna give it up / But I'm on the edge and I feel like everything's too much, too much.” – LP

Adrianne Linker and Co. have finally released live favorite “Spud Infinity” as the seventh single from Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You — a sprawling, 20-track double LP coming in February. It’s the silliest song on the album so far, and perhaps in the group’s entire catalog. Playing like an old time string band with the downbeats on the 1 and the 3, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik, and James Krivchenia mostly stay out of the way, letting Lenker’s brother Noah and Matt Davidson provide the main accompaniment on jaw harp and fiddle, respectively. Lenker’s lyrics are playful but poignant: “What’s it gonna take to free the celestial body?” she wonders on the chorus, buffering verses packed with grand societal metaphors that rest on clever turns of phrase. “Ash to ask and dust to dusk / A dime a dozen, aren’t we just? / But a dozen dimes will buy a crust of garlic bread,” she sings mid-track. Like Bob Dylan’s best musings, it’s either brilliant or head-scratchingly stupid, depending on your mood. —RH

Burna Boy and Wizkid, the Ronaldo and Messi of afrobeats, team up on a new track inspired by the Ballon D’or award handed out to the world's best soccer player each year. "B. D'OR" is a crowning moment for the pair, showcasing their complimentary styles and they both flex their melodic muscles over a delicately funky and percussive beat. In an era when discourse is dominated by discussions of who the GOAT of any discipline is and troll-like fans rally behind their chosen figurehead, it's refreshing to see a pair of artists know that music isn't a zero sum game. Through friendship and unity Burna Boy and Wizkid ensure the whole team wins. —DR