Listen to the latest from Hurray for the Riff Raff, Danny Brown, Wishy and more.
Dear listeners,
At long last, year-end list season is (mostly) behind us, and we can once again enjoy music without the burden of trying to rank it (and then arguing over those rankings). New albums have time and space to grow on us; new songs arrive without lofty expectations, and are free to pleasantly surprise.
Today’s playlist is a collection of seven new songs released in the last few weeks — songs that risk getting lost in the flurry of holiday chaos, or in the space between this year and the next. It’s culled from our weekly Friday playlists, and it offers a diverse mix of genres: Wishy’s woozy dream-pop; Danny Brown’s delightfully disorienting rap; Adrianne Lenker’s delicately crafted indie-folk.
Enjoy these songs without the pressure of feeling like you have to discover The Best Music of the Year. At least until you remember that SZA’s “SOS,” which quite a few critics declared the best album of 2023, actually came out on Dec. 9 of last year. Oh well! To quote a wise man, “Tomorrow’s just another day, and I don’t believe in time.”
Listen along on Spotify as you read.
1. Hurray for the Riff Raff: “Alibi”
OK, I lied: One more mention of year-end lists. Last year, my No. 1 song was “Life on Earth,” a stirring, ecologically focused ballad from Alynda Segarra’s shape-shifting project Hurray for the Riff Raff. The first single from Segarra’s forthcoming 2024 album, “The Past Is Still Alive,”is something entirely different: a warm, stomping country-folk narrative that recalls the confident swagger of Lucinda Williams and breaks your heart in all the right places. Count me officially excited for this album. (Listen on YouTube)
2. Wishy: “Spinning”
Before I heard the swirling, kaleidoscopic “Spinning,” I had no idea who the band Wishy was, but this song made me an instant fan. My ignorance turned out to be somewhat understandable: The Indiana-based group is quite new, and set to release its debut EP, “Paradise,” this Friday. Wishy’s take on dream-pop is fuzzy, immersive and irresistibly catchy, reminiscent of artists like A Sunny Day in Glasgow and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart (with a far more economic band name). (Listen on YouTube)
3. Tems: “Not an Angel”
If you only recognize Tems as “that woman it would have been unfortunate to have been sitting behind at this year’s Oscars,” it’s time to get to know her beyond that meme-able headpiece. The Nigerian singer, songwriter and producer has collaborated with Wizkid (on the 2020 hit “Essence”), Beyoncé (as a featured artist on “Renaissance”) and Rihanna (Tems was nominated for an Oscar for her work on “Lift Me Up,” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”). Her latest single, “Not an Angel,” showcases the strengths of her solo material, including her distinct, velvety voice. (Listen on YouTube)
4. English Teacher: “Mastermind Specialism”
Like the recent breakout artists Wet Leg and Dry Cleaning, English Teacher is part of a new generation of British bands updating post-punk in their own image. But the group’s latest single, “Mastermind Specialism,” also attests that English Teacher is a little artier, more contemplative, and at times more wonderfully obtuse than its peers. Much of that stems from the frontwoman Lily Fontaine, whose expressive croon and off-kilter lyrics give English Teacher a unique sensibility. (Listen on YouTube)
5. Danny Brown: “Jenn’s Terrific Vacation”
“Right there used to be a crack house, now it’s an organic garden,” Detroit’s Danny Brown raps on this highlight from his latest album, “Quaranta,” providing a vivid snapshot of gentrification in action. Produced by the jazz percussionist Kassa Overall, the track puts modern phenomena in front of a fun house mirror. As Jon Pareles put it when he selected this song for a recent Playlist, Brown “raps in a comically exaggerated, nasal singsong, but he’s a trickster cloaking serious ideas.” (Listen on YouTube)
6. Madi Diaz & Kacey Musgraves: “Don’t Do Me Good”
Following her appearance on Zach Bryan’s No. 1 hit “I Remember Everything,” Kacey Musgraves continues her features era on this smoldering collaboration with the singer-songwriter Madi Diaz. “Every time I try to walk away, I stay, you knew I would,” the two sing on this account of romantic stasis, backed by stomping percussion and a barroom piano, before Diaz suddenly kicks things up an octave and provides a grand finale of vocal fireworks. (Listen on YouTube)
7. Adrianne Lenker: “Ruined”
Though the folk-rock band Big Thief has developed quite a following over the past few years, I often find myself drawn more to the haunting, muted solo material of the band’s frontwoman Adrianne Lenker. (“From,” released in 2018, is a personal favorite.) Lenker’s reedy voice quivers with emotion on “Ruined,” a sparse, piano-driven ballad that dwells in the gray area between devotion and devastation: “Can’t get enough of you,” she sings affectingly. “You come around, I’m ruined.” (Listen on YouTube)
I don’t know what I’m dancing for,
Lindsay
The Amplifier Playlist
Listen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.
“7 New Songs You Should Hear Now” track list
Track 1: Hurray for the Riff Raff, “Alibi”
Track 2: Wishy, “Spinning”
Track 3: Tems, “Not an Angel”
Track 4: English Teacher, “Mastermind Specialism”
Track 5: Danny Brown, “Jenn’s Terrific Vacation”
Track 6: Madi Diaz & Kacey Musgraves, “Don’t Do Me Good”
Track 7: Adrianne Lenker, “Ruined”
Bonus Tracks
Help! I can’t stop listening to Lana Del Rey covering “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
And — an instant-classic installment of “Kellyoke” that I uncharacteristically overlooked — Kelly Clarkson covering Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” while dressed, for Halloween, like an uncommonly elegant ghoul.
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December 13, 2023 at 02:00AM
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