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SPIN Singles Mix

SPIN Singles Mix: Justin Bieber, Escort, George Clanton, and More

Welcome to SPIN’s Singles Mix! SPIN staffers have rounded up their favorite, must-hear tracks for your personal playlists. Collecting the finest from New York disco divas, London electronic funksters, Swedish sad-pop singers, and more, these are the songs you need to know right now.

SPIN Singles Mix: Justin Bieber, Escort, George Clanton, and More

Calvin Harris feat. Disciples, “How Deep Is Your Love (DJ Snake remix)” (Sony)
In the afterglow of the titanic banger that was “Turn Down for What,” DJ Snake has proven himself just as capable a master of electronic music’s groovier side, with his slinky remix of AlunaGeorge’s “You Know You Like It,” and his masterful turn with Major Lazer and Mo on “Lean On.” Now, however, he’s returned to his roots with this block-rocking revamp of Calvin Harris’ Disciples-featuring “How Deep Is Your Love.” This time he’s gone a little more worldly, building with escalating trap beats to peak by wilding out with oud-like synthesizers instead of the EDM superstar’s piano-led drops. — HARLEY BROWN

SPIN Singles Mix: Justin Bieber, Escort, George Clanton, and More

Diplo feat. Sleepy Tom, “Be Right There” (Mad Decent)
Fool’s Gold signee and Vancouver native Sleepy Tom reps hard his hometown’s burgeoning house music scene on “Be Right There,” which also flexes Diplo’s (sometimes easily forgettable) diversity as a producer. The track’s richly yearning, Jade-borrowed vocals bounce on churning beds of rumbling low-end and a hamstrung bass line, erupting into a four-on-the-floor gallop that turns up just enough, with echoing hand claps and gentle burbles that wouldn’t be unheard of from the Postal Service. — H.B.

SPIN Singles Mix: Justin Bieber, Escort, George Clanton, and More

Dreamcrusher, “Adore” (Fire Talk)
Kansas-born sound artist Luwayne Glass has always skirted the borders of pop music in the blown-out recordings they make as Dreamcrusher, but consider this their “Kokomo” moment. “Adore” is more Black Dice than Beach Boys, though, suggesting that the dance floor is the utopian place where they might go and take it slow. Still, this track’s buried under prickly static and a master so loud, you’ll jump every time you hit play. It’s not relaxing, nor a club compromise — just the latest left turn for a noise act who’s already offered many. — COLIN JOYCE

SPIN Singles Mix: Justin Bieber, Escort, George Clanton, and More

Escort, “Body Talk” (Escort Records)
Three years after dominating the dance floor with their self-titled debut record, New York City’s premier disco revivalist troupe has returned with the promise of another mirrorballed set, Animal Nature, out on October 30. To that end, the album’s second single, “Body Talk,” has more verve than Studio 54 on a Bicentenial Saturday night with ’70s keys, luxurious strings and synths, handclaps, and Adeline Michèle’s guttural vocals. — RACHEL BRODSKY

SPIN Singles Mix: Justin Bieber, Escort, George Clanton, and More

George Clanton, “It Makes the Babies Want to Cry” (100% Electronica)
Day-glo synths, yearning vocals, tension-and-release chord changes, and zero shortage of tambourine. “This can be the last song of summer if you stop listening to music after you hear it,” writes Clanton (not a typo), and he’s right in so many very many ways. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER

SPIN Singles Mix: Justin Bieber, Escort, George Clanton, and More

The Invisible, “Easy Now” (Ninja Tune)
London electronica trio Dave Okumu, Tom Herbert and Leo Taylor go anything but “Easy” on their audience in this seductive funk romp. With vocals as lush as all that crushed velvet no doubt hanging in their closets, Okumu, Herbert, and Taylor go hard on the chintzy sound arrangements: slippery beats, layered, palpitating synths, and no shortage of well-placed “awwwahh”s. — R.B.

SPIN Singles Mix: Justin Bieber, Escort, George Clanton, and More

Justin Bieber, “What Do You Mean?” (Def Jam)
Skrillex or no Skrillex — this kid’s going places. Unlearning his douchebag entitlement won’t happen; the best we can get is this simulacrum of clean end-of-relationship thinking, over a glistening two-step beat circa Craig David’s “Fill Me In,” with modestly shiny synth drizzles reminiscent of Aphex Twin’s “Flim” (suspiciously, Skrillex’s all-time favorite song), and fake pan flute that evokes Bieber’s previous “Where Are Ü Now,” with Jack Ü. All we know is flutes = flukes with this guy. Keep blowing. — DAN WEISS

SPIN Singles Mix: Justin Bieber, Escort, George Clanton, and More

LÉON, “Nobody Cares” (Self-Released)
Sweden’s latest gift to pop nails upbeat melancholy on her second single (following the Katy Perry-endorsed “Tired of Talking”). With expansive, atmospheric synths and subtle electronic dribblings to buoy her elegant voice, “Nobody Cares” embodies that lovelorn, just-on-the-verge of desperate optimism and an a protective shell of nonchalance. — JAMES GREBEY

SPIN Singles Mix: Justin Bieber, Escort, George Clanton, and More

Tropic of Cancer, “Stop Suffering” (Blackest Ever Black)
Camella Lobo has been making starkly candlelit ambient pop as Tropic of Cancer (first with partner Juan Mendez, now without) for the better part of the last decade, but her latest release comes with a new statement of intent: “Stop Suffering.” Though it’s still directed around gothy guitar-lines and the whispered monochromes of Lobo’s vocalizations, it’s decidedly more optimistic  — like the cautious hush after a storm of inner turmoil. — C.J.