Welcome to our weekly roundup of the SPIN staff’s favorite new songs. Below, sample the best from master R&B crooners, psych-rock standbys, and more.
Ariana Grande, “Voodoo Love” (Republic)
Ariana Grande is an immensely talented singer who occasionally relies too much on some less-gifted collaborators (see: 2014’s guest-heavy, radio-pandering My Everything). But every now and then she opts for the sort of throwback aesthetic that sticks to classic keys and horns — not synths and drops. That’s precisely what she does on the euphoric one-off “Voodoo Love,” which looks back to the winking innocence of sunny warm fuzzies like “Baby I.” Except she’s definitely singing about locking her crush in the trunk if he doesn’t return her affection; a dangerous woman after all. — RACHEL BRODSKY
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Brent Faiyaz, “Poison” (Lost Kids)
Brent Faiyaz has the word “Sonder” tattooed above his eyebrow, the meaning of which basically boils down to the realization that “each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.” Sometimes those lives can include toxic romantic relationships like the one the Charlotte singer/producer sings about on his new single, “Poison.” The slow and somber track is essentially a love song to someone less-deserving: Over bare production, Faiyaz’s voice is beautifully clear as he sings, “Girl you do damage to me / No, I love it, yeah, I love you / Ain’t nothing better for me than your poison.” Listen to the song, just don’t follow his advice. — MAYA LEWIS
Carla Dal Forno, “What You Gonna Do Now?” (Blackest Ever Black)
Blackest Ever Black mainstay Carla Dal Forno fills her nighttime drives with the same combination of foreboding ambiance and forward momentum that used to make Radiohead B-sides such radioactive treasures. “What you gonna do now / That the night sky surrounds you?” Dal Forno poses flatly in poisonous minor key, and the drums provide the only answer you ever have when faced with such darkness: Keep moving. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Katy Goodman & Greta Morgan, “Ever Fallen in Love” (Polyvinyl)
To me, the Buzzcocks sound like adolescence: the taboo sexual delinquency of “Orgasm Addict,” Enid dyeing her hair green while listening to “What Do I Get” in Ghost World. Katy Goodman (La Sera, Vivian Girls) and Greta Morgan’s (Springtime Carnivore, The Hush Sound) sweetly sepia version of the band’s all-time most popular song doesn’t sound like it’s from this lifetime at all. Goodman’s harmonies are crystalline and haunting, and Morgan lets that final line hang in the air, forever unrequited. — ANNA GACA
Kishi Bashi, “Hey Big Star” (Joyful Noise)
Save for its first few seconds of warped strings, no moment of “Hey Big Star” would suggest that Kishi Bashi entered the music scene as a violinist. But indeed, the ex-of Montreal musician has been writing and producing string-heavy music since his 2011 debut EP, Room For Dream. After this sunlit single from his upcoming third LP, though, it’s clear that he’s just as adept at writing road-trip-friendly pop, with the synth-driven single chugging along like a grinning locomotive. How fitting that it’s out on a label called Joyful Noise. — MATTHEW MALONE
Miguel, “Cadillac” (RCA)
Whether he’s riding contemporary synths or drawing from Prince’s sexual dynamism, Miguel has rarely missed since dropping decade highlight “Adorn” for years ago. Keeping the singer/songwriter’s hot streak blazing is “Cadillac,” his contribution to Netflix’s The Get Down‘s soundtrack. “I got love in my veins, I got life in my eyes,” Miguel sings over the space-funk synth line. He spends the rest the track enticing with his high-register coos and confident melodies. By the time the post-coitus saxophone kicks in, Miguel has already proven what should be a known maxim: The retro fabric is only as good as its weaver. — BRIAN JOSEPHS
Purling Hiss, “Fever” (Drag City)
These Philadelphians’ psychedelia ain’t Tame Impala — it’s a rip-roaring return to Nuggets, which Ty Segall is a bit too frayed to fit on these days. The riffs collide and careen into each other like bumper cars, and the readymade three-chord setup sounds nicked from the Dandy Warhols at their most caffeinated. They’re ready for their close-up. — DAN WEISS
