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Favorite Songs of the Week

SPIN’s 7 Favorite Songs of the Week: Beck, Pusha T, and More

Welcome to our weekly roundup of the SPIN staff’s favorite new songs. Below, sample the best from iconic genre-clashers, Bronx-born rappers, and more.

SPIN's 7 Favorite Songs of the Week: Beck, Pusha T, and More

Angel Olsen, “Intern” (Jagjaguwar)
We haven’t heard Angel Olsen‘s tragic, incandescent voice since 2014’s Burn Your Fire for No Witness (save for last week’s collaboration with Cass McCombs), but that doesn’t mean we forgot it for a second. “Intern” is a mysterious little fragment — a full song? Most of a song? An album trailer? — but its moody electronica pulls you in quick. “Maybe you know that it’s been too long,” Olsen says, by way of opening. “Doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done / Still gotta wake up and be someone.” Don’t we all, but at least we have the prospect of a new Angel Olsen record to sustain us. — ANNA GACA

SPIN's 7 Favorite Songs of the Week: Beck, Pusha T, and More

Beck, “Wow” (Columbia)
First thing’s first: This isn’t Beck’s homage to Christopher Walken’s “wow-ing” Continental. Originally thought to include OG Maco (then later clarified that it doesn’t), this single is a wide-eyed country-hip-hop medley with plenty of calls to “giddy up” and shoutouts to “the Lamborghini shitzu.” A clattering back beat, bansuri-flute whistles, and copious “la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la“s complete the (very bizarre) circle. Welcome back, Beck. — RACHEL BRODSKY

SPIN's 7 Favorite Songs of the Week: Beck, Pusha T, and More

Birdman and Jacquees feat. Dej Loaf, “007” (Cash Money)
From the brain trust that made up the second iteration of Rich Gang — the one helmed by the tag-team of Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan — emerges Jacquees, an R&B maestro who could be a Lil Wayne stunt double. Alongside his sire, Birdman, he’s been doing some serviceable Rich Gang pantomiming in the shadows, the most convincing of which is the eerie “007.” Over the same distant production that made Rich Gang’s Tha Tour Pt. 1 so hauntingly evocative, Jacquees settles into a groove, letting his voice swell and finding his stride with Dej Loaf as a running mate. — SHELDON PEARCE

SPIN's 7 Favorite Songs of the Week: Beck, Pusha T, and More

Pusha T feat. Jay Z, “Drug Dealers Anonymous” (G.O.O.D. Music)
The bible references (“let he without sin cast the first stone”), outlandish boasts (“I’m Dennis Rodman”), and claims of a “lesser God” while packing Madonnas into a Mazda like a clown car all just feel sort of quaint compared to the news that King Push gave McDonald’s its jingle. So give it up for the gummy-ghost beat and Jay Z’s “Damn Daniel”-dropping dad-rap: “We just call the shots by simply moving our thumbs.” A fitting soundtrack to the discovery that an icon with drug connections is on Ronald McDonald’s payroll, too. — DAN WEISS

SPIN's 7 Favorite Songs of the Week: Beck, Pusha T, and More

Young Thug, “Gangster S**t” (300 Entertainment)
Kanye West did have a point when he fake-freaked out at Kobe Bryant in that commercial a few years back: How do you become better when you’re the superlative? Young Thug has been the most unpredictable and imaginative MCs of the past two years. But what’s different about Thugger’s 2016 is how he’s finding ways to somehow surpass those descriptors. After Jay Z shook the rust off with “Drug Dealers Anonymous,” Young Thug was chanting hooks, yelping mantras (“Seven rings on me like Horry!”), and burping out melodies over a production that sounds crafted by Mxyzptlk (although the internets tells me it’s actually Wheezy). Young Thug just satisfied fans enough to last the rest of the year, and Hy!£UN35 isn’t even out yet. — BRIAN JOSEPHS

SPIN's 7 Favorite Songs of the Week: Beck, Pusha T, and More

Ryley Walker, “The Halfwit in Me” (Dead Oceans)
Chicago guitar aficionado Ryley Walker shows off his enviable chops in the first listen from his forthcoming sophomore release, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung, out August 19. True to the record’s title, “The Halfwit in Me” shines with an impressive array of warm, sun-dappled strings over the course of its six minutes. The official start of summer may be a few weeks away, but Walker makes it feel like it’s already here. — R.B.

SPIN's 7 Favorite Songs of the Week: Beck, Pusha T, and More

VHÖL, “Dispatch” (Adult Swim)
Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary undoubtedly would’ve approved of VHÖL’s latest contribution to the Adult Swim Singles Series, a grimy behemoth of a metal roadster, plowing through stop signs with such chugging bass-and-guitar fury that they turn the signs from red to green. More like WHÖA. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER