“One day my baby went missing,” sings British pop star The Pink Pantherless on her new wistful and bittersweet song “Angel,” from the soundtrack to the upcoming Barbie movie. . No big tragedy happened here. A mundane ghost just happened. Yet Pink Pantherless manages to wring the pathos out of the narrative thanks to dreamy melodies and vocals that mix wide-eyed optimism with creeping skepticism. Even if Johnny didn’t reply for several days. ” Ken would never do that!Lindsay Zoraz
“Tuya” (“Yours”) is a song that Rosalia is clearly at her mercy, a light-hearted song that carries hilarious and lustful boasts. “Sex with me is shocking,” she promises. As usual, her work hops across genres. Japanese koto plucks, reggaeton beats, flamenco handclaps and vocal quarter notes, and the grand finale joins gabber-like techno beats and hyperpop pitch-shifted vocals. For Rosalia, they are all within easy reach.John Pareles
Romy “Love Her”
In xx’s Romy Madley Croft’s “Loveher,” private and intimate secrets are happily revealed. “Hold my hand under the table,” she sings softly, forcefully through her panting. “It’s not that I can’t be proud to be with strangers/It’s just that we have a few things in our favor.” Directed by Jamie xx, Stuart Price and again Fred, she soothe and declare. It evolves from sparse piano notes and a soothing four-on-the-floor beat to full-fledged chord thundering house, and Romy’s vocals into an ecstatic loop of “I love her, I love her.” and rise. Finally, the beat suddenly disappears, and Romy insists, almost a cappella, “I’ll tell them if they ask/Don’t be ashamed.”parel
Madeleine Kenny “I Draw A Line”
Oakland singer-songwriter Madeline Kenny fills the sonic canvas with bold, angular shapes on her latest single, “I Drew a Line,” from her upcoming album, A New Reality Mind. She sings a story of self-correction and emotional growth, with a silky saxophone solo that takes her suddenly the song in a new direction.Zoraz
Janelle Monae featuring Doechii “Phenomenal”
Janelle Monáe’s new album announces its intentions under the title ‘The Age of Pleasure’. It’s all about physical and carnal pleasure as self-affirmation, underscored by Monáe’s full-spectrum mastery of African Diaspora music. “She’s a mysterious, sexy creature,” Monae sings on “Phenomenal,” adding, “She’s a god and I’m a believer.” The groove is sprung, Caribbean and jazzy, with ever-changing variations of call-and-response vocals, evocative guitar lines, electronics and horns before transitioning into a seamless segue into the next song. “luxury” parel
Jesse Murph and Maren Morris “Texas”
Maren Morris has made it his job to prove that country singers can be heard outside of their limited formats. Her latest collaboration is with brooding goth-pop songwriter Jesse Murph, who threw unkind words over the radio on “Texas,” one of Murph’s quintessentially dark and unfortunate accusations, and criticized each other. I feel joy in Murph and Morris sing about the consequences of a man’s neglect. “I’m cold, I’m lost, I’m ruined/And you’re back in Texas,” sings Murph. This video is set in a rodeo, but the cowboy he can’t take out the darkness with his hat, mandolin and fiddle.parel
Shamir “oversize sweater”
In a folk-rock fortress built around a steady strumming guitar, Shamir’s falsetto about overcoming heartbreak is simultaneously sharp and wistful. His solace is binge-watching TV, which “uplifts the mood.” Mariah’s head (voice), wearing an oversized sweater and cuddling up, sings “Until I Believe in Love Again.” Performances like marches and chimes suggest he does.parel
Rain “New Year’s Unsolved”
“New Year’s UnResolution” has echoes ripple across a richly stagnant track from Taja Cheek, who records as L’Rain. “I forgot what it feels like to be in love,” she sings over a programmed beat amid a blur of reverb, guitar swoops and harmony vocals. The song ponders her longings, sense of time, and memory, and poses provocative questions without conclusion.parel
Nora Stanley and Benny Bock “Peaches”
Much of the music included in the baby-faced duo’s debut album “Distance of the Moon” Nora Stanley and Benny Bock — added to the layer in the 2nd or 15th pass via laptop. They work here with analog synths, Fender Rhodes, digitally programmed percussion, baritone guitars, saxophones, kalimbas and many more. Still, the result feels like an organic, cloudy-eyed miniature, and not overdone. Stanley lives in New York and Bock lives in Los Angeles, and their sound reflects that sense of distance. This is music with a sense of concentration and intimacy, but also a kind of unknown. Kind and nice, but not established. On “Peaches,” Stanley’s vibrato-heavy sax vibrates with rolling synths and harmonies over minimal drum programming and a stark two-chord vamp. Fans of Sam Gendel, Alabaster de Plume, or (further back) Jimmy Giuffre will appreciate the rich saxophone. Anyone who falls in love with Laraj will likely find the hypnotic appeal of electronic vamps.Giovanni Russonero
Laura Misch “Portal”
British songwriter and electronic music producer Laura Misch celebrates the mystical communion of people, nature and art with “Portal” from her forthcoming album Sample the Sky. there is As harp-like sounds and clicking percussion rise around her voice, wrapped in instrumental and vocal harmonies, she quips, “As you drift slowly or surrounded by our love, The portal will open,” sings.parel
Black Duck “Lemon Treasure”
Repeated sounds and an increasingly assertive beat propel Chicago trio Black Duck’s drone and slide guitar jam, “Lemon Treasure.” Tortoise and Eleventh Dream Day bassist Douglas McCombs, guitarist Bill McKay and drummer Charles Lumback. McCombs can’t resist jumping arpeggios every now and then, and the rumback drumming becomes more flamboyant and assertive along the way, but this track is McKay’s highlight. He holds chords tight, raises lager scales, hints of blues, bends and stretches sustained notes. His guitar rides the beat and provokes it.parel
Roxana Amed & Frank Karlberg “Pid El Silencio”
“Los Trabajos y las Noches” features lyrics by Argentinian vocalist Roxana Amed and New York pianist Frank Carlberg to the poetry of mid-20th century Argentinian literary hero Alejandra Pizarnik. This is a 10-part song cycle written using as. Pizarnik’s poetry, like Miles Davis’ trumpet playing, was known for its strategic use of silence and restraint. So, the album’s first track, “Pido El Silencio” (“I Beg for Silence”), is a fitting start to nine minutes of patience and cyclical harmonies and unresolved.amed sings short mysterious poem Many times (in English, “It’s late at night/And you can’t/Sing it like nothing happened/Nothing happens”), Karlberg piano and Adam Kolker tenor sax sing along. On a bridge without words. As the pianist begins to chime in looming octaves in the upper registers, the band takes note of a vague, sometimes muddy sequence of harmonies, ending with his lyrical solo. But even when Karlberg starts to move, there’s a delicious chunk of hesitation embedded in his phrase.Russonero
