Welcome to our weekly roundup of the SPIN staff’s favorite new songs. Below, sample the best from grieving producers, hungry rappers, a Trapper Keeper punk, and more.
Mark Pritchard featuring Thom Yorke, “Beautiful People” (Warp)
On May 13, British electronic songwriter/producer Mark Pritchard will soon release a full-length called Under the Sun, a project featuring guest vocals from Linda Perhacs, Bibio, and Thom Yorke. The latter appears on the strangely sad “Beautiful People,” where, against an eerie flute loop and unchanging syncopated beat, the Radiohead frontman adds his aching, lightly warped drone. Prichard has noted that “the original instrumental to ‘Beautiful People’ is a personal song about loss, hopelessness, and chaos, but ultimately the message is love and hope.” It’s precisely the sort of cognitive dissonance that only an anxious yet meditative singer like Yorke could smooth out. — RACHEL BRODSKY
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z6rW2GpQLQE
Meyhem Lauren feat. Action Bronson, “Garlic and Oil” (Fool’s Gold)
With a strong Open Mike Eagle album this week and a wonderful Homeboy Sandman album coming down the pipe, boom-bap is far from dead. But Action “Casper” Bronson, who name-drops Hello Kitty here, has known that for years, infusing his improbable tales and cooking brags with addictive old-school samples. On “Garlic and Oil” the backbeat of choice is DJ Shadow’s languid 2002 single “Six Days” for the first half, and the chip-off-the-old-Ghostface talk rubs off on Bronson’s pal Meyhem Lauren too: “I got parollies that’ll break curfew to break a nigga face.” — DAN WEISS
Lisa Prank, “Starting Again” (Father/Daughter)
When you call your album Adult Teen, categorize yourself as ‘Trapper Keeper pop punk’ on Bandcamp, and pose for press photos as po-faced as this one, it can be safely assumed you’re in on your own joke. That’s why it’s so compelling to hear Lisa Prank, a.k.a. Seattle-based songwriter Robin Edwards, bare her heart on “Starting Again,” a peppy, Bleached-esque tune that’s clever and self-aware but hardly comical. As Lisa Prank describes it, she’s hooked on loneliness the same way her jerkface ex is hooked on drugs and booze. The only thing this track is missing is an audience to answer the question, “Was it worth it?” NO. — ANNA GACA
The Range, “Copper Wire” (Domino)
The clouds part, warm light rains down, and a moment of clarity is reached. Not describing the cover of the Range‘s just-released sophomore album, Potential — actually talking about what it feels like to listen to the LP’s striking second track, “Copper Wire.” When Brooklyn-based producer James Hinton shared the song earlier this week, he included a note explaining that it’s about accepting losses you’ve suffered in life, “when you finally allow yourself to drop your guard and admit you’ve been hit with something hard.” Brace yourself. — KYLE MCGOVERN
Music Band, “Fortune Guns” (Infinity Cat)
A quick Google of “Music Band” may not bring you to this Nashville trio, but you’ll want to keep sifting through the results. The apathy-plagued millennials (who may or may not be referencing 30 Rock with their purposefully bland name) exude enthusiasm on their newest single, “Fortune Guns.” “Wish I’d wake up laughing,” sings frontman Harry Kagan, before the band heads into a frenzied, feedback-charged bridge. On the upswing, a more hopeful Kagan “[wakes] up humming,” which you might, too. — NATALIE CAAMANO
Kingdom, “SHOX” (Fade to Mind)
For the past few years, Los Angeles-based producer Kingdom has focused mostly on collaborating with the artists signed to his electronic label, Fade to Mind — his fingerprints are on Kelela’s stunning Hallucinogen EP from last year — and his Rinse FM show. It was on the latter that he shared his first new solo material in a few years, “SHOX,” a clatter of cut-off air horns and truncated jangles, rumbling between off-kilter beats like a tank making its way over jagged terrain. Just in time for soundclash season, one of the scene’s best mind-benders is back to the bassment. — HARLEY BROWN
The Hotelier, “Goodness, Pt. 1” (Tiny Engines)
A prequel to the hole-in-the-earth scorcher that properly kicks off (and provides the title to) the Hotelier’s upcoming post-emo masterwork, the balladic “Goodness Pt. 1” merely forebodes the album’s onslaught with folky, Westerberg-ian strum-und-drang, frontman Christian Holden obliquely and tantalizingly promising, “While our burning desires are crackling / We exist in the unified verse.” We’ll all be there soon enough. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Correction: An earlier version of this piece misidentified a lyric in Meyhem Lauren’s “Garlic and Oil” as including the word “pierogis.” It’s actually “parollies.”
